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AGRICULTURAL 

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AMATEUR AND COTTAGER'S 



GUIDE TO OUT-DOOR GAEDENING 



AND SPxiDE CULTIVATION. 



CONUrCTED 



BY GEORGE ¥. JOHNSON, ESO. 

[ OF THE " CAKDENEE's ALMANACK," " MODERN GARDESEK'S DICTIONARY," ETC. 



THE PRUIT-GAEDEN, hy Mr. R. Errington, Gardener to I THE FLOWER-GARDEN, by Mr. T. Appleby, Floricultural 
Sir. P. Egerton, Bart., Oulton Park. Manager to Mcsscrs. Henderson, Edgeware Eoad. 

THE KITCHEN-GARDEN, by the Editor, and Mr. J. Barnes, THE GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW GARDEN, by Mr. D. 

Gardener to Lady RoUc, Bicton. I Beaton. Gardener to Sir W. Sliddleton, Bart., Shrubland Park. 

THE APIARIAN'S CALENDAR, for the Management of Bees, by J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of " The Bee-keeper's Guide." 



VOLUME I. 



LONDON: 

PUBLISHED BI WM. S. ORR AND CO., W, STRAND. 

MDCCCXLIX. 



J?e.x 



J6£65 , 



TO OUR READERS. 



Heahtily, though briefly, will we thaiik you for the support you have bestowed upon us ; 
and for having thus enabled us to complete the Tirst Volume of The Cottage Gaedeker so 
prosperously as to leave us without any anxiety but how to render its futui'e pages still more 
useful. To effect tliis, no effort on our part shall be absent ; and if, to sustain tliis effort, we 
obtain your continued patronage, and that blessing without which the pen and the spade are pUed 
in vain, we shall effectively pm-sue our course through years to come, rejoicing at our success 
in diffusing, among even the humblest cultivators of our native islands, sound Practice, guided by 
Science, and not untinted by Eehgion. 



INDEX. 






Abronia umbellata, 243 

Acacia arniata, 2go 

Achimenes picta, 62 ; culture, 1^1 

Agapanthus, 226, 279, 311 

Allotment gardening, 9, 124, 132, 236, 300 ; 

cropping, 184 
Allotments, profits of, 19 
Almond, double-blossomed, 240 
Aloe culture, 280 
Alpine plants, 45, 89 ; list of, 90 
Amaryllis, 129, 31 1 ; Josephinse, 206 
American blight, to cure, 42, 245, 2/3; shrubs, 

56 
Ammonia, sulphate of, 84 
Anemones, 35, 71, 77, 159> 254 
Angelica, 15 
Angle-shades moth, 21 
Anisoptevyx tescularia, 259 
Annuals, list of hardy, 137, ^7-* ; flowers, to 

raise, 212 ; half-hardy, 279 
Anthonymus pomorum, 145 
Apple {Anglesea pippin), 10; pruning, 13, 

44; select list, 32; new, 174; weevil, 145, 

169 ; list of kitchen, 206 
Apple-trees, choice of, 3 ; from cuttings, 113; 

(standard), to manage, 65 ; top-dressing 

old, 65 ; grafting on Siberian crab, l64; old 

espalier, 290 
Apricots, list of, 26o ; culture, 260, 2/3 ; for 

Westmoreland, 200 
April, calendar for, 312 
Aquatic plants, list of, l6s 
Arenea obtextris, 252 
Arnebia cchisides, 82 
Artichokes, 48,299 ; Jerusalem, 300 
Asclepius douglasii, 143 
Ash-destroying beetle, 95 
Ashes as a manure, 164, 204 
Asparagus, 58, 94, 113; forcing, 92, I71 ; soot 

good for, 156 
Aspect of fruit-garden, 22 
Auckland, Lord, 198 
Auriculas, 4, 5, 25, 81, 99, 159, 201, 220, 274, 

296 
Azalea, propagation, 114. 



Balm, 37 ; of Gilead, 192, 222 

Balsimis, 276 ; sowing, 290 

Barley, black, 308 

Barred-tree, Lackcv moth, 207 

]Jean, its varieties, '6I, 189, 300; plaiUmg, 18:> 

Beans, earlv, 25, 80, 113; (runners), to train, 
83, 138 

Beautiful Lisianthus, 243 

Jee-kceper's calendar, 238, 305 

Bees, rules for keeping, 30; lecture on, 140; 
aspect for, hives for, purchasing, stand for 
hives, 239; their natural history, 241 ; feed- 
ing, 84, 136.239,306; atupifyiiig, 280; driv- 
ing, 279, 311; age of, 164; Queen, 190; 
working, igi 

Beet, new, 189 ; sowing, 2go ; use of, 206 

Belladonna lily, 130 

Bcrtonia (hairy), 82 

Bilberry-leaved polygonum, 243 

Bilds, to frighten, 309 ; to protect from, 242 

Biston hirtnrius, 22? 

Blackberrv, 312 

Blair, John, 199 

Blight, American, 42, 245, 2/3 

Blossom falling, i64, 1/4 



Boiler, crust in, 84 

Bone manure, 28, 62, 124 

Border plants, early, 244 

Borecole, 5, 49 ; best sorts, 121 ; Portugal, 104 

Bower, to make, 104 

Brepha partbenias, 249 

Brindled Beauty moth, 227 

British plants, 2l6, 309 

Britton Abbot, 17 

Brocoli, 49,58, 204; best sorts, 121 ; (Wilcovc), 

10 
Brodiiea, Califomica, 243 
Browallia, Jamcsonii, 243 
Brunsvigia grandiflora, 171 ; Josephinse, 206 
Bruchus ater, pisi and granarius, 197 
Brussels sprouts, 5, 25 
Buckwheat sowing, 26S 
Building precautions necessary, 160 
IJulljous, llowers, 34, 48, 57 
Bulbs, examine, 14 ; Cape, 100 
Bulbs, 2;j3 ; how to pack from abroad, I69 
Burnet, 37 

C, 

Cabbages, 5, 15,49,204,238,299,300; Thou- 
sand-headed, 5; best sorts, 121 ; turnip and 
turnip-rooted, 104 ; for seed, 80; new, 244 ; 
red, 183 

Cacti, propagating, 289 ; iu rooms, 309 ; cul- 
ture, 2/8 

Calceolarias culture, 4, 202, 307, 312 ; seed to 
sow, 213 

Califomian Brodicea, 243 

Calla Ethiopica, 92 

Camellias, 79, 81, 114, 311 ; shifting, 226 

Campanula p>Tamidalis, propagating, 25S 

Canary sowing, 268 

Candalabra plant, 171 

Canker, 154, 258 

Canvass protections, 251, 290 

Capsicum, culture, 277 

Cardoous, 37, 195 

Carnations, 5, UO, II9, 129, 159, 274, 286, 
296 ; list of, 150 ; soot good for, 156 ; seed 
saving, 190, 189 

Carrots, 5, 204, 214, 23", 300, 301 ; storing, 
12 ; in old garden ground, tio ; seed thresh- 
ing, 62 ; sowing, 206 ; cause of forking, 62 ; 
best kinds, 132 ; soot good for, 156 

Cattle fattening, 2l6 

Cauliflowers, 5, 49, 58, 70, 204, 299; new, 1"^ ; 
in pots, 183 

Cedars, l63 

Celcrv, culture, 83, 92; ShefBeld, 136, 142; 
earthing up, 15, 49,310; Sheffield show, 30, 
38; Seymour's, 10; soot good for, 193; 
new, 189 ; mode of growing, 235, 244 ; new 
kinds, 244 ; fly, 73 

Cerastostema longijdorum, 52 

Centipede, 155 

Charred refuse, 17, 72, 83, 98, 104 

Cherrj' culture, I77 ; in the IMauritius, 84 

Cherries, list of, 178 ; for Westmoreland, 290 

Chictogastra strlgosa, 188 

Chimonanthus fragrans, 196 

Chinese gardening, 41, 145 

Chironia glutinosa, 143 

Chives, 15 

Cholera not brought on by vegetables, 43 

Chou de Milan, 104 

Christmas rose, 134 

Chrysanthemums, 24, 47, 67, 79) 103, 253 , 
list of, 68 



Cineraria culture, 79, 222 ; seed to sow, 213 ; 

seedlings, 290 ; list of, 308 
Citrus margarita, 2l6 
City window plants, 282 
Clematis indivisa, 40 ; tubulosa, 52 ; layering, 

280 
Climbers for walls, 46, 149, 279 ; for a south- 
east wall, 154 
Clisiocampa neustria, 207 
Coal-ashes as a manure, 268 
Coal-tar on fruit-trees, 174 ; paint, 280 
Coccinella 7-punctata, 29I 
Cockscomb, 274 
Cold, greatest in England, 207 
Coleworts,5, 49, 102 
Columbine, slender spurred, 82 
Compost, 124, 154, 168; for flower-borders, 

211 ; yard, 219; to prcparc,219 ; heap, 258 
Conservatory, earliest, 193 
Convolvulus major. 268, 288 
Coping of walls, 268, 292 
Coral plant, 279 
Cottage architecture, 260 ; farming, 193; 

farming for January, 132 
Cottage Gardeners' Societies, 146 
Cottages, improvement of, desirable, 259 
Cow-keeping, 186, 238 
Creepers, for a trellis, 5' ; list of evergreen, 

258 
Cress, various kinds of, 276 
Crocus culture, 171, 224 ; in rooms, 9 
Cryptomeria japonica, 103 
Crvptops, Hortensis, 155 
Cucumber culture, 37, 58, 80, 132, 146,204, 

214, 222, 266. 290, 299; new, 174; forcing, 

171, 183 ; size, 196, 268 ; prize-fighter, 10 ; 

bed, to make, 26 
Cuphea platyccntra culture, 268 
Currant-trees as standards, 174, 206 
Currant pruning, 13, 210; planting, 9" ; best, 

206 ; black, 3, 97 ; planting, 42 ; standard 

trees, 123 
Cuttings, 14, 295 

Cyclamen, 9I, 114 ; seedlings, 311 
Cyclobothra monophylla, 243 

V. 

pAHLiA CULTURE, 159, 233, 263; Storing, 

14 
Damson pruning, ig6 
Daphne odora, 2gO ; pontic, 224 
December moth, 105 
Deodara cedar, to support, 206 
Dianthus culture, 290 
j^iffieulties, success under, 73 
l>igging, 219 
Uiosma hirsuta, 2l6 
Dotted-lcaved macleania, 213 
Doucin stocks, 206 

Draining, 9, 55, 88, 98, 206, 310 ; cost of, l64 
Dust as a protector, 132 
Dutch mode, 294 

Dwarf standards, 97; trained trees, 199 
Dwarfing system, 200 



Karly moth, 175 
ICarthing-up, 80 
Kconomy of space, 54, 97 
Kbn-dcstroying beetle, 95 
Kndive, 37, 49, 276 
Kpisema cccrula cephala, 2 



INDEX. 



Enrthrina laurifolia, 2/9 
Eseholtzia, 302 
Espalier rails, )54 
Everpreensforbedding-out, H4; propagating, 

50 ; transplantiog, 34, y9, 193 ; for a wall, 

149 



Faircuild, Thomas, 21" j 

Femerj-, QH. 108, I'iS | 

Ferns in puts, 103; in glass cases, 128; list j 
of, 128 

Figs, winter culture, 55; for a sheltered wall, I 
290 I 

Fiprure-of-8 moth, 2 I 

Filberts, 3; to kt-cp, f)2 ; moving, 226 

Filtering water, 2l6 

Fires, management of, 78 

Flat-body moth, -13 

Flavour, what influences, 192 

Flower beds, furnishing, 33 

Flowers for exhibition, 114; succession of, 94 

Flower borders, to dress, 211; compost for, 
154 

Flower-pots, price of, 280 ; size of, 268 

Flued wall, 149 

Fog accounted for, 20/ 

Forget-me-nots, 154 

Fork for garden, 2^ 

Foundry loam, 104 

Fowls' dung, 94 

French beans, see kidney 

French parterre, 294 

Frost, 155 

Fruits to be encouraged, 3 1 

Fruit trees, to preserve, 31 ; arrangemeut of, ' 
22; hedge-row, 107 ; station for, 87; gar- 
den aspect of, 8:c., 22; borders, 22; on 
shallow soils, 148 ; for walls, 226 

Fuchsia culture, 220, 253, 310 ; sheltering, 
38; list of, 245; spectabills, 52, 220,246, 
280 

Fumigation, 270 

Furze for hedges. 162 ; traosplanting, l62, 
307 ; beetle, 197 



Gamma motd, 11 

Garden, always shaded, 290 

Gardenine, as a scource of liveUbood, 291 : 

for children. 145 
Gardens, laving out, 261, 273, 285, 294; 

plaas, 307 
Garlic planting, 223 ; soot good for, 156 
Gas-heating, 124 ; refuse as a manure, Qi, 

105 
Gastronenia sanguineum, 40 
Geraniums, scarlet, 104, 222, 233, 248 
Geranium culture, 256 ; in a room, 150 ; slips, 

39, 311 ; yellow, 170 
Germination of seed, 227 ; moisture for, 249; 

oxygen for, 269 ; phenomena, 291 
Geometra prim,-vria, 175 
Gesneria zebrina, 62 
Gibbs, Thomas, 247 
Gilbert, Mrs. Davis, 27 
Gladiolus, 100, 256 ; spring treatment, 216, 

226, 248 
Gladiolus cardinalis, watering, S90 ; nata- 

lensis, 278 
Glass best for gardening purposes, 249 ; for 

vinery, 154, 174; shelters, 218 
Glazing, 21 6 
Goat-keeping, 245 
Golden triionia, 243 
Gooseberry planting, 42, 97, 138; cuttings, 

55; pruning, 55, 210; culture, 189, 303; 

list of, 196 ; weight of, 1 14 ; standard, 206 ; 

Lancashire, 190 ; buds to protect, 242 ; saw- 
fly, 261 
Gossamer, 259 
Grafting, different modes of, 229 ; claj and 

wax, 231 ; apples, 206 
Grapes, new, 174 ; best of, 284 ; storing, 82 ; 

Reeves' Wuscadine, 30 
Grass-plot, 98 ; seed for, 92 ; to renovate, 206 
Grass mowing, 185 
Gravel walks, 174 
Green-fly, 270,272; on violets, 211 ; on roses, 

211 
Greenhouse heating. 174, 215 ; to build, 119; 

climbers, 205, 234 ; roses, 206 
Gutta pcrcha, for grafting, 280 



H. 

Hambukgu grape, red, 21 

Hares, protection against, 215, 309 

Haricots, use of. 206 

Ileart's-easc. See pansy. 

Heating by hot water, 265 

Heat borne by plants, 280 

Hedges, 77, 89, 107, 168, 174 ; on clay, 174, 

215 
Hedge-row fruit-trees, 13 
HeUotrope, 134 
Hepaticas, 240 
Herbs. 27, 37, 266 
HUl, Thomas, 16 
Hives, 306; sliding plate for, 31 1 
Hoar-frost, 145 
Hoeing. 39 

HoUv, 122, 174; hedges to cut, 114 
Hollyhocks, 118. 246; cuttings, 173 
Honeysuckles, 93 
Horse-radish, 58, 248 
Hot-beds, 254, 310 
House-sewage, 7, 60, 62 
Hoy a, 72 
Hyacinths, 69, 71, 101; mouldincss in, 279; 

seeds, 311; in water and moss, 69, 94 ; 

liquid manure for, 205 
Hybridizing, 85 



I. 

Ice, wise provision relating to, 155 

Impatiens repens, 40 

Ink for zinc, 2o6, 226, 27 1 

Insects, destroying, 9I, 206 

Irises, bulbous, 99 ; sowing, 257 

iron in soil, 177 

Ivy, culture, 60, 114, 115; pruning, 280 

Ixias, 111 



J. 

Jacob^a lily, 130 

Jameson's browallia, 213 
Jasmines, Cape, 94 
Jasminuni nudiflorum. 52, l63 
Jerusalem artichoke, 58, 125, 204, 23? ; soup, 
126 



Kale- See Borecole, 23S 

Kidney, French, beans, 6, 62, 121, 302; new, 

174 
Kitchen- garden soil, depth, 206 
Kohl-rabi, 104 



Labels, 179, 201 

Lackev-moth, 207 

Lady-bird. 291 

Larkspur, 302 

Laurustinus, 102 

Lavander, 67 

Lawns, soot for, 156 ; to make, 263, 273, 295, 

311 
Layering evergreens, 295 
Leaf-mould, 15, 62 
Leaves, should be cleaned, 90 
Leeks, 5, 25"; Rouen, 199 
Lemon-trees, 144 ; temperature for, 226; 

sweet kinds, 2)6 
Leneodendron argenteum, 1/0 
Lettuces, 6, 93, 257, 
Lice, to kill, 258, 308 
Life of plants, 217 
Lilies, 41 ; lancifolium, 248, 258 
Lily of the valley, 23, 81, 212 
Lime Hawk moth, l65 
Lime Looper moth, 31 
Lime, super-phosphate of, 28, 144 
Lime manure, 197, 268, 280 ; water, I98 
Limncanthes rosea, 243 
Lind (Jenny), anecdote of, 256 
Liquid manure. 114, 280, 290, 299, 312; of 

dung, 189; of soot, 156 
Lisianthus pulcher, 243 
Loam, 14 
Loasa picta, 243 
I^obster plant, 279 
Love-apples, 6 
Lupin, Barlow's, 41 
Lupinus affims, 30 



M. 

M'Nab (W.). memoir of, 165 

Macleana punctata, 243 

Magnolias, hardy, I96; moving, 258 

Ulaidcn trees, 199 

niaize, 290 

Man gold- wurtrel, 103, 280, 301; leaves to 

keep, 42 
Manures, cheap, 7 ; for flowers, 15 ; on 

trenched ground, 280; economy of, 287, 309 
March moth, 259 
iMascall (Leonard), 50 
Meadow, laying down, 2l6 
Mechanics, good florists, 4 
Melon culture, 132, 214, 233; new, 244 
Melons in the open air, 18, "2; ridged, &c., 

266. 299 ; Queen Anne's, 299 
Mellor (John}, 74 
Mczercon, 289 
Mice, 93, 192. 226, 309, 310 
Mignonette, 212, 2/7, 290 
Mint, 58 

Mixed cropping, 133 
Moles, 73 

Monardella undulata, 40 
Morocco plxmi, 3 
flloss 303, 

Mottled Umbre moth, 31 
Mulching trees, 89, 104, 210, 253, 262, 293 
Muscle plum-stocks, 206 
aiushrooms, 49, 70, 102, 174, 204 
Musk plant, 279 
My flowers, 29, 38, 50, 59, 71, 81, 93, 103, 

122, 134, 162, 172, 186, 204, 214, 224, 240, 

266, 277, 288, 302 
Myrtles, soil for, 290 

N. 

Nail-cleaning, 108 

Names, to remember, 1 10 

Naming plants, I78 

Narcissus-fly, 85 

Nastertium berries, 15; tuberous -rooted, 174 ; 
culture, 288 

Native flowers. 154 

Nectarine pruning, 116,209; in Westmore- 
land, 290; planting, 209; to select, 199; 
standard, 279 

Nematus triniaculatus, 26l 

Nemophila maculata, 40 

Netting, 251 

Night-soil, 174 

Night-warmth, 78 

Nohl-kohi, 104 

Nourishment in garden produce, 44 

Nut culture, 166; varieties, 166 

O. 

October work, 29; 

Oleander scale, 144, 189, 206 ; diseased, to 

treat, l64 ; culture, 286 ; dwarf, 298 ; not 

flowering, 311 
One-leaved cyclobathra, 243 
Onions, 6, 48; storing, 12; litt of, 172 ; soot 

for, 156; culture, 223, 301 
Onion (potato), 48; two-bladed, 183 
Onion-seed, threshing, 62 
Orange Upper-^ving moth, 217 
Orange Under-wing moth, 249 
Orange-trees, 94, 144 ; temperature for, 226 
Orchids for greenhouse, 278 
Otiorhynchus tenebricosus, 269 
Oxide of iron of soil, 177 
Oyster- shells, 2l6 



P«ONY, propagating, 289 

Painted Loasa, 243 

Painting, best mode of, I6I 

Pansv, culture, 47, 77, »44, 159, 201,254; list 
of,' 20 1 

Paradise stocks, 2o6 

Parsley, 6, 49, 214 

Parsnips, storing, 12, 49; cause of forking, 
62 ; culture, 237, 257, 300 ; sowing, 279 ; 
for pigs, 310 

Fassiflora neumannii, 188 

Peach, pruning, 108, II6; crimson double- 
blossomed, 10 ; gain de Montrcuil, ID; reine 
des vergers, 10; pucellc de Malines, 10 ; 
dressing for, 157, 251; to prune maiden, 
161, 196, 209; leaves falling. 196; to select, 
199; planting 209; list of, 209; root prun- 
ing, 258 ; for Westmoreland, 290 



INDEX. 



vu 



Pears, choiceof,3; priming, 13 ; Horticultural 
Society's, 41 ; stocks for, 65 ; soils for, 65 ; 
list of, 74 ; for south-east aspect, 94 ; to 
cure over-luxuriance of, 104 ; for gable- 
ends, 12G ; arbrc courbe, 10 ; beurre Breton- 
neau, 10; beurre d'Esperen, 10; beurre 
(Jiffard, 10; bon Gustave calebasse d'ctc, 
10; calebasse d'hiver, 10; cassante dc 
Mars, 10; catinka, 10; Due de Nemours, 
10; Orphcline d'Ena:hien, 10; passe tar- 
dive, 10; poire favorite, 10; reinc des 
poircs, 10 ; triomphc de Jodoigne, 10; vau- 
quelin, 10; to prune maiden, l6-i ; spur- 
ring-, 173 ; diseased, 290 ; for Westmore- 
land, 290 

Peas, early, 42, 70, 113; new, 174 ; soot for, 
156; list of, 162; sowing, 185, 311; beetle, 
197; culture, 214, 248; best early, 206 ; 
new, 244, 300 ; supporters, 271 ; (sweet), 
278 

Peat, 14; soil to cultivate, 279 ; ashes, 114 

Pelargoniums, yellow, 170 

Penstaraon, 13; speciosum, 194 

Perennial flowers, list of, 34, 253 

Petunias, 4 

Phloxes, 13 

Pickles, 302 

Picotees, 110,274, 286, 296; pink, 5; list of , 
150 

Pig-keeping, 186, 238, 245 ; manure, 246 

Pine apples, soot for, 156 

Pink, culture, 159 

Pit, warm, 104 ; cold, to make, I60, 2l6, 2-18, 
263 ; to heat, 257 ; made of turf, 46 

Planter's puzzle, 309 

Plantain rooms not injurious, 63; dedicated 
to days, J 76 ; heat endurable by. 280 

Planting, preparing soil for, 12'; time for, 
156, 168; trees, 2, 23; to save space, 55 

Plumbago lariientic, 235 

Plums, 3, 136; list of, 157, 24/; for West- 
moreland, 290 

Polmaisc heating, 9* 

Polyanthus, 4, 5, 25, 81, 99, 159, 201,220, 
274, 296 

Polygonum vaccinifoUum, 243 

Pond, plant for edges of, 154 

Potatoes, to preserve, 30 ; experiments with, 
163; new, 17* 

Potato murrain, 41, 139, 154, 196, 267 ; eyes. 
72 ; on clay soils, 72 ; leaving in soil, 135 ; 
puUing-up stems, 139; influence of wet soil 
on, 140 ; autumn -plan ting, 6. 7, 20, 37, 49, 
58,72, 144,226, 300; planting in Ireland. 8; 
growing in Lancashire, 59 ; forcing, iGl, 
204, 214, 235 ; soot for, 156 ; lime for, igs, 
226 ; preserving for seed, 236 ; selecting, 
236 ; best soil for, 280, 311 ; early, 258 

Potcntilla Menziesii, 143 

Pot-herb planting, 223 

Pots, to prepare, 214 

Potted plants, soot for, 156 

Potting materials, 42 

Precoce de Tours plum, 3 

Privet-cuttings, 62 

Produce of one-eighth of an acre, 9 

Pruning, 12, 17; its principles, 123 

Punipbjns, 49 ; soup, 43 

Pumpkin, Hitnalayah, 64, 114 

Putty, to soften, 20 



Rabbits' dung, 206 

to frighten, 309 

Radishes. 6, 70. 102, 204, 214 

Rain-water, purifying, 141; monthly fall of, 

197 
Ranunculuses, 35, 159, 212, 220, 225, 254; 

list of, 169 
Raspberries, 8, 62, 97; kinds of, 196; au- 
tumn, 258, 272, 280; pruning, 55, 88, 104; 

training, 258 
Red spider, 63, 270 ; on violets, 211 ; on roses, 

211 
Rhododendron cuttings, 268 
Rhubarb, 102, 153, 309; to check seeding, 

280 ; varieties, 153, 189, 312 ; planting, 290, 

203 
Ribston pippin, probable produce, 104 
Ridging, 39 



Rivers' trellises, 223 

Koclcwork, 89 

Ruot-pruning, 45 ; protection, 46 

Rosa Rugosa, 40 

Rose-culture, 56, 66, 94, 104, 138, 172, 186, 

215, 226; iron in soil for, 1/7; budding, 

225 
Rose-cuttings, 67, 173 ; in water, 2l6 
Rt)?cs for cottagers, 25; dwarf, 253; tca-scen- 

tcd, 253; evergreen, 268 ; greenhouse. 2(l6; 

hardy, 2o6, 226; forty sorts, 24; forcing, 

34, 211 ; pruning, 56, 139, 144, 262,290; 

in pots, 99 ; manure for, 104, 144, 258, 268, 

280 
Rosemary, 15, 205 
Rosy lake flower, 243 
Rotation of crops, 51, 184 
Rust on cabbages, 18 



Salading, small, 70, 27G 

Salsafy, 37 

Salt as a manure, 53, 311 

Sand, 15 

Sandy soil, to improve, 124. 144 

Savoys, 266 

Sawdust as a manure, 52 

Scale on myrtles, 84 ; on oleanders, 206 

School gardens, 40, 142 

Scorzonera, 37 

Sea-kale, forcing, 102, 171. 182, 214 

Sedum Kamtschatkia, 168 

Seeds for a given space, 9. 185; strange to 

sow, 279 ; to pack, I6g, 2/9 ; when to sow, 

182; seedlings to raise, 255 
Sh^lots, soot for, 156; planting, 223 
Shelters, 35, 46, 76, 112, 218, 236 
Shred cleaning, 108 
Shrubbery, pruning, 56, 110; old, to rcnn- 

vate, 66 
Siberian crab stock, I61 
Silk-worras, 142 
Silver tree, 170 
SUpper\vort, 202 
Slopes, 54 

Slugs, to destroy, 10. I6. 58, 9-1, 222 
Smcrinthus tilite, l65 
Snow, its uses, 125 
Snowdrop, 171 
Soap-boilers' ashes, 268 
Soil, deepen the, 82 
Soils, fresh or maiden, 3 ; their stajile, 147 ; 

iron in. 1/7; required. 4 ; management of, 

fi; to imjtrove, 206, 226 ; for flowers. 14 
Soot as a manure, 72, 104, 155, 186 ; and salt, 

216, 226 ; from peat, 196 
Soups, 43, 126 
Sowmg, its phenomena, 281 
Spade husbandry, 226 ; best tool, 289 
Spinach, 214, 266 
Spring flowers, list of hardy, 2l6 
Stable drainage, 280 
Stakes, preparing, 104 
Staking, 76, 84, 210 
Stock, culture, of, 212 
Stocks for fruit trees, 158 
Stone-crop, 188 
Storing ot roots, U 
Stove for small greenhouse, 280 
Strawberry pruning, 55, 83, 273 ; planting, 

205 ; forced, 290 
Strawberries, Angelique Jamise, 10; Comte 

dc Paris, 10; Princess Royal, 10; soot for, 

156 ; the best, 205, Alpine, 2/3 
Sulphur fumigation, 270 
Swainaona Urt-yana, 143 
Swammcrdamia antcnnaria, 243 
Sweetbriar, QQ 
Sweet-pea, 213, 2l6 
Sweet-william layering, 258 



Tachy porus, golden- coloured, 125 
Tank, svstem of heating, 72 
Tanks, to make, 135, 242, 2/3, 283, 308, 312 
Tanners' bark, 144 



Tetragonia, 266. 

Thavving, phenomena of, l65 

Thrift edging, 30 

Thrips, 270 

Thrush, 124 

Tigridia, 181 

Time for operations, 175 

Tobacco fumigation, 270 

Top-dressings, 293 

Torenia Asiatica, 18 

Tortoiseshell butterfly (small), 281 

Trees, choice of, 2 ; exhausted, 98 ; plants 

under, 104 ; moving large, 104 ; lately 

grafted, moving, 114 
Trellis, 47, 228 

Trenching, 39, 219 ; bastard, 40 
Trentbam Hall kitchen-garden, 143 
Tritonia aurea, 243 
Troi)a.'oIum tuberosum, 174 
Tuberose, 1/4, 180; pots for, 2/9 
Tulips, 5, 18, 35, 77, 201, 233, 234 ; soot for, 

156 ; list of, 57 
Turf-manure, 23 
Turf-laying, 203, 215 
Turnips. 6, 2/6 ; lime for, 198 ; Swedish, 103, 

301 
Turpentine for scale, 206 



Umdbled abeoma, 243 



V. 

VaNKSSA URTIC^, 281 

Variegated plants, list of, 118 
Vegetaiile marrow, 94, 104, 193, 226 
Ventilation, greenhouse, 206 ; pit, 206 
\'^cnus' looking-glass, 288 
Verbenas, 4, 159, I68 ; list of, 159 
Villa gardens, 232 
Vines out of doors, 39, 283 
Violets, to force, 23; in frames, 211; be- 
coming single, 290 ; tree, 48 



W. 

Walks, to make, 200, 262 ; to roll, 210 

Wallflowers, 289 

Walls, aspect of, 23, 76; shrubs for, 148, 196 

Wardian cases, 128 

Water, ornamental, I68 

Watercress, cultivated. 25, 133 

\\'ater plants. Hat of, l6s 

Watering, 36, 39, 45, 68, 72 

Watson, Robert, II9 

Weekly calendar, 2, 11, 21, 31, 43, 53, 63, "3, 
85, 95. 105, 115, 125,145,155. I65, 175, IQ/, 
207, 217, 227, 249. 259. 269. 281. 291 

Weevils, 145. 196 ; red-legged, 269 

A\Tiitethorn hedges, 174 

Whitewashing a wall, 2lG 

"Willows. 294 

Window- gardening difficulties, 68, 280 

■Window plants, 36, 62, 92 ; gardens, 983 

Winds, 175 

Winter moth, 53 

\A'istaria, moving, 258 

Wood, ripening, 3 

Worms not injurious, 62, 1((5, 124 



Xantholruca croceago, 217 



Yellow-likb Quaker-moth, 115 
Yellowly's fork, 289 



Zaucusnf.ria Californica, 10, 235, 295 
Zinc, writing on, 2o6, 226, 27 1 
Zinneas, damping otf, 290 



WOODCUTS. 



Figurc-of-8 moth 
Sewage system 
Gamma moth 
Pruning 

Angle-Shades moth 
Lime Looper moth 
Flat-body motli 
Red spider 
Winter moth 
Sewage system 
Celery fly . 

Narcissus fly 
Ash-destroying beetle 
December moth 
Yellow-line Quaker moth 
Peach-tree pruning . 

Standard currant trees 
Golden-coloured tachyporus 
Bee-feeder 
Water filtcrer 



Apple weevil 
Garden centipede 
Lime Hawk moth 
Early moth 
Isabels 



PAGE 

2 

7 
n 
17 

21 
31 
•13 
63 
93 
61 
73 
85 
05 
105 
115 
117 
123 
125 
136 
141 
112 
115 
155 
lC5 
175 

179 



Sea kale frame 

pots 

Furze beetle 
Ithubarb frame 
Lackey moth 
Peach pruning 
Orange-up])cr-wing moth 
Glass shelters 
Pruning 
Rose budding 
Brindled Beauty moth 
Itivcrs's trellises 
c; rafting fg modes) 
Payne's hives 



Oran(;c-under-wing moth 

I^farch moth 

Pit heated by hot water 

lled-legged weevil 

Pea-supporters 

Tortoiseshell butterfly 

Window'gardcna 

Vellowly's fork 

ScvLn-spottcd Lady-bird 

Taylor's hives 

Plan of garden 



PACS 
183 
183 
197 
203 
207 
209 
217 
218 
224 
236 
227 
228 
236 
239 
305 
219 
259 
263 
269 
271 
281 
283 

2ug 

291 
306 
307 



THE 



COTTAGE GARDENER. 



IlfTRODUCTORY. 



We do not offer The Cottage Gardener to the 
public without having well considered the sugges- 
tion wliich gave it birth. That suggestion was in 
these words : — "All England has and loves its Out- 
door Gardening, but where is there a periodical 
that devotes attention and space to promote its 
advancement, even equally with that of thp otlier 
departments of Horticulture which, from their cost- 
liness, are only within the reach of the cc-_para- 
tively few?" 

In our reply, we confessed we knew of no such 
periodical ; and we now purpose to supply what is 
felt to be a very prevalent deficiency. 

Our pages will appear every Thursday, and will be 
devoted chiefly to Out-Door Gardening, — to those 
branches of the art in which not only all delight, but 
which all have the means of pursuing. 

Utility is our prime object; we wish to improve 
the gardening of the many, and we shall concentrate 
in our pages the information which will be acceptable 
and useful to every one who has space sufficient for a 
bed of cabbages, a row of currant-trees, and a flower- 
border. Whilst no gardener, we believe, will turn 
from our pages without receiving some ray of light, 
yet we shall especially trim our lamp for the amateur 
of moderate income, and the cottager. To them, 
columns devoted to the Pine Stove, and Orchidaceous 
house, offer little interest, and less instruction : it is 
giving knowledge, but knowledge that with them is 
inapplicable. 

The information we have to offer to our readers 
will be presented under another aspect ; we shall en- 
deavour to teach them how to grow the most and 
the best crops on the plot beneath the sway of their 
spades. 

We shall bring to their notice the varieties dis- 
tinguished for qualities most desirable ; we shall 
particularize the modes of culture found to be most 
successful ; we shall point out the most appropriate 
manures, with the modes of applying them most 



economically ; and we shall detail the rotation of crops 
which have been found advantageous on various soils. 
Particular attention will also be paid to the diseases 
of cultivated plants, and to the insects which attack 
them, for the purpose of pointing out the most suc- 
cessful modes of avoiding their ravages. 

It will be readily understood, tliat we especially 
address ourselves to those who have gardens of mo- 
derate extent. In the plotting or arrangement of 
these there is much more opportunity for the dis- 
play of skill and taste than most people take for 
granted ; and lengthened observation enables us to say 
confidently, that nine-tenths of our village and cottage 
gardens are so planned as to require much more labour 
than is necessary, and to be devoid of many beauties 
they might economically possess. To remedy these 
deficiencies we shall occasionally furnish plans of such 
gardens as we can recommend as models. 

To enable us to attain these objects, we have secured 
the aid of some of the best practical men of the day ; 
and to facilitate their labours we solicit assistance from 
all others of like acquirements, whether professional 
or amateurs, but, in all we examine and all we recom- 
mend experience shall be oiu- touchstone. 

No one values the services of science more highly 
than we do. We well know that it points out and 
illumines the path of the Gardener ; it aids and sus- 
tains him in his progress along that path — but the 
path itself is Practice. Upon this we shall place our 
foundation ; and when the first year of our labours 
closes, we hope it may be under the conscious feeling 
tliat we deserve at least as much praise as " the citizen 
who made two blades of grass grow where only one 
grew before." Swift says, that such a man is more 
meritorious than the most subtle of politicians ; and 
we shall claim praise, at all events, not more equivocal, 
if we know a garden in which the Cabbage has been 
more productive, the Apples more abundant, and the 
Mignonette more enduring, from information gathered 
in our columns. 



No. I., YOL. I. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M 


w 


U 


D 


5 


Ti. 


6 


F 


/ 


S 


1 8 


Sun 


9 


M 


10 


Tu 


11 

1 


W 



OCTOBER 5—11, 1818. 



Faith. Botanical Society of London's 
[Monthly Meeting. 
16 Sunday after Trinity. 
St. Denys. 

Oxford and Cam. Terms begin. 
Old Michaelmas Day. 



Plants dedicated to 
each day. 



Aster-like Boltoniii 
Late Feverfew. 
Chrysanthemum. 
Sweet Maudlin. 
Milky Agaric, 
'ape Aletris. 
Holly. 



Sun 
Rises. 



9aft.f) 

11 „ 

13 „ 

l.i „ 

16 „ 

18 „ 

20 „ 



Sun 
Sets. 



Moon R. 
ana Sets. 



27aft.5 

2.3 „ 

23 „ 

^1 „ 

18 „ 

16 „ 

14 „ 



10 35 

11 34 
morn. 

39 

1 49 

3 4 

4 21 



Moon's 
Age. 



1st Qr. 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 



Clock 
aft. Sun 



11 38 

11 56 

12 1> 
12 30 

12 46 

13 2 
13 17 



Day of 
Year. 



279 
280 
281 
282 
283 
284 
285 



Phi'nomexa of TnE Season*. — Mr. Siillingfleet, in J?.i5, snys 
that in Norfolk, on the 1st of this monih, the berries of the holly and 
berbery %vere fully ripe.— 2nd. The fruit of the sloe wa< ripe. Mr. 
Jenyns says, tliat, on avi-rii^e of ten >ears' observatiuns marie ai 
Camhrid^"', the leaves of the walnut hefjin to f.ill on this day. — oth. 
Catkins of sallows formed iStillingfleet ;) walnuts ripe, and birch 

Insects. — The Figure-of-eight moth (Epi- 
sema ccenila-cephuia) appears e;iily tnis 



leaves beirin to falUJenyns.) — 6th. Leaves of aspen almost all off; 
of chestnut, yeilow ; of bitch, g>'Id-coloured (Siillingfleet.)— 7th. 
IJeech leaves be>;in to fall.— 8th. Cherrj- leaves begin to fall (Jenyns.) 
— 9tlt. Bcnies of spinille-tree ripe; some a^h-trees quite leafless; 
leaves of niarsh-etder beautifully pink (Stillingfleet.)— Ilth. Ash 
leaves begin to fall (Jen\ns.) 






IS-II. 


1842. 


1S43. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 
Cloudy. 


I8i7. 
Fine. 


5 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 






Fine. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


< lo.idy. 


Rain. 


Fine. 




tine. 


Cloudy. 


Cl..u.1y. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


■showery. 


Showery. 






Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


showery. 


Fine. 




Ovt-rcast. 


Cl..ndy. 


Ram. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Rnin. 


Bain. 




Rain. 




tine. 


Showery 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Rain. 






Fine. 


Hain. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Hain. 


Showery. 



yiGURS-OT-XICHT MOTR. 

month. The bluish gre) upper win-is have a yellowish white spot in their centres. The spot being shaped like a double Mdnev or 8 eives the 
popular name to the msect. It sbou d l.e destroyed whenever observed, as its caterpillars, at the end of the foUowinR sprine Verv often 
destroy the young leaves ot plums and peaches. ° t""St cij wucn 



€[)i lltfrk'H /nut-Cnirkning. 



In commencing a Periodical which has for its object 
the dissemination of soimd t;ardening practice, adapted 
to all who cidtivate a garden, we have marked out a 
course by which we hope to render the subject readily 
familiar to the humblest cottager. We shall, there- 
fore, on all occasions, avoid the use of technical terms. 

In endeavouring to lead the mind to a careful con- 
sideration of those first principles which may be 
considered the key to the gardening art, we shall at 
the same time abstain as much as possible from the 
use of scientific terms : that is to say, in all cases 
where terms of a familiar or conversational character 
can be found sufficiently expressive. 

A plain style will, therefore, best seciu-e the end in 
view ; and as the day is gone by for rules based on 
custom only, we shall lay down a course of culture, 
which is the result of some forty years' practice, accom- 
panied by vigilant observation, and a due attention at 
all times to the improvements of the day. 

The Planting Season. — We would in all cases 
advise early Autumn planting of fruit-trees, with the 
exception of the vine and the fig, provided the soil 
can be prepared in a mellow state. In the case of 
stubborn clayey soil*, however, the business had best 
stand over until the spring ; but the soil may be thrown 
out immediately, and by lying e.xposed the whole win- 
ter will be much improved for planting purpo>cs. 

Preparations, therefore, may be made forthwith ; 
and in order to proceed in a businesslike way, the 
amateur and cottager should look over their existing 
stock, in order to see whether any decaying or worthless 
kinds should be destroyed. Another matter requires 
attention each succeeding autumn. However com- 
plete the arrangement might have been considered at 
the preceding planting-season, farther improvements 
will annually suggest themselves — not onlv as to the 



choice of individual trees or bushes, but as to the line 
of succession which the garden at large offers. 

All these things duly considered, stakes should be 
put down at the respective stations where a tree is 
Inquired, and a number marked on the stake referring 
to a list containing the selection previously made. 

Choice of Trees. — It frequently happens that 
some trees or bushes have to be purchased from the 
nursery -gardens ; when such is the case, we would 
look them out at this period, and cause them to be 
marked with matting, which is the ordinary practice 
in nurseries. By these means, very superior trees 
may be secured at the same price as the ordinary 
ones ; for in general a fixed price is charged, whether 
for dwarf trees or standards; and as purchasers con- 
tinue to select, of covu-se a very inferior sample falls 
to the lot of those who come last. 

The amateur who wants a peach, a nectarine, or an 
apricot-tree, should be very scrupulous in his choice. 
Some of those trees which look very lusty and pro- 
mising in the nursery, are at the same time very 
unfit for permanent trees. The first point in 
selection, we need hardly say, is general health of 
constitution, litis is evinced by healthy shoots, by a 
clear hark, and by a total absence of gum. A second 
is a thorough and equal union of stock and scion : if 
durability is required, the two should be nearly equal. 
If the scion overgrows the stock, the tree -ivill be 
fruitful betimes, but may not be expicted to endure 
so long. Another, and most essential aff.iir, is, that 
the young trees be well balanced; that is, that the 
number and strength of the branches on each side be 
nearly equal. Any great disparity in point of vigour 
between the two sides of a trained tree, is with 
difficulty overcome afterwards. It can, indeed, 
only be done in the growing season, by frequent 
stopping of the growing points • of this, however, 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



more in due time. Thus far the amateur. We will 
now offer a few words of adnce to both amateur and 
cottager. 

Choice of Applf.-trees.- —Canker is perhaps the 
greatest enemy we have to encounter in the apple. 
A practice has prevailed in some nurseries — ^and we 
hope that by this time it is nearly exploded — of 
attempting to render cankered or diseased trees sale- 
able, by cutting their main shoots back. Trees thus 
treated will produce strong shoots for the first year, 
which too often tempt the inexpei'ienced. After being 
planted a year or two, however, they revert to their 
original state of disease, in nearly all cases. Such, of 
course, should be avoided ; and they are readily 
known by having very long shoots on a very thick 
old stern. These remarks apply chiefly to dwarf trees 
intended for espaliers. 

Another great fault in standard apple-trees is a 
thin and sickly stem. This is frequently the case in 
obscure countrj' nui-series, and arises, we conceive, 
merely from the mode of training. Our better sort 
of nurserymen make a practice of " spurring in," or 
shortening, the side-shoots, whilst the grafted shoot 
is forming the stem of the standard. Some coinitry 
nursery gardeners cut such side-shoots clean away at 
once, but spurring in, according to the other practice 
for a year or two, umch increases the strength and 
thickness of the stem. 

Choice of Flemish Pears. — As to form or figure, 
everything depends on the mode of training. If for 
the pyramidal mode, (having the form of the Larch,) 
they should of course have some length of stem ; if 
for a low horizontal trellis, they should have a ])air of 
leaders at least, to turn right arid left : care should 
be taken to select none with decayed points — some of 
the kinds are liable to this defect. 

Fruits which should be more encouraged. — The 
Morello cherry is one of the most useful of our hardy 
fruits, yet it is seldom found in the garden ot tlie 
amateur to any extent, and scarcely ever in that of 
the cottager. It is adapted fur either the ordinary 
rough espalier or for walls or fences. On a soutli 
wall it attains adegreeof flavour which woud astonish 
many persons who had been in the habit of tasting it 
from cold aspects. It will, moreover, if carefullv 
netted, hang well on the tree until the middle of 
October. It is one of the surest fruit-bearing trees we 
possess — bearing with certainty, even on a northern 
aspect. Trained as a rough espalier, it may be 
covered with a net, and be servicable for man)' weeks 
for making tarts. It prefers a deep and somewhat 
unctuous loam. Cottagers would do well to pay some 
attention to its cultivation, as it would succeed to 
admiration on any gable which would prove too cold 
for the apricot or the pear. 

Plums. — Tliere are some very old kinds of plums 
which are deserving of a very extended cultivation ; 
of such are the Morocco, and the Precoce de Tours. 



These are two of the surest-bearing plums ill the king- 
dom, and they ripen very early. We have never 
grown them on common standards, but we have no 
doubt of their ansvifering admirably, and also of their 
proN'ing a profitable crop for the cottager The Wash- 
ington also might be planted as a standard by the 
latter class, being very hardy, of strong growth, and 
a full bearer. 

The Black Currant.' — Where the soil is of a moist 
character, or even a very adhesive loam, this proves 
a most profitable crop to the cottager. It frequently 
succeeds by the side of such ditches as become tainted 
with the wash from the house or the pig-stye. There 
are boggj' nooks in some gardens of a damp character, 
which could scarcely be better employed than under 
this crop. 

Filberts. — We would remind the amateur, that 
such are worth adding to his stock of fruits, provided 
means are taken to dwarf them and to ensure their 
bearing. To accomplish this, they must be on a 
single stem ; the head must be formed in their earlier 
stages like a currant-bush, open in the centre, and all 
superfluous young shoots which, crossing each other, 
obstruct light and air, pruned away — the stronger 
shoots at the extremity shortened, and, above all 
things, suckers kept down. The white and red filbert 
the frizzled filbert, and the Cosfoid, are the best. 

Fresh or Maiden Soils. — Those whose gardens 
are of a sterile or exhausted character should take care 
to provide some fresh soil for planting new trees in — 
the more turf or coarse grass it contains, the better. 
It should be rough chopped over, and any ordinary 
vegetable soil, weeds, or decayed vegetables, may be 
blended with it. 

AcCELlRATING THE RiPENING OF TIIK WoOD. 

Those who possess vines, peaches, nectarines, and 
apricots, should now take every means in their power 
to ensure the ripening of the wood. Where trees 
have been neglected in their summtr pruning, a trim- 
ming should now be resorted to, althoujh late. All 
late growths, and all superfluous points of young 
shoots which shade the principal leaves, may be cut 
away. The vine — especially out of doors — will require 
every lateral, or side-shoot, to be pinched away ; and 
even those side-shoots which had been stopped to a 
single eye in the end of June, may now be entirely 
displaced, in order to throw some lig''t on the early- 
made leaves, and, even at this period, on the fruit. 
Those amateurs who have canvas or bunting at com- 
mand, would do well to cover their vines, about four 
o'clock in the afternoon, while the sun shines on them. 
In the event of dull days, however, it need not be 
applied until six o'clock. 

Gathering Fkui's.- — We will merely allude to the 
necessity of paying a constant attention at this period 
to this needful proceeding ; in our next we will oti'ec 
some farther advice, also more ordinary calendarial 
matter. R. Ehrington, Oiilton Park. 



€^t !0tEk'0 jFlumrr-cSnrknitig. 



The culture of flowers is one of the most delightful 
and healthful recreations to which man can devote 
the powers of his mind and body. Even those who 
thereby earn their daily bread, may enjoy pleasures 
that the mere mechanic or artisan is debarred from by 
the very nature of his labours. The clear light of 
heaven, the sweet fresh air, and the beauties of the 
objects of the gardener's care, are all sources of the 



most unalloyed pleasure ; and it is a wise dispensa- 
tion of the Giver of all good, that those delightful 
pleasures are within the reach of all. To the lady or 
gentleman florist, to the gardener by profession, to 
the amateur and the cottager, the flower-garden is, or 
may be, if the proper spirit is brought into action, an 
elevating pursuit. We who have tasted those plea- 
sures for nearly half a century, being desirous to in- 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



crease the taste and instruct the ignorant, propose to 
give a weekly essay on the subject ; and if we can by j 
such labours make the culture of flowers more gene- 
ral, and the practice more easy, our object will be 
accomplished, and we shall think our attempt will 
have been a mite cast into the treasury of human 
happiness. 

The Flower-garden. — Under this head we shall 
class those gardSns where a gardener or gardeners are 
employed. At this season of the year the floral beau- 
ties are in a great measure departing. Our chief care 
ought to be, to keep everything clean and neat. Cut 
down all decaying flowers, tie up the remainder, and 
keep the lawn short and clean swept, so that on fine 
days the garden may present a cheerful appear- 
ance. In the Frame-garden the auriculas and poly- 
anthuses should have as much air, and be kept as 
dry as possible — removing all decaying leaves as fast 
as they appear. All stores of verbenas, petunias, 
calceolarias, and other things to plant out in spring, 
require the same treatment. Keep large numbers of 
those plants, so as to have an abundant supply in the 
spring. It is much better to have a few to spare than 
to have to propagate them when they are wanted. 
Chrysanthemums will now be in flower, and should be 
well tied up, or the autiminal winds will damage their 
beauty. 

Amateor's Flower-garden. — There are a large 
number of individuals who, loving a garden and 
having leisure time, devote a part of it, very wisely 
and properly, to the cultivation of flowers. Perhaps 
a still greater number would enjoy this rational recre- 
ation if they had the requisite information how to set 
about it. 

Supposing you have a garden of moderate size, and 
pretty well stocked with the usual quantity of flowers, 
you should resolve to do everything in its proper 
season, and do it well and thoroughly. If possible, have 
by you in a snug corner the following soils, in such 
quantities as you may judge necessary: somegoodloam, 
vegetable mould (decayed leaves), peat soil, and rotten 
dung, with a small heap of pure sand. E.KCepting the 
last, which should be kept in a shed quite dry, let the 
others be turned over occasionally in dry weather, 
and always kept free from weeds. These materials are 
almost indispensable. Have also all kinds of tools in 
readiness, kept in a shed or toolhouse, quite clean 
and in good order. Where this is not the case, when 
you come to your garden you will find your tools 
work badly, and will soon be tired of using them. 
Pay particular attention, then, to this head : keep 
your tools clean, and every one in its proper place. 
You will find this a great comfort and convenience to 
you in your gardening operation .. 

Cottage Flower-garden. — lowever humble may 
be the cottager's dwelling, the addition of a border 
or two of flowers gives it an air of comfort that to 
a rightly constituted mind is exceedingly pleasing. 
The culture of those flowers must exercise upon the 
cottager's mind the best effects: but we would not 
confine this pleasure to the labourer in the field or 
the dweller in the country only. Our mechanics and 
artizans, the workers in the busy factory, in the 
congregated masses of human beings of our large 
towns : these ought to have a flower-plot each ; to 
have something growing in the open air of heaven to 
draw their minds from sensual, besotting indulgences; 
— something to cultivate, watch, and care for, — to de- 
light in and love. The two flower-gardens are two 
distinct things ■ one adjoining the cottage, the other 
in a field let out in small lots. The dwelling- 



houses of the mechanic are, as is well known, in 
general in streets and lanes, where land is too valuable 
to be spai-ed for g!.rdening purposes : hence it becomes 
necessary to the poor man loving a garden to have 
one in the field, at as short a distance off' as possible j 
and we earnestly wish that the owners of land near large 
towns would be more liberal in their grants of land, 
for the purpose of giving the artizan so inclined an 
opportunity of having a small garden for flowers as 
well as vegetables. We know, and rejoice that there 
are many persons enjoying such small gardens ; but 
we would wish their number to be greatly increased, 
to meet the wants of our growing population. Having 
said so much about the desirableness of the cottager's 
flower-garden, we will now say a few words about the 
means of furnishing it with plants. It is not to be 
expected that the cottager or mechanic is able to 
purchase many or very choice plants ; but one man 
can spare a few pence to buy a root, and another can 
buy a different one : the two can then propagate from 
their respective purchases, and have the power to ex- 
change. This principle, carried out on a large scale, 
would furnish plants sufficient for a great number of 
gardens. Seeds of biennials (two-year-living plants) 
might be purchased in the same manner : one man 
would buy sweet-williams, another hollyhocks, ano ther 
wallflowers, and so on to an almost unlimited extent. 
Then the day of exchanging comes — and what a 
pleasant aff"air that would be ! how many kindly feel- 
ings excited — what pleasing smiles — what admiration 
of each other's garden and flowers ! Would that such 
scenes were ten thousand times more common than 
they are ! 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

The question may naturally enough be asked, What 
are "Florists' Flowers?" To those who cultivate 
them the term appears simple and proper ; but a 
number of persons use it without properly understand- 
ing it. In their minds, to the cultivation of any kind 
of ornamental plants, the term "Floriculture" — or 
the culture of florists' flowers — would apply ; but 
"Florists' Flowers" are such as have been improved, 
either in form, colour, or size, or in all those qualities 
combined. It is true those gems of the earth are all 
beautiful, some exquisitely so, and that art cannot 
improve them : we might mention, as examples, 
the majestic, lovely, white lih', with its sweet, un- 
rivaled flowers of purest white ; the humble, but 
sweet-scented violet ; and the lily of the valley. These 
are familiar, and well known to all ; but, on the other 
hand, just glance at the wild tulip, and heart's-ease, or 
pansy, — the single carnation and pink, the polyanthus 
and auricula, — and the most prejudiced mind must 
allow that their beauties have been greatly improved 
by the florist's skill and unwearied persevei'ance. 
It is a remarkable fact, that the beautiful varieties 
now so much admired are principally raised by men 
in very humble life — men who earn their daily bread 
in the close workshop or the damp mine. It is also a 
curious fact, that our agricultural labourers have paid 
almost no attention to the raising of new varieties of 
florists' flowers. Of late years, indeed, the example 
of our shoemakers, tailors, and colliers, has been fol- 
lowed by men in higher ranks of life — by none 
iuore conspicuously than the Rev. Mr. Tyso, who 
has done more for the "ranunculus" than any other 
cultivator we know of. There are also some commer- 
cial men who have added to their other operations of 
cultivating fruit and forest trees for sale, the culture 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



of "Florists' flowers;" and it is now becoming the 
fashion in almost every garden to attempt a little in 
this delightful art ; yet the meed of praise is justly 
due to the artizans above mentioned — they were the 
pioneers in the art of producing florists' flowers, and 
we fervently hope that the cultivators of those lovely 
ornaments may be increased tenfold. We are quite 
satisfied that thereby the happiness of man will be 
increased — the mind will bo weaned from more de- 
basing pursuits, and led to admire the goodness of the 
Author and Creator of all that is lovely on earth! 

The subjects for this part of our work may be 
classed as follows : — Anemone, Auricula, Carnation, 
Dahlia, Polyanthus, Pink, Pansy, Ranunculus, 
Rose, Tulip. 

Tulip. — At this season of the year the preparation 
for planting this favourite flower should be in a state 
of forwardness. The situation for the tulip-bed should 
be open to the full influence of the sun and air. If 
there is a hedge, or other shelter, on the north and 
west side of the bed, so much the better. The best 
soil is a light sandy loam, mixed with a small portion 
■ of very rotten manure : by no means make it too 
rich, or the colours will run. Turn this soil, so 
mixed, frequently. The bed should be well drained 
with a layer of rubble ; and immediately over the 
drainage put a thin layer of littery dung, to keep the 
soil quite separate from the drainage ; then put in the 



soil, to the depth of fifteen or sixteen inches. The bed 
should be raised, either by an edging of boards or 
slate, about six inches above the walks, and, when the 
soil is first placed in, it should be two inches above 
the edging, so as to allow it to settle and be pretty 
nearly level to the edging by the time of planting. 
The best time for that operation being about the first 
week in November. 

Auricula and Polyanthus. — These should now 
be placed in their winter quarters, (or frame,) re- 
moving pi-eviously all decayed leaves, and stirring up 
the soil gently with a small fork or stick. No water 
is now required, and full exposure to sun and air on all 
fair days will be beneficial. 

Carnation. — This beautiful class of florists'-flowers 
require considerable attention. They should now be 
in pairs, in five-inch pots, and placed in frames front- 
ing the south. Examine .nem carefully every day, to 
see that no mildew or Afireworms are preying upoD 
them. Very little watf r is required. 

Pink.— Equally beautiful with the carnation, and 
much more hardy, is the graceful pink. At this 
season pinks have been planted out in thfir situation 
for blooming. A similar compost to that for the tulip 
will suit them, with the addition of a portion of 
leaf-mould. They require but little care ; only keep 
a look-out against snails and wireworms, and destroy 
them. 

T. Appleby. 



€\)t Wuk'B litrjjm-fnrknmg. 



Borecole and Brussels Sprouts. — Plant a large 
bed, if not done last month. The heads and sprouts 
will keep the table supplied throughout the spring. 
The Brussels sprout, above all others of the cabbage 
tribe, should be now cultivated, not only on account 
of its great excellence, but because of its very large 
produce. The French express this valuable quality 
by naming it "The Thousand-headed Cabbage." 
When dry weather occurs at this season, it is a plan 
almost indispensable for securing success to soak with 
water the bed in which the seedlings are growing ; to 
fill the hole made by the dibble with water before 
inserting the plant, and to have the planting-time late 
in the afternoon. 

The only objection to the Brussels sprout is that it 
is not quite so hardy as the Savoy, but it is more capa- 
ble of enduring severe frost than most kinds of bi-ocoli; 
and very rarely does a winter occur in southern or 
midland England which the Brussels sprouts cannot 
endure. Then it has these great merits — its sprouts 
grow close to the stem, so that the plants may be nearer 
together than Savoys ; and M. Van Mons is quite cor- 
rect in observing that it grows well in situations gene- 
rally unfavourable to the success of the cabbage tribe, 
— as between rows of potatoes and scarlet runners, or 
even among young trees. The bottom leaves of 
Brussels sprouts of advanced growth should be taken 
off to encourage the sprouting. 

Cabbages. — Plant the main crops of those sown in 
August. The produce will be for table use from May 
to the end of July of next year. The same precautions 
in planting are required as mentioned above for bore- 
cole. The ground should be deeply trenched, and it is 
very desirable that it be laid up high, in narrow beds, 
so as to avoid the necessity of being trampled upon ; 
for it remains under this crop for nearly twelve months, 
and the ground, even of itself, becomes more conso- 



lidated than is beneficial to the roots. Employ the 
strongest plants, and plant two feet apart each way. 
If strong early-sown coleworts* are at hand, plant a 
row between each two rows of cabbages, and a plant 
between each two cabbage- plants. These coleworts 
will be useful to pull up for early spring iise ; and the 
outside leaves, when potatoes are short, would be usei'ul, 
boiled, for a pig ; or given raw to a cow. If neither 
be kept, let the leaves be trenched into any spare 
ground as manure. Take care to fill every spare piece 
of ground with plants of some kind, for very possibly 
articles of food may be both scarce and dear next 
spring. 

Cauliflowers sown in August may be so treated 
as to aiFord a successional produce during June and 
July of next year. If some of the plants are taken 
up, then' roots trimmed, and, being potted, are plunged 
in the earth under a cold frame until the end of 
February, to be then turned out under hand-glasses, 
their heads will be fit for use early in June. Those 
plants which are now pricked out upon a south border 
and left unmoved until the end of March, and are 
then finally planted out, will produce heads at the end 
of June; whilst a third portion of plants pricked out 
at the end of the present month, and not moved to 
their final bed until mid-April, will be fit for table in 
the early part of July. 

Carrots, when ripe, may now be taken up and 
stored in a little dry sand, or without sand, if stored 
in a cellar, or tolerably dry place. 

Leeks. — Plant; and hoe frequently between those 
planted in previous months. The soil for the leek 
cannot well be too rich, and certainly cannot be dug 
too finely, for it delighis in an open soil. In trans- 
planting these and other plants with similarly fleshy 

* COLEWORT (Collet in some places) — a cabbage, previously to its 
heart becoming firm ; and to be eaten in that young state. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



brittle roots, the trowel is a tool far preferable to the 
dibble. Make the bole for the plant with the trowel, 
and then move the leek with the same implement, so 
tliat tile earth about the roots is fitted to the hole pre- 
viously opened. 

KiD.NEY Beans yet bearing may be prolonged in 
that state for some weeks linger by arching over the 
rows with sticks, and protecting them with a mat at 
night. 

Lettuces, sown in August, prick out as close as pos- 
silde, either under a frame, or, without that sheltei-, on 
a very dry border, facing the south. The best vai-ieties 
for tluis standing tlirough the winter are the Brown 
Dutch, Brown Cos, Hardy Hammersmith Green, and 
Green Cos. In planting out injure the roots as little 
as possible. 

Love .\pples. — Gather during dry weather. Cut 
off a portion of the stalks wii'i each ; tie them at short 
intervals along strings, and fa=^ten these by their ends 
to the opposite sides of a dry room, near the ceiling. 

O.Nioxs. — Autumn-sown onions should be kept free 
from weeds ; and a little dry earth or dust shook or 
sifted amongst them, to establish firmness and healthi- 
ness. 

Store Onions should be cleansed and turned about, 
and the defective picked out. 

Parslf.v. — Cut down, that it may produce fresh 
vigorous leaves before the winter stops its growth. 

Potatoes. — Those who have potatoes and intend 
planting again, sliould now set about it ; for that spring 
planting is worthy of little dependence must have been 
well tested by many, of late years. At Bicton we have 
had this season most abundant crops, of good qualitv, 
from those planted last autumn ; and for several pre- 
vious years the autiimn-plnnied have been the only pota- 
toes of good quality and abundant in produce, 

Radisues (TuRNir). — Sow on a warm south border, 
or on an asparagus bed that has had the stems cleared 
away and received its autumn dressing. They will 
grow milder, and continue longer good here than on 
any other soil. The white Spanish and the large purple 
are the best varieties for sowing at this season. 

Spinach. — The surface soil of the winter spinach 
shoidd be kept open and healthy, to prevent its canker- 
ing. 

Late-sown Turnips should be encouraged by fre- 
quent hoeings, and thorough cleansing established in 
every corner, and well maintained at all times and 
seasons, which is the only sure means of eradicating 
and preventing the ravages of vermin. 

James Barnes, Bicton. 



POTATO PLANTING. 
It will be seen from the statement of Mr. Barnes, 
that even in Devonshire, one of the most rainy counties 
of England, and in 1 848 — after a sunimei the wettest 
and most ungenial for the potato within the memory of 
any middle-aged man^the potatoes planted the pre- 
vious autumn were those which alone gave good crops ; 
those planted in spring having failed there as tliey 
have fa-led elsewhere throughout the length and 
breadth, not only of England, Ireland, and Scotland, 
but of many parts of Europe. For three years the 
Editor of The Cottage Gardener has adopted the same 
time for planting the potato, and with signal success. 
Wliilst his neighbours around are losing more than 
half their crops, and even those stored will be for 
the most part lost — and that chiefly from an errone- 
ous mode of storing — the Editor has not had one in 
twenty diseased; and those he has had stored, being 
done 80 in a mode which prevents unnatural heating 



and premature sprouting, will continue gcod, as they 
continued last year, from September untd the follow- 
ing June. From long ex])erience, confirmed by 
numerous experiments and the experience of others, 
the Editor urgently recommends the following rules 
for growing the potato— rules which, if strictly fol- 
lowed, will restore the constitution of the plant, and 
render it as safe a crop as any other that can be culti- 
vated by the spade : 

1. Never allow your potatoes to be uncovered by 
the earth for a single day ; but as they are taken up, 
place them in alternate layers with earth, wherever 
you intend to keep them through the winter. The 
heap thus formed must be Drought narrowing to the 
top, like the roof of a hous' , and covered over a foot 
deep with earth to exclude ihe wet and frost. 

2. Plant at the end of Oct( ber, or early in November, 
during open, dry weather. Dig only enough ground 
for a row, and then insert the sets with a dibble, for 
this keeps the ground from being hardened bv tram- 
pling. Eight inches is the safest depth in the midland 
and northern counties, but six inches is a better depth 
for the southern counties. If planting is deferred till 
the spring, six inches is the best depth everywhere; 
and be sure to keep the potatoes covered in single 
layers with earth, and earth only, until the very day 
of planting. There is no loss of ground bj- planting 
in autumn, for rows of cabbages and savoys may be 
planted between the rows of potatoes. 

3. Plant moderate-sized whole potatoes; that is, 
potatoes weighing about two ounces each. 

4. Plant on ground that does not require the appli- 
cation of manure at the time of planting, b\it that is in 
good condition from manure applied to the previous 
crops. Never grow the potato two years following on 
the same plot. 

MANAGEMENT OF SOIL. 
.\ SOIL would never get exhausted, if managed with 
skill, hut would continue to improve in depth and fer- 
tility in proportion to the industry bestowed upon it. 
The food of plants, it is true, may be exhausted from 
the soil by a repetition of cropping with any one family 
of plants, if we neglect the application of such fer- 
tilizers as may have been taken from the soil by that 
family ; but no part of the growing season is required 
for the soil to rest, or lay fallow, if judiciously managed 
by a successional varying of the crops, or supplying 
to them such food as may be a compensation for what 
has been taken off by the previous crop. The first 
object to be attained for securing a certain and profit- 
able return of produce from the soil must be thorough 
drainage ; — the next object is, breaking into the subsoil 
to the desired depth — not without first considering 
whether it is proper and profitable to sliift or turn up 
the subsoil at once to the influence of the atmosphere, 
or whether it is best to break into it well first, by shift- 
ing the surface soil, and allowing the subsoil to remain 
to receive — first the beneficial inliuence of the atmo- 
sphere, and then — at the next trenching, a portion oi 
the subsoil may be safely stirred up and mixed with 
the surface soil ; this practice continued for every suc- 
ceeding crop, will establish a healthy fertilizing sur- 
face soil to any desired depth. If repeated successional 
surface stirrings are adopted, according to the nature 
of the soil and weather, every growing crop will con- 
tinue in healthy luxuriance, without either suffering or 
receiving injury from too much moisture, drought, or 
frost. In addition, by constantly scarifying, hoeing, 
and forking the surface soil, not only obnoxious insects 
and their larvae are expelled, but weeds would never 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



make tlieir appearance, much less have a chance of 
committing their accustomed robbery of the soil and 
crops. Besides, by such repeated stirring, the soil is 
always prepared, sweet and healthy, for succeeding 
crops; — no mean consideration, either when we observe 
the loss of time and produce occurring to such a ruin- 
ous extent in some localities, by allowing weeds to rob 
and choke the growing crops, and to shed their seeds, 
productive of a progeny similarly injurious to the crops 
next in rotation. 



The application, of manures is most essential, and 
may be applied most beneticially when the soil is 
established in a he.ilthy condition, and maintained thus 
by a constant attention to surface-stirring. Yet the 
application of manure is a secondary consideration , 
for though it may be very liberally applied, and with 
considerable expense, yet, without first insuring the 
healthiness of the soil, much property and labour will 
be sacrificed. 

J. B. 



Ttlmrtllaneniis !liifnrnintinn. 



CHEAP MANURES. 

[No. I.] 
Every substance which increases the fertility of the 
soil into which it is dug or mixed, is a manure. Even 
sand may be a manure, for when mingled thoroughly 
with a heavy, clayey soil, it improves its staple, makes 
it more open, helps to enable all superfluous water to 
escape from it, and thus keeps the earth warmer, for 
wet soils are cold soils; and it in other ways makes 
the crops upon it more productive. Sand, therefore, 
is a manure for heavy soils. However, we only mention 
this to impress upon our readers, that when we talk 
of manures we do not mean the dung of animals only. 
It is quite true that rmless a soil is kept dteply, 
thoroughly, and constantly stirred, either by the spade, 
fork, or hoe, half the benefits derivable from any 
manure are lost. This is no new notion, for even 
Cato, who lived some two thousand years ago, said, 
in his book (De Re Rusticd) on cultivating the soil, 
"What is the most important part of farming? — to 
plough. What is the next most important? — to plouyh. 
The third is to manure.' 

But though quite true that to stir the soil often and 
deei.ly, is one of the most important practices of all 
cultivation; yet unless we return to the soil by ma- 
nuring it, what our crops have taken from it by their 
roots, it will soon become incapable of yielding any- 
thing hut weeds. 

Every gardener is fully aware of this — and no com- 
plaint is more common, both with the auiateur and 
the cottager, than of the expense and difficulty of 
obtaining a sufiicient supply of manure ; and yet that 
difficulty arises from their own waste and neglect. If 
all the night soil, vegetable and animal refvise, soap- 
suds, etc., were as carefully preserved in Great Britain 
as they are in China, each household would have a 
store of manure nearly sufficient for fertilizing the 
garden ground required for supplying that household 
with vegetables. We shall recur to this important 
department of cultivation more in detail, but at pre- 
sent will do no more than request attention to the 
following very valuable and useful communication 
upon the subject. 

FILTERED HOUSE SEWAGE. 

EY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S., ETC. 

In erecting, last year, a cottage at Waldronfield, 
near Croydon, I took the opportunity of testing a plan 
for employing the sewage of the house (I use the word 
sewage in this Paper in its most extensive sense) for 
the use of the garden, which lias succeeded so well 
that I think it might be employed in most situations, 
with the required modifications, with the same measure 
of success. For although, in my case, I have the advan- 
tage of a considerable fall between the house and the 
kltchen-gai-den, yet that circumstance is not essential 
to the success of the plan : for even in the case of a 
perfect level, it would only be necessary to add a com- 



mon iron lifting pump to the second tank; or the 
object might be accomplished by even one tank only, 
if furnished with a division. My plan was to test the 
possibility of filtering the entire sewage of the house 
through a filter of sand sufficiently fine to remove 
almost all the mechanically suspended matters of the 
sewage, so as to render the filtered liquid available as 
a rich liquid manure, without being offensive to those 
who had the use of the garden. For this purpose I 
had two tanks, constructed of bricks and mortar, and 
lined with Parker's cement, of about five feet cube 
each. Into the first, marked No. 1. in the an- 
neexd plan, a!l the sewage of the house is discharged, 
through an iron pipe of 4J-inch bore. This tank is 



Section of the Sewage-system at Mr. Johnson's 
Coltage, on a scale of 30 feet to the inch. 




A. The House. 

B. Pipe conveying 
Sewage to Tank No. I. 

C. C. C. Ground-line, jjlanted 
with Shrubs. 

D. Plug regulating the Discharge of the Filter No. 2. 

E. The Filler. 

F. The Kitchen Garden. 

furnished with an iron pipe of the same diameter, 
which (regulated by a long-handled plug from the 
top of tlie tank, marked fJ) discharges the sewage as 
it is needed from the tank No. 1. into the tank No. 2. 
This lower tank is also of a cube, equal to about five 
Ceet in diameter. This is furnished with a filter, 
through which the liquid portion of the sewage finds 
its way, and is thence drawn off from the bottom of 
the tank by menus of iron pipes of |-inch bore, to con- 
venient places in the garden. The filter (E) is placed 
(resting on bricks) about eighteen inches from the 
bottom of the tank : the bottom of the filter is formed 
of perforated tiles, used by maltsters for their kiln 
floors ; on this is laid a layer of gravel, about two 
inches thick, on this about two inches of coarse sand, 
and on the top of the sand (to prevent disturbance by 
the rushing in of the sewage from the upper tank) 
another layer of the maltsters' tiles. Thus constructed, 
the sewage finds its way through the filter with suffi- 
cient rapidity for the copious supply of the Kitchen- 
garden. As thus prepared, the liquid manure passes 
through, so as to possess but little smell, and without 
leaving any obnoxious appearance on the surface of 
the ground. I need hardly say that the effect of this 
liquid is exceedingly powerful ; and we have noticed 
it as remarkably so in the case of some newly-planted 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



bods of asparagus and rhubarb, which have been irri- 
gated with it ; and, in fact, there is no doubt of its 
value for ensuring tlie rapid growth of all kinds of 
newly-planted culinary vegetables. I have so arranged 
the pipes in my kitchen-garden, that I can irrigate to 
any portion of it, by merely turning a cock. This plan 
of fil'ering seems, in fact, to remove all the objections 
that can be possibly urged against the use of the house 
sewage ; and in tlie case of gardens, both for the ama- 
teur and the poor cottager, I feel convinced that by 
such a mode as tliis, many of the difticuliies of inces- 
sant cropping, and little-varied exhausting rotations, 
may be successfully met. The waste of fertilizing mat- 
ters in such sewage is, in fact, so much larger than is 
commonly supposed, (a loss by the ordinary mode of 
constructing these tanks disguised in every possible 
way,) that I feel assured it only needs the adoption of 
some such a mode as that which I have described, of 
rendering its use no longer distasteful to the occupants 
of the house, to ensure its almost universal employ- 
ment. The amount of sewage is much larger than is 
commonly understood ; and in dry weather, when the 
demands of the gardener are larger, it is, we find, very 
easy to increase its bulk, in case of need, by pumping 
water into the tanks through the ordinary means. It 
may be useful to those who are about making similar 
attempts for me to add, that the j-inch iron pipes (gas 
service pipe) cost Is. per yard, and the iron cocks of 
the same bore, 2s. 6(/.* 



RASPBERRIES. 

It will be interesting and useful to many, to know 
a simple and certain mode of producing an abundant 
crop of this very useful fruit in a small space. 

There are many varieties of various properties of 
this fniit, but, after practically cultivating several 
within these thirty years, I now confine myself to 
three of the most prolific — tb ^ Yellow Beehive, the 
True Fastolf, and the Autumn-bearing ; the latter of 
which I should confine myself to, were I only to 
cultivate one variety, as it is the most profuse bearer 
when managed as follows : — Select a corner, or, which 
is better, an outside of a quarter, next the walk or 
alley, to be planted as a boundary ; trench the ground 
well, and work in a good portion of rotten vegetable 
reftise — leaves, or even old tan, they are fond of 
Incorporate all well together by frequent forking 
through the winter; procure suckers, which maybe 
safely planted any time previous to the middle of 
March, to produce a good crop the same season ; 
plant two feet from plant to plant, and cut down close 
to the ground the first week in April, and mulch with 
half-decayed leaves or vegetable refuse. The suckers, 
a; soon as three inches high, should be hoed or thinned 
out to at least six inches apart; and a third of them 
should have their tops picked out when about fifteen 
or eighteen inches high, another third of them when 
a foot higher, and the others allowed to grow their 
natural length. This will insirre an abundant crop 
from the earth's surface to the topmost branches, in 
regular succession, from the end of July to the middle 
of November, and when the winters are favourable, 
even longer. A most essential point is, as soon as 
they begin to swell their fruit, to apply occasionally 
good soakings of liquid manure, brewed from the 
excrements of horses, cows, pigs, sheep, deer, or 
])ouItry. Apply, also, a good portion of chimney-soot 
and some salt — which treatment we find swells the 
fiiiit not only to an immense size, but greatly im- 
proves the flavour. 

* 1 purchased mine of Messrs. Baiiey, Pegg, and Co., Bankside, 
London. 



Fifty plants thus managed will produce enough to 
supply a large family. The raspberry-canes should 
never be allowed to stand upon the same ground more 
than two years. A succession should be planted 
every season, and treated as above to maintain an 
abundance of fine fruit. If they are tardy in pro- 
ducing suckers, scrape off the mulch with a draw-hoe, 
by which you will cut and bruise some of the surface- 
roots, and thus induce buds, and consequently suckers. 
The mulch should be at once returned again. 

J. Barnes, Bicton Gardens. 



POTATO-PLANTING IN IRELAND. 

The gratifying intelligence has reached us that, 
in some parts of Ireland where autuiun-planting has 
been introduced, it has been signally successful. The 
following is an extract from a letter we have received 
from Guy P. L'Estrange, Esq., Shantonagh, near 
Castle Bla}Tiey : 

" Last year I had a short correspondence with you 
relating to autumn planting of potatoes. I tried it, 
and although it was November before my crop was 
put in, it succeeded well, and there were none dis- 
eased : all those planted in the spring have suffered 
more or less. I am now desirous of planting my 
general crop in this month, and should be very happy 
to learn if you still adhere to your opinion upon this 
subject. 

" I beg also to enclose you a short account of an 
experiment made by Sir William Bethain (Vice- 
President of the Royal Society.) at Dublin, by plant- 
ing the offsets, from which a fine crop has resulted, 
these I have myself seen. 

" With respect to the general crop in Ireland, I 
fear the)' are now going very fast indeed ; and I 
think, by Christmas we shall have a great scarcity of 
potatoes : the late planted never came to maturity." 

The following is the extract from Sir W. Betham's 
letter, referred to by Mr. L'Estrange : 

" Royal Society, Dublin, 8t!i Sept., 1848. 

"I called the attention of the cultivators of pota- 
toes, early in the year, to an experiment [ practised 
last year (184" ;) viz., that of taking off all the stems 
which arose from a cut of the potato excejit one, and 
transplanting them in drills, two feet apart, and one 
fout in the drill between each plant. The trans- 
planted stems produced me an excellent produce of 
good sound potatoes. This spring I adopted the same 
practice on a larger scale with perfect success, and 
am now digging a good crop from the transplanted 
drills, of red apples and cups, and have not discovered 
a sinj^le instance of disease in either kind ; the produce 
of both are clean and perfectly sound. The most 
important result, however, was with the ridges from 
which I took the offsets, leaving but one stalk to each 
plant; the produce has been remarkably abundant, 
and all large and marketable potatoes. My ridges 
were four feet six inches wide. I weighed the pro- 
duce of a perch of twenty-one feet, and found eight 
stone of large sound potatoes ! 

" Being in London in March last, I saw on the 
table of a friend, where I dined, some very fine mealy 
potatoes. I procured twelve large tubers, which I 
brought over in my carpet bag. I cut them in the 
usual manner, and planted them in drills, on a plot 
twenty-one feet by twelve. I dug the produce the 
day before yesterday, and to my astonishment I 
weighed them — ten stone of excellent sound potatoes 
without any small ones ! They were treated in the 
same manner as the others ; viz., only one stalk leftto 
each plant, and the offsets transplanted." 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



COTTAGE AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 

(No. I.) 



BY THE EDITOR. 



r 




WELL-ORDEKED garden is a real friend) 
always ready to afford seasonable aid ; 
yet no cottagers, who are wise, will 
ever think of getting a living out of 
their gardens. The_v who might be 
contented to live upon nothing hut 
potatoes, cabbages, and similar food, 
fesx^iV-i^^' would soon he reduced to the present 
T'-V^riZ^i condition of the Irish peasantry : drag- 
ging on at all times a degraded exist- 
ence, never doing more than just 
escaping from actual want ; and when 
a failure of any particular garden 
crops occurred, starving or living upon charity. No 
right-minded English cottager will desire such a 
state of things as this ; but it is a totally different 
matter for him to have a garden that will afford profit- 
able occupation for his own leisure hours and for the 
leisure liours of his wife and family. Such a garden 
is one of the cottager's best helps — it does not Jill his 
pot every day, but every day it will yield something 
to put into the pot— something which willmakeits con- 
tents more nourishing andmoreagreeable. Nocottager 
should desire to have more than an eighth of an acre 
for his garden. A slip of ground, twenty yards wide 
and thirty-one yards long, will be about that size. If 
it be much larger, no cottager can keep it well 
manui-ed, well dug, and well hoed, — and if oH this be 
not done, and well done too, he had better have a 
still smaller piece ; for a less piece thoroughly well 
cultivated will yield him much more than a piece of 
ground twice the size badly cultivated. Besides, who 
with a spark of proper pride about him would have a 
weedv, ill-cultivated garden ? — such a garden bespeaks 
a man who does not care about his home, or its com- 
forts ; and from some years' experience we can say, 
without any reservation, that we never knew an un- 
worthy cottager have a well-tended garden, nor a 
worthy cottager have one badly tended. Be assured, 
the man "is not worth salt to his porridge," who does 
not care whether a nettle or a rose-tree grows before 
his cottage window ; nor whether a vine or a nettle 
spreails around its walls. It has been so from times 
long before the wisest of men wrote; for he says, " I 
went liy the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard 
of the man void of understanding; and lo! it was all 
grown over with thorns, and netiles had covered the 
face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken 
down," Piov. xxiv. 30. 

Now what ought a garden occupying one-eighth of 
an acre to yield? Why we will tell you not only what 
it ought to yield, but what it has been known in many 
instances to yield. In Essex and Hampshire we have 
known it to produce year after year thirty bushels of 
potatoes, five bushels of parsnips, five bushels of car- 
rots, five busliels of beet-root, five bushels of onions, 
three hundred cabbages, besides sprouts, with many 
boilings of peas and beans, as well as radishes and 
savory heibs. 

Before giving any directions for the cultivation of 
the particular crops, we will make a few observations 
upon some of the operations applicable and beneficial 
to them all. 

Draining. — We put this first, because it is least at 
tended to, yet scarcely a garden exists in all England 
that would not be very greatly benefited by bein^: 
drained. We know a cottage-garden that no manur- 
ing would make productive — it was overrun with 



sorrel, mercury, and other weeds in the summer, and 
in winter the crops were always frost-bitten. We told 
the tenant it would be all cured by draining; and 
though he laughed at us, yet, as his landlord said he 
would take twenty shillings from the next rent pay- 
able at Lady-day, if he did in the meantime drain the 
garden, the" cottager did drain it — he drained it well, 
too ; saved a fifth of his twelvemonth's rent, and his 
garden has been productive ever since. 

There was a ditch down one side of his garden, so 
he cui a drain, one foot wide and four feet deep, across 
his garden. 'This drain sloped down into the ditch; 
and falling into this first, or main drain, he cut other 
drains, nine inches wide and three and a half feet deep, 
and ten yards apart : he filled the bottom eighteen 
inches of each of the drains, with flint stones, put a 
little haulm over the top of these, and then returned 
the earth he had first dug out. Water from this drain 
into the ditch never ceased running, even in summer. 
If any cottager wants a further proof that draining 
will improve his garden, let him be satisfied with this 
other fact : Lord Hatherton had, at Tedde>ley Hay, 
in Staffordshire, a great many acres of land, which he 
let at 1 2.S. per acre ; he drained those acres thoroughly, 
and they now let for lully 31s. per acre. 
(^To be continued.) 

HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. 

Ckocises in Rooms ai-e usually kept too warm at 
first. The best treatment is to plant them not later 
than October, in earth or moss, only slightly damped, 
and to keep them in the windo-v of a room where 
there is no fire. In January they may be kept a 
little warmer, but in all places give them as much air 
and light as possible. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



NUMBER OF SEEDS IN A GIVEN QUANTITY, 
A.sD THE SP.iCE THliY WILL SOW. 

loz. of Par.sley-seed has in it 16,200 seeds; and a 
quarter of it is enough for sowing a drill 60 yards 
long. 

loz. of Salmon Radish-seed contains l,f).50 seeds, 
and will sow, broadcast, a bed containing 10 square 
yards. 

loz. of Onion-seed contains 7,600 seeds, and, sown 
broadcast, will suffice for 14 square yards of ground, 
but, if sown in drills, will be enough for 20 diills — 
each 4 yards long, or for about 24 square yards of 
ground. 

1 pint of dun-coloured Dwarf Kidney-beans con- 
tains 750 seeds, which are enough to sow four rows — 
each 7 vards long. 

] pint of Scarlet Runners contains 264 seeds, and is 
enough for 4 rows — each 9 yards long. 

1 pint of Bioad Windsor ijt-ans has 170 seeds, and 
is sufficient for 7 I'ows — each 4 yards long. 

1 pint of Knight's Dwarf Marrow Peas contains 
1720 seeds. 1 pint of Early Warwick Peas, 2160. 

1 pint of Prussian Blue Peas, 1S60. 1 pint of 
Scimetar Peas, 1299 ; and any one of these pints will 
sow 8 rows — each 4 yards long, as the larger peas 
require to be sown wider apart in the rows than the 
smaller-seeded peas. 

loz. of Carrot-seed, or Parsnip-seed, sown broad- 
cast, will be sufficient for a bed containing 16 square 
yards — and for one containing 28 square yards, if 
sown in drills. 

loz. of any kind of Cabbage or Brocoli-seed will be 
enough for a bed containing 9 square yards, if sown 
broadcast, or for 16 square yards in drills. 



10 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



HARDY PLANTS LATELY MADE KNOWN 
AND WORTH CULTIVATING. 

Crimson Double- blossomed Peach {Amygdalus 
Persica sanguinea plena.) — This highly ornamental 
shrub was brought from China by Mr. Fortune. The 
flowers being double, it of course does not bear fruit. 
It is propagated by grafting or budding upon a plum, 
or any ot!ip<- stock upon which the common peach will 
succeed. — ftorticidtural Societij's Journal, iii. 246. 

Californian Zmjschneria (Zaiischneria Califor- 
n'lca.) — This rival of the Fuchsia is a bushy perennial 
sent to England from Santa Cruz in California by Mr. 
Hartweg. It is about three feet high, and bears 
numerous bright scarlet flowers. It requires a light 
garden soil, and will probably ^o well upon rock- 
work. It may be propagated either from seed or 
cuttings. Sown in May, the seedlings will flower in 
September. The flowering season of established plants 
is from June to Octobei-. — Hort. Soc. Journal, iii 241. 

Peachfs. — Gam de Montreuil and Heine des Ver- 
gers ; both late, and cling-stnne». Pucelle de Malbies, 
is very rich, juicy, and melting ; it is not a cling-stoue. 
Ripens early in September on a south wall. 

Peaks. — -Arhre courbe : melting ; ripe in October ; 
suits a west wall. Beurre Bretonneau : melting, rich, 
oval; March and April. Beurre d'Esperen: large, 
melting, perfumed; February to May. Beurre Giffard : 
melting; east or west wall, or pyramidal ; July. Bon 



Gustave Calebasse d'Ete : half-melting; not produc- 
tive as a pyramidal ; August. Calebasse d' Hirer : 
February and March ; otherwise like preceding. Cas- 
sanle de Mars : crisp , either as a pyramid or on a 
south wall ; March and April ; does not do on a quince 
stock. Catinka : melling, but soon spoils ; as a py- 
ramidal, or on wall ; November and December. Due 
de Nemours : melting. Orpheline d'Engki^n : melt- 
ing ; November to January ; as a pyramidal, or on a 
south wall. Passe Tardive : crisp, keeps twelve 
months; on a south wall. /"o^Ve/aTOW/e ; half-melting, 
slightly perfumed. Heine des poires : half-melting ; 
pyramidal, or on a west wall; November to January. 
The old Reine des poires ripened earlier. Triomphe de 
Jodoigne : melting and perfumed ; November and 
December. T'aucjuelin : juicy, rich, sub-acid, and 
perfumed; November to March. 

Strawberries. — Angelique Jamin : large, sub-acid, 
raised from Keen's seedling. Comte de Paris : middle- 
sized, scarlet. Princess Royale : vinous, firm-fleshed. 

Cucumber. — Prize-jighter ; good bearer. Length, 
16 inches. 

Apple. — Anglesea Pippin : verj' like a peach in 
appearance. Flavour excellent. Very early. 

Brocoli. — Wilcove closely resembles the Wa'cheren. 

Celery. — Seymour's White Solid and Red Solid: 
are large, and, being solid-stalked, not liable to that 
pipiness which celery usually acquires by age. It has 
been known to stand two yeai's without running to seed. 



[C. W. asks whether we shall have a corner dedicated to ' 
although we cannot promise a constant devotion of space 
reject such verses as those which he has sent to us.] 

I SEE it now, through bygone years, 

As plainly as of yore ! — • 
Though grief and age have worn life's page 

And stain'd its traces o'er. 
That fairy home of boyhood's time. 

When the world was pure and gay. 
Comes sweeping back o'er memory's track 

As fresh as yesterday. 

I see again the well-known scene — 

I tread the path anew 
Where lily, rose, and eglantine, 

Commingling fragrance threw : 
You cannot say I'm weak and old. 

Or that my locks are gray, — 
I 'in hale and young — I stand among 

The scenes of yesterday ! 

Thou reverend, old, and hallow'd oak, 

I hail thee once again ! 
The stately wave thy branches gave 

Is solemn now as then. 
When underneath thy charmed shade 

I mused the hours away. 
Nor thought too bright the dreams I made 

In sunny yesterday. 



'Poetry of the Garden;" — our answer is, that 
for this purpose, we shall always be unwilling to 

Thou creeping vine, that lovest to twine 

Around the cottage door, 
And weave thy slender, netty arms 

My chamber lattice o'er, — 
I 've clnpp'd my little hands for glee, 

And thought no vine so gay 
As the vine that cluster'd fruits for me 

In childhood's yesterday ! 

Ye tinted flow'rs, of varied hue, 

That fringe the walks along — 
Ye modest plants that hide from view 

Amidst the blooming throng — • 
I 'm bounding down your garden slope 

With my long-forgot " Hurra ! " — 
I 'm shouting loud the song of Hope 

You taught me yesterday ! 

Alas ! alas ! that boyish song, 

For me, is hush'd and still ; 
The blood that danced so light along 

Creeps slowly now and chill ; 
My sight grows dim — my limbs grow old — 

The vision fades away : 
Though bright it seem, 'tis but the dream 

Of bygone yesterday ! 

Charles Wilton. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Anthont. — We consider not only Pelargoniums and other window-llowers subjects clearly entitled to consideration in our columns, but 
also greenhouse cultivation altogether. 

H. J. B. — We will endeavour to give you the information you ask for, relative to Thomas Hill, next week. 

Nemo will find the best mode of preserving his seedling cauliflowers from the attacks of ^lugs, is by sprinkling over the surface of the 
soil enough slacked lime to make it quite white. It will remain caustic for three or four days, if no rain occurs. At the end of three days 
give another sprinkling, and conlinue to repeat it until the seedlings are grown out of harm's way. 

Si> numerous are the suggestions kindly made by our Clerical Friends, that we mustiest contented to day with giving a general 
assurance that those suggestions shall receive our best consideratiou. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



11 



WEEKLV CALENDAR. 



M 


w 


OCTOBER 12 — 18, 1848 


Plants dedicated to 


Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon's 


Clock 


Day of 








each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


aft. Sun. 


Year. 


12 


Th. 


Birch leaves fall. 


Wavy Fleabane. 


21 


12 


rises 


Full 


13 32 


286 


13 


1' 


Trans. King Edward Confessor. 


Smooth Helenium. 


23 


10 


6 a 1 


16 


13 46 


287 


14 


s 


Beech leaves fall. [leaves fall. 


Indian Fleabane. 


25 


7 


6 38 


17 


14 


288 


15 


Sun 


17 Sunday aft. Trinity. Cherrj' 


Sweet Sultan. 


26 


5 


7 21 


18 


14 13 


2S9 


16 


M 


Oak leaves fall. 


Milfoil. 


28 


3 


8 11 


19 


14 20 


290 


17 


Tu 


Etheldreda. 


Ten-petal'd Sunfl. 


30 


1 


9 7 


20 


14 38 


291 


IS 


W 


St. Luke. 


Flocculose Agaric. 


32 


IV 


10 9 


21 


14 49 


292 



Phenomena op the Season — ISth. Elder leaves begin to fall. — 
14th. Sued wild flowers as the heart's-ease, white bebn, black non- 
such, hawkwced, bugloss, gentian, honeysuckle, and small stitch- 
wort, are yet blooming in uncultivated i)laces. — 17th. Hazel leaves 

Insects. — Just after sunset at this peritid, and 
hovering round flowers, may be seen the Gamma 



begin to fall. The linne has lost all its leaves. This is the time of 
apple-harvest in Herefordshire and the other cider-counties. It is 
also the vintage-time or grape-harvest ol France, Italy, and Ger- 
many. 






1841. 


1842. 


ISIS. 


1844. 


1S4S. 


184G. 


1847. 


12 


Showery. 


Cloudv. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Hazy. 


Fine. 


13 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Hazy. 


14 


Cloudy. 


Hazy. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Ram. 


H.nzy. 


16 


Rain. 


Hazy. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Showery. 


10 


Kaiii. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Pine. 


Fine. 


17 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


18 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Sho\Yery 



Moth (Nncfiia gamma, called also Plusia gamma by some naturalists). It is called the 
Gamraa Moth, because about the middle of the upper wings, but towards their inner 
border, there is a silvery shining mark, like the Greek letter gamraa (y).* This enables the moth to be easily known ; but we will give a 
further description of it, that the gardener may be certain that in every one he destroys he has removed an enemy. The outspread wings 
are about an inch across : the upper ones gray-coloured, marbled with brown, and shining ; the under wings pale ash, with a brown edge ; 
the head and throat brownish, edged with gray lines ; the belly, or abdomen, yellowish gray, tufted with brown hairs. At this season they 
deposit their eggs, and it would he an aid to the warfare against them to ascertain what plants they select for this purpose. The eggs hatch 
at various times from May to September, but chiefly dnring July. The caterpillars proceeding from them are green, beset with greenish 
single hairs; head brownish green ; on the back and sides three or four yellowish white lines ; feet tivelve in number, and marked with a 
yellow stripe. These caterjiillars coramlc great ravages, especially in the south of England, upon our peas and other garden vegetables ; the 
best remedy for which is hand picking. It is quite possible for the progeny of this moth to become quite a plague, as in one season a single 
pair can produce 80,000 eggs, and in 1735 their caterpillars actually ravaged France. On the roads they might everywhere be seen crossing 
in all directions. They devoured all the leaves of the peas and pot- herbs; and a vulgar prejudice beijig disseminated, that they were 
poisonous, all garden herbs were avoided at Paris for some weeks. 



* The shape of this mark has acquired to this insect another name, — the Y-Moth. 



GENERAL 
OcTOBEK is the Gardener's harvest or storing month ; 
his apples, pears, carrots, parsnips, and many of his 
seeds, all have to be gathered in during some por- 
tion of its days. Now, upon the gardener being 
successful in preserving those fruits, roots, and 
seeds, depends not only the future supply of his 
table, but much of his profit. Wien we speak of 
"profit," we do not confine the meaning of that word 
to the money for which he might sell that produce of 
his garden, if he be a retail gardener or a cottager 
selling his surplus, — but we extend it to the produce 
of the Amateur's garden. Profit is the absolute re- 
verse of loss ; and, therefore, as it would be a loss to 
the amateur to have his fruits and roots prematurely 
decay, and his seed refuse to vegetate, — so, conse- 
quently, to have the two first long preserved, and his 
seed fertile, is as muta to his advantage or profit. 

Yet, though all ar.; so much interested in the pre- 
servation of such produce, there is more carelessness 
and ignorance shown in this department of gardening 
than in any other. Let us, if we can, arouse a little 
more attention to this subject, and show how advan- 
tageously common sense may be exercised upon it. 



REMARKS. 

We will confine our observations this week to the 
storing of roots, and begin with the fundamental ques- 
tion — In storing them, what should be our great 
aim and object? The answer is obvious: to keep 
them, as long as possible, from decaying and from 
growing. Everything, therefore, that promotes either 
decay or growth ought to be excluded. Now, it so 
happens that the two chief circumstances that pro- 
mote the one equally promote the other ; viz., warmth 
and moisture. Roots should be so stored, therefore, 
as to he kept cool and dry; but especially cool— for 
they contain within themselves, at all times, sufficient 
moisture to enable them to grow, if they are exposed 
to a degree of warmth favourable to growth. We 
remember, as an illustration of this, that we were 
consulted as to the cause of onions growing and be- 
coming useless year after year, though they were 
most carefully dried and hung up in ropes. The 
cause was at once detected when we were told that 
the ropes were hung up in the kitchen, where, even 
in winter, the cook's fire kept the temperature up to 
the heat of summer. Next year, the ropes were hung 
up in the scullery, where no fire appeared all the 



12 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



winter, and the onions remained without growing 
even until late in the following spring. 

Onions, though bulbs, are affected by warmth and 
moisture the same as carrots ; and to keep these last 
cool and dry, yet without drying internally so as to 
wither and be unfit for cooking, the best mode is to 
put them in a dry cellar, or in an out-house on the 
north side of the house, in alternate layers with dry 
sand. They may be thus stacked upon the floor in 
one corner of the cellar or out-house, or, which is 
more tidy and more easily managed, in old casks or 
boxes. A layer of this dry sand being first made 
about an inch thick, then a layer of carrots, and then 
another layer of sand, so thick as to be an inch deep, 
over the carrots. This being repeated until the whole 
are stored away, the top should be covered about six 
inches deep with sand. 

Another important consideration is the preparation 
of the carrots previously to thus storing them away ; 
and the first thing is to trim off all the small fibrous 
roots, and to rub off all the soil which may adhere to 
the carrots ; for the fibres are very liable to decay, 



and the soil, much more than sand, promotes that 
decay. The tops of the carrots must be cut ofij and 
not only the leaves must be so removed, but also a 
slice of the root or carrot itself, sufficiently thick to 
remove the whole of the ring or collar from whence the 
leaves would spring if the root began to grow. This is 
a most effectual check to such growth, and the carrots 
being buried, do not wither, owing to evaporation 
from the wound, nor do they at all decay — for the 
surface of the wound dries over. 

We have tried dry earth, coal ashes, sawdust, tan, 
and malt-dust, as storing stuff' for carrots and similar 
roots ; but none of them answer so perfectly as dry 
pit^sand. Sea-sand will not do, because the salt in it 
gathers moisture and promotes decay. Parsnips and 
beets must be treated, when stored, exactly as we 
have given directions for carrots. All of them should 
be drawn from the ground by the aid of a fork, and 
during dry weather ; and they should be dried for a 
day or two, by exposure to the air, before they are 
stored away. Those bruised or decayed should not 
be stored with those which are sound. Editor. 



THE WEEK'S FRUIT-GARDENING. 



Trained Trees. — Before addressing ourselves to the 
cottager, to whom, shortly, vie shall have some advice 
to offer, we will endeavour to furnish a few seasonable 
hints to the amateur as to the planting of fruit-trees 
on walls, or as trained espaliers ; observing, however, 
once for all, that although we more particularly address 
some of our observations to the amateur, and others to 
the cottager, yet that the practical directions and in- 
formation those observations contain are applicable 
alike to the gardening of both. The first consideration 
before planting is the soil; for unless this is of a whole- 
some character, clever selections of varieties will be 
of little avail. There are two extremes which should 
be at all times avoided in preparing the staple for 
fruit-trees: the one, when soils and subsoils are too 
retentive of moisture ; tlie other, when the staple of 
the soil is so sandy and weak, that the trees become 
exposed to sudden droughts. In the former case the 
trees become choked with mosses and lichens ; the 
points die prematurely, and the fruit is starved and 
stunted. We need scarcely urge that a premature 
breaking up of the constitution of the tree is tlie sure 
result. In the case of sandy, porous, and, of course, 
hungry soils, the young trees are many years old be- 
fore they attain any profitable size. Their growth is 
performed by instalments, as it were; and whether 
they make any at all, depends on the character of the 
months of April and May; for unless these be wet, 
the trees have little chance. The trees too speedily 
become hide-bound; and every summer, drought sub- 
jects the fruit to the chance of cracking, and of eating 
" dry." 

Those about to plant, therefore, should beware of 
these extremes, and endeavour to correct the soil's 
texture. It is well known that clays may be made 
more open and fertile by means of sand; and sandy 
soils may be made more retentive of moisture by mix- 
ing with them clays or marl. These various soils, 
however, not being always at hand, expense becomes 
a consideration. 



As correctors of sandy and hungry soils, we would 
suggest the following ; all of which, or any of them 
singly, will render such soils more fertile. The order in 
which they stand will indicate their beneficial quality. 
1st. Marl; 2nd. Strong soil from headlands of fields; 
3rd. Furrowings from low meadows ; 4th. Clay; 5th. 
Ditchings from adhesive soils ; 6th. Pond mud ; 7th. 
Spare turf and weeds ; 8th. Old and unctuous peat. 

As correctors of adhesive or clayey soils, we suggest 
also in a similar order : — 1st. Sand of any kind ; 2nd. 
Ordinary sandy soil; 3rd. Old mortar, lime-rubbish, 
etc. ; 4th. Cinder ashes, fine ; 5th. Ditchings from 
loose soils; 6th. Loose turf and weeds; 7th. Ordinary 
vegetable matter. 

There need be little trouble or expense attend mix- 
ing composts ; any, or all of them successively, may 
he scattered at intervals through the ordinary soil in 
the process of covering the roots at planting time. 
This is the most inexpensive and straightforward plan 
for ordinary cases ; but where a little expense is not 
heeded, good sound loamy turf is the best material 
of all others for fruit-trees in general : and we would 
advise the amateur to introduce portions of it about 
the roots of choice kinds of fruit-trees. 

The Cottager's Fruit-garden. — The time ap- 
proaches in which cottagers must begin to make pre- 
parations for the produce of another year. 

Pruning. — As a general policy, we would advise 
above all things the early pruning of all fruit-trees 
and shrubs. We suggest this for several strong reasons. 
In the first place, October and November find the 
cottager most at leisure to prosecute improvements. 
His summer cultivation is over ; his store roots are all 
secured, or soon will be ; and there is still a chance of 
working the soil, or of putting it under a winter's 
fallow. 

By getting the pruning done immediately the leaves 
are fallen, or even before they are all down, the cottager 
will find a little leisure occasionally to deeply dig or 
trench and ridge some of his spare soil ; and this done. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



13 



to be at liberty for the ordinary spring cropping. 
Spring, which brings a host of business peculiarly its 
own, should by no means be fettered by arrears of 
work which might have been cleared off during the 
past winter. 

Arpi.E AND Pear. — In pruning ordinary espalier 
apple or pear-trees, care must be taken to preserve and 
continue leading shoots at proper distances, and in 
proper situations. Apple and pear leaders may be 
about a foot apart, but care should be taken, in the 
earlier training, that very irregular and overhanging 
shoots are pruned away, or they will prevent anj' 
successful cropping beneath the ti'ees — which we shall, 
in due time, prove can be accomplished without sacri- 
fice, by adhering to a few maxims. 

The interior of the bush or tree must also be kept 
rather ope/i ; at least, the boughs should, from the 
first planting, be kept rather thinner here than at the 
outside of the ti-ee. After selecting, and looking well 
to these leaders, the next point is thinning out. In 
doing this, all cross-shoots must be removed — at least 
where crowded, and much of the past season growth 
cut away where becoming confused. In doing these 
things, however, the cottager need not proceed to so 
great an extreme as the amateur, who is aiming as 
much at symmetry and agreeable forms as produce. 
It must ever be borne in mind, that many of our 
apples and pears bear on the young wood ; and such, 
therefore, must be pruned with a light hand. 

After thinning out the shoots, a little shortening of 
them must be attended to — at least whilst the tree is 
young, and in the course of formation. Neverthe- 
less, it must be remembered what is the object in 
\-iew. Shortening contributes nothing to the health 
of the tree — nothing to its fruit-bearing properties. 
It is, in fact, an adjunct of a dwarfing system, being 
an attempt to limit the ultimate size of trees, in order 
to prevent them, in gardens, from attaining an orch- 
ard size and character, which would, in time, by 
overshading the ground, totally prevent success with 
any course of cropping. Where trees grow tolerably- 
strong, nearly one-half in length of the young leaders 
may be pruned away in the earlier stages ; this course, 



however, should be combined with a slight root- 
pruning. 

In pruning bush fruit, it is necessary to thin 
more liberally ; however, it is proper to divide them 
into two classes, viz., those which bear chiefly on 
the annual shoots, and those which bear chiefly on 
spurs. In the former class, or bearers on the one- 
year-old shoots, we may place the 

Gooseberry, Black Currant, and Raspberry : 
In the class of old wood, or bearers on spurs, the 

Red Currant, and White Currant. 
In the first section, it is merely requisite to remove so 
much of the young spray as that the remaining shoots 
may be on an average about four inches apart. 

In spur-pruning, that is to say, in pruning the red 
and white currant, leaders must be trained in a similar 
way as the young apple and pear trees; these will be 
permanent, and they will produce an annual crop of 
spray from their sides, which must be annually cut 
back, to within half an inch of its base. In the course 
of their growth, however, a chance of additional 
leaders will occasionally occur. Such, if well placed, 
may be allowed to remain, and receive in due comse 
the same treatment as those from which they sprang. 

Hedge-row Fruit-trees. — We would direct the 
attention of the cottager to the great profit which is 
frequently derived in many parts of the kingdom from 
fruit-trees in the hedge-rows. We know of several 
examples within ten miles of us where the cottager 
very frequently pays his rent from the fruit-trees in 
his hedges. The cases we allude to are principally 
damsons ; many, however, grow the more compact 
kinds of apples, and without any material injury to 
the garden crops. 

We shall, in due course, offer ad^ace how to carry 
out a system of the kind ; and endeavour to point out 
how it can be managed without injury to the hedge 
or adjacent crops. In the meantime we advise all 
who arc making new hedges, to introduce some trees 
with good stems. AMiere the trees are to be inserted, 
it otU be well to introduce some better soil. Any 
turfy matter will be useful. 



THE WEEK'S FLOWER-GARDENING. 



As the seasons roll round, every week brings its 
care and forethought to the prudent lover of flowers. 
Even at this comparatively dull season of the year 
the duties of the flower-gardener are almost as import- 
ant as at any time. Autumn reminds one forcibly 
of the end of a well-spent life ; we can not only look 
back with complacency and thankfulness, but forward 
with hope. So in gardening, we can remember with 
pleasure the beauties our skill and industry have 
brought to perfection : we can prepare a store of ob- 
jects, take care of them during the trying season of 
winter, and then look confidently forward to a rich 
and blooming reward through the months of the 
future spring and summer. Many are the objects that 
now demand our care. 

Perennials. — This week we shall devote our 
attention to perennials, or flowering plants that last 
several years. They are a valuable class, inasmuch 
as they require but little care, and .supply us with 
flowers all the year, or at least all the floral year. If 
the garden is but poorly furnished with perennials, 
they may be procured at a moderate charge of any 
respectable general nui-seryman. This is a good time 



to purchase them. The beautiful family of Phloxes 
stand pre-eminent in this class, producing their lovely 
blossoms nine months in the year. The routine of 
culture for this genus will suit nearly all hardy peren- 
nials. They are readily increased by division of the 
roots ; or where any particular species is scarce, cut- 
tings of the half-ripened flower-stems will strike in 
a cold frame in pots or under hand-glasses, with or 
without a little bottom heat ;* but where we can com- 
mand the heat, the plants are more quickly made, 
and consequently the use of bottom heat is preferable. 
As soon as the cuttings are struck, they may be potted 
off into pots, three inches diameter, in rich light soil, 
and kept through the winter in a cold frame, covered 
dming severe frost with mats. As soon as the wea- 
ther becomes more mild, the plants may be planted 
out into their places, and will bloom partially the first 
year, and strongly and finely the second. The large 
and almost equally beautiful genus, Penstemon, does 
not divide so readily as most others, and therefore 
must be propagated by cuttings, which may be put in 
about the month of May, in order to have strong 

* Bottom-heat— hm applied to tb» roots, as by burying to its rim 
the pot iu a hot-bed. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



14 

plants early in autumn. We shall return to this inte- 
resting subject again shortly 

Amateuu's Flower-garden. — Having now arranged 
in good order your soils and tools, the next thing to 
attend to is to examine your stock of flower- roots, and 
if you do not possess a sufficient variety, now is a 
good time to procure the necessary addition. Read 
the foregoing paragraph — it will be useful to you. 
If your means are limited, purchase the cheapest and 
showiest kinds, and increase them freely. 

BuLDs. — Now is especially the season to procure 
bulbs — such as the crocus, snowdrop, gladiolus, lilies, 
tulips, &c. All these, whether you have them by you 
or purchase them, should be examined, and the sound 
ones preserved and the bad ones thrown away. As 
soon as the frosts destroy the flowers of the season, 
the ground for bulbs and perennials should be pre- 
pared by an addition of compost or manure, to receive 
the bulbs : of which more anon. 

Dahlias will now begin to fail, and when the tops 
are destroyed by frost, must be cut down and the 
roots immediately taken up to prevent too great an 
effusion of sap. Many methods of storing dahlias 
have been recommended : we think the following the 
best : — Take them up on a dry day, turn the roots 
upwards so that the sap or moisture may drain away, 
then in the evening place them in a dry place in the 
same position, and when they are perfectly dry cover 
them witli some short dry hay. Once a month 
examine them, and remove all decaying stems, adding 
fresli hay if the old has become damp or mouldy. 
The place wliere Dahlia roots are kept should be 
impervious to frost. In this way we have kept 
dahlias very well. Where there is space and time it is 
a good plan to have a store of young plants in pots, 
a few of each good kind. These can be put away in 
the pots, and are almost all sure to grow and make 
p.trong plants in the spiing. 

Cottager's Flower-garden. — The cottager will 
at this season find some rather important things to 
attend to. He must think how to make his flower- 
beds gay next season. We shall therefore give him 
some instructions in propagating the following ar- 
ticles : — roses, honeysuckles, sweetbriars, jessamines, 
and cistuses. All these, except the sweetbriar, may 
be propagated by cuttings in the open ground. 

Cuttings. — Choose a shady border, next a low wall 
or hedge, — the latter to be close clipped with the 
garden-shears. Let the soil be well dug and chopped 
small, and the surface raked very fine ; then pour some 
water upon it, and let it stand a day, to become 
moderately dry again. Let the cuttings then be 
jrepared, by cutting them with a sharp knife into 
engths about six inches long ; with your knife take 
off the leaves, all except the top ones. Cut the lower 
end of each cutting right across, close to the lowest 
bud. Expose the cuttings as little as possible to the 
Bun and air : they may be preserved fresh by having 
a little damp moss or hay at hand to cover them with 
as soon as they are prepared. Prepare only one kind 
at a time. As soon as a sufficient number are ready, 
open a trench with a small spade at the end of the 
border intended for the cuttings. Chop the side of 
the trench furthest from you sti-aight down just a suf- 
ficient depth to leave the topmost bud and leaf out of 
the soil ; then place the cuttings against this upright 
bank about three inches apart. When the row is 
filled with cuttings, with your spade put the soil 
against the cuttings, and with your foot tread it 
firmly to the cuttings. Take great care that the soil 
is quite close and firm around each cutting. Then 
fill up level with the top of the row of cuttings another 



I 



portion of soil, until there is a bank of earth six inches 
distant from the first row. Chop down the outemiost 
edge of the soil, so as to leave another upright bank 
to set the second row of cuttings against, and so pro- 
ceed from row to row, till you have filled the space 
set apart for this purpose. Most of the kinds of the 
above shrubs may be increased this way, excepting 
sweetbriars ; these may be raised by the seeds con- 
tained by the hips; but this subject we will reserve 
till next week. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

At this season of the year the objects of the flonst's 
care require constant watching to keep the plants 
healthy. Every thing about them ought to be clean, 
sweet, and in perfect order. The success next year 
depends greatly upon the minute care and constant 
unwearying attention bestowed during the changeable 
later months of the year. All plants under glass 
frames or cold pits must have air every day by 
propping up the lights in wet weather ; and the lights 
ought to be drawn ofi' on all fine days, and the plants 
fully exposed to the sun. 

Frames. — We have spoken of frames and cold pits. 
Now the frames and pits necessary for florists' flowers 
depend entirely upon what stock is kept. A propa- 
gating pit is a necessary appendage, and a pit or a 
narrow span roofed house, with a walk down the 
centre, to grow roses in pots, is also a great acquisition. 
The best mode of heating both is by the tank system, 
which we need not describe, as that method is now 
generally known. A number of hand-lights for 
striking cuttings of pansies, roses, and pinks, are also 
indispensable. We mentionsd last week " Soils for 
Amateurs." Now, if the an.«iei(r must pay attention 
to providing the necessary soils, compost manures, 
&c., how much more necessary is it for the florist? 
He must provide this prepared food for his lovely 
family in large quantities of the best qualities, and 
take care that it is rightly mixed, to suit their several 
constitutions. Like the amateur, he must have loam, 
peat, or heath mould, leaf mould, manure, and sand. 

Loam. — The word loam may be defined as the pure 
soil of the surface of the earth, containing no excess 
of sand, gravel, iron, or vegetable matter ; the colour 
a brownish yellow, porous or open, and moderately 
light. The best is procured from upland pastures, 
that have been under grass for a number of years. 
About four inches of the surface is the best. Some- 
times very good loam may be found near the sides of 
rivers, but this is too often mixed with the deposits 
from the water, and is frequently of too close a texture. 
A florist, however, will soon perceive whether the 
loam he can easily come at is fit for his purpose. If 
there is the least appearance of much oxide of iron in 
it, he must avoid it as he would the plague.* Having 
selected a loam of good quality, let it be carted home, 
and have an open situation for it, taking care to have 
a rather long and shallow heap, so that by turning it 
over four or five times a year, every part of it may in 
its turn be exposed to the full influence of the sun 
and air. 

Peat, or Heath Mould. — This may be known at 
once from loam by its colour, being black and full of 
fine shining particles of pure white sand. The best is 
to be had from situations where the common heath 
grows best. Two or three inches of tlie upper surface 
is usually the best for floral purposes. The quantity 

* Oxide of Iron may be popularly descrilied as the red rust of iron. 
It is really iron combined with oxygen, one of the chief constituents 
of the air we breathe. 



THE COTTAGE GARDEXER. 



15 



required is about one-third of the loam directed to be 
provided. Tliis should also be kept in a situation 
exposed to tlie air and sun, and occasionally turned 
over, to bring it into a friable condition, ready for 
mixing. 

Leaf, or Vegetable Mould. — This very desirable 
and almost indispensable ingredient, is, in many places, 
more difficult to obtain than either loam or peat. In 
country places, leaves can be collected either in woods 
or even by the sides of lanes under trees in abundance. 
And as leaf mould is such a treasure to the florist, no 
pains ought to be spared during the fall of the leaves 
to collect as many as possible. It is almost the best 
of all manures for the garden generally, but for plants 
in pots it is invaluable. It requires nearly two years 
to reduce it, by frequently turning over, so as to make 
it fit for the florist's purposes. 

Manures. — A volume might be written upon the 
subject now before us. For floral purposes, however, 
two kinds are sufficient — rotten stable-dung and cow- 
dung. These two, properly prepared, in our opinion 
will grow every kind of florist's flower to great perfec- 
tion. We are aware some Avriters recommend night- 
soil, bullock's blood, pigeon's dung — nay, even sugar- 
baker's scum ! These are all however too hot and 



stimulating for the delicate plants now under con- 
sideration. 

Stable-dung. — The best preparation of this is by 
making it into hot-beds, which in a garden are always 
useful. In twelve months it will be rotten enough to 
mix with other materials to form the proper compost 
for tlie plants for which it is suitable. 

Cow-dung requires a rather longer time to make it 
fit for use, as it does not ferment so easily as horse- 
dung. The best and readiest way to reduce it into a 
decayed state is by mixing it with loam : a layer of 
cow-dung, three or four inches thick, and a layer 
of loam the same thickness; and so on till the heap is 
about two feet thick. Allow this heap to remain quiet 
for two or three months, and then turn it over, repeat- 
ing this operation about every three months. In 
eighteen months it will be in a fine state for either 
potting or to enrich the beds of flowers that requiie a 
cool, rich compost. 

Sand is a necessary article to open the composts. 
The best is the pure pit-sand, known by the name of 
" silver-sand;" but for most common purposes, river- 
sand answers very well. It requires, however, to be 
sifted through a fine sieve, to remove small stones and 
other extraneous matters. T. Appleby. 



THE WEEK'S KITCHEN-GARDENING. 



Angelica. — Sow a small quantity, if not done last 
month ; a quarter of an oimce of seed will be more 
than enough. Sow in drills a foot apart, and that 
quantity of seed will be sufficient for a bed five feet 
long by three feet wide. Any common soil in an open 
plot will do for the seed-bed. When the seedlings 
are about six inches high, let them be transplanted 
where they are to remain for use. The soil they then 
prefer is a moist one, such as the side of a ditch having 
a constant supply of water; but they will grow in 
almost any soil. 

Angelica is a biennial, that is, it is a plant which is 
raised from seed one year, and ripens its seed and 
dies the next year. Its stems may be blanched and 
eaten like celery ; its young green shoots may be 
gathered in May, and candied, or preserved in sugar, 
for which purpose they are bought by confectioners ; 
its seeds, leaves, and root being very aromatic and 
stimulating, are sometimes used in medicine. Old 
medical practitioners thought so highly of its virtues, 
that they called it the angelic herb ; and hence its 
name. A piece kept under the tongue, or held to the 
nose, was believed to preserve the user from infection ; 
and the water in which it was sodden for a few hours 
was considered as highly cordial, and a promoter of 
perspiration. In Norway and Sweden the leaves and 
stalks are eaten, either uncooked as a salad, or boiled 
with meat or fish. Its seeds are used in tliose coun- 
tries to give a flavour to spirits. 

Cabbages. — Plant to come into use during next 
spring, if not done as directed last week. 

Cabbages, late sown, should be pricked out from 
their seed-beds. Plant them in rows, on a sloping 
dry bank, from three to six inches apart, according 
to their size. 

Celery. — Earth up. It is the most common practice 
to do this about two or three inches at a time ; this, 
however, is a bad system, for every eartiiing-up in- 
creases the risk of thi soil getting into the heart of the 
plants, and thereby causing their decay ; but besides 
this danger, celery plants frequently earthed-up grow 
much more slowly than if allowed to attain a height 



of eighteen or twenty-four inches before they are 
earthed-up at all, and after that are again allowed to 
grow so high as not to require more than another 
earthing before they are used at table. Celery becomes 
white, or blanched, in four or five weeks from the time 
of its being earthed-up. 

Chives. — Plant. This small species of the onion- 
tribe is a native of England, and deserves to be much 
more cultivated ; indeed, no garden should be without 
it where the onion is in request. It is so hardy, that 
no winter destroys it in this country. The green tops 
may be cut and cut again throughout the year, \'ield- 
ing an unfailing supply of young onions. A single 
row of about eight yards long will be enough for a 
family. The edge of a bed is a good place. The soil 
should be rich and light. Insert six or eight of the 
little bulbs in a hole made with a dibble, not more 
than an inch deep, and the holes eiglit inches apart. 
They will require to be taken up at the end of two or 
tliree years, and a fresh plantation made in the same 
way. There will be many more bulbs than will be 
required for planting, and those not wanted may be 
washed and used as onions. 

Nasturtium Berries. — Gather as they ripen. They 
should be very dry and hard before storing. Some 
will yet be found green and sufficiently tender for 
pickling. Some persons prefer their flavour to those 
of the caper berries ; but the best of all substitutes for 
these are the green berries of the elder. 

Rosemary. — Plant. There are three varieties, the 
golden and the silvery-striped ; but the green is the 
hardiest, most aromatic, and usually cultivated. 
Rooted plants must be obtained, for slips or cuttings 
will not grow at this season. A light soil, well drained, 
and with some lime rubbish dug in as a manure, suits 
it host. (It is a very useful herb. Its flowers are 
employed in making Hungary-water, and its leaves in 
the manufacture of Eau de Cologne. Sprigs of it are 
a very good garnish for some dishes. Infused in 
water, and with the addition of a little sugar and 
acid to render it palatable, it is frequently used to 
make a drink for fevered patients. The old physicians 



16 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



adopted it in various modes for many diseases of the 
brain, over which it was considered to have such an 
influence that it was called Herb-memory. Shak- 
spere alludes to this when he makes Ophelia give 
Laertes a sprig of this plant " for remembrance.") 

A TEMroiiAKY Pit, for pricking therein small let- 
tuces and cauliflower plants, may be formed in a 
sheltered dry open corner. It may be made of turfs, 
sods of earth, clay, loose bricks, or rough slabs of 
wood. During severe weather in the winter it may 
be covered over with straw or other mats, fern, or 
boughs of evergreens. 

Dead Lkaves, rake up and stove for manure as fast 
as the)' fall, for if left upon the ground among the 
crops, they afford shelter for slugs and other vermin, 
— destroyers of lettuce, cabbage, spinach, and other 
winter-standing crops. 



Hoe, or stir with a fork, the surface of the ground 
among growing crops whenever the weather is dry 
and favourable for the operation. The surface cannot 
be loosened too often at any season of the year. 

Vacant Ground, trench and throw up into rough 
ridges, to allow the air and frosts to penetrate the soil 
thoroughly. 

Slugs and Snails may now most successfully be 
enticed and destroyed, by placing here and there 
upon the beds little heaps of fresh brewer's grains. 
If these heaps are visited about nine in the evening, 
the slugs will be found thronging upon them, and may 
be destroyed by dusting them over with quick-lime. 
The heaps must be renewed for two or three successive 
evenings ; and if visited in the same manner, a most 
effectual clearance will be made. 

J. Barnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



OUR OLD GARDENERS. 

[We promised a con-espondcnt, in our last week's paper, to furnish some particulars of Thomas Hill, and 
we regret tliat our information is so scanty. The search for this information, however, has led us to the 
conclusion, that, among the works of "our old gardeners," there are scraps of information which will 
induce us, under this title, occasionally to give some similar notices of those ancient knights of the spade, j 



Thomas Hill, Hyll, or Hvlle (for :n his printed 
works, according to the custom of that age, there is 
not much uniformity in the spelling), appears to have 
been a native of the metropolis — or, at all events, he 
was here long resident; for, from the title-pages of 
his works during half a century, the adjunct of 
"Londoner" is never absent. He appears to have 
been a hacknied compiler of hooks, and to have 
written as the publisher required — on astronomy, 
arithmetic, bee?, dreams, physiognomy, gardening, 
and divinitv. I believe him to be the Dr. Hill who, 
finally becoming a convert to the religion of Rome, 
passed the last years of his life on the Continent, and 
is briefly noticed by Wood amongst the learned of 
Oxford. He died at the commencement of the seven- 
teenth century. 

The absurdities of his horticultural writings need 
alone be noticed here ; and first among those writings 
may be quoted, " A Briefe Treatyse of Garden- 
inge ; teaching the apt dressing, sowing, and 
setting of Gardens, with the remedies against such 
beastes, wormes, flyes, &c., that commonlye annoye 
Gardens : encreased by me the second tyme." This 
edition was printed in a small octo-decimo volume in 
1563. Various editions were subsequently published, 
and some of these with this addition to the title-page : 
"To whiche is added much necessarie matter, and a 
number of secretes, with the phisicke helps belonging 
to eche herbe, &c." The edition of 1579, which is 
now before us, mentions nothing about gardening in 
its title-page, which merely sets forth that it is "A 
profitable instruction of the perfite ordering of Bees — 
To which is annexed a proper Treatise of Dearth and 
Plentie meete for husbandmen to know, &c." But 
in his preface Hill says, " I have joyned this little 
treatise unto my booke of Gardening, for that most 
men do joyne them both togither." 

The work is comprised in ninet)-two pages, and it 
is not until the seveiity-seventli that he touches upon 
Gardening. Of the previous seventy-six pages, I 
have no other observation to juake than that he says, 
" When the first of Januarie beginncth on the Wed- 
nesday, then shall the winter he warm and calme ; the 
spring wette. and disposed to sicknesse ; the summer 



hotte, and the harvest unprofitable. Yet plentie of 
oyle and wines." 

Mr. Hill's horticultural treatise begins with "The 
Booke of the Arte or Craft of Planting and Grafling;" 
and, of his genuine knowledge of his subject, a fair 
judgment may he formed from his stating, ihat, if the 
small end of the graft be inserted into tlie stock, the 
"fruite shal have no core;" and that, if an apple 
graft be inserted in a stock of elm or alder, " it shal 
beare red apples." These were things of certainty — 
the " Londoner " had no doubt about the matter! 

To make a pear-tree fruitful, it was to have a brisk 
dose of physic : " Bore a hole into its stem," says 
Mr. Hill, "and put in some Scammony ; " and, in 
grammar equal to the truth imparted, he adds, and 
it shall bear "muche more plentifuller." 

He is not altogether bad in his recommendations, 
for he in a degree forestalled Mr. Forsyth, by recom- 
mending clay plaisters to all wounds o\ trees ; but 
this better information does not prevail long, for he 
speedily proceeds to recommend planting when the 
moon is in Taurus; and in sowing pepins and ker- 
nels, that the end which was next the root be so 
placed as to point to the north-east ! With the ex- 
ception of some erroneous directions for sowing roses, 
the work is confined to fruit-trees, and chiefly con- 
cerns their grafting. 

The work of 1563 is altogether different, and enters 
move fully into the proper situation and ordering of a 
garden — partly, he says, from his own experience ; 
and he refers to a smaller and earlier edition of the 
work. But it is chiefly, or rather, almost entirely 
a compilation from the old Roman writers — Varro, 
Cato, and Palladius. 

It contains figures of mazes, to be constructed of 
lavender-cotton, and enumerates, as inhabitants of the 
kitchen-garden, " spynach, borage, endive, blete, lettis, 
orache or arage, betes, coolewottes, cresses, parcelye, 
sperage (asparagus), malowes, savery, alisander, an- 
nise, cummine, colyander, mustarde, ceruyl, dyll, 
rue, charvil, saverye, isop (hyssop), mynt, tyme, 
origanny, lekes, onions, coucumbers, gourdes or 
melons, garlicke, beanes, radyshe, maijoram, purslane, 
pene-royal, artichocke, and pasnepe." 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
COTTAGE AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 



17 



(No. 2.) 
BY THE EDITOR. 



Manuring. — We are all accustomed to confound 
the words "muck" and "manure," as if there were 
no other manure than the dung of animals. This is 
a great error. One of the best of all manures is 
ground bones ; and every one who has lived on the 
sea-coast— in Essex, Devonshu-e, Cornwall, and else- 
where—knows that sea-weed and fish are there very 
extensively used as manures, and that they cause very 
great crops to be produced. But, more than this, 
every cottager knows that rotten wood— the bottom of 
an old wood-stack, for example,— is a capital manure ; 
and if he tries, he will find that leaves, weeds, the 
refuse and slops from the house, all kept, and added 
day by day as occurring, in one heap,— m a corner 
of the garden far away from the cottage,— wdl make, 
as a cottager generally calls it, " capital stuff for the 
o-arden " In fact, no dead animal or vegetable mat- 
ters, bones, soap-suds, etc., should be thrown away— 
for it is saved if put upon the muck-heap. It often 
happens, too, that a good deal of weedy, grassy clods 
can be pared off the banks about a garden. Ihese 
shouldbe collected into a heap and charred— not burnt 
to ashes. To effect this, pile the clods over a small 
bundle of dry sticks, and set these alight, leaving a 
small hole to admit air to the fire ; and as the ftre 
burns through to near the sides of the pile, heap on 
Ireshclods, so as to keep the fire smouldering. By this 
means you will have what is good manure--roasted 
or charred turf and earth ; but if you allow the flames 
to burst through, vou will have nothing but ashes, 
which, compared with the charred, are almost worth- 
less This roasted turf and earth is, indeed, a very 
excellent manure. Mr. Barnes, gardener to Lady 
RoUe, who could have any manure he might msh 
prefers it to any other. But although this is so. and 
Mr. Barnes is quite right, yet the cottager cannot get 
enou-'h of it. He must save every household retuse, 
too Tbuthe must do more— he must let his children 
gather the horse-droppings from the road, even it he 
has a pig besides, and can have its manure for his 
garden. You cannot have a good crop without you 
give it manure, and plenty of it too. 

Before leaving the subject of charred refuse as a 
manure, we will give one out of many results arising 
from its use— forgone fact is more minded than twenty 
assertions, and most men think as the gardener who 
once enquired of us, " Is that a has-been, or is it only 
a mav-be "> " Now, the use of charred rubbish is a 
has-been ;" it has been tried all over England, and is 
found to be a most excellent manure. " It is suit- 
able " says Air. Barnes, " for the culture of every 
kind of plant, whether it be grown on the farm or in 
the garden, in the hot-house, green-house conserva- 
tory! or open border,"— and here is one of his proofs ; 
" A piece of ground that was cropped with cole- 
worts last autumn (1S43) was cleared early and the 
refuse ti-enched in during the winter. Ninety-five 
feet in length, and ten feet in width, was planted with 
small onions on the 14 th of February, which onions 
had been sown the second week of September m the 
previous autumn. They were planted in rows one 
foot apart, and six inches from plant to plant,— with 
the intention of drawing every alternate one tor use 
through the summer— but the whole nine rows did 
not git entirely thinned. The following is the weight 
when ripe for storing on the 1st of August : 

" Five rows grown where 41bs. of bone-dust to each 
row had been so^vn in a drill drawn three inches deep 



and filled up, and the onions planted over it, produced 
420 lbs. weight of onions — each row yielding from 
82 to SSlbs. .c_-, 

" The other four rows had applied to them, of fresh 
dry charred refuse and ashes, made from the garden 
rubbish-heap, two common buckets full— weight, 
141bs. They produced 366lbs. of onions, the rows 
weighing respectively 99, 89, 95, and 83 lbs ; the last 
row being injured by a row of red cabbage growing 
near. 

" Many of the foregoing onions, which were a mix- 
ture of the Globe, Deptford, and Reading, measured 
in circumference from 14 to 16i inches, and weighed 
as many ounces. I weighed twelve together, that 
turned the scale at 121b. 9oz. I can only fancy 
what a wonderfiU sa-sang and benefit it would be to 
the country, to char the refuse of old tan, chips, saw- 
dust, ditch scourings containing sods, weeds, rushes, 
and refuse. By keeping the surface of the earth well 
stu-red, no crops appear to suffer by drought that are 
manured by charrings, but continue in the most 
vigorous health throughout the season, never suffering 
materially by either drought or moisture." 

On spring-sown onions and on turnips, Mr. Barnes 
finds charred or carbonized vegetable refuse equally 
beneficial. Three rows, each 95 feet long, of the 
white globe onion, manured with bone-dust, weighed 
2511bs. ; whilst three similar rows of the same variety, 
and grown under precisely similar circumstances, but 
manured with charrings, weighed 289 lbs. 



PRUNING. 

Pruning is the art of cutting the branches of a 
plant so as to obtain the best and greatest amount of 
the produce desired from it, and with the least possible 
injury to the plant. This is perhaps the most accurate 
definition that can be given ; but we are not intending 
to enter largely into the subject, and only give this 
definition that we may observe, at this pruning season, 
that to act up to it in pruning trees, the knife em- 
ployed cannot be too sharp, for to cause to them " the 
least possible injm-y," tlie cuts ought to be as smooth 
as can be, and in proportion to the smoothness of their 
surfaces will be the readiness with which they heal. 
A cut smoothly made, without any tearing of the bark, 
and properly near to, but not close to a bud, wiU often 
heal over in a few weeks. The annexed 
is the best example we can offer, and if 
the pruner keeps this in his memory he 
cannot have a better pattern. 

There is here a sufficient slope to 
throw off moisture from the cut surface, 
and away from the bud; and there is 
enough of bark (half an inch) above the 
bud to prevent the sap vessels of the 
bud being injured, and to enable the 
extra vigour, always observable in their 
vicinity, to be exercised in secreting 
matter for healing over the wound. 




BRITTON ABBOT; 
OR, WHAT CAN BE DONE. 

Two miles from Tadcaster, on the left hand side of 
the road to York, there stood in the year 1804, and, 
perhaps, it is standing there still, a beautiful little 
cottage with a garden, which unfailingly attracted the 
eye of the traveller. The slip of land, exactly a rood, 
was inclosed by a cut quick-hedge, and within it were 



18 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



the cottage, fifteen apple-trees, one green-gage, three 
winesour plum-trees, two apricot-trees, and several 
bushes of the currant and gooseberry. Three hives 
of bees also were there. Neatness and good order 
strikingly characterized the whole. 

Now the proprietor of this well-managed plot was 
a labourer, named Britton Abbot, and he was then 
sixty-seven years' old, and Jiis wife numbered nearly 
the same number of years. They had been married 
forty-five of that number, and had reared six children, 
who, at the time of which we are writing, were living 
and thriving in the world. One was the wife of a car- 
penter at Yoi-k; another occupied a little farm at 
Sheffield ; the third married a labourer, who had built 
himself a cottage at Tadcaster, and wanted nothing, 
as Britton Abbot observed, " but a bit of ground for 
a garden." 

Britton Abbot's history offers warning as well as 
encouragement, for it illustrates the tnitli that a 
labourer should look to his plot of ground for help to 
live, and not for entire support. He was th.rifty from 
boyhood, and by the time he was twenty-two, even 
without the aid of a savings bank (for savings banks 
were then uisknown), had contrived to accumulate 
forty pounds. On this little capital he man-ied, and 
took a small farm of thirty pounds a year rental. In 
two years he gave it up, for he had lost upon it nearly 
all liis savings ; but he was not conquered, or even 
disheartened, and he had learned wisdom. He was 
still convinced of the value of a plot of ground to the 
labourer, but he did not seek for so much as he did 
before. 

He asked 'Squire Fairfax to let him have a little 
bit of ground by the road-side, telling the 'squire witli 
honest confidence, that if he would grant hmi the 
boon, " he would show him the fashions on it." Tlie 
'squire complied with his request, and when he ob- 
served the good skill and industry tliiit Abbot bestowed 
npon the little inclosure, he allowed him to have it 
rent-free. Abbot's reply deserves to be remembered — 
" Niiw, sir, you have a pleasure in seeing my cottage 
and garden neat ; and why should not other 'squires 
have the same pleasure in seeing the cottages and 
gardens neat about them? The poor would then be 
happy, and would love them and the place where they 
lived ; but now every nook is to be let to the great 
farmers." 

Abbot was now a thriving man. He was a good 
workman, in constant employ, and so had his week's 
wages regularly ; lived rent-free ; and from his garden 
obtained annually forty bushels of potatoes, besides 
other vegetables; his fruit sold on the average for 
£3 or £4 ; his wife had occasional work ; spun at her 
leisure ; and looked after the house and garden. 
" To be sure," said Abbot, " I have a grand character 
in all this country;" and if every labourer had the 
same steady habits, he might have a character equally 
" grand," and be equally happy and equally prosper- 
ous ; " happy in his own industry and good manage- 
ment ; in the beauty and comfort of his cottage, and 
in the extreme fertility of his garden."* — G. 



IlARJJY PLANTS LATELY MADE KNOWN, 
AND WORTH CULTIVATING. 

TouENi.i AsiATicA is uot quite hardy, for, like the 

scarlet pelargonium (geranium), it requires to be 

housed diu-ing the winter ; yet, like that, it is good for 

planting out in the flower-borders, over the surface of 

• Minutes of Board of ^V^riculture. 



which it spreads, and its deep blue flowers are highly 
ornamental. Its generic name, Torenia, is in com- 
memoration of Olof Toreen, a Swedish traveller and 
naturalist; and its specific name, Asiatica, informs us 
that it is a native of Asia, for it is found in almost 
every part of southern India. It is easily propagated 
by cuttings planted in light soil, and placed under a 
hand-glass in a hot-bed. It may be increased also by 
dividing the roots. It is not improbable, also, that 
tlie branches will root in the borders if pegged down 
at a joint and covered with earth. The plants are 
benefited by being manured with a mixture of peat 
and leaf-mould. — (Paxton, etc.) 



HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. 

Tulips. — Mr. Groom, of Clapham Rise, near Lon- 
don, is one of the most successful, and most extensive 
cultivators of this flower. His tulip-bed is fifty yards 
long, and four feet three inches broad, containing two 
thousand bulbs. His pet tulip is Victoria Regina 
(Queen Victoria). Its form is perfect; and its ground 
or prevailing colour snowy white, with the feathering 
and flame rosy purple. It is a second-row flower, and 
its price five guineas. — {Midland Florist). 

[The featlicring of a tulip is a dark edge round the 
petals or flower-leaves. The flame is a dark, pointed 
spot, in the shape of a candle-flame, in the centre of 
each petal. Tulips, according to tlie height to which 
their flower-stems grow, are called 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 
H\\-row flowers. The shortest are put next the edge 
of the bed, and are called, first-row flowers. The 
tallest, in the middle of the bed, are the fourth-row 
flowers]. 

White Rust of Cabbages. — No season has ever 
been more productive of disease to plants than has the 
last wet, cold summer. Among the diseases that have 
attacked them, none have been either so fatal or so 
general as the rust. This is a disease occasioned by 
the growth upon them of very small fungi (mush- 
rooms), and it has destroyed many crops of wheat, 
grapes, and cabbages. The rust of the cabbage is oc- 
casioned by a little fungus called Cystoptis (albugo) 
cnndidus (tt'liite cystopus). When a cabbage is severely 
attacked by it, its leaves and every other part thicken 
and become distorted, owing to the roots of the fungus 
penetrating and breaking through the sap-vessels of 
the cabbage. — {Hart. Society's Journal, iii. 265.) 

[If only one or two cabbages are thus attacked, the 
best remedy will be to pull them up and burn them, 
to prevent the fungus shedding its seeds on other cab- 
bages. If many are attacked, we recommend the soil 
about their roots to be sprinkled with salt, an ounce 
around each cabbage, and to dust its leaves early in 
the morning, whilst the dew is upon it, with quick 
lime.] 

Melons in the open Air.- — Mr. Williams of Pit- 
maston, has for some years past been trying to give 
increased hardiness to the melon ; and with this view 
made use every year of the seed matured in the open 
air during the preceding summer. The plants have, 
in consequence, become so hardy, that in the two last 
seasons they grew, and the fruit set as well as a com- 
mon gourd. ''The whole contrivance for presenting 
the plant to the solar influence in the most advan- 
tageous way, and at the same time giving a little 
warmth to the roots, does not cost more than a few 
shillings." 

He adds, " I have already cut fifteen melons, and 
my gardener tells me there are upwards of thirty-five 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER 



19 



that will ripen before the plants are killed by the 
cold." 

The open-air bed is raised on the ground-level, on 
a base 24 feet in length, and SJ feet in width. The 
back is of brick-work (against a south wall or paling, 
therefore, would do), 3 feet 3 inches high; the ends 
are also of brick-work, aud slope from the above 
height at back, to the level of the ground at the front. 
The bed is composed of weeds, bean-stalks, old tan, 
garden rubbish, and litter of any kind, made com- 
pact ; and finally, about 9 inches of only common 
garden-soil, in which the melons are planted. When 
finished, it presents a uniformly inclined plane, facing 
the south ; but Mr. Williams thinks he should prefer 
an aspect a little to the south-east. 

As the soil is raised a little higher than the back, 
to allow for sinking, the slope forms an angle with the 
ground-line of about 23°. Nine plants raised singly 
in pots were planted out on this slope, and, till some- 
what established, they require to be protected by 
hand-glasses ; flat tiles are then laid over the surface 
of the bed. The shoots or vines of the melons are 
neither stopped nor thinned ; in short, with the ex- 
ception of merely pegging them down, tliere is nothing 
at all done to them. Instead of tiles being employed, 
as above, slates were formerly used ; but these became 
at times so excessively heated by the sun's rays, that 
the plants suffered from being subjected to the conse- 
quent vicissitude of so great a heat in the day, alter- 
nately with the cold to which they were e.xposed at 
night. Tiles, on the contrary, do not absorb heat so 
rapidly, but they retain it longer. 

The situation of the melon-bed is not particularly 
sheltered ; there is a hedge on the north side, at the 
distance of 15 feet from the back of the melon-bed, 
but it is not high. Two feet behind the hedge there 
is, however, some tall elm-trees, and at some distance 
there is a row of the same kind of trees, which afford 
shelter from the west winds. The mode in which the 
plants are reared is an important point : they are 
raised with as little heat as possible, and are all along 
accustomed to plenty of air. Mr. Williams remarks 
that, " when melon-plants are raised for the purpose 
of being planted on a bed of the above description in 
the open air, the pots in ■which the seeds are sown 
should never be plunged in a warm dung or tan-bed ; 
for when plants so treated are removed into the com- 
mon ground, if the weather proves cold and wet, their 
leaves turn yellow, and they afterwards become sickly, 
and continue so a long time." — {Ibid. 273). 

Sound Philosophy. — At the last meeting of the 
" Farnley Tyas Society, for the Encouragement of 
Spade Husbandry," John Nowell, Esq. made these 
observations, deserving of circulation throughout the 
length and breadth of the land : — " Allow me to cau- 
tion the more sanguine part of the operatives not to 
delude themselves with the notion that the rood of 
land is everything, and that the industry and care 
required in its cultivation, is nothing. A rood of land 
will not support a working man — but it will help him. 
It will require, most assuredly, all his care and all his 
attention, while waiting for his usual employ, in a 
time of good trade, to keep up the cultivation of his 
garden. And should the working man neither neg- 
lect his handicraft employment nor his land, in favour- 
able seasons a most certain issue will be the result.* 
He cannot well starve before Christmas. Manufactures 
and agriculture ought to be handmaids to each other. 
They will flourish, or they will decay together ; and 

* Mr. Nowell was especially addressing the Yorkshire weavers, 
but the lesson is applicable to all districts, whether manufacturing 
or agricultural. 



far be it from our wish to elevate or to depress one at 
the expense of the other. Rather be it our desire to 
establish a closer bond of union between them. Let 
the master manufacturer surround his manufactory 
with rood-gardens. He will thus secure the steadiest 
and the best workmen, and attach them to his service; 
and he cannot but rejoice to see his dependents happy 
in the possession of their little winter store, and under 
his daily observation, to mark their improvement in 
the duties of husband, father, and subject. Give your 
neighbour a ' stake in the hedge,' and in defending 
his own slender stake against intruders, he will neces- 
sarily defend your larger 'stake.'" — {Labourer's 
Friend.) 

A.v Interesting Scene. Profit on Labourers' Allot- 
ments. — On Thursday, the 21st of May, the allotment 
tenants of Andrew Johnstone, Esq., of Halesworth, 
had their audit. There were thirty tenants holding 
one-quarter of an acre each, four old men one-eighth 
of an acre, and ten boys each occupying one rod, as a 
reward of atte:idance and good behaviour at the Even- 
ing Adult-school. The tenants assembled at seven p.m., 
in the Infant School-room, which was decorated with 
boughs, etc., and with inscriptions neatly printed by 
the boys, such as " God speed the spade," " Long live 
the kind giver," " Honour the Lord with the first 
fruits of your allotments," etc. The principal orna- 
ment of the room was a display, on a long table, of 
specimens of the produce, which was pronounced by 
the best judges to he highlj- creditable. Among them ' 
were excellent wheat, fine potatoes of various sorts, 
beans, peas, very large and straight carrots, orange 
beet, turnips, and cabbages, with Jerusalem artichokes, 
and many other vegetables. One tenant furnished 
some excellent fiovvers raised from seed, which he sells 
at a good profit. The rents were all paid ; after which 
Mr. Johnstone addressed some useful remarks to his 
tenants ; first on their moral and religious conduct, the 
education of their children, etc., and then on the ma- 
nagement of their ground; after this he called for the 
account of profit and loss, and to each of the four 
tenants who exhibited the most produce and furnished 
well-kept accounts, he presented a good gardening 
tool, to which a fifth was added by the kindness of a 
tradesman in the town, as a token of his approbation 
of the show. The following are the results of some 
of the accounts : 



(1) £ *. 
Produce ... 6 9 
Rent and outlay 3 12 


d. 

1 
7 


(3) £ s. 
Produce . . . 5 13 
Rent and outlay 2 3 

Profit . . 3 10 

(4) 
Produce . . . 6 14 
Rent and outlay 3 


d. 
2 
1 


Profit . . 2 16 

(2) 
Produce ...(,(> 
Rent and outlay 3 1 


6 

9 

7 


1 

10 




Profit ..352 



Profit . . 3 14 10 



The boys were next addressed ; and the result of their 
efforts proved one of the most interesting features of 
the evening. It appeared that ten boys had been 
allowed one rod of land, for which they were to pay 
sixpence rent. The account of the produce was as 
follows : 



1 



6 

7 

8 

9 

10 



To the boys who had gained the most, and thereby 



20 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



proved that they had done the best, prizes of garden 
tools were given, and their smiling countenances 
showed their satisfaction when Mr. Johnstone an- 
nounced that an increase would be afforded to the 
boys' allotments. The landlord then proceeded to read 
a portion of Scripture, and tlie Doxology was sung ; 
after which, good meat pies, smoking hot, were distri- 
buted to each tenant, including the boys, and all 
retired highly satisfied. — ( The Labourers' Friend.) 



AuTu.MN-PLANTiNG POTATOES. — A Writer in the Gar- 
dener's Chronicle relates a series of experiments in 
which the potatoes planted in last November, and at 
intervals up to February, were uniformly good, planted 
in an old garden ; but as uniformly diseased when 
planted in February, and at intervals until the end of 
April, upon a soil rather lieavier. 



THE TULIP AND THE MYRTLE. 



'T WAS on the border of a stream 

A gaily painted Tulip stood ; 
And gilded by the morning beam, 

Survey'd her beauties in the flood. 

And sure, more lovely to behold 
Might nothing meet the wistful eye, 

Than crimson fading into gold 
In streaks of fairer symmetry. 

The beauteous flower, with pride elate ; 

Ah me ! that pride with beauty dwells ! 
Vainly affects superior state, 

And thus in empty fancy swells. 

" lustre of unrivall'd bloom. 
Fair painting of a hand Divine ! 

Superior far to mortal doom, 

The hues of Heaven alone are mine. 

" Away! ye worthless, formless race, 
Ye weeds that boast the name of flowers; 

No more my native bed disgrace, 
Unmeet for tribes so mean as yours. 

" Shall the bright daughter of the sun 
Associate with the shnibs of earth ? 

Ye slaves, your sovereign's presence shun, 
Respect her beauties and her birth ! 

" And thou, dull, sullen evergreen, 

Shalt thou my shining sphere invade ? — 

My noon-day beauties beam unseen, 
Obscured beneath thy dusky shade." 

" Deluded flower!" the Myrtle cries, 
■' Shall we thy moment's bloom adore? 

The meanest shrub that you despise. 
The meanest flower has merit more. 

" That daisy, in its simple bloom. 
Shall last along the clianging year ; 

Blush on the snow of winter's gloom, 
.\nd bid the smiling spring appear. 



" The violet that, those banks beneath. 
Hides from thy scorn its modest head, 

Shall fill the air with fragrant breath. 
When thou art in thy dusty bed. 

" Even I, who boast no golden shade. 
Am of no shining tints possess'd 

When low thy lucid form is laid, 

Shall bloom on many a lovely breast. 

" And he, whose kind and fostering care 
To thee, to me, our beings gave, 

Shall near his breast my flowers wear. 
And walk regardless o'er thy grave. 

" Deluded flower ! the friendly screen 
That hides thee from the noontide ray. 

And mocks thy passion to be seen. 
Prolongs the transitory day. 

" But kindly deeds with scorn repaid, 
No more by virtue need be done, — 

I now withdraw my dusky shade. 
And yield thee to thy darling sun." 

Fierce on the flower the scorching beam 
With all its weight of glory, fell ; 

The flower exulting caught the gleam. 
And lent his leaves a bolder swell. 

Expanded by the searching fire, 

The curling leaves the breast disclosed ; 

The mantling bloom was painted higher, 
And every latent charm exposed. 

But when the sun was sliding low, 
And evening came, with dews so cold ; 

The wanton beauty ceased to blow, 
And sought her bending leaves to fold. 

Those leaves, alas ! no more would close, — 
Relax'd, exhausted, siekenhig, pale; 

They left her to a parent's woes. 
And fled before the rising gale. 

Dr. Langhoine. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



H. White. — Tlie quicAest mode of softening oM putty is bypassing over it repeatedly an iron, heated ne,irly to rednes::. If the putty is 
so very old and hard as not to be thus softened, the softening may be effected more slowly by keeping upon it, for a few hours, rags wetted 
with 3 strong solution of caustic potash. 

W. S. — We are of opinion that there is such a variety of the grape as the Red Hamburgh, and we will state our reasons for so thinking 
next week. 

A Friend (Hackney) will perceive from our first Number, as well as the present, that we have strictly excluded all the objectionable 
Advertisements alluded to. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



21 



WEEKI.V CALENDAR. 



Im 
Id 


w 

D 


OCTOBER 19—25, 1848. 


Plants dedicated to 
each day. 


Sun 
Rises. 


Sun 
Sets. 


Moon R. 
and Sets. 


Moon's 
Age. 


Clock 
aft. Sun. 


Day of 
Year. 


19 Th. 


Elder leaves fall. 


Tall Coreopsis or Tick- 


33 a 6 


57 a 4 


11 15 


C 


15 


293 


20 F. 


Walnut leafless. 


Yellow Sultan, [seed 


35 


55 


morn. 


23 


15 10 


294 


21 S. 


Sun's declination, 10'=' 51' S. 


Hairy Silphium. 


37 


53 


21 


24 


15 20 


295 


22 Sun. 


IS SCND.IY AFTER TrINITY. 


3-leaved Silphium. 


39 


51 


1 29 


25 


15 28 


296 


|23| M 


Privet ben-ies ripe. 


Rushy Starwort. 


40 


49 


2 35 


26 


15 37 


297 


'21 Tu. 


Golden Plover arrives. 


Wavy Starwort. 


42 


47 


3 40 


27 


15 44 


298 


To W 


Crispin. 


Fleabane-like Stanvort. 


44 


45 


4 44 


28 


15 51 


299 



St. CaispiiT, together Tvith St. Crispian, were adopted by shoe- 
makers to be their tutelary saints, because these two brothers, and 
martyrs of the Christian faith, had learned their handicraft to avoid 
the necessity of being burdensome to the early converts to whom 
they preached. They were beheaded at Soissons, about the year 
308. The shoemakers at the principal towns of Scotland assemble 
annually and choose a king upon this day. 

Phenomena op the Season.— In the calendar above we have 
noticed the customary events of the week in the vegetable world. 
Among animals, we may observe that this is the period of migration 

Insects.— The Angle-shades Moth {Phlngophora 
meticulosa) is so called from the various shades of 



with many birds who are only our periodical visitors. Either during 
last week or the beginning of this, the swallow has departed; and, 
in a few days after, they make their appearance on the coast of Africa. 
The niffhfingale leaves us about a week earlier, and speedily after- 
wards is heard in the thickest woods of Lower Egypt. On the other 
hand, the woodcock and sjiipe now return to us from Sweden, and 
other northern countries, where they pass their summer life. The 
cross-bill also visits us occasionally, and near Oldbury, in Gloucester- 
shire, has sometimes come before the apples have been all gathered 
— in which case this bird makes sad havoc with that hope of our 
western orchardists. 






IS41. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


19 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


•20 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


21 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Rain. 


22 


Hazy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


23 : Rain. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


24 Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showeiy. 


25 Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 



tribes, and : 
spots on the 



brown which mottle the edges of the upper wings, and form a purplish triangled mark in 
the centre of those wings. This is one of the handsomest of the evening mollis, and also 
one of the larger, for it is two inches across the expanded wings. It makes its appearance 
at intervals, from the end of May until the close of October. Its upper wings are wliile; 
tinged with pink, clouded with olive-brown, and marked and edyed as above noticed. 
The hinder margins of those wings are irregularly notched. The under wings, at their 
tips, are also a pinky white, having in their centre a gray, crescent-like mark, and also 
two or three slight lines of the same colour. The horns (antennae) are long and slender, 
and the whole body variously tufted with hairs. Its caterpillars feed upon our cabbage 

i few others of our culinary vegetables. They are usually green, but sometimes brownish ; they have a row of oblong white 

back, and a white line on each side. 



On more than one occasion we have heard gardeners 
differ in opinion as to whether there are two distinct 
varieties of the Hamburgh grape — the black and the 
red. The question has again been brought to our notice 
by a correspondent, who justly observes that " amateurs 
may be excused for doubting, since even first-rate 
authorities differ in their statements as to the identity 
or non-identity of the grape or grapes in question." 

In the "Catalogue of Fruits" published by the 
London Horticultural Society — an authority to which 
we are always predisposed to bow — the Black and 
Red Hamburgh are said to be the same variety ; and 
the characteristics are thus epitomised : — " Bunch, 
large ; colour, black ; berry, roundish ; skin, thick ; 
flavour, sweet ; quality, first-rate." That this is an 
accurate description of the black Hamburgh is beyond 
dispute : it is the description given long previously 
by Miller, Speechley, and Forsyth ; hut then all these 
authorities also agree in describing the Red Hamburgh, 
which they say was sometimes called the Gibraltar 
grape, as a distinct variety. In this decision they are 
sustained by later authorities, of whom we need quote 
no others than Loudon and George Lindley. Loudon 
(Encyclop. of Gardening, p. 753,) says the red Ham- 



burgh was also called Warner's, or Hampton Court 
grape, and that it is " reckoned the best of Ham- 
burghs." Mr. Lindley, in his work edited by Dr. 
Lindley {Guide to the Orchard), is still more explicit. 
He says, " The berries of tliis (the red Hamburgh) 
are of a dark red or purple colour, with a thin skin 
and a juicy, delicate flesh. The size and figure of 
both the bunch and the berry are very much like the 
black Hamburgh, except the latter being less oval, 
and growing more loosely on the bimches. When the 
berries of the red Hamburgh are imperfectly ripened, 
they are of a pale brown colour, which occasions it 
to be called the brown Hamburgh ; but, if perfectly 
matured, it is by many considered to be the richest 
and best-flavom-ed of the two. The leaves of this in 
the autumn become mottled with green, purple, and 
yellow ; those of the black Hamburgh are mottled with 
green and yellow only. They were both brought into 
this country by Mr. Warner, of Rotherhithe. The oldest 
vine of this kind known in England is that at Valen- 
tine's House, near Ilford, in Essex. Mr. Gilpin (Fo- 
rest Scenery, i. 153,) says it was planted a cutting in 
1758, and is the parent of the well-known Hamburgh 
vine now growing at Hampton Court." 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



We coincide with those who think the red Ham- 
burgh a variety distinct from the black Hamburgh, 
and we ground our opinion not upon that of the first 
importer of them both, nor upon the opinions of the 
excellent authorities we have quoted, but upon the 
experience gained by cultivating a red Hamburgh 
vine for two years in a greenhouse under our own 
exclusive care. This experience teaches us, that if 
the grapes are prematurely ripened — that is, ripened 
before they have attained to the size of which they 
are capable of attaining — if they are exposed to an 
excess of light by an over thinning-away of the leaves, 
then the fruit of the red Hamburgh may be made to 
approach nearly, but never exactly to resemble, that 
of the Black Hamburgh. On the other hand, if a due 
quantity of leaves are left, and, by an abundant ad- 
mission of air, the fruit is allowed gradually to attain 
the full size it woidd naturally attain before the ripen- 
ing process begins, then the red Hamburgh cannot 
be mistaken for the black Hamburgh. The berries 
are too mucli of a purplish red in colour, too thin of 
skin, too tender fleshed, and too far departing from 
complete roundness. That the grapes in the green- 
house we have mentioned are not ill-grown, we have 
the testimony of the judges at the Hampshire Horti- 
cultural Show in November last — for they awarded 



to it the first prize for " Red Hamburgh Grapes, 
grown without heat ; " and we hope to run a good 
race for the same prize in the November now 
approaching. 

Tlie decision of this question, as to the non-identity 
of the two varieties, is of some interest to gardeners ; 
for we are satisfied that a prize has often been lost 
because the judges have thought the grapes deficient 
in colour as black Hamburghs, when being, in truth, 
red Hamburghs, they could not have been brought to 
equal their competitors in depth of colour. 



To our next Number will be added another depart- 
ment — " The Week's Greenhouse and Window- 
Gardening." A sufficient guarantee for its excel- 
lence is that it will be furnished by Mr. D. Beaton, 
Gardener to Sir W. Middleton, Bart., at Shrubland 
Park. We are induced to add this department be- 
cause our large sale justifies our giving weekly twelve 
pages instead of eight, as originally intended. 



We have to apologise to our readers for the inser- 
tion of the Poetry at the end of our last Number. It 
was placed there for no other reason than that part 
of the copy intended for insertion had been mislaid 
during the unavoidable absence of the Editor from 
London. 



THE WEEK'S FRUIT-GAKDENING. 



Arrangement of Fruit-trees in the Garden of 
the Amateur. — Having in our last thrown out sug- 
gestions, founded on a very long and extensive prac- 
tice, for the most ready mode of correcting the staple 
of soils for fruit-trees, we now proceed to offer some 
advice about the disposal of them in the amateur's 
garden. We must tnus divide this portion of the 
matter, for the cottager will of course need special 
advice on this head, although he, too, may occasionally 
take a hint from the amateur's practice. 

Aspect of Garden. — In proceeding with this sub- 
ject, we will suppose the case of a new garden in an 
eligible situation. A sloping surface is always consi- 
dered an advantage, provided the slope is very mode- 
rate, and inclines to any of the points from south-east 
to south-west ; other inclinations or aspects are much 
inferior. 

Shelter. — The walls or other boundaries being 
built, the next matter is, to seek extra protection, if 
possible, by means of planting ; indeed, this may be 
accounted the first step of the two. We do not by 
any means advocate the planting large trees close to 
the garden-wall ; this is a most erroneous course of 
proceeding. In the first place, they prevent the 
training of some very useful fruits on the outside of 
the garden-wall ; and, in the second place, protection- 
trees or shrubs thus situated do serious injury to the 
fruit-trees in the interior of the garden, when their 
boughs have grown so as to overhang the wall. How- 
ever, the amateur is not unfrequently situated near to 
other buildings ; and in such cases, severe limitation 
of room precludes the possibility of selecting a proper 
site. There is no real necessity for a continuous belt ; 
a good group of trees at the northwestern side, and 
another ranging from north to east, will suffice, pro- 



vided the kinds are well selected. The Scotch fir, the 
holly, and the spruce fir, if moist soil, are particularly 
eligible as evergreens ; and the beech is bj' far the 
best deciduous tree to intermix with them. Tlie latter 
retains its leaves for a greater length of time than 
most forest trees. The beech, however, requires that 
some of its side-shoots he occasionally pruned in, or 
the consequence will be, that the beech will overgrow 
and ruin the other trees, its companions. In new 
plantations of this kind a few of the more rapid- 
growing poplars may be introduced, to be removed 
after the beech and firs get up ; they produce a more 
speedy eff'ect than any of the others. 

Planting and under Crops. — We come now to 
the disposal of the interior area. There are two dis- 
tinct modes of procedure, either of which may be 
observed as a guiding principle in this affair. The 
one, so to plan it as not to crop the fruit-borders ; the 
other, to include a course of such cropping. 

We would advise the former mode : we are, how- 
ever, willing to admit that it will make a week or so 
difference in the earliness of the peas, cauliflowers, 
lettuces, etc. ; which to some jiersons are an important 
consideration. We will now deal with the ordinary 
mode, that is to say, of cropping in combination with 
fruit culture : but in a future paper we will show how 
the other mode may be rendered both more econo- 
I mical and more certain in its results as regards fruit- 
culture. 

Borders and Walks. — A border of ten feet is 
amply sufficient next the wall ; next to that border a 
walk of at least four feet width, and adjoining this 
walk another border, with an alley behind it, separating 
it from the quarters of the earden. The border last 
named should be at the least six feet wide ; this, carried 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



23 



all round the garden, we hold to he the most eligible 
mode by far where cropping must be carried out. 

Aspects. — ^We may now briefly advert to the dif- 
ferent aspects. The south wall, or rather southern 
aspects, should he reserved for the apricot, the peach, 
the nectarine, and the vine, anywhere south of the 
midland countries ; but north of them, the vine must 
be omitted ; if any attempt be made to grow it, the 
side of a house facing any point from south-east to 
south-west, provided there is a fireplace behind, will 
he the most eligible situation. The apricot, however, 
in the northern countries, is by far the most profitable 
crop for a warm gable of this kind. We know many 
cottagers who make great profits by means of an 
apricot thus situated. Their mode of management we 
will advert to in due course, under the head " Cottage 
Gardening." In the northern countries, some of the 
very superior Flemish pears, such as the Winter 
Nelis, will deserve a place on a southern aspect. 
On the eastern aspect may be placed the principal of 
the trained plums and pears; and on the western, 
pears and cherries. On the north aspects, the Morello 
cherry will be found a most valuahle fruit; and by 
providing nets of a proper mesh to exclude the 
smallest of the birds, this fruit may be kept with ease 
until the middle or end of October. Two-thirds of 
the north aspect may be occupied with this cherry, 
whilst the remainder may receive a greengage plum, 
an Orleans, and even the Duke cherry, which makes a 
fine late dessert fruit in this aspect. Ere long we 
will speak of the espalier-borders of the amateur. 
We must now advert to cottage-gardening. 

Cottage Fruit-gardening, — In our last we sug- 
gested the utility of getting forward with all work 
connected with planting, etc. We may now hint to 
the cottager the propriety of collecting turfy matters 
from the lanes, road-sides, or commons ; even the 
scourings of ditches are of much use ; for whatever 
the subsoil may be, the settlings are very nutritious 



when made into compost, not only for fruit-trees, but 
for garden-dressings. 

Turf-Manure. — The cottager should learn well 
that, above all other matters, turf of any kind is more 
valuable than people commonly imagine. Where the 
garden soil is hungry, chopped sod, or turf from soils 
of a clayey character, are the Very best manures that 
can be put into the holes for his fruit-trees: such 
furnish not only permanent nourishment during the 
droughts of summer, when the growth of fruit-trees 
on sandy or hungry soils frequently becomes stag- 
nated, and then of course they are doubly liable to 
the attack of insects ; the fruits also crack, or become 
encrusted with fungous matter; and hence the fre- 
quent complaints about fruits keeping badly. 

Any surplus turfy material, if more than wanted, 
may be piled up in a corner of the garden, as a 
reserve stock; and as at this period much coai-se 
herbage, weeds, etc., can be collected, we would 
advise a thorough trimming of weeds and other vege- 
table matters wherever they can be got ; these may be 
spread, layer for layer, with the turfy material. If 
the cottager can procure lime, we particularly advise 
a good sprinkling of this article between every layer, 
especially amongst the weeds and over the ditchings. 
This will tend to mellow and crumble down these raw 
matters by the next year. 

Planting. — This is the very best period in the year 
for planting fruit-trees ; and in our next we will offer 
a list of such as are truly profitable for the cottager ; 
in the mean time we advise him to consider about 
hedge-row fruits, as adverted to in our last. 

Gooseberries and Currants. — The hush-fruit may 
now be removed forthwith, if necessary. Gooseberries 
and red and white cun-ants like a deep and rather 
loose soil, containing a good deal of any rotten vege- 
tables. Black currants Uke a damp soil, and a liberal 
depth likewise. R. Errington. 



THE WEEK'S FLOWER-GARDENING. 



General Flower-garden. — The season is now fast 
approaching when we may expect severe weather, 
therefore every preparation to meet it must be dili- 
gently attended to, so that all the stock of plants to 
supply the garden with flowers next year may he in 
safe quarters during winter. 

Winter Shelters. — Verbenas, petunias, bedding 
out calceolarias, Oenotheras, phlox drummondii, ana- 
gallis, dwarf and tall lobelias, should all now be either 
in frames or pits, ready to be covered when the frost 
sets in. They are best preserved thickly set either in 
pots about six inches diameter, or in wide pans. They 
will require plenty of air in fine weather, and all 
decaying leaves to be carefully and constantly re- 
moved. As little water as possible must be given to 
them, indeed only just sufficient to keep them from ' 
actual flagging. 

Double Violets, to force, should now be put into 
their proper situation. A gentle hotbed made of 
leaves, and covered with a two or three-light frame, 
according to the wants of the family, is a good method 
to produce plenty of flowers during winter. The 
plants we suppose to have been prepared, by being 
planted out singly in a rather shady border during the 
preceding summer, and will now be nice stocky 
plants. Lift them up with a garden trowel with as 
much earth adhering to their roots as possible. The 
heat of the bed being moderated, and the material, 



whether leaves or dung, being covered with four inches 
of leaf-mould and loam in equal parts, place the plants 
upon it thickly all over the bed ; give them a gentle 
watering, and shut them up and shade them on sunny 
days for a fortnight, giving air night and day in all 
mild weather. As soon as the plants are fairlj- esta- 
blished, give them the benefit of the sun and light 
freely, with abundance of air. Their lovely sweet 
flowers will soon reward you amply for your trouble. 

Lily of the Valley. — The much-admired lily of 
the valley is also well worthy of similar pains being 
bestowed upon it. It may be managed easily as fol- 
lows : — Plant them thickly on a north or west border, 
and when they have run together in a mass, choose 
the strongest plants, and, taking these up in large 
patches, place them upon a similar bed as above- 
mentioned for the violet : they will flower freely and 
early with the same management. If required in pots 
to ornament the hall or drawing-room, they may be 
put into pots five inches diameter, choosing those with 
the strongest buds, putting five or six in a pot, and 
let the pots be plunged up to their rims on the bed, 
this being covered about eight inches deep either 
with light earth, old tan, or sawdust, or even coal- 
ashes, whichever may be most convenient. 

Amateur's Flower-garden. — The amateur's stock 
of flowering plants should have the same care as 
directed in the preceding paragraphs. We suppose 



24 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



you to have a cold frame, a pit, and a few hand- 
liglits. These should now be well filled with the before- 
mentioned plants, viz., verbenas, etc. In your pit 
you might, 63- being well covered during severe frost, 
preserve many half-hardy plants that you will find 
useful in the spring. We mean such plants as scarlet 
geraniums, fuchsias, the more tender China and tea- 
scented roses, heliotropes, etc. If you have time and 
leisure we see no reason why you should not even 
have a few hyacinths, narcissuses, crocuses, and van 
hout tulips, under a frame, to flower, a month or two 
before the season out of doors. Should you determine 
to try a few, procure the necessary quantity imme- 
diately. Pot them, the hyacinth and polyanthus 
narcissus singly, the others four in each pot ; plimge 
the pots in old tan or coal-ashes, on a bed in an open 
part of the garden for a month or six weeks, to 
induce them to form roots previously to placing them 
in the frame. Examine them from time to time, till 
j'ou perceive the buds breaking through the earth in 
the pots. When jou find this is the case, remove 
them into the frames, giving air in fine weather, and 
protecting them by thick covering of mats and straw 
in severe weather. Your reward will be the having 
those fragrant flowers for your window much earlier 
than in the open air. 

RosEs. — This is a good season also to look over 
your stock of roses. If your collection is not first- 
rate, we would advise you to lose no time in renewing 
them. The principle should never be lost sight of 
in all branches of horticulture and floriculture, that a 
good kind of any thing under culture is as easily 
grown as an indiiferent one, besides being more pro- 
fitable and pleasant. Our advice then is — of roses 
have the best ; and in order that you may do so, below 
is a list of forty sorts, good and distinct, selected from 
the catalogues of one of the most eminent growers : 

]. Summer Roses, flowering in May and June. 

Provence — Unique. 

Moss — Alice Servi, Celina, Comptesse de Noe, 
White Bath. 

Damasl- — Madame Hardy. 

White — Le Seduisante, Sophie de Mavoilly. 

French — Boule de Nanteuil, Latour d'Auvergne. 

Hybrid Provence — Emmerance, La Volupte, Prin- 
cess Clementine. 

Hybrids, various — ChenedoUe, Coup d'Hebe, Wil- 
liam Jesse. 

2. Autumn Roses, flowering from July to October. 

Damask, perpetual — Mogadon 

Hybrid, perpetual — La Reine, Baronne Prevost, 
Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Alice Peel, Louis Buo- 
naparte, Madame Laffay, Mrs. Elliot, Geant des 
Batailles. 

Bourbon — Armosa, Coup d'Hebe, George Cuvier, 
Madame Nevard, Queen, Somnet, Souvenir de 
Malmaison. 

Noisettes — Aim6e Vibert. 

China — Cramoise Superieure, Madame Brecon, Mrs. 
Bosanquet, Compte de Paris, Eliza Sauvage. 

Tea-scented — Nephethos, Safranot. 

The old roses need not be thrown away. Take 
them up, trim their roots and branches, and plant 
them in a row in some retired part of the garden : 
they will make good stocks to bud with better kinds. 
We shall, at the proper season, describe the method 
of budding them. 

CuRvsANTHEMUMS will HOW, in the southern coun- 
ties, be showing flower. The only care they require 



will be to continue tying them safely to strong stakes, 
to prevent the autumn winds blowing tliera about. 
As they are gross feeders, watering with liquid manure 
will cause them to flower finely. Spreading a coat- 
ing of rotten manure round the stems will assist them 
much. 

Prlnikg. — At this season of the year there is not 
much work for the knife in the amateur garden. In 
the shrubbery, straggling shoots of both deciduous and 
evergreen slirubs may be shortened in, to make the 
bushes more compact. All unripe shoots of the com- 
mon lam-el had better be cut oflT, as the frost would 
onl)- destroy them. All dead flower-stems, of course, 
must be removed as they occur, and late flowering 
perennials, now chiefly of the aster tribe, be kept 
well tied up. 

The Cottager's Flower-garden. — We have a good 
deal of anxiety respecting this part of oiu labours. We 
earnestly press upon our labouring friends the neces- 
sity of losing no time in their flower-gardening opera- 
tions, even at this season of the year. Every hour's 
work now will in the spring be found to have been 
providently bestowed. Enter yom- garden with a deter- 
mination to excel, or at least to equal, any labourer's 
garden in the countrj-. We will not insult your com- 
mon sense by telling you every week to keep your 
flower-beds clear of weeds, to have your walks cleanly 
swept from leaves or litter at all times : these opera- 
tions, we trust, you need not be reminded of. Hedges, 
or edgings, you will at all times keep neatly clipped 
and in good repair. Even where the management of 
the crops is not so good as it might be, yet, if the 
garden be clean, neat, and orderly, it will show that 
your heart is in your garden, and you only want the 
proper knowledge (which we shall endeavour to give 
you) to make you a really good gardener, as far as 
your means and opportimities afford. 

BiEKNiALs. — Now is 3. good time to transplant bien- 
nial flowers (plants of two years' dm'ation), such as 
wallflowers, sweet-^villiams, Canterbui-y-bells, Bromp- 
ton and queen stocks, etc., into their final situation, 
where they are to flower. These, if they have been 
rightly managed, will be nice short bushy plants. By 
rightly managed, we mean that they were sown early 
in June, transplanted when two or three inches high, 
in beds six inches between each plant; and if they 
grew too fast, lifted out of the ground once, or even 
twice, to induce dwarf bushy growth. In this state of 
growth they are far more likely to stand our winters 
uninjured, than if they are long-stalked, drawn-up 
things, made tender by being left too thick in the 
seed-bed. 

Edgings for Beds and Walks. — ^No gardens seem 
finished without edgings. The best in most respects 
is dwarf-box : it is the easiest kept, reqiures renewing 
the most seldom, and, if kept low by constantly clip- 
ping at the proper times, is the neatest of all edging. 
Yet there is an objection — it harbours slugs; and to a 
cottager is expensive to purchase. Cuttings of this 
varietj' of box will grow, and we would hope any 
gentleman would allow his gardener to give to his 
industrious poor neighbour a batch of the cUppings of 
his box-edging. Slugs may be destroyed by frequently 
watering with Hme-water, which is easily made by 
throwing into any vessel a lump or two of unslaked 
lime, and, when the water is clear, watering the box- 
edgings, and wherever you think the slugs are secreted. 
Edgings of thrift are very neat, but require frequently 
renewing, and are, like the box-edgings, harbours for 
slugs. Slates, or thin boards, or even pebbles, may 
be used as edgings. Any of these are much better 
than no edgings at all. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



23 



Roses for the Cottager. — Every cottage garden 
should have a few roses in it. The great question is, 
how is the poor man to procure them ? We recom- 
mended last week the striking of them hy cuttings. 
If, however, the cottager can spare a few shillings, it 
will be money well laid out, as, independent of his 
own pleasure, he may soon make his money hy the 
sale of the flowers. We subjoin a small list of such 
kinds as will, at least some of them, flower all the 
year, and the prices of the sorts we recommend are 
moderate : 

Summer Moses. 

Provence — Unique. 
Moss — Common, Crimson. 
Damask — Leda. 
White— Bluih Hip. 
French — Adele Pre vest. Enchantress. 
Hybrid Provence — Globe White, Duchesse d'Orleans, 
Beauty of BHliand. 

Autumn Roses. 

Damask perpetual — Mogador. 

Hybrid perpetual— CaRio^e, Comte de Paris, Lady 
Fordwick, Duchess of Sutherland, Louis Buonaparte. 
Bourbon — Annosa. 

China — Crimson superieure, Mrs. Bosanquet. 
Tea-scented — Nina. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

All our remarks and instructions under this head 
are intended both for amateurs and cottage garden- 
ers ; therefore we trust oiu- readers, of both classes, 
will consider this part of our labours as much addressed 
to them as to our more experienced brethren. In- 
deed, to the regular florist we can scarcely hope that 
our remarks ^vill extend to more than weekly remem- 
brances. We ^vrite, not for those who know and 



understand their business, but to the forgetful and 
less-informed, — and to those we trust our instructions 
will not be altogether in vain. 

Auricula and Polyanthus. — This week we will 
pay attention more especially to the auricula and 
polyanthus. We trust those beauteous flowers are, as 
we before remarked, in their winter quarters. The 
best situation for them is in a cold frame or pit. Set 
them upon a stratum of coal ashes, two or three inches 
thick — or, when expense is no object, upon a stage of 
boards slightly raised. The plants ought to he within 
six inches of the glass. Careful attention is required 
to two points — gi^dng air, and watering ; very little, 
if any, is required of the latter. If the weather is 
dry, and a good deal of sunshine occurs, a little water 
win be required : this should be applied in the morn- 
ing, to allow the surface of the soil in the pots to 
become dry before night. A fine sunny morning, 
therefore, should be chosen to water these plants. Of 
air, abundance should be given. On all fine days, the 
lights should be drawn entirely off; but should there 
be the least appearance of rain, let the frames be 
closed instantly, gi^'ing air then either at the back, by 
propping up the Hght, or by propping up the lights in 
the centre of each side — so as to allow a full current 
I of air to the plants. Constant search must be made 
for slugs, woodlice, and other destructive insects. 
The auriculas are not so subject to insects inhabiting 
their leaves as the polyanthuses are. The latter flower 
is often attacked most injuriously by the red spider. 
The ravages of this insect are most destructive when 
they are numerous. To destroy them, mix two pounds 
of flowers of sulphur amongst soap-water, made by 
dissolving one pound of soap to five gallons of water, 
and apply it in a tepid or lukewarm state to every 
leaf, and especially to its under side. This mixture 
will not only destroy the living insect it touches, but, 
as long as it lasts on the leaves, will prevent the at- 
tacks of other red spiders. T. Appleby. 



THE WEEK'S KITCHEN-GARDENING. 



Brussels Sprouts. — We may best answer here the 
inquiry of our correspondent (M. A. J.) hy stating that 
when this vegetable is about eighteen inches high, its 
top should be cut for table use. By the top being thus 
removed, the production of sprouts along the stem is 
promoted. The sprouts should be cut for boiling 
when as compact as, and about the size of, a walnut. 

Beans. — For early production next spring a planta- 
tion of broad beans may be now inserted. A south 
border, deeply dug, and without any manure added, 
is the best situation. Marshall's early dwarf prolific 
is the best kind to plant for this crop ; but the early 
Mazagan and early Lisbon are almost as early in 
yielding a gathering, and they are cheaper at the 
seedsman's, as well as more productive. These three 
varieties attain a height of about four feet if left to 
themselves ; but as they should be topped when about 
three feet high, and as the rows should run north and 
south, the rows need not be more than two feet and a 
half from each other. Dig enough ground for one 
row, and then insert the beans two inches deep and 
four inches apart : by thus putting in one row at a 
time, the ground need not be trampled on, and the 
looser the soil is about the crops that have to stand 
through the winter, the better. Although^ we give 
these directions for now planting the earliest bean 
crops, yet we advise the planting not to be made until 
the commencement of the year, and then with some 



kind of shelter; the beans being inserted thick for the 
purpose of transplanting. One pint of beans wiU be 
enough for any number of rows not exceeding in length 
altogether S4 feet. 

Cress (Water). — No crop repays the cottager for 
cultivation more than this, if he has a stream running 
down a ditch enclosing his garden. This ditch may 
always be so widened, and the water regulated by a 
dam at the lowest end, so that the water shall he con- 
stantly three or four inches deep. Now is the time 
for planting them, and we take the following directions 
from the Bon Jardinier. The bottom of the ditch must 
be beaten quite firm and smooth by the aid of a rammer 
and the back of the spade. If the bottom of the ditch 
is not sufliciently moist, a small body of water must 
be allowed to enter to soften it. The cresses are then 
to be taken and divided into small sets or cuttings, 
with roots attached to them ; and these thrown over 
the bottom of the trench at the distance of three or 
four inches from each other. The cress soon attaches 
itself to the damp earth ; in three or four days the 
shoots straighten and begin to strike root. At the end 
of five or six days, a slight dressing of well decomposed 
cow-dung is to be spread over all the plants, and this 
pressed down by means of a heavy board, to which a 
long handle is obliquely fixed. The water is then 
to be raised to the depth of two or three inches, and 
never higher. The ditch must thus be replanted an- 



26 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



nually, and fuinislies twelve crops during the season. 
In the summer the cresses may be gathered every fif- 
teen or twenty days, but less frequently during win- 
ter, care being taken that at each gathering at least 
a third part of. the bed is left untouched, so that neither 
the roots maybe exhausted, nor the succeeding gather- 
ing delayed. After every cutting, a little decayed 
cow-dung should be spread over the naked plants, and 
beaten down by means ol the rammer above mentioned. 
After the water-cresses have been thus treated for a 
twelvemonth, the manure forms a tolerably thick layer 
at the oettom of the ditch, and tends to raise its level. 
To restore it to its original level, all the refuse sliould 
be thrown out upon the borders, forming for them a 
very fertilizing manure. Cress-grounds should always 
be at a distance from frees, on account of the leaves, 
which otherwise drive amongst the plants, and require 
iiiucli time to pick out. There are two weeds which, 
even in the cleanest cress-grounds, can scarcely be kept 
under : these are the duck-weed and pond-weed {Zaii- 
nichellia palustrh), which both multiply so quickly, 
that unless carefully rooted out. they do great injury 
to the cresses. The pond-weed may be kept under 
by careful hand-weeding, and the duck-weed by raising 
the water, so as to make it float above the cress-plants, 
when it may be skimmed otf. 

The cultivation of this very wholesome vegetable, 
and which is so palatable an accompaniment to our 
meals, is believed to have been first attempted in 180S 
by Mr. Bradb\iry, a market-gardener, at Northfleet, 
Springhead, near Gravesend; but since then its culti- 
vation lias spread to Rickmansw.nth, Bayswater, Ux- 
bridge, and other places. From thence, and from 
more distant places near to a railway station, vast 
quantities of water-cresses are daily sent to the Lon- 
don market. The cultivaturs near London consider 
there are three varieties : — 1. The large brown-leaved, 
which is the best flavoured, and will grow in deeper 
water than the other two. 2. The small brown- 
leaved, which is the hardiest. 3. The green-leaved, 
which, as it roots the most readily, is the most easily 
cultivated. 

CucuMEEus, to produce their fruit early iu Febru- 
ary, may be now sown in a hot-bed ; but we must 
warn our readers that they require more care and 
attention than any other crop forced by the gardener. 
They will, therefore, count the cost and trouble before 
they begin, and balance these against the worth of the 
inicertain crop. We will commence by giving full 
directions for the preparation of the hot -bed made of 
st.ible-dung, of which that made by the best-fed horses 
is to be preferred. It should be about ten days from 
the stalls, and without too large a proportion of litter. 
After being thrown into a heap, of conic form, for 
five or six days, it must be so turned over, that the 
inner parts are brought to the outside, the clots well 
separated with tire fork, the heap formed conical as 
before, and left for an equal number of days. By 
this time and treatment the dung in general acquires 
a sufficient and steady heat ; if, however, it is very 
dry and fresh, it must be moderately moistened, and 
left for five or six days more. At the time of forming 
the heap, as well as at every turning, water should be 
applied if its substance appears at all dry, as a regular 
state of moisture is of first importance to the obtaining 
a favourable fermentation. It should remain until 
the straw in general assumes a dark brown colour, and 
then be immediately formed into the bed. Leaves or 
tan may be mixed with advantage, as heat is thereby 
generated during a greater length of time. In cold, 
wet. or boisterous weather, the heaps should be cov- 
ered to a moderate depth with litter. 



Place the bed entirely free from the overshadowing 
of trees, buildings, &c., and having an aspect rather a 
point eastward of the south. A reed fence, surround- 
ing it on all sides, prevents any reverberation of 
the wind ; an evil which is caused by paling or other 
solid inclosure. This must be ten feet high to the 
northward or back part, of a similar height at the 
sides, hut in front only six. The wicket, or gate, 
must be of sufiicient width to admit a loaded wheel- 
barrow. Fruit may be forced slightly by being trained 
within it on the southern aspect, for which purpose 
the fence on that side must be of brick or wood. 

To prevent unnecessary labour, this inclosure should 
be formed as near to the stable as possible. For the 
reception of tlie bed, a pit is often dug, six inches deep, 
if the soil be wet, or eighteen inches or more if dry. In a 
dry soil and climate this cannot be productive of injury ; 
otherwise it often chills the bed : at the same time 
it is to be observed, that it is unproductive of benefit, 
further than that the bed not being so high is easier of 
access, but gives much additional trouble, both at the 
time of founding and afterwards, when linings are to 
be applied. 

The place for the bed being determined, a stake 
should be driven upright at the four corners as a 
guide for its rectangular construction. The dun^ 
must be thoroughly mixed just before it is used, and 
as carefully separated and spread regularly with the 
fork, as the bed is formed with it. It is beneficially 
settled down in every part alike by beating with the 
fork as the work proceeds, rather than by treading ; 
for if too much compressed, a high degree of heat is 
raised, but is soon spent : a contrary effect is often 
caused if the dung is trod to a still greater excess; 
namely, that no heat at all is produced. 

The longest or littery part of the dung should be 
laid at the bottom of the bed, and the finer fragments 
of the dung upon the top. If it is not regularly and 
moderately moist throughout, it should be sprinkled 
over with water. As the surface on which the bed is 
founded is usually horizontal, so is the dung laid 
perfectly parallel with it. Mr. Knight recommends 
it, on the contrary, to be equally inclined with its 
foundation, that it may associate well with the form, 
which he recommends for ft-ames. 

The breadlh of a bed must always be five feet, and 
in the depth of winter four and a half feet high when 
firmly settled ; to form it of this size, about twelve 
barrow-loads of dung are required to a light. 

To prevent the sudden changes of temperature in 
the external air affecting the heat of the bed, coat the 
sides of the bed with sand, coal-ashes, or earth, to a 
thickness of two feet. 

As the heat declines, linings, oi-, as they might be 
properly called, coatings, of hot fermenting dung laid 
from eighteen to twenty-four inches thick, in proportion 
to the coldness of the season, etc., all round the bed to 
the whole of its height ; and if the bed is founded in a 
trench, one equally deep must be dug for the coating, it 
being of importance to renew the heat as much as pos- 
sible throughout its whole mass ; if, after a while, the tem- 
perature again declines, the old coating must be taken 
away, and a similar one of hot dung applied in its 
place. As the spring advances, the warmth of the 
sun will compensate for the decline of that of the 
bed ; but as the nights are generally yet cold, either a 
moderate coating, about nine or ten inches thick, is 
required, or the mowings of grass, or even litter, may 
be laid round the .sides with advantage. 

The depth of earth, as well as the time and manner 
of its application, vary considerably ; it should never 
be put on until four or five days after the bed is 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



formed : before it is applied, tlie edges of the bed 
should be raised full eight inches higher than the 
middle, as from the additional weight of the frame 
they are sure to sink more and quicker, thereby often 
causing the earth to crack and injure the roots of the 
plants. 

The roots of plants being liable to injury (root-burn- 
ing) from an excessive heat in the bed, several plans 
have been devised to prevent this effect. If the plants 
in pots are plunged in the earth of the bed, they may be 
raised an inch or two from the bottom of the holes 
they are inserted in by means of a brick. But a still 
more effectual mode is to place them Avithin other 
pots, rather larger than themselves; a space filled 
with air being thus interposed between the roots and 
the source of heat, an effectual security is obtained. 
To prevent the same injury occurring when the plants 
are in the earth of the bed, a moderate layer of cow- 
dung laid between the eartli and the fermenting mass, 
is an efficient precaution, and is much preferable to a 
similarly-placed layer of turf, which interrupts too 
much the full benefit of the heat. A plan recom- 
mended by Bradley is well worthy of notice. A woven 
hm'dle, somewhat larger than the frame, being placed 
upon the dung, on this the woodwork of the frame can 
rest, and the earth is laid within it ; thus the whole can 
be moved together without disturbance. This would 
especially be of advantage when tanners' bark is em- 
ployed, which requires occasional stirring to renew 
its hear, in case of emergency, when time cannot be 
allowed for the bed becoming regular in its heat, before 
the plants are put in. Besides these precautions, 
vacancies should be left in the mould, and holes bored 
with a thick pole into the bed, which must be filled 
up with hay or dung when the danger is passed. 

For ascertaining the internal temperature of the 
bed, the thermometer is the only certain guide, as it 
also is for judging of the temperature of the air within 
the frame. The mode of introducing it into the body 
of the bed, is to have the thermometer inclosed in a 
wooden case, of the size and form of an ordinary dib- 
ble, which is to be lined with baize, and fitted with a 
cap of tinned iron, to exclude the exterior tempera- 
ture. The end which enters the earth is shod with 
copper full of holes. In conjunction with the thermo- 
meter, trying sticks may be employed for occasional 
observation ; these are smooth laths of wood, about 



two feet in length, thrust into different parts of the 
bed, which being drawn out and grasped quickly, 
afford a rough estimate of the heat of the bed. 

The small extent of the frame, and the rapid spoil- 
ing of the air within it by dung's fumes, render its 
frequent renewal necessary. To effect this, tlie com- 
mon practice is to raise the glasses in proportionate 
heights, according to the state of the air; and to 
prevent any injury arising when necessarily admitted 
during inclement weather, mats are hung over the 
opening ; but notwithstanding these precautions, the 
supply of air can seldom be regular ; hence, and from 
siidden chills, the plants are often checked, and some- 
times essentially injured. It may be remarked here, 
that raw, foggy days, if anything, are more unfavour- 
able than those that are frosty for the admission of 
air. A complete remedy for all these difficulties is 
afforded by a plan, which succeeds on the principle 
that wann air ascends, and simply consists of a pipe 
passed through the body of the bed, and one end 
communicating with the outside air, the other open- 
ing into the frame, at one of the top corners of which 
a hole must be made ; the heated air of the frame 
will constantly be issuing from this hole, and its 
place supplied by the air which rises through the 
pipe. A pipe of lead may be used, about two or 
three inches in diameter, bent nearly at a right angle 
and each limb being tliree feet long, one of these to 
be placed horizontally, as the bed is forming, with its 
mouth extending into the open air, that of the other 
end opening into the fr-ame. A cap should be fitted to 
the first, and by a slit on its under side, the quantity 
of air admitted can be regulated. — Modern Gardener's 
Dictionary. 

We must defer our directions for attending to the 
seedlings until next week. 

Herbs — plant, such as fennel, mint, pennyroyal, 
sage, savory, tansy, tarragon, and thyme. Two or 
three plants of each will be enough for a small family, 
and every housewife knows their great value, not only 
to give a relish to her cookery, but in making teas 
for the sick members of a household. No particular 
directions need he given for their cultivation, for the 
rooted plants, which must now be obtained, grow- 
very readily. We need only observe that in a light, 
well-dvained, and not over-rich soil, they all have the 
highest flavour. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



MRS. DAVIS GILBERT; 
OR, WHAT WE CAN DO FOR OTHERS. 

BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., r.R.S. 

The late Mrs. Davis Gilbert, of Eastbourne, was ever 
a warm and consistent friend of cottage gardens. She 
was well aware that on the best produce being pro- 
cured from its garden, much of the comforts of a cot- 
tage depends. As I had occasion in another place to 
remark {Farmer's Almanack, vol. ii. p. 239), that great 
object she sought to accomplish by a variety of excel- 
lent and successful efforts, such as the more extensive 
introduction of deeper digging, or forking ; by allot- 
monts to several hundred labouring tenants; by the 
introduction of self-supporting agricultural schools; 
by the collection, as a manm-e, of the cottage sew- 
age ; and by the careful collection and storing (in a 
tank) of rain-water. To some other of these invaluable 
efforts I may on future occasions endeavour to draw 
the attention of the readers of this valuable Journal. 



I recently made some observations on an easy mode 
of collecting and employing the sewage of the house, 
and in my present communication I will confine my- 
self to a few remarks on another of my late friend's 
objects — the collection of rain-v/ater.* I do this not 
only because I am aware of the superior value of rain- 
water for a variety of culinary and garden purposes, 
but because I feel that if the amount of rain annually 
falling in England was better understood, it would 
induce the erection of cottages in better sites, and with 
larger gardens, than is now convenient, where well- 
water is scarce. As I have remarked in another work 
(Rural Spelling-Book, p. 22), it is well known that 
some waters are called "hard," and are unfitted for 
the purposes of washing and brewing. This is owing 
to such waters holding, dissolved in them, either 

* My late friend died, April 26, 1S45, in her sixty-ninth j-ear; a 
surviving friend, who is still spared to follow her noble example, and 
to befriend the spade and the hoe, very truly remarked to me on 
that occasion. "In her the cottager and the cottage garden have 
indeed lost a dear friend ! " 



28 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



chalk or gypsum (carbonate of lime, and sulphate of 
lime), either of which, by decomposing, renders more 
expensive the use of the soap, and materially retards 
the extraction of the sugary matter from malt. 
Rain-water, from the total absence of these two sub- 
stances, is the " softest " and best of all water for 
washing, brewing, and gardening ; and if proper care 
is taken in its collection and storing in tanks, no family 
needbewithoutanabundantsupply of it; for it has been 
determined, that sufficient rain falls on every house in 
England for the use of its inhabitants. Although 
the fall varies in amount in different districts, yet the 
average annual depth which falls in England is about 
24 inches, or more than 12 gallons upon every square 
foot of the ronf (a gallon contains 277'274 inches) ; 
so that, supposing the roof to be 15 feet square only, 
more than 2S00 gallons of water, or about 8 gallons 
per day, fall upon it in rain every year. 

It would tend also to the general use of rain-water, 
if an easy plan, which I have found very useful in 
Surrey, was adopted, of making the rain-water pass 
through some white sand in its way to the tank. By 
this means, all the leaves, soot, and other mechanically 
suspended matters, are removed, and the rain-water, 
in consequence, keeps sweet for any length of time. 



COTTAGE AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 

(No. 3.) 
BY THE EDITOR. 

Bone Manuue. — " What good can there be in an 
old bone?" is a question that even now, occasionally, 
is heard from the lips of those who should have long 
since acquired the knowledge which would have pre- 
vented tlie question being put. As it is a question 
sometimes heard from the well-educated, we may be 
sure tliat our cottage friends may be readily excused 
for a similar inquiry. We will tell them, therefore, 
what good there is in an old bone. 

They need be no more than reminded that all their 
own flesh, blood, and bones, are formed out of the 
food they digest. Now, as chief constituent of that 
flesh, blood, and bones, is a peculiar substance called 
phosphate of lime ; and this phosphate of lime is found 
in all plants — indeed, plants cannot grow healthily 
without getting it by means of their roots from the soil. 
To supply the growth and the waste constantly going 
on of our flesh, blood, and bones, and consequently of 
the phosphate of lime which they contain, we eat cer- 
tain plants; the plants derive, among other things, 
their phosphate of lime from the earth in which they 
grow, and to keep up a supply of that phosphate of 
lime in the earth ready for the roots to take in, we 
apply manures containing that phosphate. Now " an 
old bone " contains about half its weight of that phos- 
phate, and this we think will explain why, when it is 
used as a manure, there is found to be a great deal of 
" good " in it. It is quite true that if we bury an old 
bone it will remain almost unaltered for years, but if 
we break it into small pieces it decays much sooner ; 
and if put round the roots of cabbages, will soon make 
them grow more tine and vigorously. Cabbages, how- 
ever, are not the only garden vegetables benefited by 
bone manure ; for, as we have just said, phosphate of 
lime is one of the most constant constituents of all 
plants. Of this phosphate, therefore, the soil is de- 
prived by every crop it bears, and to restore this phos- 
phate to the soil is an object with every cultivator. 
It waSilong since shown by chemists, that phosphate 
of lime is the chief ingredient in all bones, and, con- 
jequently, these by degrees have become one of the 



most extensively-used manures. In 1S21, the de- 
clared value of bones imported was no more than 
£15,898 12s. lid., but annually increasing, they had 
reached in 1S37 to £254,600, and the quantity now 
used yearly probably exceeds in value half a million 
of sovereigns. 

In tlie Gardener's Almanack for 1 845, will be found 
analyses of all the bones usually employed for manure, 
and it will be there seen that those of the sheep, ox, 
and horse, are rich in phosphate of lime in the fol- 
lowing proportions : — In every lOOlbs. of sheeps' bones 
there are 70 lbs. of phosphate of lime; in 100 lbs. of 
horses' bones, OS of that phosphate; and in the same 
quantity of ox bones, 55 lbs. 

Now, as phosphate of lime is insoluble in water, and 
even bone-dust is slow in decaying, it was suggested 
that by dissolving it in a strong acid, super-phosphate 
of lime, a substance soluble in water, would be formed, 
and also all the other constituents of tlie bone be pre- 
sented to the roots of the crop in a most available 
form. This process is said to have been first adopted 
by Mr. Fleming, of Borrochan, N.B., in the year 1841. 
He employed miunatic acid (spirit of salt) to dissolve 
the bones, and the result of his experiments, per acre, 
on turnips and potatoes, was as follows : 



Bones (16 tons, no acid) 
Bones (10 tons, with acid) . 



Swede 
Turnips. 



ton. cwt, 
14 17 
18 11 



Potatoes. 



ton. cwt. 
9 15 

12 15 



Subsequent experiments have demonstrated that oil 
of vitriol (sulphuric acid) can be used much more 
advantageously for dissolving bones, than the muriatic 
acid, and for reasons thus epitomised by Mr. W. C. 
Spooner, in his recently - published " Treatise on 
Manures." — -"Sulphuric acid is stronger, cheaper, has 
a greater specific gravity, and therefore is not so 
bulky ; and contains much less water. On mixing it 
with water a much higher temperatui'e is obtained, 
which conduces to the dissolving of the bones. But 
above all, we find that in the trials which have been 
made, bones dissolved in muriatic acid have been found 
somewhat less beneficial than others dissolved in 
sulphuric acid." Mr. Spooner's conclusions, after 
lengthened e.xperience, are — 

1. That super-phosphate of lime is the essential 
manure for turnips, and particularly for Swedes. (We 
can add, that it is most excellent for every kind of 
cabbage, brocoli, and cauliflower.) That with it alone 
a good crop can be raised ; but without it the turnip 
will not thrive, however rich the maniure may other- 
wise be. 

2. In preparing the mixture, the bones should be in 
as fine a state as possible. 

3. That sulphuric acid, from its greater strength and 
cheapness, is preferable to muriatic acid. 

4. That water, in the proportion of one-half the 
weight of the acid, should be first sprinkled over 
the bones. 

5. The proportion of sulphuric acid most economical 
to employ should not be less than one-third, nor more 
than one-half the weight of the bones, and that pro- 
bably the medium between these two quantities is 
most advantageous. 

6. That the mixture can be applied either with the 
addition of a considerable quantity of water, or with 
ashes, by means of an ordinary drill. That though 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



mixed with water it may be more speedy in its effects, 
yet when mixed with ashes it can be more conve- 
niently applied, and has the advantage of admitting 
the addition of a large quantity of ashes. 

7. That \'itriolized bones may be used either alone 
or with other manures, and that when the latter are 
at hand, it is more advantageous to use the former in 
combination with them. 

Mr. Spooner remarks that, in his experiments with 
superphosphate of lime applied at the time of sowing 
seeds, these invariably sprouted more quickly than 
other seeds sown without the addition of the phos- 
phate. It seems to have the power generally of 
hastening the progress of vegetation ; and the fol- 
lowing from Mr. R. White shows its effect upon the 
rose-tree. 

" In the autumn of 1845 I transplanted about 
twenty rose-trees ; and in consequence of seeing this 
substance mentioned as one to be used with advantage 
in such a case, I tried the experiment on eight out of 
that number, by sprinkling about a handful on and 
about the roots at the time of planting. Early in 
March of this year the difference was very perceptible ; 
the eight plants in question were in leaf, and quite as 
forward as those which had not been removed, while 
the remainder (with one exception) had not then 
started into growth. I think this may be taken as a 
proof tl-at superphosphate of lime has a beneficial 
influence in causing the more ready formation of 
roots." — ( Gardener's Chronicle.) 

Bone manure, whetlier merely ground bones, or 
those dissolved in sulphuric acid, is not only bene- 
ficial to cabbages and turnips, but to all garden crops 
and flowers. We have noticed very great benefits 
ourselves from applying it to peas, beans, asparagus, 
and strawberries. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 1.) 

Works — especially periodicals — addressed solely to 
man, lose half their charm, and much of their useful- 
ness. There are ladies of the creation as well as lords, 
and in this our bright and happy land, enlightened by 
a far more glorious sun than that which shines on its 
material structure, woman takes her share in every 
department where bodily strengtli is not required, and 
is the delighted partner of all her husband's, or father's, 
or brother's tastes and intellectual enjoyments. A 
periodical, to be perfect, needs the delicate tinting 
imparted by a lady's hand, so that it may not be laid 
by on the dusty shelf of the husband, but take its place 
on the work-table of the wife ; and I will venture to 
say, much of its success may depend upon the appro- 
bation of those, whose influence upon society, though 
perhaps not glaringly apparent, is deeply and intensely 
felt. 

I address myself, therefore, exclusively to the wives 
and daughters of those gentlemen who patronize " Tlie 
Cottage Gardener," and through them, to the wives 
and daughters of their humble neighbours, whose en- 
joyment of flowers is usually greater than might be 
expected in their particular circumstances. It will 
give me great pleasure to impart my country feelings 
and floricullural experience to " my sisters ;" and 
should I be the means of awakening a dormant taste, 
or increasing the growing fancy of a single individual, 
I shall feel myself abundantly recompensed. 

A flower-garden is a great resource to a lady. We 
have, in our rather limited sphere, a good deal to suffer, 
and a good deal to make the best of, and, in each case, 
our minds seem healed and mollified by the sight and 



smell of our gay and fragrant parterres. A flower, too, 
is a sermon— it preaches to our hearts and minds — 
it speaks to us loudly and powerfully of the tender 
love of our and its Creator — and it declares impres- 
sively also, this solemn and salutary truth, " man is 
as a flower of the field." We are taught, too, how 
wise, as well as how pleasant it is, to look for all we 
need spiritually and temporally from our heavenly 
Father. — " How much more shall he clothe you, oh 
ye of little faith." Thus in every way our garden is a 
kind of benefactor — it gives us moral health and physi- 
cal health — pleasure and profit — recollection, and some- 
times a blessed forgetfulness. I can truly say, that few 
moments are more exhilarating than that in which I un- 
fold and arrange my large checked apron — plunge my 
hands into its ample pockets to find my knife, scissors, 
pack-tliread, and old gloves, all of which you are sure 
to lose or mislay, if you do do not keep them there ; 
and snatching up my basket, rake, and trowel, hurry 
forth into my peacefid garden. Some of my young 
readers may think this a strange time of year to begin 
a discourse upon flower-gardening, but we shall have 
plenty of matter to discuss during the dead months 
of \vinter, preparatory to the busy time of spring, and 
we may be pleased to find that any suggestions 
offered can be acted upon almost immediately, or, as 
soon as the year commences, instead of ha\'ing to wait 
till a whole season, perhaps, comes round. 

October is a busy month in many ways. A garden 
must be " packed up" for its winter sleep, and laid 
by in neat, lady-like order. Nothing looks more 
deplorable than plants left straggling on the borders, 
with their dead leaves and stems decayed and black ; 
sticks left in disorder, with the remains of sweet peas 
entangled round them, and roses and honey-suckles 
hearing the black comfortless relics of their beautiful 
summer bloom. Every straggling leaf and stem must 
be cut off, and the plant neatly trimmed. Pick off 
all dead buds and seed pods, that are left after the 
floricultiu'al harvest ; di,^ in the old plants of mig- 
nonette and other annuals that may yet remain, 
when you arrange the beds, because many strong 
young plants will spring from self-sown seed in 
autumn ; and, therefore, leave no means untried to 
acquire them. Loosen the earth with a light prong, 
or hand-fork, to enable the frost to enter, to kill in- 
sects, and the snow to enrich the soil. — Remember 
" the treasures of tlie hail." Collect all the refuse of 
the garden ; the dead leaves, &c. and make a heap of* 
them in a retired nook, where they will, in time, be- 
come a rich supply of leaf mould, so usefid to potted 
plants. It would be better even to endure the un- 
sightly object, than to let the contents of your wheel- 
barrows be thrown away. Nothing should be thrown 
away ; all is good in its time and place ; and even 
our flowers will help to support themselves, thus 
teaching another useful lesson upon the well-regu- 
lated and listening mind. These are some of our 
October duties, and this enchanting season, hitherto, 
renders our labour light. Rosa. 



BEES. 



As every one is interested in the economy of Bees ; 
as their honey and wax are acceptable in all house- 
holds; and as they are a source of great profit to the 
Cottager, we shall give a series of essays on their 
management, so soon as we can meet with a practical 
bee-keeper, on whom we can rely, willing to undertake 
the task. In the mean time we readily give insertion 
to the following which lias been sent to us by a cor- 
respondent. 



30 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



"Rule 1. — Never kill your Bees. 

" Rule 2. — Never allow your Bees to swarm. 

" Place an old stock of Bees in a common straw 
hive on the middle of a board large enough to contain 
three hives, and on each side of the old stock place a 
wooden box, about seven inches square outside and 
six inches high, (or any other size you may think 
proper,) or straw hives with wooden tops. The boards 
forming the wooden boxes may be made out of old 
packing-cases. Each side box should have glass win- 
dows with shutters. 

•' On the top of each of the side boxes there should 
be a hole two inches in diameter, with a perforated 
plate of zinc to slide over it and a cork to fit it. These 
small holes are for the purpose of ventilating the side 
hives, thereby preventing the Queen from lajdng her 
eggs in them. When the Bees fill the holes of the 
slide, e.\changing this for another of the same kind. 
The side box should not be aired until the Bees have 
fairly taken to it. 

" The board on which the hives are placed should 
be so prepared with passages that the three hives may 
be united or disunited at pleasure by means of slides 
made of zinc. As soon as the Bees are likely to swarm, 
open the passage between the middle hive and one at 
the side, and force the Bees to pass through the latter 
by stopping up the mouth of the former. When tlie 
Bees have filled one side box with honey, let them 
into the other side box, and remove the first, (now fit 
for use) in the middle of a fine hot day, by means of a 
plate of sheet iron, to any convenient place in your 
garden. Tlie Bees will return to the parent hive, and 
the owners of the Bees may take possession of the 
deserted hive." 

In speaking of the profitableness of Bees we may 
add that the profit is not trivial, for we have known 
more than one cottager pay his rent from their 
produce. 

TO PRESERVE POTATOES. 

A FRTKND has sent us a printed handbill relative to 
" The Potato Disease," from which we extract the 
following directions for preserving potatoes in a state 
fit for feeding cattle, pigs, and other animals. 

Boil the small or other diseased potatoes, and then 
beat them down into a cask, strewing salt at the same 
until quite full. 

Preserve the potatoes carefnlhj from the air, by 
'filling every joint and crack with lime putty, pitch, 
rosin, or grease. Place the cask in a dry cool 
situation. 

Potatoes will keep sweet in this way for many 
months. 

HARDY PLANTS LATELY MADE KNOWN 
AND WORTH CULTIVATING. 

Reeve's Muscadine Grape. — Imported from the 
Cape of Good Hope by John Reeves, Esq. Bunch 
large, broad-shouldered ; stalk thick ; pedicels (stalks 



of ben'ies) short, stiff. Berries oval ; skin yellowish 
white, rather thick ; pulp melting, juicy, and rich. 
A good grape, ripening quite as early as the Black 
Hamburgh under similar circumstances. — {Hort. 
Society's Journal, iii. 308.) 

LupiNus Affinis (Allied Lupine.) — Mr. Hartweg 
sent this to England from California, where he found 
it in 1847, growing in the woods near Monterey. 
The flowers are a bright deep blue, with a broad 
white spot in the middle of the largest flower leaf or 
standard. Height six inches. May be grown in any 
good garden-soil like the common lupine; blooms 
abundantly, and lasts long in flower. — {Ibid.) 



HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. 

Thrift Edging. — The close tufted evergreen foliage 
of Thrift makes it peculiarlj' suitable as an edging for 
flower borders, especially as its flowers are ornamental 
and are abundant during several of the summer 
months. There is a bright rose-coloured variety 
which should be preferred for this purpose. The 
principal objection to this plant, as an edging, is that 
it spreads rather too readily over the surface, so that 
the edging soon becomes too wide. Replanting is the 
only proper mode of coiTecting this excessive out- 
spread, for severe cutting back to a narrow width 
often proves very detrimental to the plants. In plant- 
ing Thrift as an edging, the soil should be dug and 
broken fine and then be trodden and beaten down 
finn ; a line is then stretched along just v,-here the 
edging is needed, and the soil is cut down by the 
spade even with this line, so that the top surface is 
smooth and horizontal, and the side face almost per- 
pendicular. The plants of Thrift are then pidled 
asunder into single heads or crowns, and these are 
planted along the line cut out as above described, in 
doing which, the tops of the plants must be kept quite 
level, each about two inches above the surface. The 
roots are to be firmly fixed in the soil, and the plants 
about two inches apart from each other. The part of 
the plant should not be shortened, as fibrous roots will 
be produced along the whole length of the woody 
portion. — Horticultural Magazine. 

Celery Show, held at Edward Brown's, Dun-street, 
Shefiield, October 2, 1848 : 



Growers. 


lb. 


oz. 


Growers. 


lb. 


oz. 


Thomas Smith . 


. 18 


12 


Charles Lingard . . 


12 


8 


Wm. Grayson . 


. 16 


4 


Joseph Booth . . . . 


12 





John Nutt .... 


. 15 


8 


John Parkin . . . . 


11 


12 


Henry Brown . 


. 14 


8 


Edward Brown . . . 


10 


8 


Wra. Brown . . 


. 13 


12 


Edward Jennett . . 


10 


1 


Samuel Bray . . 


. 13 


8 


Henry Pashley . . . 


9 





Henry Rogers . 


. 13 





Sheffield T 


mes 





(Many of our readers will be surprised that a single 
stick of celery can be grown to such weights as the 
above. We shoidd like to know the names of the 
varieties exhibited, and what ai'e the characteristics 
of excellence the judges require in celery.) 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

T. M.(Rcigate.)— The suggestion shall not be lost sight of in our "heading "for another year. 

Again we must return generally thanks to our Clerical and other Fkiends for their kind wishes and aid. At present we have neither 
time nor space to do more. 

Rev. J. H.(Berks.)— Vi'ehave to thank our friend for his hint, "not to presume too much on the previous knowledge of our readers ; " 
and we can assure hira it is our constant eHurt to be very plain and explicit. 

M. Saul in our next, and we shall be glad t<i hear from him again. 

The (lueries from iiumeruus other Correspoiidenls will be answered in our next. Our arrangements for publication in time for forwarding 
Into the country by the Booksellers' parcels render it necessary for us to have any question ten days before the answer can appear with 
certainty. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



31 



WEEKLV CALENDAR. 



M 
D 

26 


w 

D 

Th 


OCTOBER 26— NOV. 1, 1848. 


Plants dedicated to 
each day. 


Sun 
Rises. 


Sun 
Sets. 


Moon R. 
anil Sets. 


Moon's 
Age. 


Clock 
aft. Sun 


Day of 
Year. 


Whitethorn leaves fall. 


Late Golden-rod. 


46 a 6 


43 a 4 


5 47 


29 


15 57 


300 


27 


F 


Elm leaves fall. 


Bundle-flowered Aster. 


47 


41 


sets. 


New. 


16 2 


301 


28 


S 


St. Simon and St. Jude. 


Late-flwg.Chrysanthem. 


49 


39 


5 a 42 


1 


16 6 


302 


29 


Sun 


19 Sunday after Trinity. 


Green-fiowd. Narcissus. 


51 


37 


6 14 


2 


16 10 


303 


30 


M 


Red currant leafless. 


Dunghill Agaric. 


53 


35 


6 52 


3 


16 13 


304 


31 


Tu 


All Hallow Even. 


Fennel-leaved Coreopsis 


54 


33 


7 36 


4 


16 15 


305 


1 


W 


All Saints. 


Laurestinus. 


58 


30 


8 25 


5 


16 16 


306 



St. Simon and St. Jude. — These two Apostles are coraniemo- 
rated on the 28th of this month. Simon, for his zeal, was called 
Zelotea (Luke vi. 15), and that zeal speedily led to his crucifixion. 
St. Jude was a relative of our Lord. (Matt. xiii. 55.) Hia Epistle, 
addressed to Christians generally, is in our Bible. He was cruelly 
put to death by the Magi. 

All Hallow Even, or Hallow E'en, as it is called in North 
Britain, was in days gone by the anniversary of numerous incanta- 
tions and charms then used by maidens who sought to know the 
when and with whom " would wedded life begin. " It was a night 
on which our superstitious forefathers thought the witches, and 
other agents of evil, were especially on the alert. 

Insects. — At the end of October, and early in 
November, the Liroe-looper, or Mottled Umbre 



Phenomena of the Season. — There are very few hips and 
haws this year ; and this, according to an old adajje— respected even 
by Lord Bacon — should portend a mild winter: but we have never 
observed any truth in the omen. Abundance of these fruits of the 
dog rose and whitethorn can only intimate, that during their time of 
flowering (June and July) the season was dry, and favourable to the 
impregnation or setting of the fruit. In ihe present year these 
months were most wet and ungeni^.!, and hence the scantiness of 
those wild fruits. The extreme wetness of the summer, by so tho- 
roughly wetting and chilling the earth, would rather justify the 
expectation of an early and severe winter. 






1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


26 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


27 


Stormy. 


Fine. 




Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


28 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 




Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


29 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


No 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


30 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Returns. 


Showery 


Fine. 


Clouriy. 


Cloudy. 


31 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 




Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


1 


Rain. 


Fine. 




Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 



Mofh {Hybernaria [Gi-omeira] rfs/o/ioria) makes its appearance. It is called Looper be- 
cause its caterpillars, in moving forwards, bring their hindmost feet close up to those in 
front, so that the body forms a loop ; many other caterpillars do the same, — so, to distin- 
guish this, it is called the Lime-looper— its favourite food being the leaves of the Lime, or Linden-tree. It is almost equally fond of the 
leaves of the apple, and in some years destroys the hopes of the orchardist by the extent of its ravages- As a single female of this moth will 
lay 200 eggs, a very few females may rnise a jirogeny sulRcient for stripping a whole orchard, especially as the caterpillars are not easily 
detected until full-grown, and are usually first noticed by the extent to which they have destroyed the leaves. The moths come out of the 
earth, where they have passed through their pupae or chrysalis state i and as they are without wings, lliey may be prevented creeping up the 
apple-trees by smearing tar around the bottom of their stems. This moth is called the Mottled Umbre, because the upper wings are mottled 
with a reddish-brown colour, like Umbre. They are sprinkled over with many black dots. From the front edge of each upper wing, and 
from near the tip. a wavy line passes among those dots across to the back edge of the wing. Near to this line, and near the centre of the 
wing, is a black dot, larger than the other dots. There is a similar black dot in the centre of the under wings, which are a grayish-white 
dotted with brown. Tlie caterpillars are hatched in April, and are full-grown in May; they are reddish-brown, with a yellow line on each 
side, and a red spot on each of their joints or segments. The cateipillars retire into the earth at the end of May, where they change into a 
brownish-red chrysalis, remaining, as already stated, until October or November, when the moth comes forth from ihem. 



Our observations on a recent occasion (p. 11) were 
confined to the storing and preservation of kitchen- 
garden roots, and we will here modify one statement 
we then made, before we proceed to offer some remarks 
upon fruit-storing. We directed that the beetroot 
should be treated the same as the carrot and the 
parsnip, preparatory to storing ; but there must be 
this difference — no part of the beetroot should be cut 
away with its leaves, otherwise, when boiled, all its 
beautiful crimson colour will be extracted by the water. 
The objects to be attained in the preservation of 
fruit, are freedom from decay and from shriveling. 
Now decay, or putrefaction, can never occur at all at 
a temperature below that at which water freezes ; and 
at temperatures warmer than that, it should be borne 
in mind, that the greater the cold, the less apt will 
anything animal or vegetable be liable to decay. 
Hence meat or fruit, put into an ice-house, will keep 
good as long as any ice remains there. The fruit- 
room, therefore, should be kept as cold as possible, 



and the cottager who would preserve his apples and 
pears through the winter, or at least as long as their 
several natures will permit, should store them in a 
cool out-house, or in a room on the nortli side of his 
cottage, and where no fire is usually lighted. 

Decay occurs very slowly if the air is shut out. 
Thus, we have eaten beef and fish that had been to the 
East Indies and back in closely soldered tin cases — 
and the beef and the fish (salmon) were as good 
as they were when put into the tin cases nearly 
twelve months before. We cannot be at the annual 
expense of soldering down our fruit in tin cases, but 
we can pack them away in casks and boxes, between 
layers of dry sand — or we can put them into drawers, 
each apple or pear of the most choice dessert kinds 
being first wrapped in whitey-brown paper. 

We once thought that dryness was necessary for 
the long-keeping of fruit ; but this is certainly not so, 
provided the moisture in the air is not stagnant, as 
it is in most underground places. A damp cellar, on 



32 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



account of its stagnant air, is about the worst of all 
places for fruit-keeping. That moi-ture — if the air is 
kept in motion, so as not to let the surface of the 
fruit be constantly damp and surrounded by its own 
fumes or exhalations — does not cause decay, is shown 
by many facts. Thus an apple left upon the tree, or 
that has fallen into a box-edging, will remain sound 
and uninjured long after the fruit of our store-room is 
shrivelled or decayed, though that apple has been 
exposed to all the rains and snows and vicissitudes 
of winter. Then, again, it is recorded of a large 
fruit-grower, that he stored his apples upon hurdles, 
and occasionally threw over them buckets of water ; yet 
he was well known as a successful preserver of his fruit. 

Shriveling arises from the drying away or evapo- 
ration of the watery contents of the fruit. Now this 
drying away goes on fast just in proportion to the 
fruit's exposure to warmth and air. The means, 
therefore, directed to be adopted, to keep fruit from 
decaying, will also preserve it from shriveling. 

We may observe of shell-fruit, filberts and walnuts, 
that moisture and coldness are their best preservatives. 
Their own shells exclude the air ; the cold keeps them 
from growing, and the moisture prevents their drying 
and shriveling. It matters not to them, as their shells 
exclude the air, how stagnant this may be. Therefore 
the best of all modes of preserving them is to put them ^ 



in an uncovered, unglazed earthenware pan into a 
damp cellar. By this mode we keep both filberts and 
walnuts the whole year round, and so fresh that the 
skin peels from each kernel long after new filberts and 
walnuts have arrived, nearly as easily as when first 
they were gathered from the tree. 

We may observe, in connection with fruit^storing, 
that bruises of the fruit, even the most slight, are to 
be very carefully avoided ; for wherever a bruise occurs 
decay, sooner or later, follows. Instead, therefore, of 
pouring apples or pears into heaps, and so unavoidably 
battering them against each other, they should be 
placed gently and singly upon the floor of a room, and 
after they have remained there for a day or two, be 
wiped dry and stored away. Fruit stored in sand 
should not be kept in it down to the very time it is 
required for eating, for exposure to light and air is 
necessary for the production of the fruit's full flavour. 
A fortnight's consumption should always be kept out 
of the sand, and each day some should be taken out 
from the sand to supply the places of those that have 
on that day been eaten. 



To enable us to make room for aiTears of contribu- 
tions, we purpose giving occasionally a double number, 
for which, as in the present instance, we shall make 
no extra charge. 



THE WEEK'S FRUIT-GARDENING. 



Select Lists of Apples. — We will now proceed 
to give some useful lists of fruits adapted to the cot- 
tager and amateur. We must at the same time ob- 
serve, that such lists, however carefully the kinds may be 
selected, cannot be supposed to rule the cultivation of 
any district : we merely advise a trial of the kinds 
here enumerated. We have had experience of most 
of them for some twenty years, and we have the con- 
curring testimony of many e.xperienced persons in 
favour of the majority of kinds recommended. After 
all, it must be admitted that many valuable Inuts exist 
totally unknown to the gardening world, and which 
never yet tbund their way into the nurseryman's cata- 
logue. Another point, above all, must by no means 
be lost sight of, for we do consider it the main point. 
Some kinds like clay soils ; some will answer well in 
sandy soils ; and others will succeed in peat, provided 
it is well drained. 

Every cultivator, therefore, should keep an atten- 
tive eye on the kinds which thrive in his district ; or, 
at least, on a soil similar to that of his own garden. 
Whenever a kind fails, the cottager should not stand 
speculating or surmising ; let him immediately take 
steps to graft a kind which will answer. By a little 
inquiry, he will soon be able to learn what kinds have 
paid best for half a century back, and such may be 
grafted at once at the proper period. 

We may here be permitted to digress so far as to 
observe, that many kinds, such as the ribston-pippin, 
the hawthornden, etc., will frequently become renewed 
if grafted on old stocks, which, although not success- 
ful with other kinds, have, notwithstanding, a sound 
and clear stem. We have now a hawthornden branch 



of considerable size, which was some years since 
grafted on the lower part of a French ci-ab, and which 
is totally free from canker, and produces abundantly 
every year. We strongly suspect that the leaves of 
the Hick's-fancy, of which the other portion of the 
tree is composed, have exercised a healthy influence 
on the hawthornden. For, be it remarked, the haw- 
thoi-nden is cankered and worn out in all other parts 
of the garden. 

With these preliminary remarks we proceed to 
recommend a few sorts to the attention of both ama- 
teur and cottager. In making the selection, we have 
been guided by the followmg principle — following, 
also, nearly the order in which they stand as to their 
period of becoming fit for use : 

First — Soundness of constitution ; 

Secondlii — Free bearing ; 

Thirdly — Useful kinds. 

Kitchen Apples. 

Keswick Codling. — This, on ordinary soils, may 
be reckoned our very best earli/ dumpling or baking- 
apple. Healthy in constitution, and a great bearer, 
it is not excelled by any in July and August. 

Manks Codling. — In use from July to February; 
an excellent bearer ; one of the most profitable apples 
in the kingdom. It bears freely on the young shoots, 
and therefore requires manuring occasionally. 

Blenheim Pippin. — November to February; a 
very useful fruit, and growing vigorously ; would 
answer as a hedge-row apple. 

Dumclow's Seedling. — A noble fruit, cream-co- 
loured. It retains its briskness and firmness until 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



33 



April. Of a strong, upright growth, it would doubt- 
less answer well in hedge-rows. 

MiNSHULL Crab. — -A very strong-growing tree; 
fruit in use from October until February ; a good 
sauce-apple. The tree is too robust for small kitchen- 
gardens ; would answer in orchards. 

Bedfordshire Foundling. — Very large and hand- 
some; in use from November to March. 

Norfolk Beaufin. — A very large and sound fruit ; 
will keep until June. This would be suitable for 
hedge-rows. 

Hawthornden. — Too well known to need descrip- 
tion. This tree is, however, very liable to canker ; 
we would recommend it for grafting on large and 
healthy trees. 

Herefordshire Pearmain. — An old, but very 
<iseful apple ; in use from October until March. This 
would probably answer in hedge-rows. 

King of Pippins. — This is equally adapted for the 
table or the kitchen. It is a most healthy tree, a 
great bearer, and every way deserving a far more 
extended cultivation. We would try it in the hedge- 
row, its growth being upright — which circumstance we 
consider an essential in hedge-culture. 

JoHN-APFLE, or Northern-greening. — We have 
no apple in cultivation superior to this for kitchen 
purposes. A hardy and healthy tree, a good bearer, 
the fruit a good size, and remaining in use from No- 
vember until May It may, we think, be fairly con- 
sidered the best baking and sauce-apple in our cata- 
logues. It is a capital kind for the hedge-row also. 
We are inclined to think that it loves a humid atmo- 
sphere for it is extensively cultivated in our north- 
western counties — more especially Lancashire and 
Cheshire. 

Tahle or Dessert-apples. 

Early Harvest. — This is a nice early apple, as the 
name implies. It will ripen in the end of July, in fine 
seasons ; and possesses a crisp, yet tender flesh. 

Early Red-Margaret. — A very good summer- 
fruit : ripens about the beginning of August ; and we 
should say a superior bearer. 

Kerry Pippin. — Of all our Autumnal fruits, this 
is the best, both as regards bearing-properties and 
flavour. It forms, too, a very sound and healthy 
tree. No amateur's or cottager's garden should be 
without a couple of them. Fruit middle-sized, some- 
what oval, frequently possessing a quince-stalk ; flesh 
crisp and vinous, and of a yellow tinge. In use ii-om 
the middle of August until the end of September. 

Hick's-fancy, or Early Nonpareil. — A very good 
bearer, brisk juice, and the tree grows very compact ; 
in use from October to the end of December. 

Pitmaston Nonpareil. — A middle-sized fruit. 



rather flattened at top ; one of the greatest bearers 
with which we are acquainted. This we call every- 
body's apple : no cottage-garden should be without a 
couple. We have a tree which we have never known 
fail of a good crop for eighteen years : this can be 
said of few apples. In use from October until March. 

Pearson's Plate. — A handsome and truly useful 
little fruit. In use from November until April. 

Ribston Pippin. — We here need no lengthened 
description ; this kind is known to everybody. It 
has but one fault — an inclination to canker. 

Ross Nonpareil. — A handsome little russet-coated 
fruit ; frequently tinged with crimson next the sun, 
although of the class of russets. This has what is 
termed the feiiouillet flavour — that is to say, a power- 
ful aromatic taste. It grows in a compact little tree, 
and is in use from November until February. 

Old Nonpareil. — A well-known and highly- 
esteemed fruit as to quality, but apt to canker. It 
should have a good situation. We would not, how- 
ever, advise the cottager to plant this kind. In use 
from November to May, and may be fairly termed 
the best dessert-apple in the kingdom in January and 
February, taking briskness, tenderness of texture, 
and depth of flavour into consideration. 

Lamb-abbey Pearmain. — This is an extraordinary 
kind ; if the pitmaston has a rival in point of sure- 
bearing, this is the fruit. Fruit green, middle-sized, 
rather oval, is particularly firm, and will continue in 
use from December until May, or even June. Every 
cottager should possess this tree. It grows compact, 
and the fruit generally in clusters, like bunches of nuts. 

Sturmer Pippin. — -A valuable, late apple, of the 
ribston-pippin character ; will keep until June. 

We here, for the present, close our lists of apples. 
Our aim has been to pick out a very few sorts which 
may be relied on. Nothing is easier than to exiend 
such lists ; ample materials are at hand for the pur- 
pose. We think, however, that it is far better to 
recommend those only which we have long known 
and proved. We consider a large collection of kinds 
a very great evil, especially to limited gardens. The 
cottager, above all, should look to profit, which must 
of course be sought for in sure bearers. 

General Wokk. — As weekly calendarial advice, 
we would again repeat, that pruning of all kinds may 
be proceeded with. Any remaining leaves may be 
brushed off with a switch of twigs. Let planting also 
be attended to, according to former advice ; any late 
fruit still out should be housed without delay. It 
can receive no benefit out-doors after this period. 

We shall seek occasion in future, when calendarial 
matters do not press, to give condensed lists, which 
may be relied on, of the other fruits adapted to the 
amateur and the cottager. R. Errington. 



THE WEEK'S FLOWER-GARDENING. 



Furnishing Beds. The mode of supplying beds 
of flowers now, is very different to what it was twenty 
years ago. The mixed flower-garden where perennials 
(plants lasting for several years), biennials, annuals, 
(plants required to be sown every year), roses, bulbs, 
and so forth, were all grown together, is but seldom 
seen now, at least, to any extent. Yet the old me- 
thod had its advantages, inasmuch as there was 
always during the floral months * a fair sprinkling of 
flowers in every bed, which, even yet, in some places 
• Floral months — May, June, July, August, and September. 



is considered advantageous enough to induce the pro- 
prietors to continue the mixed mode. However, by 
far the greater number of cultivators of flowers now 
adopt the mode of congregating in masses each kind 
of flower ; that is, to have a bed entirely filled with 
verbenas, another bed with petunias ; a third with 
calceolarias; a fourth with crimson dwarf China roses, 
and so on. These, when well managed, certainly 
make a most splendid display of floral beauty. Tlie 
great objection to this mode of furnishing the beds is, 
that at some times of the year the ground is bare. To 



34 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



obviate this objection is our present purpose. The 
way to do it is to grow yearly a sufficient number of 
dwarf evergreen shrubs in pots, and as the flowering 
plants at this time of the year decay, to have them 
removed and the ground well digged, and then their 
places supplied by the requisite number of evergreens 
in pots being plunged in the beds ; continue this 
operation as the flowers decay till every bed is fur- 
nished. We shall then have an evergreen flower- 
garden during the dreary winter months, which every 
one must allow will be more pleasing than naked 
beds. 

Bulbous Flowers. Where beds of bulbs are cul- 
tivated, now is the time to plant them, and in those 
beds, of course, evergreens in pots cannot be placed ; 
yet, e%'en here, a tasteful cultivator will find something 
with which to hide the bare earth. For berls of yel- 
low and blue crocuses, small flints are a good cover- 
ing — the crocuses will come up in the interstices, and 
the contrast of the white flints and yellow and purple 
flowers will be pleasing. Other bulii beds may be 
covered with green moss, which will protect the plants 
from frost. The moss may easily be fastened down 
with small sticks and hooked pegs. These beds if 
judiciously intermixed, will have a very good effect. 

Forcing Roses. If Roses are desired early in the 
year now is the time to prepare the house, or p't, for 
them. Whichever is used for this purpose, let it be 
well cleaned out, the walls whitewashed, and the 
house, or pit, filled with tobacco smoke, to destroy 
any insects that may be harboured therein. The 
plants, if in their proper state for forcing, will have 
been potted the year before. Examine the pots by 
turning the balls of earth out of the pots to see if 
there are any worms in them, and it the drainage is 
open. Set these matters right, replace the ball in the 
pot, and put a little fresh compost made of loam and 
dung in equal parts, on the surface of the pots. Give 
a gentle watering, and then the plants are ready to 
be placed in the forring-house. The temperature for 
the first fortnight should not exceed fifty-five degrees 
of Fahrenheit's thermometer by day, and fifty degrees 
by night. The plants should be gently syringed every 
fine day. Let tlie earth in the pots be kept mode- 
rately moist. The temperature may be increased five 
degrees more at the end of the first fortnight. This 
heat will be quite sufficient to flower the roses well. 
Smoke with tobacco frequently, to keep down the 
insects, as nothing is more injurious than these pests 
to the successful forcing of the rose. 

Amateur's Flower-gardening. — The flower bor- 
ders will now be nearly clear of plants in flower. Let 
all dead stems be cut down, the surface raked over to 
clear oft' all leaves, weeds, etc., then put on a covering 
an inch or so thick of compost made of dmig and loam 
in equal parts. Dig this carefully into the beds, and 
leave the surface rather rough. Your borders will 
then he in a good state to plant your bulbs ; and now 
is a good time for this operation. We are supposing 
your borders of flowers to be of the mixed kind 
alluded to in the preceding paragraphs. You can 
now also tr.-insplant from your reserve beds the bien- 
nials, (plants of two years,) such as wallfloweks, 
Brompton and Queen stocks, etc. It is yet too early 
to transplant roses, as they ought to lose most of their 
leaves previously to being removed. 

EvERGKEtN Shrubs will transplant successfully 
during this month. Take them up with as much 
earth adhering to their roots as possible ; plant them 
a little deeper than they have been, and give a good 
watering to settle the earth closely to their roots ; 
cover the surface as far as the roots reach with some 



short litter. Let the trees, if of any height, be well 
secured with stakes. If you attend to all these parti- 
culars you will succeed to your entire satisfaction. 

Plants in Frames and Pits. — At this season 
mouldiness on the leaves of the plants in these places 
will be prevalent : mouldiness is really a crop of 
minute mushrooms or fungi. To prevent these para- 
sites from spreading, let every leaf containing them 
be removed as soon as seen. We cannot press this 
particular too much upon your attention. 

Cottagers Flower-garden. — Let borders devoted 
to flowers be now manured and dug, to benefit by the 
winter frosts. We love to see a cottage covered with 
woodbines, roses, and jessamines. If a cottager's 
dwelling is not already ornamented with those plea- 
sent things, we hope he will try to procure them now. 
The woodbine, or honeysuckle, may be taken from 
out of many a hedge, and w 11 soon grow if you tend 
it well by watering, traming, and pruning. A climb- 
ing rose, or even the common monthly blush China 
rose, you may obtain from some kind neighbour, who 
will readily give you a cutting or two, and you must 
plant them as we recommended in a former week's 
calendar. The jessamine also may be procured in 
a similar manner. For your information, however, 
we state that the price of those humble ornaments is 
not extravagant; you may procure good plants of all 
the three of any nurseryman for a conple of shillings. 



PERENNIAL FLOWERS. 

Now is the season for the cottager, as well as the 
amateur to improve his collection of perennial flower- 
roots ; and in order that he may know what to inquire 
for, we subjoin a list of freely-flowtring kinds, such as 
bloom at dift'erent times of the year, and stating their 
vaiious heights and colours. 

Spring-blooming Flowers. 

Adonis vernalis (Spring Adonis), 6 in. Y^ellow. 

Atysstim saxatHe (Hock Madwort), 6 in. Yellow. 

Anemone apenn'ma (Mountain Anemone), Bin. Blue, 

Ariihis saxatile (Rock Wall-cress), 6. in. White. 

Aubrietia deltoidea (Friangle-leaved Aubrietia), 4 in. 
Purple. 

Cardamme pratenais, plena (Double Cuckow-flower), 
1 ft. Purple. 

Genliana acaulis (Dwarf Gentian), 4 in. Deep 
blue. 

Hepalica triloba alba (Common Hcpatica), 3 in. 
White. 

„ „ cceniha (Blue Hepatica), 3 in. Blue. 

„ „ rubra (Red Hepaticaj, 3 in. Red. 

Iberis sempervirens (Evergreen Candy-tuft), 9 in. 
White. 

Orobus vernvm (Spring Bitter Vetch), 1 ft. Purple. 

Phlox divaricala (Early-flowering Phlox), 1§ ft. 
Blue. 

Phlox verna (Spring Phlox), 6 in. Pink. 

Phyleuma orbicularis (Round-headed Rampion), 
1 ft. Blue. 

Primula vulgaris, alba plena (Double-white Prim- 
rose), 3 in. Double white. 

„ „ sulphurea (Double sulphur-c 

loured), 3 in. Yellow. 

„ „ vialacea (Double crimson), 3 in. 

Crimson. 

Pulmonaria virginica, CVirginian Lungwort), 1 ft. 
Blue. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



33 



Pulsatella vernalis (Spring Anemone), 1 ft. Blue. 
Tussilago alpma{ Alpine Coltsfoot), 6 in. Purple. 

StIMMER-BLOOMING FlOWERS. 

^cMllaia ptarmica, fiore pleno (Double Sneeze- 
wort), \\ ft. White. 
Anthericum liliastrnm (Spiderwort), 1 ft. White. 
Antirrhinum mnjns (Larger Snapdragon), IJ ft. 
Various colours. 

Aquilegia vulgaris (Common Columbine), IJ ft. 
Various. 

BeUis perennis, fore plena (Double Daisy), 4 in. 
Various. 

Betonica grandijlora (Large-flowered Betony), IJft. 
Purple. 

Caltka palustris, plena (Double Marsh-marygold), 
A ft. Yellow. 
/' Campanula carpatica (Carpatian Bell-flower), 6 in. 
'^ Blue. 

„ glomerata alba (Clustered Bell-flower), 

1 ft. White. 

,, ^ran(?js(LargeBell-flower), l^ft. Spotted. 
,, persici folia (Peach-leaved Bell-flower), 
li ft. Blue. 

„ trachelizim (Throatwort), 2 ft. Blue. 
Chelone oWiqua (Purple Chelone), Ij ft. Purple. 
Cont)aWaWa?nn/a& (Lily of the Valley), 6 in. White. 
Coreopsis lanceolata (Lance-leaved C), 27|ft. Yellow. 
Delphinium Barlowii (Barlow's Larkspur), 3ft. Blue. 
Dianthus aggregatus, fiore plena (Double Sweet 
AViUiam). 

Genliana septemfida (Crested Gentian), 6 in. Blue. 
Hesperis matronalis, fiore plena (Double Rocket), 
1^ ft. White. 

Iris Germanica (German Iris), 2 ft. Blue. 

Lu/)inns polgphi/llus (Lupine), 3 ft. Blue. 

Pteonia albfiora (White Peony), 2 ft. Various kinds. 

„ officinalis (Common Peony), 2 ft. do. 
Penstemon genlianoides (Gentian-like Penstemon), 
3 ft. Purple. 

„ coccinea (Purple P.), 3 ft. Purple. 

Phlox Brightoniana (Brighton Phlox), 2 ft. Red. 
„ candidissima alba (Whitest Phlox), l^ft. White. 
„ omMy?o7-a (Many-flowered Phlo.x), 1ft. White. 
,, elegans (Elegant Phlox), 1 ft. Purple. 
Poientilla Macnabbiana (Maciiab's Cinquefoil), 2 ft. 
Fine crimson. 

Spirea trifoliata (Three-leaved Spireea), H ft. 
White. 

TroUius Eiirapeus (European Globe Ranunculus), 
1 ft. Orange. 

AUTCJMN-BLOOJIING FlOWERS. 

Anemone viteefolia (Vine-leaved Anemone), 2 ft. 
White. 

,, Japonica (Japan Anemone), 2 ft. Pink. 
Aster amellus (Italian Starwort), IJft. Blue. 
„ elegans (Elegant Starwort), 2 ft. Blue. 
,, NovcE Anglica (New England Starwort) 5 ft. 
Purple. 

,, pM?cAe&s (Handsome Starwort), 6 in. Purple. 
,, pulcherrima (Handsomest Starwort), \h ft. 
Blue. 

„ spectabilis (Showy Starwort), IJ ft. Blue. 
Chrysanthemum arcticum (Northern C), 9 in. 
White. 

lAntris squarrosa (Round-headed Liatris), 2 ft. 
I'luple. 



Matricaris grandiflora (Double Wild Chamomile) 
1 ft. White double'. 

(Enothera seroiina (Late-flowering Evening Prim- 
rose), 3 ft. Yellow. 

Phlox tardiflora (Slow-flowering Phlox), IJft. White. 

,, Wheeleriana (Wheeler's Phlox), 3 ft.' Red. 
Pyrethrum uliginosum (Marsh Feverfew), 4 ft. White. 
Rudbeckia hirta (Hairy Rudbeckia), 2 ft. Purple 
and yellow. 

„ Drummondii, 3 ft. Yellow and brown. 
„ Newmannii, \\ ft. Yellow. 
,, purpurea (Purple Rudbeckia), 3ft. Purple. 
Solidago lanceolata (Lance-leaved Golden-rod), 3 ft. 
Yellow. 

„ altissimum (Tallest Golden-rod), 3ft. Yellow. 
The above is a selection of plants that are perfectly 
hardy, well suited either for tlie amateur or cot- 
tager's mixed flower-border; and which, if planted 
judiciously, will furnish flowers during the whole 
of the season. In planting them, put in one that 
flowers in spring, then one that flowers in autumn, 
then one that flowers in summer, then an autumn one, 
next one of the spring-flowering, and then one of the 
summer-flowering. Mix the colours in the same 
manner. The borders will by this method always 
present, taking it as a whole, a fair display of flowers. 



FLORISTS* FLOWERS. 

Tulips. — Tlie bed for these splendid flowers should 
now be in a stute of forwardness. We mentioned 
previously that the bed should be drained, and the 
drainage covered with a little litter, to keep the soil 
separate ; let the bed be turned over two or three 
times, and keep a look out for wire-worms, and 
destroy them. 

Ranunculuses. — The tulip is said to be the fop of 
flowers, and the ranunculus the fine gentleman, — an 
observation that has much of truth in it. Tliere is, 
however, more difficulty to grow the ranunculus well 
than the tulip. Greater care consequently is requisite 
to cultivate them. An open situation, far from smoke, 
a fertile, sandy loam, with a good portion of very 
much decayed cow-dung are indispensable requisites. 
Though the planting season is late in February, or 
early in Marcli, yet, as the winter intervenes, the soil 
and bed must be prepared now. Adopt the same pre- 
cautions as for tulips — to have the bed drained. The 
depth of soil should be at least sixteen inches ; even 
eighteen inches would not be too much. 

Anemones. — The same cultivation in regard to soil, 
etc., is requisite for these lovely flowers. They should 
be planted at the same time as the ranunculus, but a 
little addition of leaf-mould, if at hand, would be 
advantageous. 

Shelters. — Tulips, ranunculuses, and anemones 
require shading during the time they are in flower. If 
expense is not an object, a shade so high as to allow 
the spectator to stand upright is the best ; but where 
the means are limited, a few hoops bent over the beds 
high enough not to touch the flowers, and a covering 
of waterproof canvass will answer every purpose of 
sheltering the flowers from the heat of the sun and 
from the rain, which are both sad disfigurers of floral 
beauty. 
In our next we shall give a select list of tulips. 

T.Afpleby. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



THE WEEK'S WINDOW AND GREENHOUSE-GARDENING. 



Window Plants. — The cottager who can manage 
to grow half a dozen of pot-plants in his window — 
flower them well in summer, and keep them safe 
through the winter — may be said to be so far a good 
gardener. Gardeners, indeed, are often surprised at 
seeing how well some cottagers manage to keep so 
many of their geraniums from the frost, damp, and all 
the other inconveniences of a long winter, while others, 
who have better windows, more warmth, and probably 
more time on their hands, almost always lose their 
plants in winter ; or, if they do manage to carry them 
through its severity, the chances are that the plants 
are so sickly that half of the following summer is over 
before they can be brought to flower, or to be fit to 
be seen. Now, if we could get the "Cottage Gar- 
dener " cix-culated among these cottagers extensively, 
there could be no doubt about the benefit they would 
derive from it. Cottagers all over the country, or the 
younger members of their families, are now beginning 
to read with great eagerness, and if part of this current 
could be turned to gardening instructions — a subject 
which is really tasteful to large numbers of them — it 
could not fail in doing much good. 

Window-plants are often more injured at this season 
through over-kindness than by neglect ; rooms are 
now kept close and warm for the comfort of the family 
— I was going to say, for the comfort of the inmates, 
but if there are pot-plants in the window, they might 
be said to be part of the inmates, and therefore I 
should be wrong, because a close warm room encou- 
rages the plants in it to grow at all seasons. But, 
although plants look much better when they are grow- 
ing, and have fresh young leaves on them, than when 
they are at rest — as they now should begin to be, it 
is contrary to nature and reason to treat them so 
kindly as to keep them growing while they ought 
to be at rest. So to act, is just the same as if a work- 
ing-man, after a hard day's work, were supplied with 
strong drink to get him to work all night also — and it 
needs no prophet to tell him how soon that system 
would injure his health : and it is exactly the same 
with his plants. Every plant — no matter what part of 
the world it is a native of — requires a season of rest, 
and, in our climate, the winter is the most natural 
time to let it have that repose ; but, as if to prove 
that no rule is without an exception, there are many 
plants now beginning to grow, even in our own cold 
climate. The crocus, hyacinth, tulip, and many other 
such plants, are now making roots and pushing for- 
ward their flower-buds under ground, in order to be 
ready to throw up strong flowers at their usual time 
in spring. Now, gardeners have long taken advan- 
tage of the natural habits of these plants, and, instead 
of leaving them all winter under the frost and snow, 
they put them into pots in the autumn, and keep them 
all winter in a kind of spring temperature ; and in 
this simple way they get them to flower full two 
months before the usual time of their flowering in the 
open garden — and that without doing any violence to 
their natural habits. 

On the other hand, all the geraniums, fuchsias, and 
other khids of window-plants that have flowered 
through the summer, should now bf let gradually go 
to rest. Instead of being confined in-doors, they 
ought to stand outside the window several hours every 
day, the soil in the pots being kept rather dry, but not 
quite dry ; yet, if they are watered about once a week it 
will be enough at this dull season, unless the room is too 
warm for them at night, which will dry the soil sooner. 

To learn the right way of watering the different 



kinds of plants one may grow even in a window, is 
the most difficult point in gardening ; and, after all 
that you can learn from the fullest details that can be 
laid down on the subject, you must not think yourself 
master of the art of duly watering till you have a 
certain amount of practice. I shall, therefore, state 
at the outset the best rules to be attended to in water- 
ing window-plants ; but as watering is a very knotty 
point, and is the cause of nine-tenths of the hardships 
to which plants are liable, I shall often have to make 
a passing remark on it when I come to speak of dif- 
ferent kinds of plants. Saui;ers of some sort or other 
should always be kept under flower-pots in a window 
to catch the water that drains from them ; but this 
drainage water should not be allowed to remain in the 
saucers for any length of time during the winter, 
unless, indeed, you have the misfortune to neglect to 
water a particular pot till the soil in it gets perfectly 
dry and dusty ; in that case the soil shrinks so much, 
that a free passage is allowed for the water to escape 
between the soil and the pot, and then you may water 
as long as you please without moistening the earth or 
doing any good to the plant, for the water will run 
down into the saucer as fast as you supply it. To get 
over this difliculty, the only safe way is to fill the 
saucer with water, and the dry soil will suck it up 
gradually, the same way as a dry sponge would, and 
when you see the top of the soil beginning to look 
moist, throw away the water if any remains in the 
saucer. Now one not versed in the matter might 
naturally suppose there could be no harm in leaving 
a little water in the saucer, seeing the soil took it up 
so easily as soon as it got dry enough to require it, — 
but that would be a dangerous mistake at this season, 
although it might not be injurious in summer, if not 
made a regular practice. Standing water would soon 
turn all the soil in the pots quite sour and unfit for 
most plants to live in for any length of time. 

In watering window-plants, and indeed plants in 
any part of the house, as also those in a greenhouse, 
the work should be done always regularly, and for the 
winter months as soon after breakfast as is convenient. 
When I say regularly, I mean that you should look 
over your plants, to see if they want water, or anything 
done to them. When you find a pot with the soil as 
wet as it was yesterday, or the day before, depend on 
it there is something wrong about it, and unless you 
find out what that is, and provide a remedy, the soil 
will turn sour in a few days, and your plant suffer. 
This is the exact opposite of the case of the soil getting 
quite dry ; and when you know the remedy for the 
extreme cases, you will be more able to manage the 
intermediate degrees. The best cure for this wet pot 
is to turn the plant and soil out of it, and to put them 
into a fresh clean pot of exactly the same size, or, as 
a gardener would say, shift it to a dry pot. Jfyou 
never saw a plant " shifted," this is the way to do it 
properly : — take hold of the plant-pot in your right 
hand and cover the top of it with tlie four fingers of 
the left hand, passing the stem of the plant between 
the fore and middle finger; then lower the left hand 
till the pot is turned upside down, and the soil and 
pot then rest on the palm of the left hand ; now take 
hold of the bottom of the pot with the right hand, and 
strike the rim of it gently against the window-sill, and 
it will easily part with the soil; then, without moving 
the left hand, put the new pot over the ball of soil, 
and the work of shifting is finished. You might, 
however, try and find out the cause of the soil turning 
so wet, before you put on the new pot. 

D. Beaton. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



37 



THE WEEK'S KITCHEN-GARDENING. 



Balm plant. — This, like the herbs enumerated last 
week, must now be planted with roots ready formed. 
Two or three plants will be quite enough for a family. 
It is a native of Italy, and more than two centuries 
ago had been imported into this country, and had be- 
come an inhabitant of all our gentry's gardens. The 
causes of this general cultivation, was the high repute 
it had among the physicians of those days. It was 
considered by them efficacious in paralysis, and many 
other diseases attended by great loss of strength ; and 
the opinion of its great virtues so prevailed that it be- 
came common to use its name as expressive of relief 
from pain, or any other distress. It is now only used 
in preparing drinks for sick persons. 

Burnet plant in a dry, light soil, having in it a 
good quantity of chalk, or limy rubbish. The plants 
must be a foot apart, and be watered until rooted if 
dry weather occurs immediately after they are planted. 
It is used in salads, soups, and cool tankards. 

Cakdoons earth up. — The most successful mode of 
doing this is, when they are about eighteen inches 
high, to close the leaves together by encircling them 
with a hay-band, and then putting earth round each 
plant, a dry day being selected for performing it. 
As they continue to grow, fresh bands and earth 
must be constantly applied until the plants are 
blanched to the height of two feet, or about two- 
thirds of their stems. They will be fit for use in 
eight or ten weeks after the earthing first commences. 
Care must be had in earthing them up, to prevent 
the earth falling in between the leaves, which is liable 
to induce decay. The surface of the soil should like- 
wise be beaten smooth to throw oif the rain. In 
severe weather their tops should be covered with 
litter, by which they may be preserved in a service- 
able state throughout the winter. 

The cardoon is not so much cultivated as it de- 
serves, being excellent as a salad, as well as when 
stewed, or added to soups. 

Cucumbers. — Last week having given full direc- 
tions for forming the botched, we now proceed to the 
next steps in the cultivation of this vegetable — earth- 
ing the bed and planting the seedlings. 

When the earth is put on for frame culture, it is at 
first to be spread only two or three inches deep, but 
under the centre of each light a hillock must be con- 
structed, eight or ten inches deep, and a foot in 
diameter. The earthing should be performed at least 
four or five days before planting, at which time the 
earth must be examined ; if it be of a white colour and 
caked, or, as it is technically termed, burnt, it must be 
renewed, for the plants will not thrive in it, and holes 
must be bored in the bed to give vent to the steam. 



The mould of the hillocks being well stirred, the 
plants must be turned out of the pots without disturb- 
ing the ball of earth, and one containing three plants 
inserted in each ; a little water, previously heated by 
keeping it for an hour or two shut up in the frame, 
must be given, and the glasses kept perfectly close 
until the ne.\t morning. Any plants not in pots 
must be moved by the trowel with as much earth 
pertaining to their roots as possible. The shade of 
a mat is always requisite during the meridian of 
bright days until the plants are well established. 
They must be pressed gradually away from each 
other, until at least eight inches apart ; nothing can 
be more erroneous than to allow them to proceed 
with the stems nearly touching. 

When well taken root, earth must be added regu- 
larly over the bed, until it is level with the tops of the 
mounds ; for if there be not a sufficient depth of soil, 
the leaves will always droop during hot days, unless 
they are shaded, or more water given them than is 
proper. 

If the plants have to be raised from seed, they had 
better be sown four together, in pots six inches wide 
across the top, not burying the seed more than half 
an inch deep, and plunging the pots to their rim in the 
earth of the bed. No water will be required until the 
seedlings have rough leaves two or three inches wide, 
and are then turned out of the pots, and planted in 
the bed without disturbing their roots. 

Endive. — Clear from weeds and blanch. To effect 
this, cover the soil between the plants with sand, and 
turn over each of those intended for immediate blanch- 
ing a flower-pot with its drainage-hole closely stopped 
by a cork, fo as entirely to exclude the light. The 
best plan is to take the pots off daily for a quarter of 
an hour, if the weather is dry, and then to put on a 
fresh dry pot stopped similarly to the one taken off. 
The pot taken off may be dried ready for the next 
day. By this means mouldiness and decay will be 
prevented, to which endive is very liable during 
blanching. If flower-pots are not at command, the 
leaves of the endive plant may be tied together, and 
each plant covered with a heap of sand or coal-ashes. 

Hekbary. — All beds of Pot-herbs should have the 
dead stalks and weeds removed, and a little leaf- 
mould and limy rubbish sUghtly forked in among the 
plants. 

Salsafy and Scorzonera must be taken up and 
stored in the same way as directed for carrots. These 
roots deserve to be much more cultivated. Salsaly 
boiled and mashed eats with a flavour resembling that 
of oyster-patties ; but both that and scorzonera are 
usually boiled and eaten like the caiTot. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



POTATOES. 

Mr. Saul, of Nulebey Cottage, near Garstang, in 
Lancashire, writes to us as follows : — " I observe in 
page 6 of ' The Cottage Gardener ' that it is stated 
that those planted in spring have failed. I consider 
my crop of winter potatoes (Regent's) not a failure. 
I planted on the 19th of April last upon Nulebey 
iVloss-land, and commenced taking them up on the 
S4th and 25th of August, when the produce was at 



the rate of 150 loads per acre, and 210 lbs to the load. 
I consider this a good produce, and all were perfectly 
free from the disease. I have no doubt but that 
large quantities might have been saved when attacked 
by the disease, if they had been taken up as soon as 
there was any appearance of the disease amongst them. 
It is a great mistake to suppose that potatoes will not 
keep if taken up before they are ripe. I have proved, 
for the last three years, that they will keep if even taken 
up when but half ripe, or even a quarter. Strange as 



3S 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



this may appear to some, but such is the fact ; and 
there are many other persons here who have tested 
the same thing. Those wlio plant early potatoes early 
in the spring in the open ground for the market, 
and commence taking up about the 20th of May, 
only oft'er the large ones in the market, reserv- 
ing the small ones for seed the following year, 
which is found to answer remarkably well. When 
taken up with the large ones, the small ones are placed 
upon the surface, and there they remain till they 
become quite green and hard ; they are then gathered 
and stored, so that they may sprout well before they 
are planted the following spring. Being well sprouted 
before planting is of great importance in making them 
much earlier ; and very likely, if those small potatoes 
had in some soils remained till July, they would have 
been affected by the disease." 

We are very glad to hear that even spring-planted 
potatoes have so well escaped in some places. This 
is not the first time of our hearing of such freedom 
from the disease in soils containing peaty matters, 
which, we presume, is the case also with Nulebey 
Moss. We have no predisposition to greening potatoes 
for seed, nor to the mode of storing early potatoes, 
mentioned by Mr. Saul; however, facts are stubborn 
things : and if the adopters of such unnatural pro- 
cesses find tlieir potatoes generally free from disease, 
we will be among the earliest and loudest to recom- 
mend the universal adoption of those processes. At 
present, we have not sufficient evidence to induce us 
to advocate anything but autumn-planting the main 
crop of potatoes; or where this is impracticable, storing 
the seed potatoes in earth until they can be planted. 
We have already published many letters in favour of 
autumn-planting, and now we have the following from 
the Rev. L. Foot, of Long Bredy, near Dorchester : 

" I have now for three years tested Mr. Johnson's 
system of autumn potato-planting with great success. 
This year I fear mine will turn out to be the only 
good crop in three parishes or in the surrounding 
district. From one particular sort, so planted, I have 
had from a perch and half of ground 5^ bushels, 
which is at the rate of HO sacks to the acre. In 
general my crop is sound, and has averaged about 60 
sacks to the acre. 

" None of my parishioners or neighbours have yet 
been induced to make trial of Mr. Johnson's method ; 
but now some few appear to be stiiTed up by the 
proof before their eyes to try the simple process of 
planting at the same time of digging their crop. I 
fear they are not provided with the ashes of burnt 
weeds and other ' charred matters,' which I have found 
to be a very important ingi'edient." 



CELERY. 

Having once seen a single stem, or stick of celery, 
weighing eleven pounds, we thought that the growers 
of this vegetable at Sheffield might have stmiulated it 
until it reached to a still greater weight. In this we 
were wrong, for it appears that the competitors exhibit 
two heads of celery, and the joint weiglit of these is 
given. Mr. Turner, judge at the late Sheffield celery 
show, has obligingly sent us the following information 
upon the subject: 

" There are many persons in this neighbourhood 
who raise celery-plants for sale, and a good deal of 
competition arises to ascertain whose are the best for 
largeness, solidity, and flavour. The show in question 
comprised plants from the following raisers, viz. : — 
Mr. John Nutt, Mr. H. Brown, Mr. Bell, Mr. Sykes, 



Mr. Wright, and Mr. Jennett. I now give you the 
weights of those sorts which were the winners ; they 
were shown in twos, or braces : 

" 1st. Mr. J. Smith, weight of two stems or sticks, 
18 lbs. 12iiz. Both Mr. Nutt's plants. 

"2nd. Mr. W. Grayson, brace, 16 lbs. 4 oz. Both 
Mr. Nutt's plants. 

"3rd. Mr. Nutt's brace, 15 lbs. 8 oz. His own 
plants. 

"4th. Mr. H. Brown's brace, 12 lbs. 8 oz. One 
of Mr. Nutt's plants, the other of his own raising. 

" 5th. Mr. W. Brown's brace, 13 lb. 12 oz. One of 
Mr. Nutt's plants, the other of Mr. H. Brown's. 

"6th. Mr. Bray's br.ce, 13 lbs. 8 oz. Both Mr. 
Nutt's plants. 

"7th. Mr. Eodgers' brace, 13 lbs. One of Nutt's 
plants, and the other of Bell's. 

" There was another show last Tuesday. I showed 
a brace which weighed 224 lbs. before they were 
dressed ; after they were dressed for showing, they 
weighed 201bs. 14 oz. 

" I must say that for size, flavour, etc., Mr. Nutt's 
sort surpasses any that I ever grew. For the future 
I shall grow no sort else." 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 2.) 

The first morning visit to my garden is always one 
of great interest. 1 love to ask my little charges how 
they do after the dewy hours of night ; and there is 
such a coolness and sweetness in the early day, that 
their tints and fragrance seem increased a hundred 
fold. The shining drops tremble and sparkle so 
prettily in their tiny cups, and they seem so fully 
to enjoy their pure repast, that it makes me almost 
wish I could live upon dewdrops too. 

Nevertheless, I almost daily miss a well-known 
face. My flowers are drooping and fading, even 
though this summer-like autumn still prevails. By 
nipping off the decaying blooms, I aid the lieclining 
strength of the plant, but it is only for a time. My 
dahlias, chrysanthemums, scarlet-lychnis, and hawk- 
weed, are the chief ornaments of my borders now, and 
the first rains will spoil their beauty. What a useful 
beautiful plant is the fuchsia! I have one large cir- 
cular bed chiefly filled with them, and the effect is 
lovely. The bed is somewhat raised, in the centre 
stands a lariic plant, and the others are placed around 
it, at distances of three or four feet. The two last 
winters have been so mild, that my fuchsias have not 
died down at all. I protected their roots well with 
coal-ashes, making quite a little hillock at their feet, 
and shaded the remainder of the plants with stakes 
covered with the boughs of the spruce-fir, so as to 
keep off' the perpendicular attack of the frost. I was 
led to do this, in the first instance, by observing the 
evident appearances of life in my plants long after I 
thought they must have died down to the ashes, as 
usual ; and by this plan I petted them through the 
spring frosts and chilling gusts, and had the pleasure 
of introducing them to the warm sun again, when all 
danaer ceased, in the fidl size to which they had 
grown the year before. Few, perhaps, of my readers 
can obtaiji boughs of the spruce-fir, nor are they 
needful; any matting or other covering will do: nor 
can I be certain that in ordinary winters such a trial 
will succeed. The two last seasons have been pecu- 
liar ; but it is worth while to try the experiment. My 
plants are now quite shrubs i:i size, and I hope to tell 
my friends in the spring how they have struggled 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 



39 



tTirough the difficulties of tWs coming winter. Be 
particular in covevii;^: their roots well witli ashes : 
they will, without other protection, die down to the 
ground, but life will remain safely in the root ; and 
by peeping below the ashes in the spring, you will 
see the little tender shoots starting forih ready to 
replace the dead boughs, which must be cut away. 
Some ladies cut down their plants before they " ash" 
them up, but they had better remain ; sometimes they 
do not die so far down as at others, and then you 
need not cut them oif so low. I am glad to see these 
very graceful flowers more frequently in cottage gar- 
dens. The culture is simple, and the effect pleasing 
to the eye. In my fuchsia bed I interpose roses, 
which bloom during the infancy of their autumnal 
friends, thereby keeping up a succession of flowers. 
The lighter coloured dahlias do well among them 
also, if your bed is large enough, or you have no rose- 
trees there. We should try to mingle colours well 
and effectively in our garden, as we do in our dress. 
Nature certainly admits of stronger contrasts, and 
requires less help than we could venture to use among 
our ribbons and trinkets, but still we may, with caution, 
be her handmaids. By very simple means we might 
embellish our gardens, however small or inconve- 
niently placed. The poor might improve the appear- 
ance of every hamlet by a little attention to the 
arrangement of the plot of ground around their cot- 
tages, which would cost nothing, and increase their 
interest in home enjoyments. Every apple-tree, while 
bearing its useful part in nature, might add to its 
beauty by supporting a clustering honeysuckle, — that 
sweet sister of the rose, — which would in return. con- 
ceal the rough ungainly arms of an old spreading tree, 
without at all doing it harm. Then, if the cottage 
walls were clothed with monthly roses, jasmine, or the 
sweet-scented clematis, which require little else than 
nailing up and pruning, while a gable end might 
support a pear or plum-tree : how pretty, how cared 
for, how comfortable would it seem to the passer by. 
A neat ornamental cottage-gardeji generally bespeaks 
a happy household. The outward smiles seem to 
spring from those within ; and I feel it to be our 
duty, — the duty of the poor as well as of the rich, — to 
testify their sense of God's exceeding mercy, by using 
and profiting by those pure and simple pleasures which 
He so richly provides for us all. No pleasures are so 
sweet as those that flow immediately from His gracious 
and parental hand. Rosa. 



COTTAGE AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 

(No. IV.) 
BY THE EDITOR. 

Hoeing. — Weeds feed upon the manure in a soil, 
therefore every weed helps to rob the crops, and the 
hoe should be kept constantly going. You cannot 
root out weeds too thoroughly, nor can you loosen the 
surface of the ground too frequently ; this lets in the 
air and the moisture in fitting quantities. The looser 
the soil the less deep does frost penetrate, and the less 
drying is the sun ; therefore hoeing is beneficial to 
crops both in winter and summer. 

Watering. — The best water for garden purposes is 
rain-water, next to this is pond-water. The Avorst is 
that from springs and wells, for this is so much colder 
than rain,— the water which God pours upon plants. 
When giving water to cabbages, etc., at the time of 
planting them, the best mode is to make the hole with 
a dibble, and to fill this with v/aler before putting in 
the plant. 



Trenching ground requires full double the labour 
that common digging does, but it fully compensates 
for the extra labour by the increased crops which it 
causes to be produced. It brings a fresh soil to the 
surface, and it deeply loosens the whole, so as to pro- 
mote its drainage. The way to trench properly and 
effectually is as follows : 

From the end of the piece of ground where it is 
intended to begin, take out a trench two spades 
deep, and twenty inches wide, and wheel the earth 
to the opposite end, to fill up and finish with. 
Measure off' the same width of another trench, then 
stretch the line and mark it out with the spade. 
Proceed in this way until the whole of the trenches 
are outlined ; after which, begin at one end and fill 
up the first trench with the surface or "top spits" 
of the second one; then take the bottom " spit" 
of the latter, and throw it in such a way over the other 
as to form an elevated sharp-pointed ridge. By this 
means a portion of fresh soil is annually brought on 
the surface to the place of that which the crop of the 
past season may have in some measure exhausted. 

Ridging. — Every bit of ground that has not a winter 
crop upon it, should be dug up into rough ridges, to 
be better penetrated by the frost. The greater the 
cold which gets into the earth, and the deeper it goes, 
the more slugs and other vemiin does it kill. Mr. 
Barnes keeps his uncropped ground constantly in 
ridges, or stirring about, and there is no doubt it kills 
and drives away insects as well as destroys weeds. 
Mr. Barnes says, " I keep all ground, as soon as a crop 
is done with, well trenched, burying all the refuse I 
possibly can in a green state, casting the earth into 
rough ridges, tumbling those ridges over with a strong 
fork on frosty mornings, in winter and spring, and. 
during hot sunny days in the summer ; and continually 
changing the crops. Keeping the hoe at work at all 
seasons in suitable weather, forking up all odd corners 
and spare ground, without loss of time. By this ma- 
nagement I find the ground is always in good condi- 
tion and never tired by cropping, some judgment only 
being exercised in applying such properties again to 
the soil that have been taken from it, or that are likely 
to be required by the succeeding crop." 



GERANIUM CUTTINGS. 

The following is a mode I have adopted for plants 
ing geranium cuttings : In an ordinary sized flower- 
pot, I planted from three to four cuttings close to the 
sides of the pot, without any soil between the cutting 
and side of the pot. The cuttings are trimmed in the 
usual manner ; but I have found that by being planted 
as I have mentioned, the plant is greatly strengthened, 
and strikes much sooner. 

I liad sixteen cuttings, and from unavoidable cir- 
cumstances did not set them for four days, but left 
them in water; when I came to plant them I found 
they were in a very poor state, and had little hope of 
their living ; but out of the sixteen not one has failed. 
I have also had the same success with a cutting from 
a fuschia. A. N. A. 



VINES OUT OF DOORS. 

*' .Very fine grapes may annually te prown on the surfane of walls 
in the open air to the 54th degree of latitude, and ^-ven more north 
in more lavourable seasons." — Clement JJoare on Vines, 

On Raising Plants. — When vines are pruned in 
the autumn, take a long branch, and deprive it care- 
fully of all its buds except two or three at the top of 
the ripe wood. 



40 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Bury all the branch above twelve inches deep except 
what contains the buds, whicli should be near the 
wall on which the vine is to grow. 

There are other ways of propagating vines, but this 
is the most expeditious. 

The vine should be cut down every year to two 
buds until it measures three inches in circumference 
round the stem at the ground. Then let the two 
buds grow into branches ; train them horizontally 
along the wall about six inches from the ground. On 
the following year train up four upright branches 
from each horizontal branch, twenty inches from each 
other. In the autumn cut down the first and third 
branches when the vine has shed its leaves, and 
remove the wood which is not quite ripe from the top 
of the remaining branches. 

This is to be done every year at the fall of the leaf, 
so as to cut down each upright branch when two years 
old, after it has borne fruit. Or plant several vines 
three inches from the wall and twenty inches from each 
other, and serve them in a similar manner to the upright 
branches. This plan of growing grapes out of doors 
is vastly superior to every other, and if the growers of 
vines will greatly reduce the number of bunches, and 
the grapes in each bunch, the grapes will grow to a 
proper size. 

The hardiest vines for growing in the open air are 
Miller's Burgundy, white muscadine, esperione, sweet 
water, and black cluster. 

The writer of these notes has practised with great 
success for several years the plan he has now ex- 
plained. C. A. A. Lloyd. 



HARDY AND GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS 

LATELY INTRODUCED AND WORTH 

CULTIVATING. 

MoNARDFLLA Undulata (Wavy Monardella), — This 
hardy annual was foimd, in 1847, near Monterey, in 
California, by Mr. Hartweg. Sow it in March, in a 
rich light border. Height eight inches. Flowers blue, 
appearing in June, and lasting a long time. — HorL 
Siiciety's Journal, iii. 312. 

Gastronema Sanguineum (Blood-coloured Gastro- 
nema). — This Greenhouse bulb is a native of Caffraria, 
whence it was imported in 1845, by Messrs. Back- 
house, Nurserymen, of York. It is increased by off- 
sets, and thrives in a rich sandy loam. — Ibid. 

Rosa Rugosa (Wrinkled Rose). — A hardy half- climb- 
ing rose, sent from China by Mr. Fortune, who found 
it at Shanghae. It may be propagated by budding, or 
by cuttings. Its flowers, semi-double, purple, and 
sweet-scented, bloom in June and July. — Ibid. 

Nemophila Maculata (Spotted Nemophila). — 
" This is the best annual yet raised from Mr. Hartweg's 
seeds." It is a native of California, and hardy. 
Flowers white, with a purple spot or blotch at the tip 
of each flower leaf, or petal. — Ibid. 

Clematis indivisa ; var lobata (Whole-leaved 
Clematis; lobed variety). — "Really an ornamental 
and showy greenhouse plant." ft is a native of New 
Zealand. It was first discovered during Captain 
Cook's voyage, but has only been introduced to this 
country recently. It festoons the trees on the shores 
cf the Bay of Islands. Flowers white, in nanicles 
'bunches) often a foot long. — Botanical Mag. Tab. 
4398. 

Impatiens repens (Creeping Balsam). — "The finest 
of all the yellow-flowered balsams." It is a native of 
cool, moist places in the highest mountains of Ceylon. 
It was first discovered there by Mr. Moon ; but Mrs. 



General Walker and Mr. Gardner found it at AUagala, 
4,000 feet above the level of the sea. It will probably 
flourish in a warm greenhouse, and must be kept very 
moist. — Ibid. 



HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. 

School Gardens. — In the Midland Florist for Oc- 
tober is an account of an admirable plan for promoting 
the love of industry in lads, which we should like to 
see adopted in every large town. The philanthropists 
of Liverpool are second to none in the kingdom, 
and to them we recommend the plan as one very 
likely to prove of immense benefit. We extract the 
following from the above-named clever little Not- 
tingham publication : " In the immediate neighbour- 
hood of Nottingham are an immense number of small 
gardens, occupied and cultivated by all grades of 
society ; .and with a most laudable and praiseworthy 
feeling the friends connected with the High-pavement 
Chapel Boys' Sunday-school have purchased two of 
these inclosures, in each of which is a commodious 
summer-house. One of these gardens is cultivated by 
the elder boys, the other by the juniors. Each garden 
is subdivided into smaller allotments, which are as- 
signed to their respective tenunts, boys from ten to 
fourteen years old, who cultivate and crop them 
according to their own fancy, a small portion of each 
being devoted to flowers. The diligence and ability 
displayed by these youthful gardeners is really aston- 
ishing. We have inspected their crops during several 
past summers, and with truth can say we were highly 
delighted with them. The onions, lettuce, celery, 
carrots, potatoes, etc., were excellent, and would vie 
with the productions of older and more experienced 
cultivators. Prize gooseberries are also grown, and 
this year the crops of London, Companion, Gunner, 
Eagle, etc., were amongst the best we have ever seen, 
either at Nottingham or elsewhi re ; in fact, these boys 
always endeavour to obtain, either of seeds or plante>, 
the best varieties possible. In connection with these 
gardens, and to excite emulation, a vegetable and 
flower-show is instituted. This is held in the school- 
rooms at Nottingham, and prizes are given for the 
best productions in vegetables, as well as for standei 
of pansies, verbenas, collections of annual and per- 
ennial flowers and nosegays, or bouquets, as they are 
called by some, but we fancy our readers will like the 
old English name be^t. These exhibitions of youthful 
skill and industry are well attended." Should any of 
our readers wish, we can furnish them with the rules 
by which these school-gardens are managed. They 
are to be found in the above publication. — Liverpool 
Chronicle. 

Bastard-trenching is thus performed : — Open a 
trench two feet and a half, or a yard wide, one full 
spit and the shovelling deep, and wheel the soil from 
it to where it is intended to finish the piece ; then put 
in the dung and dig it in with the bottom spit in the 
trench ; then fill up this trench with the top spit, etc., 
of the second, treating it in like manner, and so on. 
The advantages of this plan of working the soil are, 
the good soil is retained at top — an important con- 
sideration where the subsoil is poor or bad ; the 
bottom soil is enriched and loosened for the penetra- 
tion and nourishment of the roots, and, allowing them 
to descend deeper, they are not so liable to suffer from 
droupht in summer; strong soil is rendered capable of 
absorbing more moisture, and yet remains drier at the 
surface by the water passing down more rapidly to 
the subsoil, and it ensures a thorough shifting of the 
soil. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



41 



Id all trenching, whether one, two, or more spades 
deep, al» ays, previous to digging, put the top of each 
trench two or three inches deep or more, with all 
weeds and other litter at the hottom of the open one, 
which not only makes clean digging and increases the 
depth of loose soil, but all weeds and their seeds are 
regularly buried at such a depth that the weeds them- 
selves will rot, and their seeds cannot vegetate. — Mo- 
dern Gardener's Dictiovnry. 

Potato Murrain. — We are glad to find that Mr. 
Ei-rington coincides with the opinions we have so 
long advocated relative to the cause and prevention of 
this disease. "Many pits" (of potatoes) says Mr. E., 
"uncovered a week or two after filling, would smoke 
like a smothered bonfire. Now, if this is not an abuse 
of the constitution of the potato, what is ? Ought not 
some bad results to have been expected from such a 
course?" Mr. Errington's recommendations for the 
better cultivation of the potato are to keep it free from 
fermentation, cool, slightly damp and dark, by storing 
the tubers mixed with earth ; planting early varieties, 
and not later than March ; and using a soil not re- 
cently manured. — Horlicidhiral Society'sJour.in.27S. 

Barlow's Lupine {De/phinium Barlowii). — This 
beautiful variety of the lupine was raised about nine- 
teen years since, by Mr. Barlow, then a Manchester 
weaver, and taking great delight in raising seedling 
varieties. — Gardener's Chronicle. 

Walks. — Mr. Meehan, gardener to Colonel Har- 
court, in the Isle of Wight, says that good, hard, per- 
manent walks are made by covering them three 
inches thick with the following mixture. To three 
bushels of coal-ashes, not sifted very fine, add one 
bushel of fine gravel. Add water to these, and mix 
them until they become about as soft as mortar. 
Spread it over the walks, the surface of which pre- 
viously should be slightly broken, and raked smooth. 
Make the mortar-like mixture even by spreading it 
with a piece of board. It will become hard in a few 
days. — Tbid. 

Pears from the Horticultural Society's Gar- 
den. — Owing to the late spring frosts, the pear crop 
has been partial, and the varieties stored are fewer 
than usual. There are some good specimens, how- 
ever, from the walls. One Beurre Diel weighed lib. 
4oz., and measured 12^ inches in circumference. Spe- 
cimens of another variety. Van Mons. Leon Le Clerc, 
were between 5 and 6 inches long, and very hand- 
some. " The tree, however, seems to dislike the quince 
stock." — Ibid. 

Chinese Gardening. — Tlie Chinese are a nation 
of the most industrious habits, and must be con- 
sidered an agricultural people. They have most wisely 
established laws for the protection and encourage- 
ment of agriculture; and to such an extent is it car- 
ried, that the emperor does not think it derogatory to 
his dignity, once in every year, at the agricultural 
festivdf, to descend from his throne, clad as a hus- 
bandman, to set the laudable example to his subjects of 
tilling the earth. The appointed day having been pre- 
viously proclaimed throughout the empire, the emperor 
goes forth and ploughs a particular field, and every 
farmer throughout the empire simultaneously turns 
up a portion of his own farm. The produce of the field 
ploughed by the emperor is always most carefully 
preserved, being considered far superior to any other. 
The ancient laws of the country declare the peculiar 
manner in which the sovereign shall perform this cere- 
mony. By another ancient law, all uncultivated and 
neglected lands are declared forfeited to the emperor, 
who grants them to the farmers on condition of their 
being kept in a proper state of cultivation. The con- 



sequence of this is, that in China there is rot an un- 
cultivated spot to be seen. A fifth, and in some cases 
a fuurth part, of all produce is reserved for the em- 
peror, which is paid in kind to the mandarin of the 
prince who farms the tax. There is one great pecu- 
liarity in Chinese agricultm'e, which, if adopted, might 
prove highly advantageous to British farmers. All 
seeds, previous to being sown, are steeped in liquid 
manure until they germinate ; and to this, coupled with 
their system of irrigation, may be attributed the rich 
luxuriance and abundance of their various crops. 
Their ingenuity and perseverance may daily be wit- 
nessed in the terraces built one above the other up to 
the summit of a rocky mountain. They form reservoirs 
and dams on each platform, and the water having 
passed along one ten-ace, is received into the reservoir 
of the next below, and thus descend, step by step, in 
its irrigatory course. As they cuhivate the hills, so do 
they make the morasses subservient to the support of 
man. Split bamboos are placed upon the marshes, 
and over these layers of earth. In this artificial soil, 
vegetables asid potherbs are raised in the greatest per- 
f ction. There is no plant, in short, growing that is 
not made subservient to man's use. "They extract the 
finest oil from the kernels of apricots, and common 
oil from cotton and turnip-seed. A beautiful black 
dye is prepared from the cups of acorns, and the finest 
scarlet from the flowers of the cactus. 

The dwarf vegetation of China is peculiar to that 
country. I have in my possession an oak ti'ee two 
feet high, bearing acorns, and its trunk bearing all the 
external marks of an aged tree. I have also had 
orange and citron-trees of the same size, bearing fruit 
of a very fine flavour. One of these orange-trees 
used to produce, at the same moment, incipient buds, 
blossoms in full flower, fruit newly set, and of full size, 
both in a green state and ripe. I have seen a lu-chee 
tree, whose natural size is that of a full-grown mul- 
berry, dwarfed into one of three feet, its trunk having 
all the appearance of old timber, and the branches 
naturally tapered. The mode of dwarfing is simple : 
the branch of a full-grown tree is covered with mould, 
which is bound round with cloth or matting, and kept 
moist ; the fibres soon shoot into the mould. The 
branch is then cut from the tree, planted in the earth, 
and the fibres thus become the root-?, and the branch 
a tree, bearing blossoms and fruit. The buds at the 
extremity are taken off, and thus other buds and 
branches are formed. After a certain time syrup is 
applied to the stem, which attracts insects, and the 
bark being thus injured gives the knotted and aged 
appearance of old trees, pieces of bamboo being applied 
to give any desired form to the branches.- — Dublin 
University Magazine, Sept., 1848. 

Lilies. — Less attention than it deserves is paid by 
the amateur florist to the genus Lilium, although among 
its species are so many lovely flowers. All those which 
are half-hardy, as the Purple Lily, L. atrosanguineum, 
White beauteous Lily, L. .speciosum album, and Spotted 
Lily, L. punctatum, may be grown with superior ex- 
cellence in the following mode : 

Pot them in 6-inch pots early in November, drained 
well, and filled with one part charred turfy loam, one 
part leaf-mould, one part cow-dung, and one part 
sandy loam. Bury the bulbs only just beneath the 
surface — give water after two or three days — place on 
the front shelf of the greenhouse, and when the roots 
reach the bottom of the pots, remove at once to 12-incii 
pots to remain. When bloom-buds appear, give liquid 
manure once a week, besides watering as required. 
Shade whilst in bloom, and, as the leaves decay, gra- 
dually reduce the application of water. In November. 



42 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



re-pot the bulbs, removing the offsets, in 6-inch pots as 
before. 

PoTTiNo Materials. — Mr. Errington has in his 
potting-shed twenty binns, each containing a distinct 
material useful for potting, though each material is 
not required for every plant, nor at every shift: 

1. Strong tenacious loam. 

2. Half-rotten leat-mould, 

3. Heath soil. 

4. Horse droppings. 

5. Cow-dung. 

6. Charcoal and wood-ashes. 

7. Bone-dust. 

8. Sharp sand. 

9. Burnt turf of No. 1. 

10. Moss, well scalded. 

11. Heath-soil of No. 3, in squares. 

12. Loam of No. 1, in squares. 

13. One-inch mixed drainage. 

14. Two-inch ditto. 
1.5. Small ditto. 

16. One- inch bottom crocks. 

17. Two-inch ditto. 

18. Three-inch ditto. 

19. Charcoal, large lumps. 

20. One-inch boiled bones for bottoms. 

— Gardeners' Chron. 
Duration of Varieties. — Except from a convul- 
sion destroying the world, a species never becomes 
extinct, but every variety has a limited existence. 



A new kind of cultivated fruit may exist for many 
years, and grafting on to more vigorous stocks may 
protract its duration for centuries, but decrepitude 
and death come at last. In the case of flowers, and 
other plants incapable of obtaining new organs of 
nutriment by grafting, the duration of varieties is 
much shorter. A variety of the Potaio lasts in 
vigour about 20 years; of the Anemone, about 15 ; 
of the Ranunculus, about 20; of the Pelargonium, 
about 10: but the highei-t perfection of this last 
flower, Captain Thurtell informs us, is from its third 
to its sixth ye;ir. — Gardeners' Almanac. 

Early Peas. — Mr. Barnes has again favoured us 
with the results of his experiments, and it will be seen 
that they are still decisively in favour of Corviack's 
Prince Albert. 

Cormack's Prince Albert. — Sown 5th Decem- 
ber, 1844; in bloom April 21st, 1845; gathered May 

Warwick. — Sown same day, same preparation, and 
the whole of after management the same; in bloom 
May 2iid ; gathered June 10th. 

Cormack's Prince Albert. — Sown in pans March 
6th; transplanted April 3rd; in bloom May 7th; 
gathered June 1st, 1845. South aspect. 

Warwick. — Sown same day, transplanted, and after 
management exactly the same, the row being 100 feet 
in length, was planted half with each, and sheltered 
exactly the same; east aspect; in bloom May 15th; 
gathered June 10th, 1845.— /ijU 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Amicus. — Thanks for the extract; we think it is from " FortuiiL-'s Three Years in China;" hut the matter is useful. 

R. A. (Birmingham. )-In planting gooseberries and currants, trench the pround three feet deep before planting, if such trenching has not 
been done to the garden tecently. Cut the gooseberry-shoots so as to leave only three or four, and shorten these so that not more than one 
budremains. Serve the red and white currants similarly, but leave two buds on each shoot. Sprink'c some leaves, or a little leafnu.uld, 
about the roots, and spread these out eveiilv in a circle of which the stem is the centre. Let the roots be as little injured as possible, and not 
more than six inches below the surface of the soil. Cut olfthe tap root. 

A. B. (George-street, Euston-square ) — If expense is no object, *' Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening." If a cheaper work is required 
"Johnson's Dictionary of Modern Gardening." 

W. D. P. (Canonbury.) — We cannot say whether drainage would benefit your soil unless we knew its depth, and the nature of the subsoil. 
The best addition to the soil would be a thick coat of clay and chalk, or clayey marl. A list of roses was in our last Number. Lists of fruits 
will appear from time to time. We cannot recommend nurserymen. 

Mangolu Wurtzel Leaves may be kept for some time if a slice of the root is cut off with them, and they are laid into the earth in rows, 
as cabbage-stalks are. Cutting otf a slice will not injure the roots keeping. 

W. (Dublin,)— Trench the whole of your piece of meadow, and turn the top, or turf-spit, to the bottom : lime will not be required. We 
can scarcely expect a good potato-crop from a deep clay. The potatoes we recommtnd are Julys and red-nosed kidneys. 

Rev. a. Foster.— a most efficient destroyer of the American Blight is coal-tar, applied to each patch of the blight with a brush. The 
entire trunk of a tree must not be thus tarred, or it will be injured, and perhaps killed. The tar should be applied as soon as the blight 
appears in the spring. 

Rev. J. Vincent.— It is not sufficient merely to earth up the potatoes. If not put in alternate layers with earth, and covered at least a 
foot deep with earth, in the form of a ridged roof, the wet and vicissitudes of temperature promote putrefaction. We are glad that you 
approve of autumn-planting. 

M. Francais (Cheltenham). — An announcement in our last Number will show that we had anticipated your wish. Mr. Beaton's first 
communication appears in to-day's paper. 

Ash-leaved Kidnets (F of Y.) — You may safely plant them during this month, but they will not be so e?.rly ai those kept out of the 
ground and forced to sprout by being stored in a warm room during the winter, as they do in Cheshire --ind Lancashire. The Cheshire 
mode, however, is the most calculated to bring on disease. For the Northern counties eight inches is the safest depth for planting the 
Potato in autunin. Plant whole, middle- sized Potatoes. 

Salt as a Manure [A. N. A.) — We will take an early opportunity of giving some facts relative to this fertilizer. 

Walter Tebbitt, Esq. — Very much obliged, but cannot spare the space at present. 

Improving Soil. {.-/ Subscriber, J. If.) Lime is too expensive for improving the staple of your soil, nor is it so much needed, as 
it already contaiiis bricklayer's rubbish. A thick coating of coal ashes, refuse peat, and drift sand, would lie the best of applications, but 
do not put on the night-^oil until the spring. The soil, after being covered wi'h the coal-ashes. &c., will be much benefited by being thrown 
up into ridges. We do not know the Flour Ball Potato. Chapman's Kidney is an early variety. 

Hybridizing. {An Amateur,) — We will give the information desired very shortly. 

Steeping Seeds. iCincinnatus.) — We do not know anything of the plan, but our Correspondent may rest satisfied that it Is of no value. 
No steepins of seed will increa-e its fertility. 



London : Printed by William Tvler and Charles Reed, 5, 6, and 7, Bolt-court, Fleet-street, in the Parish of Saint Dunstan's-in-the- 
West : and Published by William Somekville Orb, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand, London. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



43 



WEEKLV CAI,ENI>AH. 



M 
D 


w 

D 


NOVEMBER 2—8, 1848. 


Plants dedicated to 
eacli day. 


Sun 
Rises. 


Sun 
Sets. 


^^oon R. 
and Sets. 


JVIoon's 
Age. 


Clock 
aft. Sun. 


Day of 
Year. 


2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 


Th. 
F 
S 

Sun 
M 
Tu 
W 


All Souls. Mich. Tenr. begins. 

Princess Sophia B. 1777. Bolanical Society's 
King Will. III. landed. [Month.Mek. 
20 Sunday AFTER Trinity. Gun- 
Leonard, [powder Plot, 160.5. 
Linnean and Horticultural Socie- 
[ties' Monthly Meetings. 


Busliy "Winter Cherry. 

Common Primrose. 

Strawberry-tree.. 

Commcn Winter Cherry. 

Yew. 

Gigantic Furcrcea. 

Bluish-green Veltlieimia 


58 a 6 

VII 

1 
3 
5 


30 a 4 
28 
26 
24 
22 
21 
19 


9 22 

10 23 

11 29 
mora. 

39 

1 54 
3 11 


6 

7 

5 

9 

10 

11 

12 


16 17 
16 17 
16 16 
16 14 
16 11 
16 8 
16 4 


307 
308 
309 
310 
311 
312 
313 



All Souls 13 a day especially set apart by tlie Roman Catholic 
Church to pray for the release of all souls detained in purgatory. 

St. Leonard was a French Christian nobleman of preat sanctity, 
who died about the year 559. Being remarkable for his charity to 
captives, he is especially prayed to by Roman Catholic prisoners. 

Phenomena of the Season — Mr. Jenynssays, that on an average 
of years, the horse-chestnut becomes leallessby the 2nd of this month, 

Insects.— The conmion Flat-body Moth {Dcpres- 
saria Ciculella) is often mistaken for the Clothes 



and the lilac by the 3rd. In 1S45. the apple-trees and gooseberrj'- 
bushes were similarly stripped by the -fth, and on the 5lh the cherry- 
trees were equally bare. The larch-leaves had turned yellow on the 
8th, but those of the Lombardy poplar and birch were all off on that 
day. During the same seven days, the missel-thrush usually re- 
sumes its song— about the 2ntl, whilst that of the skylark is heard no 
more after the 5th, The hooded crow arrives about the 7tb. 






1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1S44. 


1845. 


1840. 


1847. 


2 


Fine. 


Fine. 





Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Climdy. 


3 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


4 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


i 


Fine. 


Sliowery. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


(1 


Fine. 


Sliowery. 


Rain. 


Clouilv. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


•; . Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Kain. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


S 1 Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 



Bloth, occasionally being found in our rooms, and, like that, moving about with great 
activity to escape from tlie light. Colour, dull reddish-brown, with a satiny lustre ; eyes 
black and globular; upper wings brown and black, freckled, with three white spots in the 
centre ; under wings yellowish gray. They deposit their eggs in the flower-heads of the 
carrot, and the caterpillars feed upon its leaves. There are two broods every j'ear — one 
in August, and the other at the close of October. The caterpillars are of a pea-green 

colour, with a darker line of the same down each side and back. Legs, sixteen in numberj head brown; body marked with ten black spots. 

Our cut represents the insect when at rest and when flying. The latter is magnified. 



The Central Board of Health, in a paper containing 
many excellent recommendations for preserving those 
who adopt them from the attack of spasmodic cholera, 
have included in that paper one piece of advice which 
is most erroneous — for they recommend that fruit, 
and certain vegetables, should not be eaten. 

If this advice were sustained either by past experi- 
ence or by the opinion of the majority of medical 
men most deserving of confidence, we should not issue 
a single sentence in opposition — although we know 
that a general following of that advice would be the 
occasion of much deprivation to all cottagers, and of 
ruin to many market-gardeners. Such deprivation 
and ruin would demand our best sympathy and efforts 
for their relief; but we should say they must be en- 
dured for the avoidance of a worse evil — the agonies 
and the multitudinous deaths consequent upon a pre- 
valence of cholera. Experience and medical skill, 
however, coincide in recommending the use of ripe, 
sound fruit, and of well-cooked vegetables. It is 
quite certain that even those who lived exclusively 
upon vegetables were, during the last visit of cholera 
to this country, almost entirely exempted from its 
attacks ; and the following observations, made long 
since by a physician, we are well advised, will be ac- 
knowledged as truth by all his brethren whose opinions 
are now entitled to confidence : 



" Though animal food is more nourishing than 
vegetable, it is not safe to live on that alone. Expe- 
rience has shown that a diet consisting solely of 
animal food excites thirst and nausea, occasions pu- 
trescence in the stomach and bowels, and finally 
brings on violent griping pains, ivith cholera and 
dysentery. 

"With regard to the proportion of vegetable food 
to that of animal, great nicety is by no means required. 
It must vary according to circumstances. The vege- 
table part, however, where nothing forbids, ought 
certainly to preponderate — and I think in the propor- 
tion of at least two to one. 

" I am no enemy to good fruit as an article of diet. 
Fruit should be eaten in the early part of the day, 
when the stomach is not loaded with food ; and it 
never ought to be eaten raw till it is thoroughly ripe." 

In addition to the above we will only add, that, 
in the families of very many medical men, we know 
that no diminution of vegetables in their daily diet is 
permitted — the only precaution being that the vege- 
tables are not eaten unless thoroughly boiled, and no 
fruit unless quite ripe and sound. So far are we from 
wishing to see a good vegetable diet diminished, that 
we recommend to our readers — amateurs as well as 
cottagers — the following excellent piece of cookery : 
— Into two quarts of cold water out three pounds of 



44 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



pumpkin or gourd, cut into thin slices, peeled, and 
with all the seeds removed ; two large onions, also 
peeled and sliced, with a small stick of celery cut into 
very small pieces. Boil these together slowly for two 
hours and a half; and then, after adding an ounce of 
dripping, two large table spoonfuls of flour, and of 
pepper and salt as much as pleases the taste, boil for 
half an hour longer : stir frequently during the whole 
of the boiling. This recipe, modified from one pre- 
viously published, we have from our own cook; and 
we have the testimony of our own palate that it is 
one of the most agreeable, and is certainly the cheap- 
est of soups. The pumpkins saved for seed are better 
for this purpose than those which are less ripe and 
more watery. 

We may as well remove fi-om such of our readers' 
minds as happen to entertain it, the false prejudice 
that no vegetable food is so nourishing as the flesh of 
animals. This is a very great error ; and it has been 
ascertained, beyond all doubt, that their strengthen- 



ing or nourishing qualities are in the following pro- 
portions : 

100 lbs. of Seeds of Peas contain of nou- 
rishing matter . . .93 lbs. 
Seedsof French Haricot-bean 92 



Seeds of Broad-beans . 


. 89 


Wheaten Bread . 


. 80 


Butchers' Meat (average) 


. 35 


Grapes 


. 27 


Apricots 


. 26 


Potatoes 


. 25 


Cherries 


. 25 


Peaches 


. 20 


Gooseberries 


. 19 


Apples 


. 17 


Pears .... 


. 16 


Carrots 


. 14 


Strawberries 


. 13 


Cabbages and Turnips. 


. 8 


Melon .... 


. 3 



THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 



The late frosts have reminded us that we have now 
fairly turned our backs on mere autumn weather; 
and the sleety storm or dense atmosphere of gloomy 
November will begin to remind us " to put our house 
in order " for the approaching winter. That season 
will not, however, be spent in vaiu by those of indus- 
trious habits, without which, indeed, no cottager can 
ever hope to better his condition or that of his family 
after him. Labour is the capital of the poor man, 
and a capital which produces abundant interest if 
rightly applied. 

As long as a poor but industrious man is blessed 
with health, he may bid defiance to tlie roughest 
storm, especially if the possessor of a small and highly 
cultivated plot of ground and a good pig in his sty. 
Old age will approach, and sickness may come, but 
the provident cottager has his club to fall back on, 
together with, generally, some strong and well-trained 
children to prop his declining years. Such will in 
general be the ultimate condition of the cottager who 
has through life performed his duty to his employer, 
and well cultivated his own garden. In addition, a 
few pounds in the savings' bank will not be an unfre- 
quent occurrence. 

Pruning. — This is an affair that needs some expla- 
nation in detail ; and in order to commence and 
pursue the subject in a methodical way, we will at 
once begin with one family of fruits, and continue the 
rest in like manner as occasion offers. Our select lists 
of truly useful fruits will also be continued as oppor- 
tunities occur. 

The Apple. — The majority of apple-trees cultivated 
in the gardens of the cottager or amateur are of the 
kind termed amongst practical men " dwarf stand- 
ards." Some also call them " rough espaliers." The 
latter name is scarcely appropriate, as espaliers are, 
more properly speaking, trees trained on rails or a 
t'ellis. To carry out this dwarfing system, then, by 
which both the space overhead, as well as below, is 
economised, a special course of pruning becomes 



necessary, commencing with the very earliest stages, 
of the grafted plant, and only ceasing when the tree, 
through age, produces little young spray. 

In the present case we must commence with the 
young graft, and we will suppose that it has just been 
planted. Whatever length it be, or whether possessed 
of only one shoot or two, it is absolutely necessary to 
prune them back to about six or eight buds. 

In the second year, if successful, the tree, or rather 
bush, will have at least eight or nine young shoots, 
some well-placed, and some crossing each other. 

Now, pruning as an art truly commences. A selec- 
tion must be made. The eye should be fixed on 
about five or six shoots well-placed ; that is to say, 
forming a kind of circle, or at least so disposed as to 
leave a distinctly open space in the midst of the tree, 
when all are pruned away but these. This being 
done, and the eye well determined on a nice form for 
the future tree, the remainder may be considered 
waste shoots, and may be instantly cutaway, observing 
to leave nearly half an inch of the base of each shoot. 
It is well for those not experienced in this matter, to 
tie a bit of thread or matting on each of the shoots to 
be retained, for fear of error ; for be it understood, we 
lay much stress on this first selection being made with 
discretion ; on it will depend, in some degree, the 
neatness of form; and we need hardly remind our 
readers that neatness of form and economy of space 
are identical. The selected shoots must now be short- 
ened, and, as a general rule, we may say nearly one- 
half the length may be pruned away this season, — the 
object being, under a dwarfing system, to cause the 
lower part of the tree to develop abundance of spurs, 
or the rudiments of spurs. Ii the bushes are left 
without shortening, the sure consequence will be, 
that some gross shoots will soon take the lead, and 
some of these would, in due time, assume the orchard 
character, and the tree would become so unwieldy, 
as to do away with, or render worthless, all under- 
cropping : we need scarcely add that this would not 
be agreeable to the cottager or amateur, with whom 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



the old motto, " Multum in parvo," (much in a small 
space,) is every thing. 

The second year's pruning being thus carried out, 
the tree in the course of the next summer will have 
completed its full complement of shoots; and after 
another selection in the next pruning-season, short- 
ening and thinning out will be the principal affair 
for the next year or two, after which it will suffice to 
go over ordinary kitchen or baking apples once in 
two or three years. 

General Maxims. — We may for the present con- 
clude the apple-pruning, as to young trees, with a few 
maxims necessary to be observed on all occasions. 

First. In selecting shoots to be retained, always 
prefer short-jointed and brown-looking shoots, to 
tliose which are pale, succulent, and long-jointed. 

Secondly. In shortening back the shoots that are 
to remain, always cut back to a bud which promises 
to extend the tree, rather than to contract it, unless 
the tree be of a very straggling habit. 

Thirdly. Let the shortening back he less every 
season after the third year's pruning, for the trees by 
that period will be thrown into shape, and the lower 
spurs being in a great measure formed, there will 
yearly be less tendency to produce gross or barren 
shoots, especially if an occasional root-pruning be 
given. 

The pruning of old trees will form another division 
of the subject, to which we shall return at an early 
ojjportunity. 

Root-pruning the Apple. — The apple, as also all 
other fniits which occasionally grow over-luxuriant, 
is much benefited by root-pruning; and in order to 
be explicit, it will be necessary to offer a few words 
of advice applied separately to each family. Having 
had some twenty-three years' experience of the im- 
mense advantages to be derived by occasionally 
resortnig to this useful practice; and having been, 
we believe, the first to systematize it, we are the more 
emboldened to speak at large on the subject. In the 
first place, we would impress on the amateur or cot- 
tager, that a judicious root-pruning wiVZ cause any kind 
of fruit-tree to produce blossom-buds, provided that the 
case is merely one of over-luxuriance, and that the 
tree is healthy in constitution. This we have proved 
to be a fact, and one worth knowing in all cases. 

With regard to the apple, the process should not 
be commenced until the plant lias been established, 
for at least three years ; to commence earlier, would 
be to rob the tree of much necessary size. Moreover, 
to apply it to young trees, which have never attained 
a considerable amount of luxuriance, is somewhat 



trickish, and will certainly tend to produce a prema- 
ture old age. It is, indeed, on the latter principle 
that the Chinese produce their famous miniature trees, 
which, possessing no real utility, can only he accounted 
vegetable curiosities. 

The amateur or cottager's apples are for the most 
part situate on the marginal borders of the garden ; 
and these borders are generally studded with goose- 
berry or currant-bushes. In such cases it is difficult 
to introduce the spade : it is, therefore, well to know 
in such cases that the roots need not be cut away in 
a continuous line; the spade may be introduced at 
intervals, — for wherever a root is severed, therein a 
corresponding check has been given. It must be 
understood, that any given root supplies sap to the 
whole tree, and does not alone infiuence any parti- 
cular part. Our practice, however, is, (but then we 
have nothing on our borders to hinder a free oper- 
ation,) to throw out a deep trench across the border 
at right angles with the walk, and to cut away every 
root which comes beyond that line. We then fill up 
the trench with fresh soil from the ground close by, 
which has not been exhausted by tlie apple ; we 
seldom go farther than four or five strides for fresh 
soil. 

It requires a little judgment to know what propor- 
tion of the roots to cut away ; and in order to convey 
as correct an idea as possible, we may suppose the 
trees thrown into three classes, — they would then stand 
thus: 

First, Trees of moderate luxuriance ; second. Those 
which may be termed robust ; third. Those of what is 
termed gross habit. We acknowledge that such dis- 
thictions appear rather arbitrary ; we have, however, 
no better plan of making ourselves understood. To 
give a further idea, we would say that the first class 
will make young shoots on an average a foot in length ; 
those of the second two feet ; and the third nearly, or 
quite, three feet : the latter, indeed, frequently burst 
into lateral or side shoots, from the young shoots of 
the same season. 

From the first class, therefore, we advise the cutting 
away about a sixth part of the roots ; from the second 
class a fourth part ; and from the third class a third 
part. It must be borne in mind, that the extremities 
of the roots alone should be cut off, for while we advo- 
cate this mutilation, we equally advocate the preserv- 
ation of the surface roots by every possible means ; 
nay, more than that, we recommend their encourage- 
ment by extra appliances ; of which more by-and-by. 
We will speak of some routine matters in our next. 

R. Errington, 



THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



General F£ower-gabden. — In all operations that 
have reference to a future effect, the mind of the 
operator is in constant exercise. In gardening, this 
is more especially the case, as the subjects under the 
cultivator's care all require a certain preparation and 
constant attention. We hope, therefore, tliat our 
readers will constantly keep this maxim in their 
minds, that something or other requires doing every 
day. Plants in pits and frames require to be kept 
clear of weeds and decaying mouldy leaves ; to be 
very moderately watered, protected from severe 
weather, and plenty of air given them on every fine 
mild day. All those daily cares must be unremitted, 
and require great judgment in the application. 



Watering more particularly requires attention at 
this season of the year. Plants of every kind must 
not be allowed to become so dry as to destroy the 
roots ; and, to guard against a damp atmosphere, all 
water ought now to be applied in the mornings, so 
that the leaves and the surface of the soil may become 
dry before the evening. The temperature of the 
water is also a point to be attended to : it ought always 
to have the chill taken off— that is, never to be used 
colder than forty-five degrees of Fahrenheit's ther- 
mometer. 

Alpine Plants. — Many of the plants that grow 
in mountainous regions, and are known as Alpine- 
plants, are very beautiful, and may be successfully 



46 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



cultivated in gardens, either in pots or on artificial 
rockwork — the latter being the least trouble, and the 
plants in the most natural situation. As we wish to 
make the amateur and cottager's gardens as interest- 
ing as possible, we strongly recommend our friends to 
attempt the cultivation of those interesting plants. 
Rockwork may be formed with flints and scoriBe, or, 
as they are commonly called, clinkers. Where it is 
plentiful, rough pieces of natural stone may be em- 
ployed, or all three may be tastefully mixed, and a 
few rough roots of dead trees can always be used, here 
and there, with good effect. First, a bank of any 
kind of earth must be thrown up in the intended form, 
which should be of irregular outline ; then place the 
flints and other things so as to leave vacancies between 
the stones : those vacancies should be partly filled up 
with a compost of leaf-mould, loam, and sandy peat, 
in equal parts. The aspect of the rockwork, if con- 
venient, should be to the north ; as Alpine plants are, 
in their native counti-ies, during the winter covered 
with snow — and consequently, in our artificial rockery, 
should have as little sun as possible in the cold months. 
The best time to plant them is in the spring — as then 
they will be well established before the winter sets in. 
We will shortly give a select list of Alpine plants. 

Amateur's Flower-garden : Winter Shelter. — 
The winter season being now fast approaching, every 
means of protecting plants should be in a state of 
preparation, so that when severe weather actually 
comes, the diff'erent articles for that purpose may be 
at hand. Plaited straw tents, made in the form of a 
beehive, are excellent protectives for small half-hardv 
shrubs, such as young araucai-ia imbricaia, some 
hybrid rhododendrons, and any other new shrub 
whose powers of resisting frost may be doubtful or 
unknown. 

Russian Bass Mats, for covering frames, tender 
trees on walls, and various other purposes, are, after 
all, the most handy and useful of materials for cover- 
ing. Two or three thicknesses of these mats will 
prevent any ordinary degree of frost from injuring 
the plants usually kept in pits or frames. In extraor- 
dinaiy severe frost an addition of six inches of light 
straw evenly, and in a thatch-like form, laid on over 
the mats, will prevent frost from penetrating through 
the glass, but it will reach the plants through the 
sides and ends of the frames. 

Side Coverings. — To prevent the cold from pene- 
trating by the ends or sides, pUe up against them 
either some litter, or short straw, or, what is better 
than either, fern or brakes tied up in small bundles 
and packed closely against the frames. Commence 
at the bottom with a thickness of nine inches, or a 
foot, gradually sloping upwards close to tlie glass, 
where the thickness should be about four inches. 
Finish it neatly, so as the glass sheets will easily slide 
over it. This part of the protection should be done 
forthwith, so that the plants may be safe whatever 
kind of weather may ensue. The bass mats come to 
this country with tlie ends untied. If used so, they 
will soon become ragged and loose. Let every mat 
be tied, by taking three or four of the Aveb and tying 
them in a knot over the weft ; cut ofi" the ends neatly 
and evenly, and put them by in a dry place till 
wante:! 

Wall-climbers. — Should the amateur have a wall 
covered with ornamental climbers and choice ever- 
green shrubs, they may in severe winters be easily 
protected, by lianging up mats against them, fastening 
them witli hooks or pieces of cloth and nails. All 
these precautions may appear troublesome and labo- 
rious, but the lover of plants will not grudge the 



labour and care necessary to preserve his lovely 
favourites from their grand enemy — frost. 

Root-protection. — To protect the roots of plants, 
whether shrubs, perennials, or bulbs, many things 
may be successfully used. Short stable-litter, half 
rotted leaves, fern, tanners' bark, moss, and short hay, 
whichever may be the most easily attainable, will be 
found useful. The grand principle is, to use all pro- 
tectives in time. A single night's severe frost, if 
unprepared against, will almost render all your after 
care fruitless. 

Cottager's Flower-garden. — We hope your gar- 
dens are now in neat order ; your hedges trimmed ; 
your dead flowers all cut down ; your borders 
manured and dug; and what plants you have too 
tender to resist the frost, all taken up and placed in 
some situation where the frost can be prevented from 
reaching them. All tliis being done, you may now 
turn your attention to improvements, and doing all 
you can to shorten the work of spring. If you do not 
possess a pit or frame, exert your ingenuity, and look 
about you to see what you can convert into a winter 
shelter for scarlet geraniums, fuchsias, double wall- 
flowers, or any other half-hardy flower you may wish 
to preserve. 

TuRF-piT. — In most country places turf may be 
procured. With this material you may build an ex- 
cellent pit. First put a stake at each corner of your 
intended protective pit, beat the surface where the 
walls will stand firmly, and then place the first layer 
of turf down a little broader than you will finish with. 
The bottom may be one foot broad, and laj- upon it 
turf after turf, gradually lessening the thickness of the 
walls till at the last layer the width will be nine 
inches. Your turf-pit should face the south, the front 
waU should be so much lower than the back as to 
leave a slope at the ends about the same pitch as the 
roof of an ordinary house. The depth inside may be 
at the back two feet and a half, and at the front 
eighteen inches. The width you will find most con- 
venient about four feet. AVith this width you can 
easily reach any plant that may require dead leaves 
picking off, or weeds pulling up. So far you have 
done well ; you must try what you can get to cover 
your plant-house in with. If you can afford a few 
shillings to purchase some ready-sawn wood, and 
possess a joiner's plane and a chisel, you may with a 
little painstaking form a window-frame ; and provided 
you cannot afford at present to purchase glass, even 
cheap as it is, you may procure sti-aw, and weave a 
covering for each of your frames. Nail it neatly on 
with a list edging, and you will then possess no bad 
substitute for glass. Or, which is still better, you may 
procure some coarse calico, and stretch it tightly over 
the frame-work, and then procure some cheap linseed- 
oil, and lay it on the calico, setting the frames up 
against a wall or paling to dry, and when in that state 
give it another coating of oil. When this last coat is 
dry your frame will be ready for use. If you are un- 
able to purchase the wood, calico, and oil, still do not 
give up this very useful appendage to your garden. 
Perhaps you can get some poles of trees that have 
been cut down to thin the young woods in your neigh- 
bourhood. These poles cut the proper length and 
laid over your turf-pit, will answer prettj' well to bear 
up your straw mats. Should the muter prove severe, 
procure some short straw or fern, and spread it upon 
the straw mats about si.\ inches thick. It must be a 
severe frost indeed that will injure the plants through 
this effectual protection. When the season arrives 
that yon can plant out your preserved favourites, the 
pit may be turned to many uses : you may fill it to 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



47 



within a foot and a half of the roof witli dung, or any 
kind of rubbish, over this put six inches of good earth, 
and plant in it cucumbers, or sow in it early lettuces, 
radishes, small salading, dwarf kidney beans, etc., so 
that you may perceive what a useful place your pit 
will be — well worth all your extra laboiu-. 

Arched Tkellis. — If you have still some spare 
time, you may add a great ornament to your garden at 
a trifling expense. Supposing you live in the country 
near to woods, that are felling, or tliinning, you might 
for a ti-ifle get a few long rods of hazel or ash. Place 
a row opposite each other of the strongest, on each 
side of the walk, through the garden. Let them stand 
eight feet apart from each other. When they are all 
placed strongly in the ground, cut them off" even at six 
feet from the earth, and then bend some of the smaller 
ones over from side to side, so as to form arches : tie 
them firmly with tar-band or twine. To strengtlien 
the whole, place long rods, sufficient to reach the 
whole length of the arches, upon the highest part, and 
tie them firmly to each arch. If all this he well done, 
it will last several years, and he very neat and orna- 
mental, when, as it is intended to be, covered with 
creepers. We shall give a list of suitable plants for 
that purpose. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

The Pansy. — This almost universally-loved favour- 
ite, deserving a place in the amateur and cottager's 
garden, we will devote this week's part of our labour 
to its cultivation. 

Propagation. — The best plants are obtained by 
layering. By this term, we mean taking a branch of 
a plant, bringing it gently down to the earth, trim- 
ming off all the lower leaves close to the stem with a 
sharp knife ; having ready a sufiicient number of 
hooked pegs, about four inches long ; also, a small 
basket of fine compost of loam and leaf mould in equal 
parts, with a little sand mixed amongst it. Then, 
having trimmed as many branches all round the plant 
as you can conveniently lay down without crowding 
them, take one up gently in your left hand, and just 



below the third or fourth joint make an nicision (with 
a very sharp pen, or budding knife) sloping upwards 
nearly half an inch. Put a small splinter of wood in 
the incision, or cut, to keep it open. This is not 
absolutely necessary, but for very choice varieties we 
recommend it. Having made the cut and put the 
splinter in, bring the branch gently down to the 
ground ; hold it there with tlie left hand, and witli 
the right take one of the pegs, thrust it into the 
ground with tlie hooked part resting upon the branch 
just hard enough to keep it firm in its place. This 
part of the operation must be very carefully per- 
formed, or the layer will crack 03" at the place where 
the cut is made. Proceed with the next, and so on 
all round the plant, till all the branches intended are 
layered. Then take some of the fine earth, and with 
the hand spi-ead it evenly over each, leaving the tops ex- 
posed. Close the earth well to each branch thus layered, 
and give the whole a gentle watering with a fine rose 
watering-pot. The operation is then complete. 

Cuttings. — The other mode of increasing good 
kinds is by cutting, and this is most generally prac- 
tised. The first thing to attend to is to choose the 
situation for the cuttings. The north side of a low 
wall is the best — a wall is better than a hedge, as there 
is no draught of cold air through it. Stir up the soil 
with a tliree-pronged fork, breaking it fine. Then 
put a layer of four inches of light compost, like that 
used for layering: upon this, place a thin covering of 
fine sand. Press the whole gently down with a flat 
piece of wood ; then prepare your cuttings. Choose 
the weakest shoots for that purpose; the strong ones 
are too full of sap. Cut them across just under a 
joint, making them three inches long. A hand-glass 
will assist them materially in forming their roots. 
Only a part will grow without the glass, and they will 
take a much longer time, therefore use hand-glasses. 
Set the hand-glass on the soil so as to leave an im- 
pression, and within that impression with a small 
dibber, or planting stick, put the cuttings in rows at 
three inches apart from row to row, and from plant to 
plant. Then, as with the layers, give a gentle water- 
ing, and as soon as the tops are dry, set on the 
hand-glasses. In about six weeks they will be rooted. 

T. Appleby. 



WINDOW AND GREENHOUSE-GARDENING. 



A HoBBV-HORSE, if fresh, is almost as difficult to 
manage, at first, as an Arab steed fresh from grass — 
the restlessness at starting is much the same with 
both, and each requires some time and management 
before he can be made to take the road straight for- 
ward. But you will probably ask — what has that to 
do with gardening and pot-plants? — very little I own. 
The subject, however, — that is giving directions in 
gardening to new beginners, — is one of my hobbies, 
and in starting with it fresh last week, it would take 
any direction but the straightforward course. 1 in- 
tended then to give full du-ections about watering 
window and other plants in winter, and not only to 
give directions, but a reason also, for every rule — for 
a rule without a reason is a " rule of thumb," and goes 
for little. My hobby, however, was so restless that I 
did not get in a tithe of what I intended to say, and 
before I had more than broached the subject, the 
space alloted for me was filled up. I must therefore 
return to it occasionally, as the subject in hand may 
happen to suggest ; and now about flowers : 



Chrysanthemums. — The most popular flower in 
England at this season is the chrysanthemum, and 
deservedly so, for it fills a blank at this period of the 
year that no other plant we possess could make up. 
It requires very little care to get it through the win ■ 
ter; small slips of it planted in a pot, or in the ground, 
in May will make roots as freely as willow twigs; and 
the nurserymen sell plants of it coming into bloom 
cheaper than of any other flower they grow — I mean 
cheaper according to its merit. Besides, there are 
many kinds of it, and, like Joseph's coat, they are of 
many colours. They do not Uke to be stifled up in a 
close room at any time, and least of all when they are 
in bloom. They should be turned outside the window 
every mild day for a few hours. If thej' are in a 
greenhouse, the ordinary management of a greenhouse 
at this season will suit them capitally; for the doors 
and windows of greenhouses are now always kept 
open as much as possible, and that is just what chrys- 
anthemums like. They are also fond of rich manure- 
water given to their roots, and plenty of it. Those in 



4S 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



a window will require some water e\'ery day, and 
those in the greenhouse every other day, unless the 
weather is very damp. Although they are strong 
feeders, and require large doses of water, it is a bad 
plan to leave water in their saucers all night. To 
have fine large blooms of the chrysanthemum, some 
of the flower buds ought to be cut off: in doing this, 
leave the more forward buds and the latest buds, cut- 
ting away the intermediate ones. This will give a 
longer succession of flowers, besides improving the 
size of those left. 

Tree Violets. — Every one is fond of violets, and 
if you had room for only three pots in the window, 
one of them should be a double violet. For seven or 
eight months in the year, or say from August to 
April, they should be in the window, and the tree 
violet is the best sort for pot-culture. The French 
call it "The Perpetual Violet," which is perhaps the 
best name for it, inasmuch as that it flowers so freely 
and so much longer than any other violet. All violets 
may easily be trained so as to form little trees, as we 
call them, simply by bringing up a plant with one 
shoot only. This shoot should be tied to a neat stake, 
and all the side shoots be rubbed off as soon as they 
appear, unless you want to increase your stock of 
them : in that case, the side shoots may be left till 
they are three or four inches long, and then be taken 
off for cuttings. If these cuttings are planted at any 
time round the side of a pot in any light gai-den 
mould and watered, they will soon make roots. The 
best time, however, for increasing them by cuttings is 
the spring, and when they are well rooted they should 
be planted in the garden, and watered occasionally 
through the summer. They will make nice little 
patches, and begin to flower by the end of August ; 
when a few of them may be taken up in succession, 
and put into pots to bloom in doors all through the 
winter. If the tree violet is left to take its own way 
of growth, it will grow in patches, just like any other 
violet, without any attempt at forming itself into a 



little tree, and that is the easiest way to deal with it, 
and it is the way it produces the most flowers ; but 
trained up in the tree fashion it looks very interesting, 
and will live many years. By the time it gets a clear 
stem a foot or eighteen inches high you may allow 
the side shoots above that heighth to grow, and then 
your miniature tree will be perfect. 

Bulbs. — Almost any spring flowering bulbs may be 
potted at this season in light mould; and with only 
the aid of a common window, they will come into 
flower six weeks or two months before their usual 
time, and keep the windows very gay at a period 
when few plants can be had in flower. Pot snow- 
drops, crocuses, early tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, or 
daft'odils; in short, as many roots of these as you can 
procure, or have room for, and I shall give you a full 
account of how to manage them before they make 
much growth. It will suffice at present if I say that 
crocuses and snowdrops may be planted as thick as 
they will stand in the pot, and an inch under the sur- 
face of the soil. Tulips from three to five in a pot 
that is six inches wide at the top, and planted the 
same depth as the crocuses: hyacinths are best planted 
singly, and so are the daffodils, of which one called 
"Double Roman Narcissus" is the earliest to bloom. 
They are all to be had cheap enough at the seed 
shops, and form a large branch of business. Seeds- 
men are always willing to tell their customers how to 
manage these things. 

Greenbouse-plants, now housed in for the winter, 
may have all the air given them that the door and 
windows will admit, and some of the windows may be 
left partially open at night, unless there are signs of 
frost. In very damp weather it is a good plan to 
light a moderate fire occasionally in the daytime, to 
dry up the damp ; but let the fire go out before night. 
The plants, pots, and stages ought always to be kept 
clean and dry. The nasty green slime you see some- 
times on pots is very injurious to plants at this season. 

D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 



In tnis season ot high winds and damp cold days, 
we would earnestly advise the cottager to employ him- 
self and family more in the repair of his tools, and 
other indoor work, rather than to risk the establish- 
ment of rheumatism, or the causing of cholera, by 
e.\posure to the weather. One of the chief causes of 
fever and cholera is being exposed to sudden chills 
whilst in a state of perspiration. This advice to the 
cottager is equally applicable to the amateur and his 
garden assistants. 

Artichokes should now receive their winter dress- 
ing. Cut away the old leaves close to the ground, but 
without injuring the centre or side shoots. Fork over 
the bed, throwing the earth in a ridge about eight 
inches high, over each row ; putting it close round 
each plant, but being careful to keep the heart free 
from the crumbs of soil. After this has been done, 
pile round every plant some long litter or pea-haulm, 
three or four inches thick ; and to keep this from blow- 
ing away, as well as to help in preserving the roots 
from severe frosts, cover over the litter, or haulm, two 
inches deep with coal-ashes. The ashes may be 
turned into the soil in the spring, being a manure 
much liked by the artichoke. 

It is probable that many of our readers may believe 
that the name of this vegetable refers to the fibrous, 



almost unswallowable part of it known by the name of 
"the choke ;" but this is quite a mistake. The word 
artichoke is merely the English mode of spelling its 
French name, artichaut ; and this is said by old writ- 
ers to be a corruption of the Arabic name for it, alco- 
calos, which has reference to the shape of its heads 
being like that of the pine-apple. The Arabs prize it 
highly, not only for its edible heads, but its roots as a 
purgative, and its gummy exudations as an emetic. 

Onions. — Look over those stored for winter use, 
and remove all decayed ones as soon as seen, for no 
putridity is more readily communicated than is that of 
one onion to another. They will soon become a mass 
of offensive, mouldy matter, if left with one bad onion 
among them. 

The onions sown in August, to grow through the 
winter, should be weeded, and thinned to two inches 
apart. 

Potato, or Under-ground Onion, may be now 
planted, or during any fine weather until the begin- 
ning of December. In Devonshire they plant it on 
the shortest, and take it up on the longest day. Near 
Edinburgh it is known as Burn's Onion, having been 
introduced there by an officer of that name. It grows 
in clusters, varying in number from two to twelve, 
keeps well, is very hardy, and deserves to be more 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



49 



cultivated. Grow them upon any light, open, rich 
piece of ground : dig it deep and fine, and when you 
have dug enough for a row, plant it ; thus avoiding 
any need of treading upon the dug soil. The best 
mode of planting is to press the root-end of each offset, 
or clove of the onion gently into the ground, so as to 
bury about a third part of it ; each offset eight inches 
apart from those next to it ; cover each offset with a 
little heap, half an inch deep, of a mixture of equal 
quantities of decayed dung and coal-ashes. Let the 
rows be eight inches apart. 

Parsnips. — Take up for storing. We gave full 
directions for doing this in our second Number. The 
whole crop need not be taken up, but only a portion, 
as these may be got at easily when those left in the 
ground are bound there by frost and snow. Those 
most exposed to frost are always the sweetest, and the 
lowest degree of cold does them no harm. 

Potatoes. — Now, and at any time when fine weather 
occurs during the month, is the best time for autumn- 
planting, and we recommend every one of our readers 
who has a kitchen-garden to try a few rows, adopting 
the directions we gave in our first Number. Three 
years' experience enables us to assert without any 
reservation that it is the best mode of growing this 
root. The ground need not be lying unproductive all 
the winter, for a row of coleworts may be grown 
between every two rows of potatoes, and cut for boil- 
ing before the potatoes appear above ground in the 
spring. 

Pumpkins. — We wish to impress upon our readers 
the importance of these. Tliose we have saved for 
seed weigh full twelve pounds each : they will make, 
therefore, eight quarts of the soup mentioned in our 
to-day's editorial — a soup tliat will not be misplaced 
at any gentleman's table. Let not a seed-pumpkin 
be wasted ; but let its flesh be thus used. 'I'he seed 
well-dried will keep as well in a paper bag as it would 
in the pumpkin itself. 

Celerv. — Make use of favourable opportunities of 
applying a good portion of earth to bleach and secure 
celery against the winter's frost. For doing this, 
choose the afternoon of a fine day ; the first thing to 
be done is to draw the leaves of each plant quite 
upright with one hand, and slightly pressing in the 
top earth wiih the other. By this means the lower 
part of the plant is excluded from air and light, and 
the earth is prevented from getting to its heart, which, 
if allowed to get amongst its leaves, would admit the 
wet, causing rot and deformity. Besides, by this treat- 
ment a shoulder is formed to the celery-bank, for the 
new application of soil. Celery is a wholesome vege- 
table, either eaten as a salad, stewed, boiled in soups, 
or boiled whole, and served at table with meat in the 
same waj' as cauliflowers and brocoli. Care should be 
taken even thus earh' to prepare some easily come- 
atable material for protecting celery against severe 
frost, such as fern, heath, furze, evergreen boughs, 
pea-haulm, bean-stalks, reed or sedge, or straw of any 
kind. This should be applied to the outside of the 
bank wlien frost sets in, for if once bleached celery 
gets frozen through, it is certain to rot very quickly 



afterwards. Besides, when frozen through it is incon- 
venient for taking up when required. 

Cauliflowers and Cape Brocoli. — All that are 
now showing flower, or rather just turning in, should 
be daily secured, by pulling up the whole plant by 
root, tieing them up into bunches of fire or six, ac- 
cording to the size of the plants, and hanging them 
up in sheds or cellars — thus securing abundance of 
those useful vegetables for table during the winter 
months. Young plants of cauliflower, either pricked 
into pots, pits -frames, or under hand-glasses, should 
be well attended b}- airing day and night at all times 
in favourable weather; the decayed leaves picked off; 
the surface of the earth well stirred ; the slugs well 
hunted ; and occasionally a little dry dust applied 
amongst them. This addition of dust is most valuable 
in the winter months, both as a protection against 
damping, or canker, or frost. Take care to save all 
the dry, dust}' soil, old mortar, or other dusty material, 
and we will see what useful accounts it may be turned 
to between this and next March, in the way of pre- 
serving vegetation. 

Borecole and Brocoli of luxuriant growth, if not 
already done, should be checked by either cutting the 
roots round at about nine inches distance from each 
plant with a spade, or they may be laid in where 
growing, or taken up and laid together in a more 
sheltered situation to check them. The ground from 
whence they are taken should be well trenched, and 
laid in rough tidges or sloping hanks, to receive the 
beneficial influence of the weather. 

Cabbage and Coleworts, in every stage of growth, 
should be kept clear from decayed leaves : the surface 
of the soil well stirred in diy, favourable weather, and 
all small plants secured for spring use bj' being 
thickly pricked on sloping banks or sheltered situa- 
tions. 

Endive may be secm-ed in turf or other temporarj' 
pits, and may be protecti'd with asphalte or light- 
boarded shutters, thatched wood-frames, fern, furze, 
or other similar materials. A portion, in succession, 
may be placed to bleach in a dark shed or cellar, 
being planted thickly together in sand or earth. Or 
some may be thus planted in any room or shed, or 
allowed to stay in a frame or pit, and bleached by 
being covered with light boards, slates, fern, straw, or 
any dry material placed on it. Thus keeping a good 
succession. 

Parsley. — A few strong roots of this herb should 
be placed in pnts, or in a box, to be placed in-doors, 
or in some sheltei'ed place, to be in readiness for use 
when frost and snow set in. 

Mushrooms, in hot-beds, look well to at this season. 
Allow no cold draughts or currents of cold air to be 
admitted. Keep them close, and with a rather humid 
atmosphere about them. Make suecessional beds at 
this season in the warmest and most sheltered situa- 
tions ; beds that have been some time in bearing, and 
are becoming exhausted, may be invigorated by appli- 
cation of clear liquid-manure, applied no colder than 
eighty degrees. Make the liquid-manure by soaking 
sheep or deer's dung in water. James Barnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



CUE OLD GARDENERS. 

Those who are acquainted only with the writings of 
modern authors, will scarcely believe how much non- 
sense was published in the days when printing was 



first discovered ; and as late as in the sixteenth century, 
tlie age when Raleigh and even Bacon lived, the 
publication of absurdities and falsehoods recommended 
for adoption in cultivating plants still continued. Few 
men who knew how to handle the spade could then 



.00 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



do more than make a cross with the pen ; and it is 
not surprising, therefore, that those who were learned 
and undertook to write of tlie art of gardening, 
altliough of it they knew nothing, were pleased to 
content themselves with mere translations from the 
old Roman and Greek writers. 

France and Holland had the start of us in obtain- 
ing a better knowledge of gardening, for it is well 
known tliat in that century our king's table had even 
such trivial matters as its best salads sent over by 
the Dutch. The monks in France were, in those 
days, great delighters in gardening; and as they were 
the best educated men of the time, those of them who 
wrote upon gardening were able to give some original 
practical information. Leonard Mascall was the first 
to appreciate this in England ; and it was no small 
merit in him to be the earliest translator of one of 
those French works on gardening. 

Leonard Mascall was farrier to King James the 
First, and had a country residence at Plumstead in 
Sussex. This sentence contains the whole of his 
history that has escaped to us, with the exception of 
the fact, that he wrote three separate works on 
Poultry, Cattle, and Fishing, besides that on Garden- 
ing, which we are about to notice. The first edition 
of this was printed in 157S, and seven other editions 
of it were published between that year and 1656. 
The earliest edition we have seen is that of 1592, and 
it has this explicit title: — "A book of the art and 
manner how to plant and graffe all sorts of trees; 
how to sst stones and sow peppins, to make wild trees 
to graffe on, as also remedies and medicines. With 
divers other new practices, by one of the abbey of S. 
Vincent, in France, practiced with his own hands; 
divided into seven chapters, as hereafter more plainly 
shall appear, with an addition in the end of tliis book 
of certain Dutch practices, set forth and Englished 
by Leonard Mascall." 

The Address to his readers is his own, and in these 
words : 

" Each wight that willing is to know 
The way tn jiratTand plant, 
May here find plenty of that skill, 
That erst hath been but scant. 
To iilant or gtaffe in other times 
As well as in the spring, 
I teach by good experience 
To do an easy tiling; 
The pleasures of this thing is great, 
The profit is not small, 
To such men as will practice it. 
In things mere natural." 

Tlie directions for budding, as well as for crown- 
grafting and cleft-grafting, are very particular, and 
for the most part correct. The drawings, to render 
the author's meaning more easily comprehended, are 
sufficiently rude and ill-executed, yet of themselves 
they afford satisfactory evidence that the art of graft- 
ing was well understood. Thus of the implements 
necessary for its practice, there are drawings of a 
gouge, pruning-knife, saw, mallet, hammer, with a 
file and piercer forming its handle, chisel, and scraper 
for removing moss from the trunk of the tree. 

The directions for planting fruit-trees are brief, yet 
generally worthy of attention. Even at the present 
day too many gardeners neglect this rule for shallow 
planting, published three centuries ago by Mascall : — 
" Plant so that the earth be above all the roots half 
a foot." 

AVe do not think the worse of our author for con- 
cluding with this recommendation : — " Whensoever 
ye shall plant or graffe, it shall be meet and good for 
you to pray to God to increase and multiply and 



replenish the eartli." It puts us in remembrance of 
an old kitchen-gardener, Paul Somers, who never put 
the finishing touch of his spade to any job without 
saying, "Paul plants, but God gives the increase." 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 3.) 

November is usually called the gloomiest month in 
the year, — and so it is to many persons : but to the 
lover of the country and the garden it is one of great 
interest. How often have I stood planning improve- 
ments among my borders and clumps during the 
warm dry summer months, wishing to remove some 
shrub, close up some awkwardly-placed bed, form 
another in a more striking spot, or clothe some bare- 
looking stem with honeysuckle cr ivy, and have said 
aloud, "How I wish November was come!" Gar- 
den lovers disregard the bleak winds and chilly rains 
that shut up " hot-house " plants, — they forsake the 
fireplace and worsted-work of their shivering friends, 
thinking only of the " charming weather for trans- 
planting," which may now be done safely and agree- 
ably, for the ground is soft, and the trees still suffi- 
ciently leafy, to allow us to judge of the effect of our 
alterations. With feet protected by Indian-rubber 
shoes, hands guarded from dirt and scratches by a 
pair of strong housemaid's gloves over one of old 
kid, I am sure a lady who loves her garden will enjoy 
her November labours quite as much as the effect of 
them in June and July. 

Evergreens fonn the chief beauty of a country 
garden at all seasons of the year ; their rich, deep 
green foliage in the glare of summer is refreshing to 
the eye and delightful to the feelings ; but in winter, 
when other leaves wither and fall, how pleasing is 
their luxuriant verdure and useful shelter, screening 
the gables of out-buildings, and the stems of leafless 
trees, making us almost forget that summer is gone 
once more Jilost of the common garden e\"ergreens 
love a strong soil : they will exist on clialky soil, 
but not in full beauty. The laurel, Portugal laurel, 
etc., should not be suffered to run up very high, 
which they will do if pleased with their situation, for 
then they become bare-stemmed and scrubby. Head 
them periodically, cut out long bare arms, and keep 
the plant close and compact. Laurel stems make 
very good garden-seats, and last a great while with 
care. Take them under shelter during the winter; 
neglecting this precaution is the reason why garden- 
chairs fall to pieces in a year or two. When boughs 
of trees are sawn or lopped off, the stumps should be 
trimmed off smooth ; if left jagged or rough, the wet 
enters, and kills, or injures them much. Evergreens, 
indeed all trees, should be taken up with as large a 
ball of earth round their roots as possible. Ladies 
frequently fail in planting shrubs, because they are 
apt to scoop out a hole in the hard ground, squeeze 
in the roots without giving them room to move, and 
then pressing in the earth upon them with their foot, 
as if the plant might jump out and run away. This 
should not be : let the hole be dug deeper and 
larger than the roots of the shrub, chop the earth at 
the bottom, that the fibres may pass through it, and 
let the roots lie as comfortably as the ornaments in 
your jewel-box, that none may be crushed or broken. 
Nothing hinders the growth and beauty of the plant 
so much as having its roots confined. Layers may 
now be made, but remove them as soon as they have 
rooted. Layers were made some years ago from a 
beautiful Portugal laurel in my garden, and forgotten : 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



51 



in two or three years the shruh looked sickly, its 
leaves became pale and curled, and portions fairly 
died. On a close examination we discovered that the 
layers had shot up into strong plants, and the ex- 
haustion they had produced in the old shrub was the 
reason of its decay. They are removed, and I hope 
the parent plant will recover. 

The lauvestinus, the box, the ivy, and the bay-tree 
are beautiful shrubs. The box is very fragrant after 
rain, and the hay is very spicy and useful. I have 
seen it grow into a tall tree in a warm sheltered situ- 
ation ; but every house and cottage should have a 
plant, however small, to prevent the use of the poi- 
sonous laurel-leaf in puddings and custards, if not for 
its beauty and sweetness. 

I wish cottagers would plant evergreens more 
generally than they do : they are beautiful in them- 
selves, reminding us too, of God's love in pleasing 
our eye, as well as sheltering the little homeless birds, 
when their nests are cold and wet, and the wind 
alone is left to sing among the boughs ; and they are 
useful and ornamental in screening unsightly objects, 
such as ash-heaps and dunghills, and the shed where 
we almost always see the door swinging open, break- 
ing the hinges, and tubs, and pans, and other little 
things lying untidily about. Now these might all be 
kept out of sight by two or three evergreens, carefully 
placed, which would take up no room, make the 
cottage look snug and warm, and lead us to hope a 
neat, well-ordered family live within. 

If any hardy geraniums should still he left in the 
open borders, cover about their roots thickly with coal- 
aslies ; cut them down to within a few inches of the 
ground; wrap each stem thickly round with wool, 
and tie it firmly on: leave them quietly covered 
with their warm cloaks, and release tliem, when the 
frosts are over. Sometimes it is difficult to find 
windows where these beautiful plants can be kept 
tlirough the winter. In cottages, and small resi- 
dences, this is often the case. Then take them out of 
their pots about the end of October, or beginning of 
November, cut off all the leaves ; shake off the soil, 
and wrap them up well in moss : tie them together, 
and put them where frosts cannot reach them. In 
the spring, cut off the ends of the roots, and pot them 
in good mould. These little simple operations are 
highly interesting to a lady, who cannot command a 
green-house ; sometimes, not even a window with 
comfort to herself, or others ; and enable her to enjoy, 
without much difficulty, the pui'e and exquisite plea- 
sure afforded by the cultivation of flowers. It is 
almost the only pleasure, unattended by a sling. Our 
finger may be pricked by a thorn, it is true, but our 
hearts will not be pierced by a sorrow. 



COTTAGE AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 

(No. 5.) 
BY THE EDITOR. 

Sowing should always be in drills, for although it 
is a little more trouble at the time, it saves much 
more when the periods arrive for thinning and hoe- 
ing ; besides which, much less seed is required for 
drill-sowing than for sowing broadcast. Plants in 
drills also grow better than when without any orders 
as they are when raised from broadcast-sowing, the 
air and light being enabled to get to their leaves more 
freely. 

Rotation of Crops. — Never let the same kind of 
crop grow twice in succession on the same piece of 
ground. If you grow cabbages and brocolis for two 



or three years following on the same bed, they will 
become diseased, club-tooted, and unproductive. It 
is most important to obtain large crops, that the 
ground should bear one after the other crops differing 
as much as possible from each other. We are indebted 
to Mr. Errington for the following directions for crop- 
ping a garden thirty-one yards long and twenty yards 
wide. This being rather more than a rood, or eighth 
of an acre, it will be very easy to adapt the directions 
to any garden of a similar sir.f, though of a different 
shape, or indeed to any other sized garden. 

Divide the garden exactly in half, as represented 
in the accompanying diagram, where one half is 
marked A, and the other B. 

Thirty-one yards long. 



Tliese divisions are to be worked alternately ; that 
is to say, the plot A, wliich is to be all potatoes (two- 
thirds of late and one-third of early kinds) in 1849, 
will be occupied in 1S50 by the series of crops named 
for B in 1849, according to the subdivision references 
— thus B ne.xt year (1849) will be potatoes, two-thirds 
of later kinds planted in drills thirty inches apart, in 
order to receive green kale, Brussels sprouts, or any 
of the cabbages, savoys, etc. between them. These 
cabbages, etc., being plants from seeds sown in th» 
end of February for this purpose, on subdivision 
No. 9, which is set aside for such purposes. The 
other third, A, to be early kidney, or other early 
potato, set in the end of February at usual distances, 
to be dug up in the beginning of Jul)", and succeeded 
by transplanted Swedes, so'.vn for that purpose on sub- 
division No. 9, in the middle of April. 

The half B is to be divided into nine equal com- 
partments or subdivisions, as follow : 

Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, for horn carrots, sown in February 
and March, and to be taken up and succeeded, in the 
end of July, by common turnips. 

Nos. 5, 6, to be sown with parsnips in March, but 
they admit of no succession worth notice, for they re- 
main in the ground until November. 

No. 7, sown with beet in March, no succession worth 
notice. 

No. S. Onions to be taken up in September, and 
the ground planted with cabbages, savoys, etc. 

No. 9. Sm-plus bed for miscellaneous matters, such 
as seed-beds of various things — half a dozen Victoria 
rhubarb plants, scarlet-runners, etc. 

Pot-herbs gi-ow as edgings, or on one end of No. 9. 

Peas to be sown round the outer edges of the plot 
B, in a single row. 

Broad Beans plant round A, in a row. 

N.B. The two latter crops would change places 
annually. It was thought advisable to adopt mixed 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



croppin<; in the case of the potato, the present posi- 
tion of which is so precarious. The greens, therefore, 
of wliicli kale is one of the chief, may be planted 
between the wide rows of potatoes in the beginning 
of June. 

If early cabbages are wanted, have one subdivision 
less sown with horn carrots, and plant No. 1 with 
those cabbages. It appears, however, to be good 
policy to increase the amount grown of the best keep- 
ing or store roots. 

Lettuces and spinach may be grown on part of 
No. 9; and Jerusalem artichokes in any nooks and 
corners under the hedges. A lettuce may be stuck in 
among other crops wherever a blank occurs. 



HARDY AND GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS 

LATELY INTRODUCED AND \VORTH 

CULTIVATING. 

Jasminum Nodiflorum (Naked-flowered Jasmine). 
■ — This is a hardy trailing plant, introduced from China. 
Its flowers, which are yellow, continue as late as 
December. It prefers a rich, sandy soil, and is easily 
propagated by planting half-ripe cuttings of the young 
branches, about August. — Paxton's May. ufBotani), etc. 

Fuchsia Spectaeilis (Showy Fuchsia).- — This most 
beautiful of all the fuchsias is a native of the moun- 
tains of Peru. It requires the shelter of a green- 
house. Its flowers are large ; and are partly rich red, 
and partly crimson. It requires the same culture as 
other greenhouse fuchsias. 

Cerastostema Longiflorum (Long-flowered Ceras- 
tostema). — This half-hardy evergreen comes from the 
mountains of Peru. Its flowers are purple. It is 
easil}' propagated by cuttings, and flourishes in a 
sandy loam mixed with a little peat. — Gardeners' 
C/ironicle. 

Clematis Tubulosa (Piped Clematis). — This is a 
Jiardy herbaceous climber, from the northern provinces 
of China.* It is the most distinct from every other, 
and the most beautiful of all the clematises. Its 
flowers, which are blue, appear in August. It is 
easily propagated by cuttings, and requires a rich, 
light, sheltered border. — Ilort. Society's Journal. 



HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. 
Mr. Portal's Allotment Tenants. — On Frida)', 
the 13th of October, Melville Portal, Esq., accom- 
panied by C. Edney, Esq., met his allotment-tenants 
at the National School, Whitchurch, Hants, where an 
excellent supper was provided, consisting of roast and 
boiled beef, and strong beer. 114 occupiers having sat 
down, and done ample justice to the good things of this 
life, the cloth was removed, and Mr. Portal proposed the 
health of the Queen, which was drunk with the usual 
honours. He then proceeded to distribute the prizes 
awarded by the judges to the successful competitors, 
as follows : 

• Wfrftncmiij— All plants are called Herbaceous of which the 
stems die »'Dnually. 



For the best beans, 5s., to Charles Tanner ; 2nd 
ditto, 2s. 6d., Thomas Tammage ; 3rd ditto. Is. 6d., 
D. Radden. Best peas, 5s., to George Martell ; 2nd 
ditto, 2s. 6d., W. Hopgood ; 3rd ditto, Is. Gd., Charles 
Fox. Best cabbage, 5s., to Henry Tanner ; 2nd ditto, 
2s. Gd., Charles Golding ; 3rd ditto, Is. Cd., Joseph 
Grace. Best onions, 5s., to James Pavey ; 2nd ditto, 
2s. Gd., Joseph Palmer; 3rd ditto. Is. 6d., John 
Rampton. Best parsnips, 5s., to Samuel Hunt; 2nd 
ditto, 2s. Gd., Robert Kingsbury. Best carrots, 5s., to 
Charles Churchman ; 2nd ditto, 2s. Gd., David Dolton ; 
3rd ditto. Is. Gd., Charles Lee. For the best culti- 
vated allotment, 5s., to Joseph Grace, George Shaw, 
and George Tolfree ; 2nd ditto, 2s. Gd., Robert Kings- 
burv, Charles Fox, and James Stuhbs; 3rd ditto. 
Is. Gd., William Hopgood. 

After the prizes had been distributed, Mr. Portal 
proposed the health of the judges, (Mr. G. Gaiger and 
Mr. C. Taylor) which was suitably acknowledged by 
those gentlemen, who suggested several instructive hints 
on the cultivation, cleaning, and manuringof allotments. 

Mr. Portal then rose and said that since last year he 
was happy to inform them that their friends were in- 
creasing, as several gentlemen had come forward and 
handsomely subscribed to the Prize Fund ; he there- 
fore beeged to propose the health of the donors, which 
was drunk with three cheers. 

Mr. Eduej', in reply, highly commended the allot- 
ment-tenants for the luxuriant appearance of their 
crops, and the superior manner in which their gardens 
had been cultivated. He wished them prosperity, and 
hoped they felt grateful to their generous Benefactor. 
He should now propose the health of a gentleman 
which he was sure they would drink with the greatest 
pleasure ; that gentleman was Melville Portal, Esq. 
The toast was succeeded by a burst of cheers, which 
lasted for several minutes. 

Mr. Portal thanked them most kindly for the hand- 
some manner in which they had drunk his health. 
He felt the greatest pleasure in meeting them on the 
present occasion ; he had never seen finer carrots and 
parsnips than those exhibited this year, and their 
onions were of a magnificent size; he was also pleased 
with the appearance of their allotments. Although 
he was sorry that circumstances had prevented him 
from giving them that attention he had done ihe 
preceding year, yet the interest he felt in them was 
not the less ; and trusted that he should soon procure 
more land, and double the number of allotment- 
tenants, as nothing would give him more pleasure 
than to see every cottage in the parish with a garden. 
It was his sincere wish that they might be comfortable, 
contented, and happy. 

The health of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson was then pro- 
posed, md drunk with three cheers. Mr. Johnson, in 
reply, thanked them for their civility, and bore testi- 
mony to the good feeling subsisting between them. 

Mr. Portal then retired, and was heartily cheered as 
he left the room. The meeting shortly after dispersed 
in an orderly manner, highly pleased with the even- 
ing's entertainment. — Hampshire Cliromcle. 



TO CORRSSPONDENTS. 

Roses {An Inquirer, B, of Fnglaud.) — AVe will answer your queries next week. 

Sawdust {A Subscriber, \Valtham Cross.)— Nevermind those who tell you that your decayed sawdust is toi> sour. It will certainly improve 
vouT stitrcold loam. One of the best of composts is made by thorouglily mixing a bushel of common salt and a quarter of a bushel of lime 
with eacli onc-horse-cart load of decayed sawdust. The most decayed parts of your sawdust would do well for your rosary. 

Other Cobresposdents, too late for even particular ackoowledgment, shall be answered next Thursday. 

LoNDOK ; Printed tiy Wi lliam Tvlkr and Charles Reed, 5, G, and 7, Bolt-court. Fleet-street, in the Parish of Saint Dunstan's-in-the- 
West : and Pubiished by \\ illiasi So.mervii.le Orr, at the Otlice, 147, Straud, in the Fariaii of Saint Mary-le-Strand, Loudon. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



53 



WEEKLV CALENDAR. 



M 


W 


D 


D 


9 


Tti 


10 


F 


11 


S 


12 


Sun 


13 


M 


14 


To 


15 


W 



NOVEMBER 9—15, 1848. 



Pr. Wales b. 1841. Lord Mayor's ] 

Bunting's note ceases. [Day. 

St. Martin. 

21 Sunday after Trinity. 

Britius. Larch leaves fall. 

Apricot leafless. 

Machutus. Beech leafless. 



Plants dedicated to 


Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon's 


Clock 


Day of 


each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


ana Sets. 


Age. 


aft. Sun 


Year. 


Bluish-green Velthe- 


11 a7 


17 a 4 


4 31 


13 


15 58 


314 


Scotch Fir. [imia. 


12 


16 


5 53 


14 


15 52 


315 


Weymouth Pine. 


14 


15 


rises. 


O 


15 46 


316 


Grape-like Tritonia. 


16 


1.3 


5 a 57 


16 


15 38 


317 


Bay-tree. 


17 


12 


52 


17 


15 29 


318 


Portugal Laurel, [foot 


19 


10 


7 55 


18 


15 20 


319 


Sweet-scented Colts- 


21 


9 


9 1 


19 


15 10 


320 



St. Martin was first a soldier and then an ecclesiastic— dying 
Bishop of Tours, in France, in 'he year ^97. Tiiis day, known to 
our forefathers as Martinmas, or Martlemas. was the time when they 
cured bacon and beef for winter store, and was a time devoted also 
to festivity. More than one old ballad refers to 

" dried flitches of some smoked beere, 

Hung on a twisted wythe since .Afartiii's Eve ; " 

as well as to the merry doings of those jolly days in which, 

•' When the daily sports be done. 
Round the market cross they run : 
'Prentice lads and gallant blades. 
Dancing with their gamesome maids — 
Till the Beadel, stout and sour, 
Shakes his bell and calls the hour : 
Then farewell lad and farewell lass 
To the merry night of Martlemas." 

St. Bricp. fBritius) was a pupil of St. Martin, succeeding him in 
the Bishopric of Tours, and dying in the year 444. 

Insects.— The Winter Moth {Cheimatobia Bru- 
mata) is the cause of more destruction to our fruit 



St. Machutus. or St. MAf.o, was of noble British birth, hut be- 
came bishop of Aleth, in France, where the town of St. Malo is named 
after him. He died ou this day, in the year 630. 

Phekomena op the Season.— One of the peculiar natural 
events of this period of the year is the congregating together of small 
birds. It must be for the pleasure they derive from the society; for 
they neither are more capable of defence, nor warmer, nor better fed 
by being thus in company. Remarkable amongthese congregational 
birds is the Long-tailed Titmouse. " We have no bird more distin- 
guished than this for its family association; he is never seen alone, 
but continues with his offspring, which is a very numerous one, 
from the time of hatching till the final separation in spring. They 
seem the most restless of little creatures— being all the day in a 
course of progression from one field to another; flitting through the 
air like a ball of feathers, or threading the branches of a tree ot 
bushes of a hedge, f dlowing each other in a little stream. Their 
food is insects, which they find under the mosses on the branches. 
Their nest is like a bag, covered on the outside with moss, and so 
profusely lined within, that the young ones appear almost smothered 
in a feather bed."— T. T. 






1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


9 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


Pine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


10 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


II 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


l;! 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Frost. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


IS 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Frost. 


Ra'n. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


14 


Ram. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


IS 


Frosty. 


Rain. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 



and other trees than almost any other insect ; for no weather is sufficiently severe to injure 
either them or their eRgs; and the cater|iillars, in the early spring, will feed upon the 
opening buds and leaves of almost every kind of tree. The females being without wings, 
may he prevented ascending our standard fruit-trees by smearing round their trunks a 
!>,.«, Tr ''^'"^ °^ '^"^ '^ directed last week for the Lime-looper ) ■, but this must be renewed, as it 

MAI.B AKD FEMAie. drics, cvcry two or three days. The male moihs begin to Ovaboutjustafter sunset during 

November and until the end of January. Their upper wings, when opened, measure across about one inch and a quarter: but during the 
day they look much smaller, for they fold them so as to form a triangle, and have their feelers or hoMis (antennse) turned back over them. 
Tliose wings are pale gray, marked with various darker waved lines. The under wings are grayish- white, often having a notched line cross- 
ing their centre. The body, delicate and tapering, is yellowish-grny. The female crawls to the top of a 'ree and deposits her very small oval 
egtfs upon the blossom and leaf buds, as well as upon the shoots. She will lay from 200 to 300 eggs. The caterpillars and the buds come to 
life together: at first they are gray, and scarcely thicker than a horsehair, but they cast their skins, and finally become of a yellowish-green 
colour, shining, and with a blue line down the hack. On their sides are two yellowish-white lines. The ;tpple buds are tlieir favourite food; 
but they destroy without difficulty the leaves of the hawthorn, lime, hazel, rose, elm, wIUow, and hornbeam. 



Each day that a man lives, and reads his Bible, he 
may more and more find reason to acknowledge that 
everything in that book is full of truths, and that each 
of its sentences has within it knowledge well worth 
the seeking for. When Job (xxxviii. 22) talks of 
" the treasures of the snow," and of " the treasures of 
the hail," there is much more reason for that designa- 
tion than meets the eye in the words. Modern science 
has shown, that in those frozen deposits from the 
clouds is a superior quantity of ammonia, and that 
with this they most evidently benefit vegetation.* 
The protection from severe winds afforded to plants 
by a covering of snow, and the beauty of its crystal- 

♦ Our Cottage friends will understand what is meant by ammonia 
when we teL them that it is the active part of spirit of hartshorn. 



line forms might be appropriately considered as a 
portion of its "treasures," yet not so justly as the 
really manuring quality it possesses. Then again, 
when Abimelech had destroyed the city of Shechem 
(Judges ix. 45), he "sowed it with salt;" and this 
probably to intimate that its present ruin was designed 
to be the occasion of future benefits, as the salt would 
destroy rank herbage only to be succeeded by a 
herbage finer and more valuable. That the fertilising 
powers of salt were known to the Israelites seems 
certain from that passage in St. Luke (xiv. 35) where 
injured salt is said to be " neither fit for the land nor 
yet for the dunghill." Modern experience, at all 
events, justifies the inference ; for salt, judiciously 
applied, is found to be a highly beneficial manure. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



whether sown alone over the soil or mixed with dung 
and other matters as a compost. 

We have used salt as a manure for the last twenty 
years, and believe that it may be sown over the entire 
garden, with advantage to every crop it may contain, 
whether fruit, flower, or kitchen vegetable. These 
general sowings should be made often, and small 
quantities applied at a time : six times a year, at the 
rate of a peck to each rood, or eighth of an acre, each 
time, would not be too often nor too much. If sown 
over the garden in the evening, it would add to its 
other benefits the destruction of many slugs which 
are then prowling about. Some crops are benefited 
by a much larger application of salt, and among these 
are asparagus, sea kale, beetroot, cabbages, and 
potatoes. 

Asparagus and sea-kale are benefited extraordinarily 
by having salt strewed, twice every year, so thick 
about them as to make the surface of the soil percep- 
tibly white ; namely, in April and July. Beetroot, 
and all the cabbage tribe, are improved by having it 
sown over the soil about them so soon as the young 
plants begin to grow vigoiously, but not in a quantity 
greater than at the rate of three pecks to a rood. 

We have thus entered upon the consideration of the 
value of salt as a garden manure, in answer to more 
than one query from correspondents ; but we must 
refer those who wish for fuller information to Mr. Cuth- 
bert John<;on'3 " Essay on the Uses of.Salt." They will 
there find arranged information from practical men 
relative to its application to most cultivated crops. It 
contains many letters from experienced gardeners, 
showing that salt is a boon not only to the market- 
gardener, but to the florist. Among others is a com- 
munication from the late Mr. Hogg, florist at Padding- 
on ; and from his letter we will, in conclusion, make 
this extract : 

" From the few experiments that I have tried with 



salt as a garden-manure, I am fully prepared to bear 
testimony to its usefulness. The idea that first sug- 
gested itself to my mind arose from contemplating the 
successful cultivation of hyacinths in Holland. This 
root, though not indigenous to the country, may be 
said to be completely naturalised in the neighbourhood 
of Haarlem, where it grows luxuriantly in a deep 
sandy alluvial soil ; yet one great cause of its free 
growth, I considered, was owing to the saline atmo- 
sphere. This induced me to mix salt in the compost ; 
and I am satisfied that no hyacinths will grow well 
at a distance from the sea without it. I am also of 
opinion, that the numerous bulbous tribe of amaryl- 
lises (especially those from the Cape ol Good Hope) 
— ixias, alliums (which include onions, garlic, and 
shalots), anemones, lilies, antholyza, colchicum, cri- 
num, cyclamen, narcissus, iris, gladiolus, ranunculus, 
scilla, and many others, should either have salt or 
sea-sand in tlie mould used for them. I invariably 
use salt as an ingredient in my compost for carna- 
tions; and I believe I might say without boasting, 
that few excel me in blooming that flower." 



We have been asked to record the deaths of garden- 
ers and others who have been distinguished for the 
practice or love of horticulture ; and we shall most 
readily accede to the request, if our subscribers will 
furnish us with a slight biography of the deceased 
parties. We consider such a tribute due to departed 
merit, and we would gladly hold up their examples 
for imitation. 



A MISTAKE having been made by substituting one 
wood-cut for another, at page 21, our next will be a 
Double Number, in which we shall give (of course 
without extra charge) a fresh leaf to substitute for the 
present pages 21 and 22. 



THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 



Economy of Space in small Gardens. — In look- 
ing over small gardens, a variety of plans, or modes 
of setting out affairs, may be perceived, most of them 
based, of course, on the proprietor's ideas of economy 
of space. This, indeed, is the true basis of tlie whole 
affair. In some parts of the country it is customary 
to throw up a sloping bank all round the garden. In 
others this slope is only admitted on the south, or 
perhaps on the east side. 

Slopes. — The practice of forming slopes most likely 
originated with the cultivation of early potatoes, which 
began to extend so rapidly some thirty years since. 
Be that as it may, the slope in cottage-gardens is at 
the present day a somewhat questionable mode of 
j)rocedure in point of economy of upace; more espe- 
cially since tlie ))otato-crop has become so precarious, 
j'or, in the first i)lace, since tlicre must be an exterior 
walk, why not next the hedge? Here there would 
be no waatc of ground ; fur as the liedge must be 



dubbed (trimmed), a little space is absolutely neces- 
sary for this operation. How often have we seen a 
nan'ow slope with a huge and coarse hedge at its 
hack. On this slope there would be three or four 
rows of potatoes or other crops; and one half the 
slope towards the hedge was comparatively worthless. 
Tlie roots of the liedge kept the soil exhausted for a 
yard in width. The dubbing had been performed 
when the crops were in full vigour. A gawky lad, 
perhaps, bad been set to clear away the dubbings ; 
and what between the mauling of the leaves and 
stems of the. crops above, and the opposition of the 
roots of the hedge below, one half the crop next the 
hedge was a failure. Besides, such slopes always 
require extra manure to compensate for the sucking 
of the hedge-roots. 

Planting to save space. — Now there is another 
view to be taken of this aftair in conjunction with the 
above, and tha' 's, that if apple or other fruit-trees 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



65 



form tlie first crop next the hed^e, with only a walk 
of some four or five feet between, the ground which 
serves for the walk serves also for the apple roots, 
which will insinuate themselves beneath the walk in 
all directions : here then there is no ground lost. A 
hedge there must be, and there must be a walk; but 
the walk is as much occupied in maintaining the 
apples as though it were cultivated soil. 

We hold it to be good economy in small gardens to 
plant the gooseberrj-bushes between or beside the 
dwarf apple-trees. We have no space now to show 
why, but we will return to the question shortly, when 
we will dot out an arrangement of the kind. In the 
mean time we would merely suggest that, under a 
well-arranged border of the kind there would be no 
occasion for resorting to that worst of all practices, — 
digging annually between useful fruit-trees, in order 
to obtain a few stunted cabbages. By our plan the 
amount of border and walk appropriated to the apple 
and the best fruit would be entirely occupied by their 
roots, and a little patience and perseverance in the 
system would soon show that it could not be better 
occupied. We have now merely touched on one 
point of economy of space, and as weeks roll away 
we hope to pursue the subject in all its bearings. 

Pruning the Goosebekry. — To commence with 
the cuttings, we would observe that these should be 
as strong as possible, and about twelve or fourteen 
inches long. All the buds should be pruned clean 
away, with the exception of the topmost fimr, pre- 
viously to planting. The cuttings may be put in any 
time from November to the beginning of February, 
choosing a shady border for them. They should be 
in rows a foot apart, the cuttings about six inches 
apart. Nurserymen plant thicker ; the cottager, how- 
ever, will do well to have a little more room, for 
thereby his young plants will be stouter. By the next 
autumn there will be at least two good shoots on each 
cutting; two good ones will be enough, and these 
must be pruned down to about four eyes or buds on 
each shoot. Unless particularly wanted to plant in 
their final stations, they should, by all means, remain 
another season in the cutting-beds, they will then be 
strong bushes, and deserving a permanent place. 
Let their stations, then, be prepared by the middle of 
October, if possible, and let them be pruned shortly 
before they are removed. In this pruning, the first 
point is to select five or six of the best-placed shoots 
as to form, setting them out like a punch-bowl. All 
that interfere with this form may be cut away, and 
the remaining shoots shortened, this season, about 
half their length. In another year, with a little atten- 
tion in the way of watering, if necessary, in May or 
June, and a freedom from the depredations of insects, 
they will be fine bushes, and will have produced a few 
nice fruit. Now then comes the profit. They will 
now be full of fine shoots, some drooping outwards, 
and many crossing each other in all directions. In 
November they may receive their pruning, which will 
consist in removing all the worst cross-shoots, and in 
keeping tlie middle of the bush still somewhat open. 
Dangling shoots may have as much of their top pruned 
away as will prevent their touching the ground, and 
even upright shoots may have as much cut off as 
appears of a weakly character. The pruning of the 
following seasons will be much of the same character, 
still keeping the middle of the bush much more open 
than the outside. As a general rule as to tlie distance 



at which the bearing shoots may be left, we may 
merely observe, that in a well pruned bush no two 
shoots will by any means touch, but stand apart quite 
distinct. Badly pruned bushes are both less produc- 
tive and much more difficult to gather the fruit from 
than those which are done in a workman like manner. 
As the bushes get older, and show signs of wearing 
out, the knife mu«t be used more liberally; indeed 
whole limbs of old wood will require occasionally to 
be removed, in order to throw the powers of the bush 
into a closer compass. 

Strawberries. — If nothing has been done to the 
strawberry plants, let them be gone over, and all un- 
necessary runners removed ; a little old manure may 
be scattered through or around the plants. Do not, 
however, cut away any of the principal leaves of the 
plants which remain ; we have known the crowns 
nearly perish by this foolisli exposure. These must 
remain on rough as they are until the early part of 
February, and then they may all be cut down and 
cleared away. 

Raspberries. — These should be pruned as soon as 
possible. Leave about five canes, strong ones, and 
cut them at different lengths, — say two at four feet, 
two at three feet, and one or two at two feet, — this 
keeps the young spray divided and equalized. 

Figs. — Where the amateur has fig-trees, the late 
fruit should be stripped clear away, and some covering 
applied towards the end of the month. Ordinary 
garden-mats, clean straw, or even old newspapers, 
presenting a continuous facing, will suffice. Perhaps 
the best plan is to stick spruce-fir branches or laurel- 
shoots all ove- them, with the points downwards, Uke 
thatching. 

General Pruning. — It is well to prune all bush- 
fruit in the end of the year, also vines. But tigs, 
apricots, peaches, and nectarines may be reserved for 
spring-pruning. The same may be said of some 
plums and some kinds of pears, which are apt to 
bloom on the young wood, and the blossom-buds on 
which cannot be well distinguished uniil they swell in 
spring. 

Apples and Pears. — The pruning of old apple or 
pear-trees in orchards may be reserved for winter 
work. For this and every other kind of pruning we 
will give particular directions as space occurs. 

Draining. — We must beg most emphatically to 
point to the benefits to be derived from draining on 
stagnant or adhesive soils, especially at this period. 
We need say little about modes of carrying out such 
purposes; depth, however, is a consideration, and 
about this the agricultural world is much divided at 
present. For cottage-gardening we would sa)', take 
care to drain deep enough ; for if a fault at all, it will 
be one on the right side. The beneficial effects of 
draining are nowhere sooner manifest than amongst 
fruit-trees. Whenever moss abounds on their stems, 
stagnation is plainly pointed out, and draining can. 
scarcely be wrong. It is all very well to talk of 
scraping the moss off the bark; the surest way, how- 
ever, to get rid of the mushrooms, according to an old 
adage, is " to remove the midden." In accomplishing 
these matters, it is worth cons deration whether a 
preventive drain can be introduced ; this will fre- 
quently save both labour and material in the end. 
We will recur to this important subject on a future 
occasion. 

R, Errinoton. 



.')6 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



The Shrubbery. — A good collection of hardy 
ornamental evergreen and deciduous shrubs is very 
beautiful if well mau;iged. In general, the appear- 
ance of the shrubbery is far from being so interesting 
as it might. We see the shrubs growing in one 
shapeless mass, all run together, with the stronger 
overbearing and often destroying the weaker. Tliis 
ought not to be. Every shrub ought to stand quite 
clear of its neighbours, and should have sufficient 
room to show its cliaracter. Some have naturally 
round heads, as, for instance, the Poitugal laurel and 
arbutus ; others are spiry, as the Chinese aibor vit^e 
and ihe Swedish juniper; a third kind partake of both 
characters, and form pyramids, as the holly and the 
bay-tree ; whilst a fourth are mere spreadmg bushes, 
as the rliododendron, lanrustinus, aucubn, common 
lilac, svringa, and berberries of various sorts. In 
planting a shrubbery, all these characters ou>;ht to be 
borne in mind, and the space for each shrub allowt-d 
accordingly. For present effect it may be ciesirabh' 
to plant more than can possibly stand on the ground 
when the shrubs are fully grown. Too often this is 
done so as to render it d fficult to thin them out after- 
wards, to the satisfaction of good taste. We woidd, 
therefore, recommend the planting first all those that 
should be left finally to stand, and, in order that there 
may be no mistake about the matter, to have all their 
names written in a book kept for that purpose, with 
numbers corresponding both m the book and on tallies 
driven into the ground. The spaces between those 
ehrubs destined to remain may be tilled up, agreeably 
to the fancy of the proprietor and planter. A few tall 
standard roses, for instance, in the back ground, with 
half standards near the middle, and dwarfs in the 
front. These would be very ornamental till the shrubs 
fully took up their space. A few hollyhocks, dahlias, 
and other late-growing perennials also might be judi- 
ciously planted to fill up for a year or two. 

Roses should never be planted in a shrubbery as 
shrubs intended to remain permanently, the manage- 
ment they require being so different from all other 
shrubs. They will not flower well without pruning 
and manuring every year; — operations which cannot 
be well performed if they are used as permanent plants 
in a shrubbery. Roses, therefore, ought to be grown 
in a border or garden, entirely to themselves ; and 
such is their variety of character, time of flowering, 
and colour, that a rose garden is always interesting 
for at least seven of the best months in the year. 

American Shrubs.* — There is another class of 
shrubs which ought to he grown by themselves — we 
mean those usual y denominated "American." These 
ought to have a garden, or at least a bed or beds, 
devoted entirely to them. They require a peculiar soil, 
which is one grand reason why they should be together. 
Amongst them we usually grow hardy heaths and 
azaleas, for the same reason— they require this pecu- 
liar soil : that soil is sandy peat, without which those 
shrubs do not thrive and flower satisfactorily. The 
common rhododendron is, we believe, an exception to 
this general rule, and might be planted in the general 
shnibbery as a permanent inhabitant ; hut even this 
shrub ought to have a pretty good portion of heath 
mould at the first, to encourage its early growth. 

• jfmfrican plants. — These includp many diJTerent species, but all 
aKreeini: in requiring alit,'lil peaiy ^oil andm'.ch moisture. Am ng 
tliem are various kinds of an Iromeda, azalea, daphne, genista, hy- 
drangea, magnolia, rliue, robinia, rhododendron, spirEea, vaccioium, 
viburnum cistus, and many others. 



The Amateur's Flower-garden: Roses. — In the 
third Number we gave a small list of roses for tho 
amateur and cottager's garden ; we shall this week 
give a few hinis on their cultivation, and shall divide 
the subject into four heads: — l.st. Soil and situation; 
2n(l. Planting; 3rd. Piuning; 4th. Propagation: 

Soil and Situation. — The best soil for the rose is 
a rather strong loam ; the deeper it is the better. It 
should also be dry at the bottom, and if not so 
naturally, should be well drained. Such land as will 
grow good wheat or good hops will, with proper 
management, giow fine roses. The soil, then, should 
be ot a brownish yellow colour, of an open texture, 
and having a dry subsoil. Next, it should be rich to 
grow them fine : if not already so, it ought to have 
thoroughly decayed dung added to it. A portion of 
super-phosphate of lime (bones dissolved in oil of 
vitriol) will be of great benelit to them — a manure 
that may be had of any respectable manure dealer. 
Tlie situation of the rose-siarden ought to open to the 
south and east, but sheltered from the north and 
north west winds. Tall beech or hornbeam hedges 
are the host shelter against gales blowing from those 
points. Roses should not be planted so near trees as 
to be overhung by them, as the di-ip fi om the trees will 
prevent them from tliriving, and injure the flowers. 

Planting. — The best season for planting those 
lovely flowers is the early part of November. They 
will succeed tolerably even to the middle of March, 
but not so Well as in tlie autumn ; for if planted then 
the roots immediately begin to grow, and are during 
all the open weather attaining power to put forth 
shoots more strongly in the spring If you have to 
procure tuem from a distant nursery, and they are 
some time out of the ground, make a puddle of earth 
and water of nearly the consistence of paint. Dip the 
roots in this puddle, and plant them immediately. 
This will be lound very beneficial to them, and will 
cause them to push forth roots much earlier. Should 
the border intended for the rose be long and narrow, 
we need scarcely tell you to plant the t.tllest standards 
in the back row, the next size in the second, and the 
half standards in the third, and the dwarfs in the front 
row, that is supposing you to have so many, and so 
much room as to aDow of this arrangement. 

Pruning. — The great objects of pruning in any kind 
of shrub or tree of the flower-garden, are to produce 
finer bloom in greater quantities, and to improve the 
shape of the object operated upon. These two prin- 
ciples must be kept in view in pruning the rose as 
well as any other flowering shrub or fruit-tree. Dif- 
ferent sorts of roses require to be pruned accordingly, 
and we shall be best understood by taking the differ- 
ent classes into wliich roses have been divided. 

Autumn Prmiing. — -Summer Ro^es. 

Provence, including the Moss Rose. — These require 
to be pruned to three or four eyes, according to the 
strength of the shoots. 

Damask. — Tlicse require to be pruned, according to 
the strength of the growth of the different varieties ; 
Madam Hardy, for instance, is a strong grower, and 
ought to be left with shouts of six eyes. 

White Damask. — This species should be pruned 
similarly to the Damask. 

Gallica, or French. — Some of these are very strong 
growers, and must be cut accordingly. Some shoots 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



67 



in pood soil will grow three or four feet long. Those 
Bhoots are often pithy and green, and ought to be cut 
clean out, and the rest shortened to one foot or eigh- 
teen inches, according to their strength. 

Hybrid, Provencs, — Amongst this class there are 
stjne excellent roses, They grow naturally in com- 
pact heads and many branches, and should be pruned 
by thinning out about one-third of the shoots, and 
shortening the rest to six or eight eyes. 

Hybrid, C/iinese. — This is a large class of excellent 
roses ; and as tliere are some that grow freely and 
strong, there are others that grow very weakly. The 
strong growers, IJrennus, fur instance, must be cut to 
eight or nine eyes, whi st the Beauty of Billiand is a 
weak grr ;er, and should be cut to two or three eyes, 
and half the shoots eiitiri-l\ cut away. 

Scotch. — All that th se require is to have half of the 
shoots tlihined out, and those that are left cut to half 
their length. 

Climbing. — These require a different mode of 
pruning to all other roses. We shall describe it as 
the spur system. Train in young shoots during the 
summer ; in the autumn shorten those shoots one- 
fourth of their length ; that is, supposing the shoot is 
four feet long, cut one foot of it off, and so reduce it 
to three feet, and in the same proportion for longer 
shoots. The shoots will then, during the summer, 
produce side shoots — these are the spurs. In the 
month of March following take the shoots oft' tlie 
trellis walls or pillars, prune the spurs into two or 
three eyes, and then tie or nail them up again neatly 
to the supporters. 

Aiilumn-prumng. — Autumn Hoses, 

Macartney— ~'\'he Macartney rose itself requires very 
little pruning ; but the Maria Leonidas, a very good 
rose, requires pruning freely, shortening the stiong 
shoots to eight or nine eyes, and the weak ones to 
three or four. 

Damask Perpetnah — Are mostly weak growers, and 
should be cut into four or five eyes, and a third of 
the shoots cut clean away. 

Hi/brid PerpetiiaLs — Require the same mode of prun- 
ing as the damask pei-petuals. 

Bourbons and JVuiselles — These are middling grow- 
ers, and should be pruned moderately; strong shoots 
to be cut to five or six eyes, and the weak ones to 
three or four. 

China and Tca-scenfed — Most of these are rather 
tender, consequently the wood does not ripen to any 
length. They should therefore be pruned close. If 
they are planted against a wall they may be pruned 
longer, as the wood then becomes firmer and better 
ripened. Prune those in the open air, both standards 
and dwarfs, to two or three eyes, those on walls to six 
or seven, in proportion to their strength. 

We shall continue this subject in a future Number. 

Cottager's Flower-garden : Creeplrs for an 
arched walk. — We directed your attention in last 
Week's Number to the formation of an arched walk. 
On each side of this walk ought to be a border of 
flowers, whirh wou!d add greatly to the effect of the 
creepers growing over the arches. Those creepers 
require a rich soil to grow in. If the soil is poor, 
remove about a square of eighteen inches, and one 
f(Mt deep, close to each pillar, and fill up the hole 
with a compost of good loam two parts, and rotten 
dung, or leaf-mould, one part, with some sand mixed 
amongst it : it will then be ready to plant any creepers 
yciii can procure, and they will thrive and flower 
luxuriantly. We subjoin a list, and advise you to 
procure as many of them as you can : 



Clematis fammnla (Sweet-scented Clematis, Tra- 
veller's joy, or Virgin's bower. ) 

,, monlana (Mountain Virgin's bower). 

,, viticella rubia (Red Vine-bower Clematis}. 
Jasminum officinalis (Common white Jasmii;e). 
Lonicera ilulicu alb" (Early white Honeysuckle). 

,, Jielyicnm (Dutch Honeysuckle). 

,, serolinum (Late-flowering Honeysuckle). 

,, sevipervirens (Evergreen trumpet-Honey- 
suckle). 

Wistaria sinensis (Chinese Wistaria). 
Climbing Hoses, several kinds. 

If you cannot obtain the whide of the above creepers 
at once, you can fill up any vacancies with sunuuer 
annual creepers, such as Conmlndus major (great 
Bindweed), Nustnrlinm majiis (larger Nasturtium, or 
Indian cress), Cobea scundens (climbing C'obea), sweet- 
peas, and scarlet-runners. 'I'hese creepers will look 
pretty during the time they are in flower, and the last 
will produce something for the table. Even if all the 
arches were covered with scarlet-runners, they would 
be highly ornamental as well as useful. Not that we 
recommend the mixing of vegetables and flowers, 
they are much better separate. 

Pit. — Look after the plants in the pit, and clear 
them of all decayed '.eaves, dead branches, and weeds. 
K-^ep them moderately dry, and give abundance of 
air ui all fine mild weather. 

Hardy Uulrs, etc. — Sliould you possess no cro- 
cuses, snowdrops, double narcissus, piimroses, and 
polyanthuses, all of whicli will thrive without any 
protection, and may be had for a trifle, now is a good 
time to procure the bulbs and plant them. The bulbs 
slundd be in patches of four or five bulbs in each. 
Primroses and polyanthuses ouglit to be in quantities 
in a cottager's garden. Even the common primrose 
and cowslip ai-e worth growing; they, in tlie early 
spring, impart a cheerfulness to the hmnblest cot. 



FLORISTS' FLOAVERS. 

AVe promised in the fourth Nuiuher a list 
but a press of other matter prevented us. 
give the promised list, divided into their 
colours and heights. 

Class I. Cherrv and Rose.— This class 
described as having white grounds with 
shades or stripes of cherry or rose-colour, 
should contain seven rows ; the centre one 
call No. 4 ; the next rows on each side of 
the next on each side No. 2 ; and the other 
outside. No. 1. 



of tulips, 
We now 
different 

may he 
different 
The bed 
we shall 

it No. 3; 

two rows 



No. No. No. 

1. Dulcinea. 2. Andromache. '6, .\spasia. 

1. Fleur dcs dames. 2. Catherine. 3. Sansparelle. 
1. Grande Cerise. 2. Jemima. 3. Princess 

Victoria. 
1. Monte. 2. Lord Hill. 3. Reine des 

Cerises. 
4. Pretiosa superior. 4. Reine des fleurs. 
4. Cordtlia (Slater's). 4. Walworth. 

Class. II. Byblomens.* — This class have while 
grounds with different shades of purple. 

1. Bienfait incomparable. 2. Magnificent. 

1. Gloria Alborum. 2. Queen of Spain. 

1. Laura. 2. Supreme en Noir. 

1. Ne plus ultra. 2. Trauslucens en Noir. 

1 * -Byfi/omffn— A white tulip marked with black, purpW orlUHi'. 



.1. Black Baguet. 

3. Desdemona. 

3. Washington. 

3. Cleopatra. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



4. Alexander Magnus. 
4. Prince Regent. 
4. Captain Lampson. 
4. Holmes's king. 



Class III. Bizards.* — This 
colours on yellow grounds. 



cla 



have 



1 . Emperor of Russia. 
1. Pont d'Arcole. 
1. Superbissima. 
1. Vulcan. 



2. Brittaniciis. 

2. Darius. 

2. Franklin's Washington. 

2. Grand Berger. 



3. Abercrombie. 

3. Cato. 

3. Lustre. 

3. Surpass Catafalque. 



4. Emperor of Austria. 
4. Nimrod. 

4. Wilmer's Duke of York. 
4. Platoff. 



The above will form a small collection of forty- 
eight kinds, all good, of moderate price, averaging 
about half-a-crown each. Of course, if more expen- 
sive sorts are wished for, they can be had as high as 
ten guineas a root ; but for a new beginner we would 
not advise such expensive ones. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 



Artichokes (Jerusalem) should now either be 
taken up and stored in the same way as potatoes, by 
trenching them out, leaving the ground in ridges, and 
planting the same ground again, by placing good, 
middling-sized tubers, two feet apart, between every 
alternate ridge of two feet in width. The rows will 
tluis be at four feet distance from each other. Or the 
tubers may be allowed to remain in the ground, the 
stalks being cut off to within six or eight inches of the 
earth's surface, and a coat of mulch, leaves, or refuse 
of any kind put over them. This is not to protect the 
artichoke tubers from frost, for no frost will injure 
them, but to protect the earth's surface, so that the 
artichokes may be taken up at any time, even when 
severe frost prevails. Pigs and cows are very fond of 
the artichoke tubers, and so are pheasants and 
poultry. As a substitute for the potato, they are also 
to some extent useful. 

Cauliflowers and Cape Bbocoli continue to store 
away, as previously directed, all now coming in that 
are not actually required for daily consumption ; and 
the young plants tor spring continue to prick out 
in temporary frames, or sheltered banks or borders. 
Observe that the sIuks do not take advantage of any 
lack of timely attention. A little new bran or fresh 
malt grains placed in small quantities about where 
slugs abound are the best materials we could ever dis- 
cover for enticing them together. By strict attention 
for a time in moist weather to this mode of trapping, 
the stock of slugs may be so reduced that by well 
following up surface-stirring and hoeing they may be 
entirely kept down from committing any serious de- 
predations. 

Cucumbers. — Those who have good varieties in 
houses or frames should secure young plants by 
striking cuttings, which is easily accomplished by 
taking off the short-jointed shoots with a heel to them.f 
Indeed, any shoots will root easily and quickly enough 
by placing them in small pots in a compost of open, 
heathy, sandy soil, having mixed with it one-third of 
charcoal in small lumps, if they are placed on a bi isk, 
kindly bottom-heat, and are covered for a few days 
with a bell or hand-glass. Succession of seed should 
be sown by those who have the convenience, and wish 
to produce early cucumbers. The system of heating 
by hot water in a tank on a good principle is the most 
easy and economical mode of producing abundance of 
good cucumbers in winter and spring months. If 
cucumbers, however, are grown on a common bed 
with frame, this system is also much simplified and 
economized by making a slight hot bed, composed of 
well-wrought materials placed on bushes, fagots, 

• Bixard — A yellow tulip, with marka of any other colour. 

t Heel — part of the bark of the main stem attached to the cutting. 



pruiiings, or rough wood, and keeping up the heat by 
linings with the same kind of sweet well-wrought 
stable-dung; t''pping up the linings at all times as 
soon as tliey are sunk a little, taking care to protect 
the outside and top with furze or other fagots, fern, 
mulchy hay, or thatched hurdles. By paying this 
strict attention to topping up and protection, a steady, 
kindly, humid heat is maintained, banishing all fear 
of canker, or mildew, or any other disease infecting 
the plants, for the heat maintained at the top acts in 
a similar way to the sun shining. It is the air in the 
frame that requires to be maintained in a warm, 
kindly condition. If this is so maintained, the bottom- 
heat is sure to be all that is required. The old system 
of applying excessive bottom-heat with pigeon-hole 
pits, extensive and high hot-beds, laying pipes through 
and about them, boring holes to admit a foul, excessive 
bottom-heat, we hope, is generally long laid by in the 
corner of ancient curiosities. 

Horseradish should now be trenched out, and re- 
planted again at two feet distance from row to row. 
In planting, trench the ground two feet deep, and 
place the crowns, which make the best sets, at the 
bottom, one foot apart, leaving the soil in ridges, to 
be forked over and pulverized by the action of the 
winter's frost, and laid down in a kindly, open state in 
the spring. 

Mint Beds should now be thoroughly cleansed, 
and a surface-dressing of decomposed manure-vege- 
table soil or rotten leaves applied, which answer as a 
protection against severe frost, and a stimulant to in- 
duce early spring growth in the plants. 

Asparagus Beds, dress. The best mode of doing 
this is to cut down the stems close to the surface ; to 
hoe off about an inch in depth of the earth into the 
alleys ; to put on a coating of pig-dung or night soil 
about two inches thick, and then to return over this 
manure the inch of earth previously taken ofli". This 
will make all neat, and the dressing will be completed 
by sprinkling over the surface of the returned earth 
enough conunon salt to make it perceptibly white. 

Potato-planting. — In answer to various queries 
we think it best to answer here, prominently, that we 
do not recommend autumn-planting for the very ear- 
liest variety — the walnut-leaved kidney. If planted 
now, it comes up so early as to be invariably cut off 
by the spring frosts. But for the next in succession, 
the ash-leaved kidney, we ourselves adopt autumn- 
planting; although, by so doing, we do not get so 
early a crop as the Lancashire growers, whose practice 
is detailed at page 38, as well as in the present Num- 
ber : but then we are quite sure we preserve our crops 
in better vigour. In order to obtain carliness, as well 
as to sustain the health of the ash-leaved kidney, the 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



59 



potatoes might be put in casks or boxes in alternate 
layers with earih, and kept in a dry cool room, as is 
done by the Lancashire cottagers. Without injuring 
the sprouts they would make, the sets may then be 
planted out at the end of March. In answer to two 
correspondents ("W. S.O." and " Potato, Kenning- 
ton,") we recommend the ash-leaved kidneys to be 
planted in rows two feet apart, and one foot between 
the sets. For Julys or other larger varieties, two feet 



and a half between the rows, and one foot and a half 
between the sets, is not too much. We prefer Julys 
to any other variety, because it is ready for taking up, 
and the stems all dead, by the end of the month the 
name of which it bears. It keeps well, though it 
ripens thus early. It is commonly grown in Hamp ■ 
shire, and could be purcliased, we suppose, of any 
large Loudon seedsman. 

J.B.& G.W.J. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



POTATO-GROWING IN LANCASHIRE. 

The following is the Lancashire cottager's plan of 
obtaining their winter potatoes on the moss lands, of 
which there are many thousand acres in the neigli- 
bourhood of Garstang. The farmer's great object in 
letting those lands to the cottagers, is to get the soil 
cleared and manured for a crop of corn the following 
year. The farmer charges them at the rate of 6d. per 
rod for the land they plant, which is at the rate of £4 
per acre, although the farmer only pays for it at the 
rate of 20s. to 30s. per acre. The farmer prepares the 
land into drills, carts their manure on to the drills, 
and the cottagers spread it, and plant their potatoes. 
The farmer ridges them up with the plough, there 
being about twenty-eight inches from centre to centre 
of the ridges. By this means the potatoes have the 
full benefit of the sun and wind, which is of the first 
importance for the cultivation of this root and the pre- 
vention of disease. The ground should be thoroughly 
drained. The cottagers are bound to keep the potatoes 
ftee from weeds, and they are earthed up by the far- 
mer, as soon as required, once or twice ; as it is found 
that the more the ground is stirred whilst the crop is 
growing, the greater will be the produce. By this 
means the cottagers obtain an abundant crop by early 
spring planting, and at a light expense by planting 
what is called the small chat potatoes, which, being 
each less than an ounce in weight, will, if phinted 
whole, suffice for about twice as much ground as large 
potatoes cut, though of the same weight : 30lbs. of 
those small ones in the present season have produced 
€00lbs. of the first-rate quality, large and free from 
the disease, and the larger weight in proportion. The 
(Cottager's manure is principally horse-droppings, 
gathered from the roads during the year, with the 
ashes and wash from the cottage. These potatoes are 
the principal food of many families five or six in 
number ; and as they are able to get from their crops 
as many as pay all the exjjenses of planting, they, in 
fact, get potatoes enough for their own consumption 
free. 

Would it not be well if this plan was adopted in 
Ireland, as there is no doubt an abundance of moss 
land (peat) in that country as well as in England, and 
by planting early, so that if by July the disease ap- 
.peared, the potatoes might be taken up as directed at 
page 37. Potatoes vegetate the first of air things, 
which is a sure sign that they, need not be kept planted 
in the ground; and as to being cut by the spring 
frosts, that is not of so much importance, as I have 
had them cut by it three times, and yet they have 
rallied and produced a fine crop ; but this has never 
been the ease with those late planted when cut with 
either a summer morning or autumn frost, which they 
are never able to get over, and which causes their 
tubers to be small and the crop to fail. The sun has 



a far greater power upon the potatoes, and even upon 
corn, on the moss land than on the hard. From many 
years' observation, I can see no advantage to be de- 
rived from autumn-planting, but, im the contrary, as 
the earth becomes set about the tubers, and excludes 
the sun and air from them, which appears to nie the 
reason why potatoes sufi'er more from the disease 
planted in hard and stiff land than those planted in 
the light, open, porous moss land, where the sun and 
air have their full influence, free, also, from an}' stag- 
nant water remaining upon them, which is not the 
case with those planted in hard, stifl' land. Although 
1 here differ with Mr. Barnes, page 6, it is with no ill- 
feeling, as my object is to give an opinion, and not 
any offence, for we live to inform each other, or we live 
in vain, and as this is a subject which has, of late, ex- 
cited much attention, I am therefore inclined to think 
it may he of some interest to the readers of "The 
Cottage Gardener." I have put the questiim to an 
extensive moss-land potato grower, and his answer is, 
that "notwithstanding all that has been said respect- 
ing the failures of the last three years, it is, in my 
opinion, owing to the treatment and slotlifulness of 
the growers. As I have made at the rate of £170 
per acre from spring-planting, unless you can give me 
a better proof than you have done in page 6, 1 cannot 
give up spring-planting." M. Saul, Garstang. 

[We need not say that we do not agree with our 
friends in their objections to autumn-planting, but are 
most willing to hear both sides of the question. — Ed.] 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 4.) 

Ladies are often disheartened in the management 
of their gardens by attempting too much. When 
unable to purchase new and expensive plants, or rear 
the tenderer ones, they are disposed to give every- 
thing up, and neglect an interesting occupation, be- 
cause they fancy nothing can be done without money 
and a good gardener. Now this is a great mistake. 
A lady may ett'ect much without any assistance if she 
will but believe that " common " flowers and plants, 
as they are called, are well worth looking at when 
tastefully arranged and carefully attended to. A 
" good gardener " certainly insures you a greater 
variety of flowers, and they are, of course, finer than 
those nursed by an inexperienced hand; but you liave 
not the same pleasure in your little kingdom when 
thei-e is some one who knows and does everything 
there better than yourself. A lady with a good gar- 
dener begins cheerily at first, but in a year or two 
it is all over. She walks round the glowing borders, 
hut hir interest is gone. To enjoy your garden tho- 



60 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



roughly you must say with Queen Elizabeth, " I will 
have but one mistress here, and no master." Most 
ladies, however small their means, may occasionally 
employ a labourer to do some of the rougher work, 
sucli as digging or rooting-up a tree; and if they can 
but be satisfied with a less choice variety than their 
richer friends, I am sure the efTect produced may be 
quite as good. I have often turned away from beds 
full of flowers, with names unheard of before, and 
have said, " After all, give nie the cottage flowers, — 
the rose, the honeysuckle, the sweet-pea, and migno- 
nette, — they are sweeter and prettier than anything I 
see here ;" and others have said so too. These truly 
English home-breathing flowers, connected too with 
our earliest years and swestest recollections, should 
never be undervalued, their fragrance is unequalled, 
and their beauty can never be surpassed. 

I do not think the ivy is sufficiently considered as 
an ornament to the garden. Its rapid growth makes 
it invaluable where large buildings, or walls unfit for 
fruit trees, require to be covered ; but it is equally 
useful as an embellishment among shrubs, particularly 
those which shed their leaves in winter. The dead 
stem of a tree, with its boughs left on a foot or two in 
length, clothed with ivy, is a beautiful object, standing 
in quiet stateliness among the lighter beauties of the 
shrubbery, with its dark rich mass of foliage growing 
richer and handsomer, as its neighbours sicken and 
die. When I first saw an ivy-tree I was struck with 
its beauty and solemnity of look : it gave an appear- 
ance of age to the garden, which is also an advantage. 
Any stump or rough pieces of wood nailed strongly 
together will do to support this beautiful climber, 
which wraps tself thickly round its prop, and then 
hangs in waving masses, covered with its starry 
flowers, on every side. A lady may easilv encourage 
the Irisl; ivy, which is the richest and quickest-growing 
kind. Cuttings put in now or in the spring will take, 
and shoot up rapidly ; and I have known them, when 
ignorantly planted with their head downwards, spring 
up as merrily as if all was well. If you can find a 
rooted |)lant some feet in height, so much the better ; 
tie or nail it closely to its support till it has fixed itself, 
and the desired efi'ect is sooner, of course, obtained. 
Never let ivy climb round a thriving tree, it clasps so 
tightly, that the wood cannot expand, and disease and 
death will ensue. It thrives equally well on living 
and dead wood, needs no attention except to fix it up 
when luosencd by the wind or other violence, and is 
the most beaiuiful, gracefid, and effectual screen that 
a garden can possess. 

Rustic baskets, supported on wooden feet, look 
beautiful when covered with Irish ivy. During the 
winter they are ornamental in themselves; and when 
filled with geraniums and other flowers, with the 
tendrils running over and concealing the pots, the 
effect is perfect. These frames may very easily be 
made, as they are not intended to hold soil. A few 
crossed sticks nailed to a piece of board, the shape 
and size you wisli, is quite sufficient; the ivy will soon 
hide it all, and form a green and beautiful basket. 
Whenever you wish a shrub removed, see if you can- 
not make it useful in this way : head down three or 
four of the stems to a proper height, and fix a basket 
upon them ; cut away all the rest, and as the leaves 
spring from the standing stems, keep cutting them off, 
they will soon cease to trouble you. In the earlier 
stages of ivy-plants, a crimson or white rose blooming 
amongst its dark leaves has a lovely effect ; but when 
it be -omes thick and bushy, the rose-tiee had better 
be placed elsewhere. Ivy forms a beautiful kind of 
carpet under trees, where grass does not grow; it 



runs and spreads, and seems, like a joyous spirit, to 
revel in its own light-heartedness. 

By simple means, such as these, the eye and hand 
of taste may perform wonders, without e.-cpense, a«d 
with little time and trouble. The ivy flourishes every- 
where, — evergreens do well in almost all situations, — 
violets and the star-like periwinkle decorate an awk- 
ward-looking bank ; an unsightly hedge may be 
enlivened with scarlet-runners, nasturtiums, and con- 
volvulus, so that few gardens may not be made to 
smile, even under great disadvantages. Ivy will help 
you here ; let it creep about, and cluster where it 
likes : it beautifies everything it clings to. 

A neatly mown lawn, with an ivy basket or two, a 
trellised porch or verandah waving with roses, honey- 
suckle, and jasmine, a wall clothed with creeping 
plants, or a vine, or any favourite ivy, with an in- 
valuable Virginia creeper for " winter wear," a few 
beds of well-chosen annuals and perennials, neatly 
kept and cared for, a few judiciously-placed flowering 
.shrubs and evergreens, are quite enough to make the 
country parsonage and cottage residence gay and 
delighttul both to the eye and heart. Surely all 
ladies may accomplish this ! How much of the en- 
joyment of a happy domestic country house springs 
from its garden ! What a tale it may tell, in its silent 
sweetness, of all that is passing within! It "discouiscs 
eloquent music." Tliere are the husband's apple 
and pear-trees, twined by the wife's sweet clematis ; 
his cabbage-beds fringed with her pinks and pansies ; 
the tool-house wreathed with roses; his rougher labours 
adorned by her gayer fancy, — all speaking loudly of 
the happy union of their hearts and tastes. 

This is one of England's blessed peculiarities — one 
of the secrets of her peace and power. Let us foster 
as much as possible the love of gardening, for it 
involves that holy feeling, the love of home. 



CARROTS IN OLD GARDEN-GROUND. 

The culture of carrots is an object of some con- 
siderable interest to cottagers, in many of whose 
gardens they do not often succeed. The following 
simple plan has been for years practised in the 
garden of the Eail of Morton, at Dalmahoy, which 
for many years prior to its adoption had ceased to 
produce carrots. The seeds are sown in the usual 
manner, and at the usual time ; and, immediately 
after, a quantity of Scotch kale (German greens) or 
Savoys are planted promiscuously over the bed, about 
five or si.x feet apart. Those are allowed to grow 
through the summer, and carrots of a large size, and 
free from disease, is the result. Such is the fact — 
what is the cause t In Scotland cottagers often sow 
carrots amongst their onions and leeks ! those in 
general succeed, while carrots sown by themselves in 
an adjoining bed totally fail. 

These homely fdcts may be of use to some of the 
readers of the "Cottage Gaiidfinkr," with the style 
and objects of which I am much pleased, and wish it 
every success. C. Mc Intosh, Z)ott-ei<A. 



HOUSE SEWAGE. 

I AM a working man, with a plot of garden just out 
of town; and until I read your information on ma- 
nures, I always had an objection to the use of black 
ditch-water if I could have got clean at hand; but, as 
the old saying is, Live and learn. I have noticed 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



CI 



the information given ty C. W. Johnson, Esq., near 
Croydon, on the filtering of Sewage. I have thought 
(and perhaps may be wrong) that the sediment of the 
sewage would soon stop up the filterer and prevent it 
from acting; but Mr. Johnson sajs that the object 
might be accomplished by one tank only, if furnished 
with a division. Then suppose we say a tank, five 
feet each way, and deep, with a four-inch division in 
it, and the communication to be at the bottom of the 
division-wall, and big enough to get a hoe through, — 
or say six or eight inches from the bottom of the part 
the sewage is to drain into, and then the bottom of 
the other part to incline about six inches on the three 
sides towards the communication-hole, and the filterer 
constructed as Mr. Johnson says, and resting on the 
top of the inclosed sides ; the filtration would then be 
upwards, the sediment would sink to the bottom of 
the receiving-side, and the filterer would be less 
liable to choke. See the rough sketch below, on a 
scale of half an inch to a foot. 





R. tlie rooclver. F. the filterer. D. to dip or pump from. 

Cemented brick-work would be more durable, there 
is no doubt ; but two large butts would answer the 
purpose — the R. one sunk to six or eight inches lower 
in the ground than the D. one, with a communication- 
pipe at the bottom, with grating over the hole to 
prevent it from being choked. W. W. 



THE BEAN AND ITS VARIETIES. 

The bean is one of the earliest vegetables known 
to have been a common food of man ; and when we 
chance to partake of the true Mazagan we shall be 
correct if we call to remembrance that we are probably 
eating of the very kind of bean that Shobi brought to 
David in the wilderness, and with which God com- 
manded Ezekiel to make coarse his bread. (2 Sam. 
xvii. 28 ; Ezek. iv. 9.) This conclusion is probable, 
because the Mazagan kind of bean is the only one 
prevailing in Palestine and the regions surrounding 
It. It is curious, also, that the Hebrew name for the 
bean, puk, is in common use with ourselves, though 
we include under our word, puke, all kinds of peas 
and lentils, as well as beans. 

Beans are mentioned by the oldest Roman writers 
upon the cultivation of the soil ; and when the Romans 
conquered England and settled here, there is no doubt 
that they introduced them, as they are also known 



to have done the vine and other tenants of our gardens. 
It is quite certain that they became a common food 
of the Anglo-Saxons when they expelled from our 
shores the Romans and settled here in their places. 
Certain lands are mentioned in an old Saxon charter 
as bestowed upon a monastery to supply it with beans, 
salt, and honey ; and in another Saxon manuscript 
equally ancient there is the following conversation 
with a child: "What do you eat to-day? — As yet I 
feed on flesh-meat, because I am a child living under 
the rod. What more do you eat ? — Herbs, eggs, fish, 
cheese, butter, and beans, and all clean things I eat 
with many thanks." — Turner's Anglo-Saxons, iii. 31. 

Although cultivated in the earliest ages of which we 
have any history, many hundreds of years passed with- 
out any improvement of the kinds. Even as late as 
the days of Parkinson and Ray, about two centuries 
since, although the bean was " much grown," yet only 
two kinds were known, one with white, and the other 
with red blossom. No further back than 1727, Switzer, 
in his " Practical Kitchen Gardener," only names four 
varieties, — the Hotspur, Gosport or Spanish, Sand- 
wich, and Windsor. The history of nearly all the 
kinds is almost forgotten ; but what little we have been 
able to collect is included in the following catalogue : 

Small eakly Varieties for sowing from October 
to January, the beans to be gathered from the middle 
of May to the middle of June following. 

1. True Mazagan. — The seed of this is only to be 
obtained direct from the southern coast of Spain, or 
from the northern coast of Africa. If the seeds be 
saved even only for one season in this country, it 
acquires all the characteristics of the variety next 
mentioned. The true Mazagan derives its name 
from a Portuguese settlement similarly titled, on 
the north shore of Africa. Its stalks are not more 
than eighteen inches or two feet high. They are 
slender, and in favourable seasons are loaded with 
pods throughout; the pods have three or four beans 
in each, and these are roundish, white, and not so 
large as horse-beans. Sown the second week in Oc- 
tober beneath a south wall or paling, they will usually 
afford a gathering in the second week of May. 

2. Early Mazagan (Early Portugal, Small Spanish). 
— This is a variety always the result of saving seeds 
from the True Mazagan, either in England or Por- 
tugal. Stem slender, three feet and a half high, pods 
narrow, five inches long, averaging four beans in each ; 
flowers white, with dark brown spots ; ripe seeds, 
very pale, and rather larger and flatter than those of 
the horse-bean. Sown in the second week of October, 
first gathering the end of May. 

3. Dwarf fan, or C^usicr (Marshall's Early Dwarf 
Prolific). — Stems ten or twelve inches high, spreading 
like a fan from the root. Great bearer; pods grow in 
clusters, and containing three or four small round 
beans, but rather flatter than those of the Mazagan. 
It is a very early, good flavoured kind, and particu- 
larly deserving of cultivation in small gardens, from 
growing so dwarf, and, consequently, not overshadow- 
ing other crops. Sown the second week in October ; 
we have gathered them in the third week of May. 

4. Long-podded (Early Lisbon, Early Long-pod, 
Large Long-pod, Hang-down Long-pod, Lisbon, Tall 
Long-pod, Sandwich, Early Mumford). Stems about 
four feet high, great bearer, pods six inches or more 
long, rather hanging down ; seed four or five in apod, 
pale, and about an inch long, flat, and round at the 
ends. Sown the second week in October, first gathered 
from the 5th of June. 

Large Late Varieties for sowing from January 
to the end of July, and which will usually be first 



tJ2 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



gathered from in twelve weeks from the time of 

sowing : 

1. Windsor (White Windsor, Broad Winds()r, 
Turkey, Taylor's Windsor, Broad Spanish, Mumford, 
Johnson's Wonderful). — Stems four feet high, pods 
usually short and thick, with not more than two seeds, 
but we have seen them with six. Seeds when ripe, 
pale, circular, and about an inch across. 

2. Green Windsor. — This resembles the Windsor 
in most respects, except the colour of its seeds. These 
are green when boiled, and green when ripe. It is 
rather sweeter than the Windsor, and this, together 
with its colour, renders it longer fit for table use. 

3. Red Windsor (Dark Red, Scarlet Windsor), — 
Differing from the two preceding only in the colour of 
the seeds, which are scarlet when full-grown, and 
dark red when ripe. 

4. Dutch Long^pod. — -Stems between four and five 
feet high. Pods nearly as broad as those of the Windsor, 
and longer, averaging Hve seeds in each. The seeds 
are as large as those of the Windsor, but more kidney- 
shaped, like those of the Long-pod. It is a good 
bearer, excellent in quality, and ought to be more 
cultivated. 

5. Greeji Long-pod (Green Genoa, Green Venetian, 
Green Nonpareil). — This excellent and prolific bean 



differs chiefly from the preceding in the colour of its 
seeds, wliich are green even when ripe. 

6. White-hlossomed Long-pod (White-blossomed). — 
This differs from all other beans in having blossoms 
entirely white, and are blotched with dark-brown or 
black, as is the case with all the other kinds. Stem three 
and a half feet high. Pods long, cylindrical, and averag- 
ing four seeds each. Seeds when ripe, thick, and three- 
quarters of an inch long, and half an inch broad ; but 
their great peculiarity is their being nearly black. 

7. Toker (Large Toker). — Probably so named after 
its first raiser. Stems five feet high. Pods long and 
broad ; seeds three or four, and as large as Windsor, 
but oval. It is a good bearer, but strong-flavoured. 

8. Redr-blossomed (Scarlet-blossomed), — Stems four 
feet high. Blossom varying from pink, through vari- 
ous shades of red, to a blackish brown. Pods four 
inches long; seeds four or five in each, of a rather 
more oval shape than those of the Long-pod; rusty 
brown when ripe. Good bearer, and handsome when 
blooming. 

9. Violette (Red-seeded). — Stems about four and a 
half feet high. Pods long and broad; seeds three or 
four in each, and rather longer than those of the 
Long-pod ; are pale purple when young, and a dark 
red when ripe. Flavour very strong. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



New Plants, etc. (/. N. B., Tfnhtead.) — If you apply to any of 
tlie first-rate florists or seedsmen in London, Exeter, or elsewhere, 
according to the nature of the article you require, and stating in 
what publication it is mentioned, they will obtain it for you. We 
cannot name any one in particular. 

Error (K. 7)., C/ica/er.)— The mistake. "61" instead of "31," 
was corrected in our third Number. Thanics for the oflfer, which we 
accept gladly. 

Gardener's Calendar op Work {Gardener Jacob.)— %\ic\i a 
calendar mij^ht he easily prepared, but would he too voluminous for 
our pages. We will think over the matter. 

American Blight {F. of 1'.)— A recipe for the destruction of 
this insect is given in a former Number (p. 42). 

Dwarf Kidney-beans (A. J. Street.) — These maybe pulled up 
by the roots Sii soon as the pods turn yellow, and hung up to dry 
where frost cann^it eet at them. 

Onion and Carrot-seeo (76'd.)— These may be threshed out 
when quite dry. They should be beaten out with sticks, and not 
with a flail. 

Monthly Parts (Ihid.) — The Calendars in these are forthe month 
previous, hut contain intelligence useful at all times for reference. 

Carrots and Parsnips Forking (E. H. Johnson.) — The reason 
of this in your case is obvious. The plants emit forked roots to keep 
near the guano scuflled in with the seed. Fur all such tap-rooted 
vegetai>les the ground should be trenched, and a little manure 
turned in with the bottom spit only. The root strikes down straight 
to this. 

Grass-plot (£. L. L.) — In the spring, at the end of March, as 
your lawn is too large for turfing, dig your ground even, rake it per- 
fectly level, and then sow it with the fallowing grass-seeds, passing 
a light roller over afrerwards. The quantities are enough for an 
acre, but yon can diminish them in proporti.-n, if your plot is less. 
Cre-ted dog's-tail. Hlbs. ; hard fescue, 20 lbs. ; fine-leaved fescue, 

2 Ihs. ; wood-meadow grass, 2 lbs. ; common-meadow grass (poa 
trivialis), 4 lbs.; creeping white clover, 8 lbs. ; smaller yellow trefoil, 

3 lbs 

Geskera zebrina and Achimenes picta. [Fran(;ais). — You 
keep them ton cold, probably. They produce under-ground tubers, 
from which they are readily propagated ; but they may be increased 
from their leaves. In the latter mode, cut off a leaf close to the 
stem, plant it in a pot filled with a mixture of three p^irts sand and 
one part peat, cover it with a glass, and plunge the pot in a hot-bfd. 
Wipe tlie glass dry tvery morning until tlie leaf is rooted, then give 
it air freely. The time for this is r-ary spring. This winter gradually 
cease from giving them water when done blooming, but admit air to 
them freely. When the stems are brown and dry, cut them oflf 
within an inch of the soil, and put the pots into some cupboard 
where neither damp nor frost can get at them. In this w-iy keep 
lliem through the winter. The hor^e-shoe geranium with pale 
flowers is not uncommon. 

Privet. (Rev. J. L. Cooper.) — Cuttings will succeed if planted 
forthwith. Use cuttings of the young shoots eiaht ur ten inches 
long; strip off the leaves from their lower half, and plant them that 
depth in a shady border. They will be rooted and ready for planting 



out next autumn. What evergreens do you mean? The laurel is 
best propagated by layering'. Peg the branches down at once. 

Potato Shoots. (W. W.)— The ground must be opened and the 
shoots removed for planting, with their roots attached to them. 

Dissolved Bones. (H'. JF.)— On a small scale, 6 lbs bone-dust, 
3 lbs. oil of vitriol, I^Ih. water. Sprinkle the water on the bonea 
first, and then add the vitriol. Be careful, for it is very corrosive. 
Use a cask large enough to hold twice the quantity. As much ashes 
or water may be mixed with the dissolved bones as wiU enable you 
to sprinkle it over the plot of ground regularly. The above quantity 
of bones and vitriol would be enough for 100 square yards. 

Bees. {Reih C. A. A. Z/o//d.)— Thanks for your very obliging 
permission, of which we will take advantage. 

Autumn-planting Potatoes. (W^. S. 0. and Potato) — See "The 
Kitchen Garden" of to-day. 

"Worms. (Veritas.) — Worms are not generally injurious, but, on 
the contrary, beneficial by perforating the soil, and thus establishing 
a natural drainage. They certainly will not injure your bulbs. We 
will give some directions about hyacinths. 

Bone-manure (B. W7ji7//tf.)—Ctimmfjn coal-ashes are those em- 
ployed. We do not think that bones alone, applied annually, would 
be a sufficient manure. Plants would require more carbonaceous 
matters such as is supplied by decayed vegetables. There cannot be 
a better manure than your sawdust soaked with the house slops. 

Window- plants (T.J.) — If turned half round daily, they will 
not he drawn to one side. We cannot state prices, nor fairly men- 
tion florists. 

Filberts. {A Honsehnlder). — We keep our filberts in an open 
pan in a damp cellar, without taking off the husks ; tht-y continue 
good for more than twelve months. 

House Sewage. {.4 Suhscrtber). — The tanks in Mr. Johnson's 
garden cost a very few shillings. They supply sufficient liquid ma- 
nure for three-quarters of an acre of garden-ground. All the con- 
tents of the water-closets pass into tank No. I . 

Leaves. (Homo.) — To reduce these tothe easilj'-c rumbled mould 
required by florists requires that they be kept moist in a heap, and 
frequently turned during two years. They may be reduced to that 
crumbly state more rapidly by mixing a little quick-lime wiih the 
leaves; hut then all flowers do not require so much limy matter iu 
their soil. 

Charred Turf. (R. M.) — We do not see any reason against 
your commencing operations at this season of the year, but we will 
give you fuller information in our nevt 

X. Y. Z. — Thanks for your sui.jg'jstions. As to the poetry, we 
agree with you; as to the other points, we have contrarj- opinions 
Be assured we shall keep util ty co>istantlv in view as our chief 
object. Saving of seeds shall not be lost sight of. 

Chrysanthemums. (/ Salmon.)— A. list of these will appear 
shortly. 

Raspberries. {A Subscriber.) — Mr. Barnes allows the autumn- 
bearing raspberry-canes of tliis year's growth to remain until the 
spring, whether they are replanted or not. At that season the whole 
are cut close to the ground, where a number of plump buds may be 
seen, ready for producing the season's fruiiing-wood. 



London ; — Printed by William Tylf.r and 'harlf.s Ref.d, 5. 6, and 7, Bolt-court, Fleet-street, in the Parish of St. Dunstan's-in-th©- 
Webt . and Published by William Somervills Orm, at the Ofiice, 147, Strand, in the Pariah ofSoiut Mary-le-Straik^ London. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



63 



WEEKLV CALENDAR. 



M 


w 




Plants dedicated to 


Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon's 


Clock 


Day o£ 


D 


D 


NOVEMBER 16—22, 1848 


each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


aft. Sun. 


Year. 


16 


Th. 


Titmice draw near to houses. 


African Hemp. 


23 a 7 


7a4 


10 10 


20 


14 59 


321 


17 F. 


Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln. 


Stramonium, [flower. 


24 


6 


U 18 


€ 


14 47 


322 


18 


S. 


Red-headed '. 'ocher arrives. 


Saw-leaved Passion- 


26 


5 


morn. 


22 


14 34 


323 


19 


Son. 


22 Sunday after Trinity. 


Apple-formed ditto. 


28 


4 


26 


23 


14 20 


324 


20 


M 


Edmund, King and Martyr. 


Ked Stapelia. [sorrel. 


29 


2 


1 32 


24 


14 6 


325 


21 


Tu. 


Princess Royal b. 1640. Linnean Soc.'s M. 


Large flower'd Wood- 


31 


1 


2 36 


25 


13 51 


326 


22 


W 


St. Cecilia. Smi's Dec. 22° 15s. [Meet. 


Trumpet-flower'd do 


33 





3 39 


26 


13 35 


327 



Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, was a native of Burgundy, appointed 
to that bishopric by Henry II. He died on this day, in the year 12oO, 
and without having possessed any merits so superior as to deserve 
this annual remembrance. 

Edmund, king of East Anglia. is said to have been put to death 
by the Danes, because he remsed to renounce the Christian faith. 
At all events they murdered him in the year 870, and he was buried 
in Suffolk, at the town still known as Bury St. Edmunds. 

Cecilia was martyred by the Romans in the year 230, for refusing 
to worship tlieir pods. It was formerly fashionable to have concerts 
on this day — she being considered a patroness of sacred music. This 
custom gave birth to the celebrated " Odes to St. Cecilia" of Dryden 
and Pope. 

Phenomeka. of the Season. — Mr. Jenyns says that the teal 
usually reaches our coasts about the Itith of this month, and that 

Insects. — The Red Spider, or Plant-mite {Aca- 
rus Tellariut) is one of the gardener's greatest 



the fieldfare or felt, and the redwing, make their appearance in our 
uplands somewhere near the 21st. There is no doubt that this 
annual return to us is dictated by the temperature and food these 
birds require for their healthy existence. But what guides them 
through the pathless way to where these are to be found? Every 
fact connected with these migrations is full of interest and mysterj'. 
Bird-catchers state, that the flights of small birds take place from 
daybreak to twelve at noon, and sometimes from two o'clock till it is 
nearly dark. Birds fly apainst the wind during their passa:;e, with 
the exception of the chaffinch, who flies across it. The male chaf- 
finches are observed to fly by themselves, and shortly are followed 
by the females. This is also tlie case with tl:e titlark (Jesse). Tlie 
woodcock and the snipe arrive during moonlight nights and with an 
easterly wind. "Wildfowl of all kinds arrive also by night; and oc 
more than one occasion we have seen streams of them pass from the 
northward, at a vast height, between us and the moon on the coast 
of Essex. 






1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


184J. 


1846. 


1847. 


16 


Frosty. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


17 


Frosty. 


Cioudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


18 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


19 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Pine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


20 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


21 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


22 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 



■^ V^UBr ^v fly 

pests, though so small as to be scarcply visible to the naked eye. The arcnnipanying 
engraving represents it magnified. It has eight legs, and its colour is sometimes yellow- 
ish, at others brown, but oftener a dull red. On each side of iis back is a blackish spot 
(Kollar). At this time of the year it may be found under the hark of the lime-tree; but 
at all times it is to he found in green-houses and hot-houses that have been kept too hot 
and dry. In the summer time it may be found, occasionally in myriads, upon the under 
sides of the leaves of kidney-beans and limes. The injury they occasion by sucking tlie 
sap, and by their webs embarrassing the breathing of the plant through the pores of its 
leaves, is told by the brown colour which these assume. To destroy these insects in the 
green-house or hot-house, or cucumber-frame — for they attack this plant also — there is no 
plan so effectual as heating the hot-water pipes of the houses, or hot-water plates placed 
in the frame, by filling them with boiling water, sprinkling upoa them flowers of 
sulphur, and then shutting up the houses or frames. The vapour of sulphur is fatal 
to the insect where the air'is thoroughly impregnated with it, and the work of destroying 
these insects is completed by syringing the infested plants with water. Tl^is last is the only practical remedy to plants in our borders, unless 
they can be covered over so ihat the fumes may be confined, whilst the sulphur is volatUised overa hot-water plate. Potted plants may be 
submitted to the vapour of sulphur in a similar way. The vapour of spirit of turpentine is said to be as efiectual as sulphur. 



NATOB&L SIZE AS1> MAGNIFIED. 



Among numerous letters now before us is this brief 
note : — " I have a few plants in pots, principally 
geraniums and fuchsias, in number not more than 
a dozen, which, for the want of better convenience, I 
intended to have kept in my bedroom during the 
winter, but have been strongly recommended other- 
wise, on the ground that it is very unhealthy to have 
them ill the house, but particularly in a bedroom. I 
cling to a different opinion, and seek from you satis- 
faction on the point — " And, as they are not fragrant 
flowers, we rejoice to think that we can give that 
satisfaction in every sense of the word ; for it would 
have vexed us if we had been obliged to have coin- 
cided with those who have said that our correspondent 
must part from her twelve companions. So far are 
they from injuring the air of her chamber during the 
day, that they really purify and improve it. Let our 
correspondent bend down one of the branches of her 



plants and plunge its leaves under the clear water 
contained in a drinking-glass ; let her show the bright 
bubbles emitted by those leaves, in the daylight, to the 
friends who would exile her plants — and let her ask 
those friends whether they are ignorant of the fact, 
that every one of those bubbles is full of vital air 
(oxygen), which, if taken from the atmosphere they 
are all breathing at the time, would cause their in- 
stant death. If they require a proof of this, let them 
put a mouse under another drinking-glass, turned 
down, with its mouth beneath water, to shut out the 
air of the room : in a few minutes that mouse will 
die of suffocation, having by its breathing consumed 
all the vital air within the glas s. Let a sprig of mint 
be now passed under the water and into the glass, 
without bringing its mouth above the surface of the 
water. After remaining there for an hour or two, 
let another mouse be passed under the water and 



G4 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



into the glass. This mouse will live as long as the 
first mouse ; for the sprig of ni.iit has again sup- 
plied the contents of the glass with vital air. It mat- 
ters not how often the experiment is repeated — the 
result will always be the same. Now what that mouse 
did under the glass, every living person is doing in a 
room ; namely, consuming the vital air in it. Plants, 
on the contrary, are continually pouring vital air out 
from their leaves during the day ; and to show this 
more strikingly, if a sprig of mint sufficiently large 
is kept under the glass with the mouse, they will live 
on together until the evening — for the mint will pro- 
duce vital air as fast as the mouse consumes it. 

At night, however, quite another series of circum- 
stances occur ; for in the dark, the leaves of plants 
give out unbreathable air (carbonic acid gas) and take 
in vital air. In a word, they render the air worse 
than if they were not there ; and if our correspondent 
is in delicate health, we recommend her to have her 
plants moved into an unoccupied room, or even into 
the passage, so soon as the twilight is gone. If, how- 
ever, she is in good health, if the plants are near the 
window, and there is a fireplace with an open chinmey 
in her room, then we do not think she need remove 
her plants even at night, for there will he such good 
ventilation, such a constant supply of fresh air, that 
the plants, not being highly scented, cannot occasion 
the slightest injury. 

Strongly smelling cut-flowers, on the other hand, 
are very injurious at night ; for not only their fra- 
grance, but the unbreathable air they give out, and 
the still more no.vious fumes from their slowly decay- 
ing leaves, all unite to vitiate and render the air of 
the room unwholesome. It is very common for per- 
sons to enjoy the perfume of flowers in the open air, 
and yet to faint and sicken if shut up in a room with 
the same flowers. 



Captain Lowth, of the East India Company's service, 
brought some seeds of the Himalayah pumpkin with 
Mm to England last year, and we have succeeded in 



raising from them a small quantity of seed.* We 
could easily have saved more, for our plants were 
most prolific, but we were not aware that the pro])or- 
tion of seed to the flesh of this pumpkin was so smidl. 
This is one of its excellences ; but another good 
quality is, that, for boiling as a vegetable, to be eaten 
like the vegetable marrow, it is much better, both as 
to firmness of flesh and flavour when of a large size, 
than when boiled during its earlier period of growth. 
When full-grown it is fifteen inches long and eight 
inches across, with rounded ends. For boiling, we 
cut it when about half that size. It is smooth-skinned, 
not at all ribbed, and is marbled with green and 
straw-colours. 

As might be expected from its being a native of the 
snowy range of the Himalayah Mountains, this pump- 
kin is quite hardy- We sowed it at the beginning of 
June, on a richly-manured piece of ground, without 
any hotbed, but giving it at night the shelter of glass. 
Two plants were within a two-light frame, but they 
speedily outgrew this place of confinement, sending 
forth numerous shoots, some of which, despite con- 
tinued stopping (pinching oft' their heads), persisted 
in throwing out laterals (side-shoots) until they ex- 
tended more than twelve feet from the stem. The 
plants were most prolific, notwithstanding the wetness 
and coldness of the summer, each plant producing 
more than twenty fruit of various sizes — the last being 
cut in October. We ripened one for seed on each 
plant ; and these, when cut, weighed full twelve 
pounds each. It was from their flesh the excellent 
soup was made for which we gave the recipe in our 
fifth Number. , 

We are sorry to hear that Mr. Foksyth, the talented 
Gardener lately employed by the Earl of Shrewsbury, 
h;is left his situation, and is now a guard on the North 
Staflbrdshire Railway. " It is truly a pity," adds our 
informant, "that such abilities should be idle." 



We are compelled to defer our Double Number until 
next week. 



THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 



PEABgFOR THE AmATEUR AND CoTTAGEK. In foimcr 

times few persons thought of planting pears in small 
gardens, uidess against the gable of a building. It 
was supposed impossible to grow them as dwarf sland- 
I ards, or mere bushes; and as for the ordinary standard 
I orchard pears, why, if ever they were introduced, they 
I in time snjothered a very large portion of the little 
garden. The notoriously long period, too, that most 
of them grow befure arriving at a bearing-state, gave 
rise to the expressive old distich : 

"He who plants pears, 
Plains for his heirs." 

Now, however, the case is altered; it is no uncom- 
mon thing in these days to find whole rows of dwarf 
pears in the gardens of our nobility, bearing as freely 



as the old orchard pear-tree, and yet occupying no 
more ground than a full-sized gooseberry-bush. 

We have had nuich experience in the dwarfing of 
pears, having directed our eftorts unceasingly to this 
end lor the last twenty years, and having met with 
an amount of success second to no person, we there- 
fore proceed to offer advice with boldness. As the 
subject is necessarily one of considerable extent, we 
cannot hope to give complete directions (for these we 
intend to be very explicit) in a single calendar, we 

* It is a variely so excellent that we wish it to be generally known. 
Any one enclosing two p(ist;it'e-siam|»s, dirt-cted " To the Editor, 
Cottage Gahdenek Ollice, 147, Strar.d. London," shall have two 
or three seeds enclosed by post, accordingly as our seed may equal 
the demand. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



60 



must, therefore, divide the subject under the followmg 
lieads : 

1. Stocks, soils, etc. 

2. Modes of rearing, training, pruning, etc., in the 
young state. 

3. Modes of pruning and training when in a bearing 
state. 

4. Root pruning. 

These divisicins of the subject we hope to deal with 
successively as occasion serves : 

1st. Stocks, Soil, etc. — Pears are grown on two 
kinds of stocks — the ordinary pear-stock, otherwise 
called a free-stock, and on the quince. 

The pear-stock produces a stronger and longer 
enduring tree ; much longer, also, in coming to a 
bearing state ; it will also grow and thrive on soils on 
which the quince will scarcely exist. This, therefore, 
is the most proper stock for ordinary orchard pears. 
A quince stock is notorious for causing the tree to 
assume a dwarf and bushy character ; this is a mere 
consequence of a much less vigorous root-action. For 
this very reason the trees come much sooner into 
bearing, but ihey require a much more generous soil. 

It so happens that some kinds of pears are of deli- 
cate growth, or they are such very fine bearers, that 
it becomes advisable, even under a dwarfing system, 
to graft them on the free or pear-stock, in order to 
meet the heavy demands on the tree, or to induce a 
more vigorous growth. These we will particularize in 
our select list of pears. 

Almost any ordinary soil, if not too sandy, will 
grow the pear on the free stock. We have known 
them succeed to admiration on both sandy and clayey 
loams, on soils of a calcareous (chalky) character, and 
on shingly or gravelly soils, provided there was some 
degree of adhesiveness in their constitution. The 
quince stock, on the contrary, will never answer on 
hot or sandy soils ; and where the quince plant (un- 
grafted) will not succeed, it is vain to think of planting 
it when grafted. This fact we would particularly 
impress on the mind of both the amateur and the 
cottager ; for through a comparative disregard of such 
practical facts, the quince stock has most frequently 
been praised beyond its merits on the one hand, or by 
far too lightly esteemed on the other. The soil in 
which, above all others, the quince will both luxuriate 
and continue in permanency, is a soil which possesses 
the features of alluvium.* We do not mean that it 
must be alluvial soil, but that the well-known te.xture 
of that material must at least be imitated. That this 
is possible in an artificial way we have long since 
proved ; for we have a Beurr^e d'Aremberg pear-tree 
on a quince stock, and growing as an ordinary dwarf 
standard, within a hundred yards of where we are 
writing. Now we have taken fruit from this tree for 
years, superior to that from the same kind on a south 
wall, and that in a northern district, in which it is 
generally understood that such kinds as the d'Arem- 
berg cannot be grown as an ordinary standard with 
success. The mixture in which this tree was planted 
was composed of equal parts of strong adhesive loam, 
black vegetable matter, or humus, (such as is found 
at the bottom of old wood stacks,) and fine gray sand; 
in this the quince seems quite at home. Permanency 
of moisture is one of the main requisites for the 
quince ; indeed, without this no compost can be ex- 
pected to answer. 

When it is taken into consideration how small a 
quantity of soil will maintain a dwarf pear on a quince 

• Attuvium is fine fertile soil, such as is found in valleys, waslied 
down during tbe course of many years from the higher-lying lands. 



Stock, it will readily appear that it is quite prac- 
ticable so to improve the soil in any small garden, as 
to adapt it to the quince stock. A compost of this 
kind may be readily got together. The furrowings of 
low or clay soils might form the principle staple ; in 
addition to which, abundance of old rotten vegetables, 
tree-leaves, or even old and spent tan might be added, 
and a good sprinkling of any fine sand. These mate- 
rials, collected a few months previously, and turned a 
couple of times, would doubtless form a proper compost 
for the quince. We have even seen ditch-scourinos 
in the neighbourhood of trees, which had lain on the 
bank to mellow for some time, which would alone 
have been complete, or nearly so, for the cultivation 
of the quince. A little very old manure would be a 
benefit, as it is not easy to overexcite the quince. As 
to quantity, we should say that six wheelbarrows full 
of this mixed soil would be amply sufficient for a treu 
on the dwarfing system. The holes should not be 
made deep, by any means; half a yard in depth of 
soil will suffice for either the quince or the pear stock, 
and this should rest, if possible, on impervious mate- 
rials, such as stones, bricks, or hard-rammed cinder- 
ashes. We shall say more about modes of plantino-, 
when offering advice under the head " Stations for 
Fruit-trees." 

Pruning and Management of Standard Apples. 
— As the pruning, etc., of large or orchard apples, 
differs somewhat from that of the dwarf standard, we 
deem it necessary to offer a little special advice on 
that head. This work is mostly reserved for frosty 
weather, and very properly so, for it may be carried 
out when other matters, especially spade operations, 
become stationary. Large orchard trees, when in 
their prime, require very little pruning; once in three 
years may then suffice to regulate them. Their 
pruning will simply consist of a slight thinning-out of 
exhausted or cross boughs, which, situated in the 
interior of the tree, cannot bring fruit to perfection, 
and in bearing, rob the superior parts of the tree. 
When, however, the trees become somewhat aged, 
they require more attention; for when it is found that 
they cannot bring all the fruit which may " set " to 
perfection, it becomes necessary to sacrifice some por- 
tion, in order to throw strength into the remainder. 

As long as the tree continues to bear at all, the best 
fruit will ever be at the extremities of the boughs : 
nature, therefore, must be followed, or rather, in this 
case, anticipated. Once in a couple of years the trees 
should be gone over, and much of their interior wood 
cut away. 

The wearing-out wood may be readily distinguished 
by its mossy or stunted character, and frequently by 
its dead points, which are an almost certain sign of 
the breaking up of the constitution of the tree. There 
is no occasion to prune the extreme points, the re- 
moval of the larger decaying branches will suffice. It 
often happens, nevertheless, that a good deal of young 
annual spray grows out of the old branches ; such, 
occasionally, should be trimmed away, or it will decoy 
the sap from the more important portions of the tree. 

Top-DREssiNG Old Apple-trees. — ^ How much 
manure is misapplied in planting joung apple-trees, 
wiiich would be of the utmost benefit to the wearing- 
out or heavy-bearing trees. Yet we generally see 
valuable trees of this kind star%'ing by inches: few 
think of manuring them. The consequence is not 
only premature decay in the tree, but a continual 
sacrifice in produce ; for the apples are seldom what 
is termed " well fed;" and i*" there be a full crop, they 
either crack, or become corroded with a rusty fungus, 
under which circumstances they will lose in a great 



60 



THE COITAGE GARDENER. 



degree their keeping properties. The best way to deal 
with such cases, is to strip away at the end of October 
six inches of the surface-soil, and to apply a coating; 
of the very slutch of the manure-yard, three or four 
inches in thickness ; after which the turf or some soil 
may be strewed over, to prevent the loss of its fertile 
properties. This, once in three years, accompanied by 
a rather severe thinning or pruning, will be found to 
renew the constitution of the tree in a very consider- 
able degree ; the fruit also will regain their size, their 
clear skin, and, of course, their keeping properties. 

The Cottager's Vegetable-ground.- — In our last 
Number we hinted at the propriety of seizing on this 
period of the year to carry out thorough drainage 
where necessary. We again beg to urge that the 
foundation of permanent success must be looked for 
in drainage alone on soils liable to become water- 
logged. Soils of this description, when laid tolerably 
dry. are frequently more productive after this opera- 
tion than soils which are naturally mellow, especially 
if there be a good depth. In addition, we would 



strongly recommend another practice, which causes 
the soil to dig down with ease in the succeeding 
spring. We mean ridging the soil in November, 
piling it up in lines as high as possible. No time 
should be lost in this matter, as the longer the period 
in which frost has to act upon it the more mcdow it 
becomes. 

Trtnching is a most important matter also, espe- 
cially at this time: some useful observations on these 
branches of culture may be found at page 30 of this 
work. 

In our next we intend giving a select list of pears, 
adapted both to the amateur and the cottager; and as 
our experience in this way results from at least twenty- 
five years' close practice and observation, we may 
without presumption beg to direct the attention of both 
amateurs and cottagers to that list, in which we shall 
piirticularize very fully their habits, times of ripening, 
and their keeping and bearing properties. 

R. Errington. 



THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



General Flower-garden. — In last week's Cottage 
Gardener was a short paper in which we endeavoured 
to show the principles of arranging, and the method 
of planting a new shrubbery. This week we intend 
to give a few ideas how to renovate an old neglected 
one — a task we conceive much more difficidt than the 
former. It is comparatively easy to have a plan, and 
to plant in accordance with it ; but to thin out and 
prune injudiciously an overgrown plantation, requires 
considerable resolution and skill. In cutting down, 
perhaps, old favourites, and pruning those that are to 
remain, so as to form hereafter handsome well-formed 
shrubs, there must be no flinching, no useless regn-ts. 
If a handsome holly and a nice-looking arbutus grow 
close together, down with one of them, and lop and 
prune the other most resolutely, so as to bring it into 
shape, and then new branches will be produced un- 
doubtedly in a shorter time than might be anticipated. 
We remember the saying, " I never knew an oft- 
removed tree, nor yet an oft-removed family, that 
throve so well as those that settled be." Hence an 
old settled shrub, well cut in, will much sooner attain 
a handsome form than if we remove a large shrub 
into its place. We are, of course, supposing there is 
an old neglected shrubbery, and it is determined to 
improve it. The same plan should be followed in 
working out the improvement that we recommend for 
the new plantation. A certain and sufficient number 
of shrubs should be marked to stand. Then let all 
the rest be removed or grubbed up. The grotmd 
between those that are left should be well trenched, 
picking out roots and stones and any roots of bad 
weeds that may be there, such as nettles, thistles, and 
docks. All these together, with the small spray, 
should be charred, and then spread on the surface, 
which ought to be left as rough as possible, that it 
tnav have the benefit of the winter's frost. In the 
spring, spread over it a coating of rotten dung or 
rotten leaves. Dig it rather shallow, and you may 
then fill i:p the vacancies with such things as we men- 
tioned for the newly-planted shrubbery, viz., stand- 
ard and dwarf roses, hollyocks, tall showy perennials, 
dahlias, and primroses, all of which will be pleasing 
and agreeable to the eye while the shrubs are reco- 
vering this somewhat severe but necessary treatment. 



If, however, the shrtibs are so old and imsightly that, 
with all the skill and care bestowed upon them, they 
are not likely to be brought into any thing like satis- 
factory shape or form, the best way will be, in that 
case, to grub them all up, drain and trench the 
ground, and procure good new plants at once, pro- 
ceeding upon the same plan as we described in our 
last Number. Whatever way yon choose to adopt, 
now is the best time for such operations. Lose not a 
day, therefore, but set to work at once, and, if pos- 
sible, get it done before Christmas. 

Amateur's Flower-gakden : Summer-pruning of 
Roses. — This queen of flowers will be very much 
benefited by a judicious pruning during summer. It 
often happens, where the roses are growing in good 
ground, that some of them produce branches that 
grow so strong and fast as to rob the rest of their 
due support. These branches are what the French 
call gonrmamh, which may be Englished gluttons ; cut 
them clean off as soon as they make their appearance. 
They may be easily known by their free strong growth. 
When the rose-trees throw out a great number of 
shoots equally strong, and they appear to be crowded, 
prune away about one-third of them, but do not 
shorten any of the others, as that will cause them to 
send out a quantity of small weak shoots, which will 
injure the flowers the following season. 

Propagation. — Most kinds of roses can be propa- 
gated by cuttings. By this method, it is true, we 
can only obtain dwarfs ; yet as many sorts do best 
on their own roots, the china and tea-scented for 
instance, we must adopt the increasing of them by 
cuttings. They may be struck in various ways, — in 
pots, in frames, under hand-glasses, and in the open 
ground. 

Cuttings in Pots. — The most convenient-sized pots 
are those that measure five inches across ; fill them 
with moderately rich light earth nearly to the brim, 
press it firmly down with the hand, then fill the pots 
quite up to the rim with silver sand, or if that is not 
to be had, with finely sifted river sand ; give a gentle 
watering from a fine-rosed watering-pot,* then proceed 
to prepare the cuttings ; cut them into lengths of 

* The rose of a watering-pot is that part punched full of small 
holes. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



C7 



about four inches, remove all the leaves except those 
belonging to the top buds, make the cut very smooth 
across, just under the lowest bud ; the cutting is then 
ready to be planted. Have a small stick about as 
thick as a quill, and thrust it into the soil just the 
depth of the cutting, so as to leave the top bud out: 
close the earth firmly to the bottom of the cutting 
with the stick ; place the cuttings close to the edge of 
the pots, with the leaves of all pointing inwards, then 
close up the holes with a little of the sand, and give a 
gentle watering. The best situation to place the pots 
of cuttings in is a pit, with hand-glasses over them. 
If you have not that convenience, plunge the pots in 
coal-ashes on a shady border, covering them with 
hand-glasses ; they will put forth roots in about six 
weeks, if the weather continues mild. Should it be 
frosty, cover the glasses with mats. They should 
remain in the pots till spring, when they may be 
potted singly into small pots, to be shifted into larger 
pots as they require. By the middle of summer you 
will have beautiful plants. There is a material ad- 
vantage in propagating roses by cuttings in pots ; 
they can be turned out of the pots, and carefully 
divided from each other without breaking or mate- 
rially injuring the roots. 

Cuttings in the open Ground. — In the second 
Number of the Cottage Gardener we gave some 
instructions to the cottager how to strike cuttings of 
hardy shrubs in general. By the same method roses 
may be propagated, hut the wood should be firmer 
and better ripened than is necessary if the cuttings 
are to be under glass, for they will be more exposed 
to the weather. We would recommend you to try all 
the sorts you may possess or can procure. If some 
kinds fail, it is only a httle labour lost: in the spring 
you will soon perceive which will grow, by the fresh- 
ness of the buds. Examine a few of them, and if they 
are rooted, lift them carefully with a trowel or small 
spade, and either pot them or plant them out in rows 
in a more open situation. By the autumn following 
they will be nice plants, and may be planted in the 
situation where they are to grow and flower for several 
years. 

Cottager's Flower-garden. — As the culture of 
flowers may be considered by some of our cottage 
friends a very secondary consideration, we trust they 
will excuse us pressing upon them the fact that 
flowers, though perhaps not apparently and imme- 
diately profitable as far as pounds shillings and 
pence are concerned, yet if the cottager has a family, 
and he can implant the love of flowers in his children, 
and through those flowers teach them how good and 
bountiful the Creator of all things is to provide such 
pleasant objects to gratify our senses, he is, as it were, 
sowing the seeds of gratitude and love in their young 
hearts; which pleasant passion will, as they grow up, 
make them a blessing to their parents, and better sons 
and daughters, better brothers and sisters, and better 
citizens when they come to manhood. All these good 
qualities may be fostered and brought to maturity by 
the judicious instilling into their minds in early youth 
a love of the beautiful and lovely, as exemplified 
amongst the floral gems of the cottager's flower- 
garden. 

But, independent of the above considerations, the 
effect of cultivating flowers will be beneficial even to 
the cottagers themselves. We ti-ust the cottager's wife 
will love and care for the flowers, and we are sure if 
she does that her husband's love and esteem for her 
will be heightened and strengthened, and we will pre- 
dict, without fear of failing, that the culture of flowers 
will be the cause of much happiness and pleasure to 



the cotter's family, whether large or small. In 
order to give his children a love of flowers, let each of 
them have a small plot of ground as their own ; give 
them from time to time a root or two, as a reward for 
any good act, a display of good temper, or a well-said 
lesson, and good behaviour at church or school. A 
prudent father and mother, by bestowing or withhold- 
ing these rewards, will possess a power to induce good 
conduct far stronger and better than a threat of the 
dark-hole or the birch rod. 

Another advantage of cultivating flowers is, that 
they furnish honey for bees ; and as we hope those 
interesting and profitable insects will soon be in most 
amateur's and cottage-gardens, the growing of the 
materials from which they extiact their sweet store ia 
a consideration of some moment. Besides, the cot- 
tager might turn his flowers to a good account, by 
selling occasionally nosegays to his neighbours. 

Lavender. — This delightfully fragrant shrub ought 
to be cvdtivated by our cottage friends to some extent. 
The flowers will always be in request to put into 
clothes-presses or drawers. It may be grown as a 
division-fence between the flowers and vegetables. It 
may be propagated by slips or layers. Cuttings of 
the shoots may be put in about October, in lengths of 
about six inches, placed in a row, where they are to 
remain, and to be protected the first season from frost 
by a covering of coal-ashes, one inch thick, on each 
side of the row. To propagate it by layers, take the 
outer branches, and bring them down to the soil, 
place upon them some light soil, leaving the tops out. 
Do this in the spring, and in autumn the layers will 
be rooted, and may be taken ott' and planted in the 
row, to divide the flower-garden from the other. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

Chrysanthemums. — Some inquiries having been 
made by coiTespondents concerning chrysanthemums, 
we purpose devoting this division to their culture. As 
they can be grown in the open air, it comes under our 
part of this work. They may be increased by cuttings 
and layers. 

Cuttings should be put in at two seasons : one early 
in May, the other late in August. The first, to pro- 
duce strong-flowering plants — the other, dwarf ones. 
The best situation for the cutlings is a close frame ; 
put them in four-inch pots, four in a pot : in about 
three weeks they will be rooted ; as soon as that is 
perceived, pot them into the smaller pots, one in each ; 
shade for a few days, until they have taken fresh hold ; 
nip the tops occasionall)', lo make them dwarf and 
bushy. As they root and grow very fast, they will 
require frequent re-pottings. By the end of June 
they may be planted out where they are to flower ; 
or, if they are intended to flower in pots, let them be 
plunged up to the rims of the pots after the last re- 
moval. Give them abundance of water, and water 
them overhead with a syringe or rose-pot every even- 
ing. By this treatment they will grow bushy, strong 
plants, and will flower abundantly. 

Layers. — Plant out early in spring one of each kind 
you wish to increase. Give each plant as much room 
as will allow the branches to spread all round. When 
the shoots have grown to about eighteen inches, bring 
them down to the ground, and with a peg fasten them 
into pots six inches wide, filled with rich earth, placed 
there, and buried in the bed up to their rims. Cover 
the part of the branch in the pots with an inch of the 
same soil, giving water freely. By this method you 
obtain very dwarf plants, which, for pot-flowering, are 



til 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



vtrv useful to place in front of tlie taller ones. Dwarf 
plants may also be obtained by taking off the tops 
after they have shown the first bud : this will be to- 
wards the end of August. Put these cuttings, six 
inches long, singly into three-inch pots; plunge the 
pots into a gentle hot-bed, and cover tliem with 
hand-glasses and closely shade them. They will 
quickly root at tliat warm season of the year, and may 
be gradually hardened by giving air in the evening 
and removing the shades on all dull days until they 
are able to stand the full light. They will then re- 
quire potting into pots, five inches in diameter ; and 
in those pi>ts, by giving mantn-e-water occasionally, 
will flower uncommonly dwarf and fine. The follow- 



ing is a list of thirty good sorts, and are ni)t ox- 
pensive : 

If'/iites. — Defiance, Exquisite, Fleur-de- Marie, For 
mo*um, Lucidum, Vesta, .Mirahile. 

Purples. — Campestroni, De Crequi, General Macao, 
Sangiiineum, Acbmet Bey, Due de Canigliam, Pilot. 

Yellows. — Annie Salter, David, Changable Yellow, 
Adventurer, Guuvain St. Cyr, Etoile Polaire, Queen of 
Yellows, Satyr. 

Two-coloured. — Aristides (orange and brown), 
Bijiiu (white and pink), Phidias (rosy-red). 

nose-coloured. — Sphynx (maroon), Fleschier, Prin- 
cess Marie, Reine de Prusse, Queen. 

T. Appleby. 



WINDOW AND GREENHOUSE-GARDENING. 



I Difficulties of AVindow-gardexing. — The dry 

1 heat of a comfortable parlour in winter, and the full 
I blaze of the sun during the summer months, are ex- 
tremes verj' injurious to the roots of plants confined 
to the narrow comp.iss of a flower-pot. In summer, 
one can lessen the effects of the sun on the pots by 
placing them in more shady places than can now be 
done with safety. The large doses of water necessary 
for keeping the soil in good order under a full sun is 
not so much felt by the plants in summer, as they are 
then in active growth, and consume a large quantity 
of moisture ; but in winter they require comparatively 
but a small portion for their own use of the quantity 
that must be given to the pots to keep the soil from 
becoming too dry. The material of which flower-pots 
are made is so porous, that the pots themselves assist 
the bad effects of a dry atmosphere, by parting so 
readily with moisture. This is the reason why plants 
in a parlour require so much more water than those 
in a greenhouse, where the air is moist and cool round 
the pot«. In November, and in the early part of 
winter, the air of a greenhouse is often so loaded with 
the natural dampness of the season, that fires ate 
necessary to dry the air and counteract the effects of 
too damp an atmosphere on the plants. No wonder, 
then, that they require so little water. 

Water. — Many persons imagine, because their 
plants, or rather their flower-pots, get dry so often in 
the window, tliat the plants themselves require, or 
consume, the quantity given to keep them when in 
health and growth ; but the truth is, plants would be 
much benefited if by any means the daily waterings 
could be lessened. Many contrivances have from 
time to time been tried to effect this, such as placing 
the pots in china vases, fancy jars, and the like; and 
capital things for the purpose these are, if one has 
them at hand, or is able to buy them, for they shade 
the sides of the flower-pots and keep them cool, so 
that the dryness of a room does not affect them 
nearly so niuch as when exposed in the usual way. 
Besides, these fancv articles may be beautiful in 
themselves, and so help to make a room look smart, 
and also heighten the beauty of the plants they aid in 
protecting. Flowers, like children, will bear to be a 
little over-dressed, and they always look best when 
everything about them is clean and tidy. If there is 
any rule that we should be guided by moi-e than ano- 
ther in selecting our plants and other fancy articles 
for the decoration of our rooms, it is that we should 
never prefer expensive things beyond our means, as 
some silly persons do, with a view uf making others 
believe that they are richer than tluy really are, and 



that they can afford to purchase costly articles of dress 
and ornaments. Such attempts always fail, for per- 
sons of common sense only laugh at such follies. On 
the other hand, few can fail to appreciate a simple, 
cheap, and effectual contrivance for any kind of use, 
but more especially when to heighten the beauty of 
our plants is the object in view. The simplest and 
most effectual means that have hitherto been adopted 
to protect flower-pots from the effects of either dry 
warm rooms or hot sunny weather, is to double pot 
them : that is, by placing the flower-pot in which a 
plant is growing inside another pot, one size larger. 
Double potting is still more effectual if two kinds of 
pots are used, the common tapering pot and the up- 
right or bulb-pot. The latter is more deep according 
to the width than the tapering sort, and should be 
used as the guard or outside pot, as being deeper. 
The tapering pot will hang inside by its rim, and be 
an inch or two from the bottom of the guard-pot, 
thus giving a greater facility for drainage than if the 
inside pot rested on the bottom of the other. But the 
greatest advantage of using two kinds of pots is, that 
the guard-pot may be placed permanently in a saucer 
of water. The bottom of the flower-pot will stand 
above the level of the water, so that the soil or drain- 
age cannot be injured by it. In hot weather and in 
warm rooms the heat will cause the water in the 
saucer to rise in vapour between the two pots; part 
of this vapour will find its way into the roots through 
the drainage-hole, and help to nourish the plants, 
whose most active roots are always at the bottom of 
the pot. The vapour between the two pots will keep 
the inside one cool and damp, so that the roots inside 
it can stick to it comfortably, and feed on it as an ivy 
would feed on a damp north wall. I have seen 
thirsty plants flourish exceedingly when treated ex- 
actly as here desci'ibed, though in a very warm room, 
and they did not require to have water given them 
more than once a week, and some of the plants not 
so often. If a layer of green moss be placed on the 
top of the pots, the whole would be very complete 
and no one could see that two pots were used Moss 
is an excellent thing on the top of pots in a window, 
as it lessens the evaporation from the soil, and being 
kept moist, the roots will work up to the surface, and 
thus occupy the whole ball, instead of crowding as 
they always do at the bottom of the pot. When 
plants in flower are placed on a tray or basket, to 
stand on a table in a sitting-room, if moss could be 
obtained the pots should be packed in it, and a layer 
of it placed all over them, so that the pi'ts would be 
entirely hid. In that case double potting would not 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



G9 



be necessary, as the moss would answer the purpose 
just as well. 

There are some soft-wooded plants — such as, for 
instance, cinerarias, Chinese primrose, etc., — which 
can hardly be brought from a cool damp greenhouse 
at this season into a dry warm room without sustain- 
ing some injury from the change of temperature; 
therefore, whenever it is convenient, such plants should 
be inured to the change by degrees — as by having 
them first removed to a cool room for two or three 
days, and then to water them, and secure their pots as 
above, before they are placed in the sitting-room. 
Plants purchased from hawkers in large towns, are 
often ruined in a few days for want of this precaution. 

Methinks I hear the reader exclaim., " You are 
dwelling too long on such simple matters." Not so, 
however ; let us first creep before we attempt to 
walk. The whole secret of good gardening lies in 
simple facts derived from natural laws. The simplest 
rule in gardening is all Greek to those who never 
have paid attention to such subjects; and it is only 
by minute details that we can hope to benefit this 
class, who have yet to learn the very alphabet of 
plant-culture. 

Hyacinth. — This is a good time to finish off pot- 
ting hyacinths ; but with ordinary care they may be 
safely potted for the next three weeks. Few plants 
pay for a little extra attention better than the hyacinth ; 
but under bad management it soon gets out of con- 
dition, and is very difficult to bring round again ; I 
shall, therefore, treat of the different modes of growing 
it with some minuteness. 

Although hyacinths will grow in almost any kind 
of soil, and even for a season without any soil at all, 
as we shall see presently, yet it is of the greatest 
importance to choose fresh light soil moderately rich 
for them, — say two-thirds fresh loam, or good garden 
mould, and one-third leaf-mould and sand, in equal 
proportion. In the absence of leaf-mould, the next 
jest substitute for it is the refuse from under a wood- 
stack passed through a coarse sieve. In large towns, 
proper soils for pot-plants is so difficult to procure, 
that it is safer to buy it from a nurseryman, especially 
for a favourite tribe like the hyacinth. Bulb-pots, 
mentioned above, should always be used for hyacinths. 
Those about six inches deep, and from five to six 
inches at the mouth, are the proper size for a single 
bulb. Drain the pots by putting in an inch deep of 
potsherds and bits of charcoal, lay an inch of the 
coarse siftings from the leaf-mould over the drainage, 
then fill with the compost to within half an inch of 
the top, leaving the point of the bulb just level with 
the surface ; then give a slight watering through the 
rose of a watering-pot, and the work is finished. 
Some people never bury their hyacinths in the mould, 
as above, but merely press them on the surface, 
leaving full two-thirds of the bulb exposed : and this 
answers very well for nurserymen's shop-windows, or 
indeed any cool situation. When they are intended 
for a sitting-room, however, it is much better to bury 
the whole bulb, as the heat and dryness of a room will 
assuredly injure it when left exposed on the surface, 
by extracting from it the moisture which should go to 
feed the leaves and flowers. In their natural state 
hyacinths are never seen on the surface, like so many 
turnips in a field ; and the onlj- reason in defence of 
so unnatural a practice is, that the roots will have 
more space to feed in when the bulb is on the surface ; 
but this is " a penny wise and pound foolish " argu- 
ment, for every atom of nourishment the roots gain 
by the practice, the bulbs, in a dry room, lose twenty 
in the way I have described. Another very essential 



point to be attended to is, never to -water them with 
cold water ; every dose of cold water chills the roots 
and retards their action, and the leaves, in conse- 
quence, draw their nourishment from the bulb faster 
than the roots can supply it, owing to their chilled 
slow circulation, and before the flowers appear the 
bulbs will have lost half the nourishment destined to 
produce large handsome flowers. This is worse thau 
leaving the bulbs exposed on the top of the pot, as 
the leaves will exhaust them much faster than tlie 
heat of the room. Lukewarm water, on the other 
hand, will keep the roots in active work, enabling 
them to supply the necessary food as fast as it is 
required by the plants. After watering, place the 
pots in some dark out-of-the-way place, but not in a 
cold situation, till the leaves are an inch out of the 
ground ; then turn out the ball of one or two, and if 
you see the roots coming through the soil, all is right, 
and you may bring them to the window ; if no roots 
are to be seen, they have been kept in a place too hot 
for this stage of their management, which has caused 
the leaves to grow faster than the roots, whereas the 
roots ought to be in advance of the leaves, and that 
is the reason lor setting them in the dark, as leaves 
are not so readily put in action as roots in the absence 
of light. The leaves of bulbs are fed, in the first 
instance, from the substance of the parent bulbs, and 
if that bulb has no roots, or only feeble ones, to 
supply itself in like manner, it will soon shrivel up, 
or get so exhausted as to be able to flower but weakly, 
if at all. A familiar instance of the case in point will 
be found in a sprouted onion in the store-room. 

Growing Hyacinths in Water-glasses. — The 
safest way to proceed with bulbs of any sort intended 
to flower in glasses full of water, is to plant them first 
in loose sandy soil till they make roots at least three 
inches long; these should also be in the dark dur- 
ing the first stage of growth ; they may then have 
the soil or sand washed off them, and their roots in- 
troduced carefully into a glass containing luke-warm 
water, the water being only high enough to stand 
clear of the bottom of the bulb : every four or five 
days the water must be renewed, and always in a 
luke-warm state. Dark-coloured glasses are said to 
be better than light ones, and the reason why they are 
so is feasible enough, the roots growing stronger the 
darker they are kept : but I think this is all fancy, for 
I could never perceive any difference, whatever kind 
of glass was used. But why not have different coloured 
glasses as well as different coloured flowers? At any 
rate, the experiment is worth trying fairly ; but gar- 
deners have too much business on hand to do the 
thing properly ; and if it is to be proved at all it must 
be done by an amateur. 

Growing Hyacinths in Moss. — The hyacinth will 
grow in flower-pots filled with fresh moss as well as 
in a compost of good mould. The bulbs will be as 
little exhausted the one way as the other, and they 
are less liable to injury in moss than in soil, but in 
water they are always much weakened and difficult 
to restore afterwards. Indeed, unless they are very 
carefully attended to in glasses of water, they seldom 
recover at all. One great advantage of growing them 
in moss would be, that several bulbs might be planted 
together in a wide-mouthed jar, or any ornamental 
vessel, and, owing to the lightness of the moss, they 
might be carried to any part of the house or room at 
pleasure. Their colours might thus be finely con- 
trasted or arranged in any fanciful device, and make 
quite a flower-bed on the centre of a table. 

Early Tulips, Narcissus, and Crocuses, may be 
treated in the same way, but they are not so particular 



70 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



about soil as tlie hyacinth. The crocus will not stand 
even .so much heat, at the first stage of its growth, as 
the hyacinth, and should be turned outside the win- 
dow every fine day for a few hours. If its leaves 
grow two inches long without the appearance of flower- 



buds, the place is too hot for it, and unless it is put 
into a cooler place, flowers will hardly appear at all. 
This often happens to many plants by their bein<» 
exposed to too much heat at first. 

D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 



Cauliflowebs. — Young plants should be kept close 
to the glass, if in frames ; the decayed leaves con- 
stantly removed, and the earth's surface kept open by 
frequent stirrinf(s, which will enable the plants to 
maintain a he;iithy sturdy growth. Keep them un- 
covered at all favourable times, and when the weather 
is not favourable, tilt the lights front and back, and 
sift amongst them on fine days dry dust. Old, dry 
mortar, loam, and charcoal dust are most excellent 
articles for such a purpose, mixed in equal poi'- 
tions, or even separately. It keeps the plants free 
from damping and cankering, or getting black- 
legged — diseases so prevalent in the short dark days 
of winter. 

Peas. — The first full crop of early peas should be 
got in forthwith, and those now up should also have a 
little dry dust, as above directed, sown amongst them, 
and the earth's surface, of course, at all favourable 
oppiirtimities should be stirred. 

Radishes. — Those who have a spare frame, a turf- 
pit and protection, or even a warm corner, should now 
sow a few short-topped radishes. Those already up 
should be timely attended to in the way of thinning, 
surface-stirring, and the application of dry dust, sifted 
carefully amongst them, to maintain their healthiness 
and sturdiness They must, of course, be well aired : 
our custom is to drill, at all times and seasons, radishes 
as well as everything else; and all through the winter 
season to drill between the radishes early carrots, 
either if sown in-doors or out. The drills are quickly 
and evenly formed with a narrow piece of board, with 
its edge cut in the form of the letter V ; this edge 
pressed into the surface forms the drill ; each drill at 
this season at 3-inch intervals. This brings both 
radishes and carrots to six inches distance from their 
own family connection, — the radishes proving very 
good nurses for the carrots, if, as I have stated, they 
get thinned in due season, and otherwise treated as 
directed, and occasionally a little weak, tepid manure- 
water is applied, every radish will become fit for table, 
and will be cleared quickly oft', and in due season 
for the free growth of the carrots. Drilling has many 
advantages besides the convenience of hoeing and 
surface-stirring; for soon after the appearance of the 
seedling plants, weak manure may be applied, at the 
desired spot, to encourage part, or the whole of your 
crops, as may be convenient, without causing any un- 
necessary waste. Besides, what an advantage it is for 
putting out, in due season, succeeding crops, plants of 
some kinds of vegetables, which you may have in con- 
dition for planting, when the season and weather are 
favourable. These may be planted between a crop 
that is drilled, even before the whole of that crop is 
cleared, and the soil afterwards forked up between 
the rows, and dressed with either solid or liquid 
manure. This kind of practice is making the most of 
the soil, by keeping up an uninterrupted succession of 
vegetables of various kinds throughout the season ; 



and the soil requires no rest if our directions are 
fully can-ied out. Even if the crops are not re- 
quired for use when come to maturity, it will pay 
thus to grow them, if merely to dig or trench them in 
for manure. 

Small Saladinc, sow in succession. These whole- 
some plants (mustard and cress) may be grown in any 
warm room or window, in pans, .shsillow boxes, etc. If 
cold weather, they may be placed near a fire-place of 
a night, which forwards them much. 

Manure. — Collect all kinds of refuse, to decompose 
for manure ; and that which is not likely to easily de- 
compose store up fur charring in the spring j which 
will be turning it to a valuable account. 

Mushroom-beds. — In answer to various inquiries, 
we reply that a mushroom-bed is usually constructed 
of stable dung, prepared, as already directed, for 
cucumbers. It is made in the form of the roof of a 
house, or the letter /^ inverted, four or five feet wide 
at the base, narrowing to the top, which should be 
rather rounded, three or four feet high, and the length 
from ten to fifty feet ; the dung being laid in alter- 
nate rows, with clayey loam, from which the largest 
stones have been sorted ; each layer of dung to be a 
foot thick, and of loam four inches, so that three layers 
of each will be sufficient to complete the requisite 
height. The dung must be well separated and mixed, 
and beat, but not trod down. When completed, the 
bed must be covered with litter or other light cover- 
ing, to keep out the wet, as well as to prevent its dry- 
ing ; clean dry straw will do, but sweet hay, or matting, 
is to be preferred. 

Situation. — The bed should be made in a dry shel- 
tered situation, and on the level ground, in preference 
to foundhig it in a trench, which prevents the spawn- 
ing being performed completely at the bottom, and 
guards against the settling of water, which may chill 
it. If the site is not dry, it must be covered with 
stones, clinkers, etc., to act as a drain ; for nothing 
destroys mushrooms sooner than excessive moisture, 
except an extreme heat or cold. To obviate the oc- 
currence of these unfavourable circumstances, it is far 
more preferable to construct the bed under a shed. 
If it is constructed in a shed, it may be built against 
one side, sloping downwards from it. To proceed 
with greater certainty during the winter, a fire- 
flue may pass beneath the bed; but it is by no means 
absolutely necessary, for by the due regulation of 
covering it may always be kept of sufficient tem- 
perature. 

Management. — The spawn must not be inserted 
before the temperature has become moderate. 

Temperature. — The mininmm is 50°, and the maxi- 
mum 65°. Insert the spawn as soon as the violence 
of the heat has abated, which it will in two or three 
weeks, though sometimes it will subside in eight or 
ten days. 

J. B. & G. W. J. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



71 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 5.) 

Before the severity of winter begins, many pleasing 
operations should be effected in the garden. This is 
the best time for renewing the soil, and making any 
alteration you may wish in the beds and borders. 
Round and diamond-shaped beds, I think, display 
flowers to the best advantage, but of course the shape 
and size must depend upon that of the garden. 
Plants taken up with a good ball of earth, will, at 
this season, remain safely out of the ground for some 
time, till your alterations are completed. 

Bulbous roots should now be planted, perennials 
divided and replaced, suckers removed from shrubs, 
evergreens, roses, etc., and everything arranged for 
good effect ne.xt year. Flowers should not be stuck 
into the ground anyhow, and anywhere. They are, 
indeed, always beautiful ; but a little care and judg- 
ment is necessary to display that beauty fully. Large 
rambling plants frequently smother the smaller ones, 
and by that means we lose the benefit of many sweet 
varieties. In large borders, large plants do well ; the 
iris, for instance, the peony, saxifrage, lilies of various 
kinds and colours, columbine, and other showy peren- 
nials; but in small borders or separate beds, care 
sliould be taken to place each flower so as to appear 
to the best advantage, and not crowd and overpower 
each other. 

Anemones are beautiful spring flowers, and greet 
us very early in the year. They look extremely well 
as borderings to flower-beds. A double row looks 
very rich and lively, especially when the scarlet ones 
predominate, which they should do, as their warm 
colour best suits the cold gloomy season in which they 
first appear, but the other colours are soft and pleas- 
ing, when placed judiciously among their more bril- 
liant brethi-en. Anemones must be planted now. 
When you separate the roots, do not break them into 
very small pieces, or the plants will be weakly, and be 
careful that every piece possesses an eye or bud. I 
prefer anemones placed thus, or in beds by them- 
selves ; they look well, also, filling up the little circles 
round single trees or shrubs, which are often left 
empty, and look bare and desolate. They should be 
planted about six inches apart, and two or three 
inches deep. The gentianella is another plant of 
great beauty, adapted for whole beds or borderings. 
Its rich, deep blue, bell-shaped flowers dazzle tlie eye 
with their intensity, and add greatly to the beauty of 
a spring garden. It may be divided at any season, 
and will soon form a luxuriant mass. Bulbs look best 
in clumps. A tulip or two, standing here and there, 
look poor and insipid ; but as groups, or in a bed by 
themselves, they appear to great advantage. I con- 
fess I admire extremely the commonest kind of tulips, 
— the simple pink or yellow, which so frequently de- 
corate the cottage borders. They are so gay and 
lively, that, among other and better flowers, they add 
much to the general effect. Jonquil and narcissus 
should be grouped in the same way. They are no 
favourites of mine ; I do not like their bloom or 
scent, but they are generally admired and cultivated. 
Hyacinths — these fragrant treasures of the spring — 
may be placed separately with better effect, but they 
look best when placed together at even distances, and 
with some attention to the mixture of their colours. 
By placing violets among them, the green foliage 
forms a sort of carpet at their feet, and in some degree 



relieves the formal appearance of the bed. Ladies 
cannot always succeed in having very fine hyacinths ; 
but even common ones look well when clustered toge- 
ther, and need little care, except that of renewing the 
soil, wliich benefits every plant. A group of white, 
pink, and blue hyacinths, is a beautiful addition to 
every border ; and their fragrance in the open air is 
exquisite. The tall white and orange lilies should be 
placed behind other plants, or in shrubbery borders ; 
they are too tall and unwieldy for smaller beds. Pre- 
serve the white leaves of the former in brandy ; they 
are a valuable cure for cuts and wounds. Many are 
the useful qualities of plants and flowers — nothing has 
been made in vain ! Did not God himself declare 
that all things were " very good?" 

That sweet gem of the soil, the violet, should be 
extensively encouraged. They may be divided now, 
in moist weather, but not into very small plants. 
They like a good, tight soil ; but manure is too enrich- 
ing for them. The best dressing for violets is leaf- 
mould — with which every garden should be provided 
— and the sweepings of the ground after the removal 
of an old wood-stack. Violets form a beautiful car- 
peting under trees : let them nestle in every gi-een 
spot — under seats — on banks — in short, everywhere. 
They are so fragrant, yet so lowly, that tliey read us 
a beautiful lesson, if we will but hear it. The double 
violet requires to be a little more cared about. It 
must be divided every year, and light, fresh soil 
applied. Hepaticas are rich and lovely spring flowers, 
— deep pink and blue. Plant them in tufts, and in 
every border ; you can scarcely have too many. 

My favourites, snowdrops and crocusses, scorned as 
they often are, must not be forgoiten in our prepara- 
tions for the coming year. They are childhood's 
favourites too, and lead our thoughts many, many 
years back, to days in which a bright flower and gaudy 
butterfly could gladden our hearts, and dry up our 
bitterest tears. Let us cultivate these remembrances 
of the past, for they wake up many pleasant feelings, 
and may lead us to number oiu- days so as to apply 
our hearts unto wisdom. Crocusses are pretty border- 
ing-flowers, and gleam cheerily through a mantle of 
snow, in their yellow, white, and purple vests. Snow- 
drops should be in masses ; they look well in nooks 
and corners of the lawn, as well as in the borders, and 
are the first heralds of the spring. 

This is a chapter upon spring, written in the dark 
and sleety month of November ; but we must, even at 
this dreary season, prepare for warmer and sunnier 
days. Our garden speaks loudly to our hearts; in this 
particular also, bidding us look forward to that glorious 
futurity, for which we, too, must be prepared. How 
short a period of the year is that in which we have no 
flowers ! — scarcely more than a few short weeks ; and 
then, almost as soon as Christmas has passed away, 
what a gush of loveliness, and burst of song, arises! 
as if Nature herself rejoiced in that blessed season, 
and added her praises to the deep thanksgivings that 
should flow from the heart and lips of men. 

The early flowers of spring open their glowing 
blossoms amidst frosts, and snows, and storms, like 
the blessings so often sent to cheer us under the 
troubles and trials of life. They should be prized and 
encouraged, for our garden soon repays us for our 
care, and glitters in the frosty sunshine of the early 
months, like fairyland. 

Verbenas, which require care and protection during 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



the winter months, if planted in rocJc-worky will live 
throughout the year in the open air, and look to great 
advantage in that situation during the summer. Their 
rich and various colours add much to the beauty of 
the garden. Rock-work, if judiciously formed, with- 
out care and cockneyism, has by no means an un- 
pleasin^ efiect ; but it must be thrown together 
naturally, and well covered with plants and creepei'S. 
The stoTiPcrop, with its gay, yellow flowers, is a plant 
very well ;id;:pted for rock-work ; it spreads rapidly, 
and is hardy and long in bloom. Beautiful and 
abundant provision is made by an all-wise and mighty 
Hand; for every spot of earth, and even stones and 
fliiits, furnish a dwelling for Nature's treasures. 



SOOT AS A MANURE. 

Everybody wishes to manure his land at the least 
possible expense ; and unless it be well done, it 
will never be productive. I know scarcely of any 
manures more efficacious than soot; and as it is in 
the power of every person to obtain without the 
least expense, few should be without it. The fol- 
lowing result of a trial I made with it upon three 



dozen cauliflowers will at once be convincing of its 
power as a fertilizer. I spread it round each plant 
about a foot in diameter, and from a quarter to half 
an inch in depth ; those plants treated in this manner 
were ready to gather two or three weeks sooner than 
the others in the same piece of ground. The benefit 
accruing from the use of soot is twofold, — it not only 
acts as a powerful fertilizer, but is also a preventive 
to the attacks of slugs. My plants were infested with 
these snails, when I examined them at night I found 
those plants with the soot round them quite clear, 
while the rest were, as usual, attacked by them. As 
to its being in the power of every person to obtain, I 
can only say, that every chimney in which a fire is 
constantly kept requires sweeping at least every four 
months ; and how few sweeps would be at the trouble 
of conveying the soot away if they were permitted to 
leave it, I consider that the sweepings from one 
chimney wotild be sufiicient to spread round six dozen 
plants, consequently in a year's time sufficient soot 
would be gathered to treat two hundred and sixteen 
plants in the manner I have described, provided the 
chimney be swept evei-y four months. 

A. A., Birkenhead. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Potato Etes {Rev. P. IT.)— "U'e think these -would all fail if 
planted in the autumn, but we never knew of the experiment being 
tried. We always plant whole potatoes, averag^ing in weight about 
two ounces each. We do nut seethe advantage of leaving potatoes 
in tlip ground where grown, over the plan of taking them up and 
storing them in alternate layers of earth. We have tried both modes, 
and both succeed equally well; why, then, not take them up und 
store them in that manner ? — and under a shed is best. You will 
then he able to pick thp small potatoes for planting at once. Large 
poiatoes do equally well lor planting as small ones, but then there is 
an unnecessary waste of food. 

MrLOK-sEEu (O. S.) — We think it probable, if nur correspondent 
wrote at once to Mr Williams, of Pitrnaston. he would send him a 
few of the hardy melon seeds. Something about mushrooms is in 
No. 5. and we liave more ahruT them in < ur present Number. We 
think our correspondent will find every vegetable mentioned in its 
turn (luring the weeks of the month. The calendar ailuded to was 
prepared by the editor of this paper. 

Tank-sy.'jtem op Heating (Af. S.) — The following is a brief out- 
line nf thit. excellent mode of heating gret-n-hr-uses and b-jt-houses. 
If you require plans, yon will find them in a little pamphlet entitled 
" A Treatise on the I ank-system," by Mr. Rendle, and -n the " Gar- 
dene tV Almanack "for 1 84 i. which may tie hail at >tat loners* Hall : — 
" A tank of iron or wood, twenty feet long, five feet broad, and six 
inches ileep, is constructed in the centre of the house, and surrounded 
by a waik. except at the end, where the holler is lixed fur beating it. 
The top of the tank is covered with large .-^labs of slate, cemented 
ttigether, to prevpnt the exre^sive escape of steam. Around this is 
a frame sufficiently high to reiain the bark in which tlie pots are 
plungrd. The boiler and tank are filled with water, and this ciriu- 
lates, when the fire is lighted under the former, by means of two 
pjpHs— one from the top of the boiler, and the other retun-ing nearer 
to is bottom. The expense of i>iping, and danger of the pipes freezing, 
is avoided ; the fire only requires to be kept lighted for two hours at 
night, and again for the same period in the morning: the water, 
when once heated retaining its temperature for a long time. In a 
.small house the apparatus Ciin be constructed for £o, and in all, for 
iess than half the cost of hot-w ater pipes." 

HnvA {E. P., J Ifin n tj- road. )~This is often called "The "Was 
PUnt." it belongs to the PentandriaDipynia class and order of Lm- 
naut, and to the natural order, Asclepiadareoe. The room we could 
spare for btitany would be too small to be useful. Those who wish 
for a cheap book on the subject will find one in Chambers's Educa- 
tional Course. More expensive, but more complete works, are those 
by Dr. Lindley. 

Potatoes ok Clat Soils (G. W. Prrliy, Esq.) — Tf whole potatoes 
are employed the slugs will not injure them, and none other than 
whole potatoes should be employed in auiumn-planting. "ttliy i-ot 
order the Cottage Gardener through your bookseller at Harle- 
■!ton .' If he has a weekly parcel, you would have it for twopence 
per number. 



Layering, Sowing, etc. {An Amateur and constanf Subscriber.) 
— Instructions for these and all other practices will appear in due 
course. Remember, we have but a limited space, and cannot insert 
everything at the same time. 

Succession of Flowers (TT. X. J.) — You will find a list of 
flowers in our fourth Number, p. 34, which if planted now will keep 
up the succession you require. 

Autumn-planted Potatoes (D. Dnrley, Birmingham.) — Au- 
tumn-planted p^iiatoes, those planted in November, for instance, do 
not produce thei leaves above the surface so eath as lho^e which 
are spring-iilanted, so that they are not so liable to be cut utf by the 
frosts. We never recommend late-ripening potatoes. Plant ash- 
leaved kidneys and Julys, or any other early-ripening kind. 

Error (/. Hoberts.) — It was corrected in our third Number, at 
p. 30. 

Verses {A lover of the Pose.) — Thanks for a perusal of the 
verses of your friend, we have done with them as you directed. 

Watering Flowers in Pots {Un Franqnis.) — Do not water 
over their leaves. You w.ll find much upon the subject in our 
columns this day. Chrysanthemum .';eed is sown in the spring in 
any open border of the garden. We would recommend you to apply 
to'ilie preparer of the carbi-uized manure for tiie instruction yoa 
require. 

Charred Materials (/. W.A.ihtnn-under-Lyne.)—yo\xyi\\\ find 
some information in our nest Number. Any charred vegetab.es 
mixed with niglit-soil takes away the most offensive portion of its 
stench; and if some gypsum (plaister ol Pans) is also thoroughly 
mi.xed with it, the smell is entirely removed. Th^ carbonized peat 
is a good manure, but any charred or carOnnized vegetable matters 
are quite aa good. 

Garpkners' Dictionary (^o/eerAamp/on.)— Thanks for the 
compliment. 

Williams's Mode op Melon-growixg {R.Rf.R.)—1\\e rubbish 
need not be put together in forming the bed until within a few days 
of the time of placing in it the plants. Mr. Williams tloes not use 
a frame, hut only hand-glasses. The proper time for planting must 
be the end of May, or early in June, accordingly as the seasun is 
miUl or the contrary. The plants must be watered in dry weather, 
and we should give it early in the morning. An inquiry directed to 
John Williams, Esq.. Pitmaston, near Worcester, would doubtless 
obtain information relative to the seed you require. If Mr. Williams 
cannot supply your want, he will tell you what variety succ^-eds best 
with iiim. In the absence of such information we should try either 
the Early Cantalupe or the Netted Cantalupe, they are early and 
good, thiiugh sniall, and among the hardiest of the varieties. 

Gas Lime (/. JW.. /)u6/in.)— Thanks for the extract. There wil» 
be some information on this refuse as a manure in our next. 



London: Printed by William Tyler and Charles Reed. 5, 6, and 7, Bolt-court, Fleet-street, in the Parish of Saint Dunstan's-mth^ 
West: and Published by William Somerville Orr, at the Office, 147, St-and, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le Strand, London. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



73 



WEEKLV CALENDAR. 



M 
D 


w 

D 

Til 


NOVEMBER 23—29, 1848. 


Plants dedicated to 
each day. 


Sun 
Rises. 


San 
Sets. 


Moon R. 
anJ Sets. 


Moon's 
Age. 


Clock 
aft. Sun 


Day of 
Year. 


23 


St. Clement. 


Convex Wood-sorrel. 


34 a 7 


Ill 


4 42 


27 


13 18 


328 


24 


F 


Larch leafless. 


Starry Stapelia. 


36. 


58 


5 45 


28 


13 


329 


25 


S 


Mich. Term ends. Catherine. 


White Butter-bur. 


38 


57 


sets.. 


O, 


12 42 


330 


26 


Sun 


23SuN. AFT. 7'rinity. Oak leafless. 


Linear Wood-sorrel. 


39 


56 


4a51 


1 


12 22 


331 


27 


M 


Anniversary of Botanical Society. 


Lupine-leaved ditto. 


41 


55 


5 33 


2 


12 2 


332 


28 


Tu 


Elm leafless. 


Variegated Stapelia. 


42 


55 


6 20 


3 


11 42 


333 


29 


W 


Thrush resumes singing. 


Hairy Sphenogyne. 


44, 


54 


7 15 


4 


11 20 


334 



St. Clement, converted by St. Peter, is thought to be nrentioned 
by St. Paul, in hts Epistle to the Philipi>ians(iv. 3). He was bishop 
of Rome, and mart\red tliere on ihis day, about the year 100. He 
wrote two Epistles to the Corinthians, which still remain, and were 
once recogrtised a part of the New Testament. He is the black- 
smiths' guardian-ia^'Qt. 

St. Catherine is said to have been tortured by being inclosed 
within a wheel lined with nails ; and this is conimemoraied in the 
name of a wel'-known firework. This virgin is said to have been 
beheaded on this day, in the year 305, by order of the emperor Max- 
eiitius She was the patroness of spinsters; and even yet, in some 
parts of England, maidens make holiday on this day — or, as they term 
a, '* Go Cathar'ning." 

Phenomena of the Season. — Thesealltellof the coming win- 
t(?F; and when we turn to the garden, we can sympathise with bim 
"nko said, 

"Again I come to view the scene 

Whose summer hues I well remember; 
'Tis stripp'd of pride, 'tie shorn of green, 
Beneath the sway of rude November. 

Iksects. — In the autumn it is very common to 
observe part of th« leaves vf celery plants blistered 



" The melody of song is mute, 

Except the robin's lonely singing; 
The trees have shed their leaves and fruit,. 
And weeds iu ev'ry walk are springing," 

The first severe frost of this season in Hampshire — the first to 
turn the leaves of the Dahlia black — occurred on the night of the 
4th instant. Tlie thermometer then fell as low as tweniy-two de- 
grees, or ten degrees below the cold at which water freezes. The 
golden-eyed pocher is now added to our list of tea-coast visitants. 
The stockrdove has also arrived. Both these migratory birds usually 
rc-ach us about the 29th instant. Moles have formed their winter 
retreativ A mole-oatcber infnrmed Mr. Jesse, that, previously to 
the selting-in of winter, this little miner prepares a sort of basin, 
forming it in a bed of clay which will hold about a quart. In this 
basin a great quantity of worms are deposited, and, in order to pre- 
vent their escape, they are partly mutilated, but not so much as to 
kill them. On these worms the moles feed in the winter months. 
When these basins are few in number, the mole-catcher said he 
knew the following winter would be mild. 






1841. 


1842. 


1S43. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847; 


23 


Cluudy. 


Kain. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Rain. 


Showery. 


24 


Fine. 


Kain. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Bain- 


Fine. 


25 


Frosty. 


Rain. 


Sh.iwery. 


Cloudy. 


showery. 


Rain. 


CL.ndy. 


S6 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Clo jdy. 


Rain. 


27 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Krosty. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


28 


Showery 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


29 


Uain. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Main. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 



and turned yellow ; and this nccurs occasionally to such an e-xtent that their growth 
is checked and their size proportionally diminished. If the withered parts are ex- 
amined, and the cuticle, or j.kin, of the blisters, is raised, there will be found heoeath 
it some sraall green grubs, wlio have eattn away all the green pulp (parenclijTua) of 
the parts so withered. These grubs are the larva of the Celery Fly ( Trphrilis Onnpor- 
dinis). The grubs.may be found in the leaves of the celery in June, July, September, 
October, and November; for there are two or more broods of them in the course of 
the year. The grubs, though less frequently, are found doing similar damage to the 
leaves of Alexanders and (iarsnips. When full. grown, the grubs descend into the 
eartlrand remain in-the chrysalis state until the spring following, when they give birth to the fly. This, the Celery Fly, may usually be found 
upon the leaves of the liurel, hovering over flowers and resting upon palings in the sunshine, from the middle of May to the end of July. It 
is one of the niosi beautiful of the English two-winged flies, and has been thus described by Mr. Westwood. The general colour of trie body, 
which is five-jointed, varies from rusty-brown to shining black ; head buff, with black hairs ; legs yellow j thorax (throat) sprinkled with long 
black hairs ; wings black, with various pale spots ; eyes green. The whole length. of the insect is not more than one-sixlh of an inch, and its 
wings, when outspr- ad. barely half an inch across. The cross-lines in our woodcut show these proportions, as well as the inflect magnified. 
The motions of thisfiy are very peculiar; seated upon a leaf in the sunshine, the wings are partially extended, yet partially elevated, and it 
haa a sideling kind of motion.- The withered leaves of the celery should be picked off, and the grubs within them crushed as soon as seen. 
Mr. Wedgewood suggests that a &triu^,--SlBeated with' birdlime and stretched over the celery-plants, might catch many of the parents. 



Everybody must have known some one or more 
individuals who, in defiance of adverse circumstances, 
have won their way from ignorance and povertj" to 
all the harvest of pleasures that knowledge and inde- 
pendence aiford. We have known many suck ad- 
mirable and noble-minded characters, and they are to 
be found in every class, in every trade, in every 
employment to which the wants of society doom the 
majority of mankind to plod on through life. 

We knew a hairdresser, at Witham, in Essex, who, 
though a labourer for his daily bread at a penny per 
chin and twopence per poll, yet had acquired a deep 



knowledge of entomology, and had one of the finest 
collections of English insects ever gathered together 
by one man's unaided exertions. We knew also 
James Lackington, when he was the most extensive 
bookseller in Europe ; yet he had once been a poor 
shoemaker ! From extreme want, he raised himself 
to the wealth and happiness he afterwards enjoyed. 
Inflexible integrity, a love of learning, and living 
abstemiously, were the means he employed thus 
honourably to elevate himself; and he found in his 
wife a worthy helpmate. However narrow their 
means, they always made them suffice ; and he ha> 



74 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



left among his " Confessions " the statement that in 
their hours of privation they sustained one another 
by singing together these lines by Dr. Cotton : 

'■ Our portion is not large, indeed, 
But, then, how liltle do we need, 

For nature's calls are few j 
In this the art of living lies, 
To want no more than may suffice, % 

And make that little do." 

We might swell our catalogue to many pages with 
the mere names of those who have thus struggled to 
eminence through diflSculties, but we will merely 
enumerate a few of our contemporaries, at least men of 
the present century. Gifford, the Editor of the " Quar- 
terly Review," was a cobbler's apprentice; Bloom- 
field the poet, and Mortimer the painter had been 
farming labourers ; Emerson the mathematician 
thatched his own cottage ; and the mother of Holcroft, 
the play-writer, kept a green-stall and sold oysters. 

All those and many others have risen to eminence 
and distinction ; but honourable notoriety does not 
always fall to the lot of those who have attained to 
an equal degree of knowledge ; and as certainly that 
eminence and distinction are not its best rewards. 
Hundreds of men in humble life may now be found 
deeply skilled in the natural sciences, — in the know- 
ledge of plants, insects, and birds, especially, — who 
yet are never heard of, never seek to he heard of, 
content to earn their livelihood by honest industry, 
and to piu-sue knowledge during their hours of leisure 
purely and solely for the pleasure it unfailingly 
yields. We could place our finger upon many such ; 
and we can add, for the encouragement of our cottage 
readers, indeed for the encoiuragement of all, that they 
are to a man worthy, happy, and respected. One of 
them is just " gathered to his fathers;" and he was 
indeed ready for the garner, for he was as full of 
hope, and faith, and honour, as of years. We shall 
not attempt to improve upon this record by one who 
knew him well : 

Death of the Father op the Lancashire Bo- 
tanists IN HUMBLE LIFE. — On Thursday, October 
26th, at Royton, near Oldham, in his 82nd year, 
died Mr. John Mellor, gardener, who, both by his 



age and attainments, has long been considered the 
father of botany amongst the working men of Lan- 
cashire. This venerable old man remained in pos- 
session of his mental faculties nearly to the day of 
his death. His remains were deposited in Royton 
churchj'ard, and the funeral was attended by most of 
the botanists in humble life living in that part of 
Lancashire and the adjoining county of York. The 
deceased was bom at or near Royton, in the year 
1767, of parents in humble circumstances, and fol- 
lowed the occupation of a handloom weaver for a few 
years, when he commenced cotton spinning on a 
jenny. This last-named emploj'ment he pursued until 
he was thirty years of age, when he left it and became 
a working gardener, a pursuit more congenial to hb 
taste. In this occupation he remained for upwards 
of half a century, as fine a specimen of a cheerful, 
vigorous, and hale old man as could well be seen, to 
within a week of his death. John Mellor had for his 
first companions the late John Dewhurst and George 
Cayley, both of Manchester — the former then the 
president of the Botanical Society of Working-men, 
and the latter since well known as the botanist who ac- 
companied the late Sir Joseph Banks to the South Seas, 
and brought home a fine collection of plants, now at 
Kew, one of which, the Banksia Caleyi, was named 
after him. After having explored the plants growing 
in his own neighbourhood, Mellor made annual ex- 
cursions into Yorkshire and the northern counties, 
and afterwards into Scotland, for a period of thirty 
years. Six times did he traverse the Highlands of 
Scotland, and ascended Ben Nevis, Ben Lowers, Ben 
Lomond, the Breadalbane, the Clova, and many other 
mountains. The plants he found in these excursions 
he brought with him to Edinburgh and Glasgow, and 
furnished specimens to the late Mr. Don and to Sir 
W. Hooker, then Dr. Hooker ; by both of whom he 
was well known and highly esteemed. Other speci- 
mens he brought home, and cultivated in his own 
garden at Royton, 

The last two pages of the present Number arc re- 
quested to be substituted for the two pages of our 
third Number, 21 and 22. 



THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 



Select List op Pears adapted both to the amateur 
and the Cottager. — We now proceed to fulfil our pro- 
mise as to this valuable fruit ; but must precede the 
list with a few observations, which will prove of ser- 
vice to those making a selection. In recommending 
pears to the cottager, it is indispensable to point only 
to those which are known as sure bearers, and, there- 
fore, profitable kinds. The cuttager must be content 
to give up a point occasionally, as to liighly-melting 
properties in the kinds he grows, and even flavour, 
for the sake of the essential of profit. The sacrifice 
in this way will not be very considerable ; for it so 



happens that most of our superior modern pears are 
sure bearers. We think it necessary, nevertheless, 
thus to anticipate objections which may be raised as 
to some kinds we recommend ; for, be it remarked, 
the evidence concerning this fruit from various parts 
of the kingdom is of so contradictory a character, 
that the high recommendations of a given kind which 
come from a southern country, with very gi-eat diffi- 
culty find belief in a northern one. 

With regard to the amateur, the case slightly differs. 
We are aware that bad bearers should not be recom- 
mended to any one ; still there are some which may 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



be termed toleratly safe bearers, and of which the 
quality is such, under proper circumstances, that no 
amateur would like to be -ivithout them. 

Instead nf using abbreviations, which are apt to 
perplex and cause much reference, we hope to be of 
more service by giving the character of the respective 
kinds in detail, the list being arranged according to 
the order in which the varieties ripen : 

1. Citron de Carmes (July). This is a well-known 
early kind, and a good bearer; fruit rather round, 
and not large ; soon mellow. Those who desire a 
very early pear may plant this, either as a dwarf 
standard or an ordinary orchard standard. 

2. Jargonelle (August). As well-known as the 
preceding. This is undoubtedly the best summer pear 
in the country ; the only misfortune is, that it has 
long shown signs of what is termed " wearing out," 
the shoots being liable to canker. It is the custom in 
our northern counties to plant this pear on the gable 
of the dwelling-house ; in which situation it very fre- 
quently succeeds admirably. We think, however, 
that the Moorpark, or Shipley apricot, would pay 
much better; and the Jargonelle may be grown as 
an ordinary standard. Besides, the close pruning 
necessary to keep a wall-tree in order checks the 
bearing properties of this tree, which is of robust 
habit. 

3. Dunmore (September). This forms a very good 
successor to the Jargonelle, and is probably a seedling 
from it. It is a very great bearer, and of a good 
constitution, and would be worth the cottager's atten- 
tion as a dwarf standard ; or, perhaps, as an orchard 
tree in the more southern counties. The flavour is 
good, and it is a melting fruit above the middle size. 
We would particularly advise the amateur to make 
this a successor in point of season to the Jargonelle. 

4. Williams's Bon Chretien (September). This is a 
well-known standard market-pear in the neighbour- 
hood of London, and would answer for the same pur- 
pose in our northern counties. It is a very g' od 
bearer, and strong growing. Fruit long and rather 
large, but soon decay. 

5. Beurre d'Amalis (September). This is a very 
hardy sort, and deserving of extensive cultivation by 
the cottager, being a very abundant bearer. It is 
large and melting, and would doubtless prove a good 
market-pear in its season in our northern counties. 
Suitable either as a dwarf standard or orchard tree in 
most part"! of England. 

6. Fondante d'Automne (September and October). 
This is one of the most sugary pears with which we 
are acquainted; indeed so rich, that we have not 
been able to save even one from the depredations of 
the blackbirds this summer. It is too small for a 
cottage pear ; but the amateur would do well to have 
a dwarf standard of this kind, and place a net over it 
whilst ripening. 

7. Louis Bonne of Jersey (October). Tliis is pecu- 
liarly a cottager's pear; indeed it is everybody's pear 
where the garden is very small. Although not par- 
ticularly high-flavoured, it is, nevertheless, an agree- 
able melting pear ; and were it once extensively 
planted (in our northern counties especially), it would 
soon take in the markets. Fruit rather long, reddish 
brown and green, and mottled next the sun; about 
middle size. 

8. Aston Town (October and November). An old 
pear, and at the present day second to none in culti- 
vation in point of flavour. VVe think that it will not 
pay the cottager so well as larger sorts, but no ama- 
teur should be without one ; they succeed best as 
ordinary standards. Small in size and round. 



9. Beurre de Capiaumont (October and November). 
Of all the free bearers, this is first. We have several 
dwarf standards no larger than currant-bushes, which 
have never missed a crop for sixteen years. Such 
bushes yield on an average half a bushel each, at least, 
annually. Fruit middle size, cinnamon-coloured. 
This would pay well in cottage gardens, and would 
take in the markets. 

10. Marie Louise (November). This is so well 
known as to need little description. It is excelled by 
none in its season, — indeed, scarcely equalled. We 
dare not, however, recommend it to the cottager, 
unless in the southern counties. It is peculiarly 
adapted to train on the gable of a house in the north- 
ern counties ; on an east or west aspect it would 
answer well, whilst the south might have an apricot. 

11. Althorp Crassane (November). A very good 
and 'free bearing tree, generally spoiled by being 
placed on a wall. Fruit round, middle-sized, of a 
dull greenish brown. Well adapted for a dwarf 
standard in the northern counties, or for orchard 
trees in the south. 

12. Beurre Diel (November and December). For 
dwarf standards in the cottager's garden, this pear 
would perhaps prove more profitable than any in tlie 
kingdom ; for in addition to its free bearing proper- 
ties, it is of great size, and will keep a good while. 
Having a sound skin, it would carry well to market. 
Frait round, very large ; a dull green, with some 
freckles. 

13. Passe Colmar (December and January). A 
great bearer, and adapted for dwarf standards in our 
southern counties, but requires a wall in the north. 
Fruit nearly round, middle-sized, and of a pale 
green. This pear has the desirable property o' 
bearing on the last year's shoots. 

14. Hacon's Incomparable (December and January). 
Hardy, and a free bearer; this is everybody's pear. 
Fruit middle-sized, roundish, and of a brownish 
green. The flavour is good, and it is very melting. 

15. Glout Morceau (December to February). A 
robust tree, which will answer well on the quince in 
our southern counties as a dwarf standard, but must 
have a wall or gable in our northern ones. Fruit 
large, greenish, and keeps well. 

16. Winter Nelis (November to January). This 
we consider the finest flavoured melting pear in the 
kingdom. Properly ripened, it is excelled by none, 
and equalled by few. It would answer well in our 
southern counties on the quince as a dwarf standard, 
provided a snug situation was selected for it. In 
the north, however, it must have a wall. This is too 
tender and too small for the cottager ; but no amateur 
should be without one. Fruit smallish round, and of 
a pale green ; leaves of the tree peculiarly small and 
taper. 

17. Knight's Monarch (January). A good hardy 
pear, and very productive. Fruit middle-sized, flat- 
tish round, of a yellowish brown, and of a somewhat 
musky flavour. Would answer well as a dwarf stand- 
ard in most parts, provided it were on a quince stock. 

18. Easter Betirre (January to March). Much es- 
teemed as a late pear, although it has disappointed 
many. This is understood to be owing to its being 
put on walls possessing aspects too good for this 
hardy kind. It should be grown on dwarf standards 
in our southern counties, and in the northern it would, 
perhaps, be well to let it have a wall possessing a 
north-east or north-west aspect. Perhaps the quince- 
stock would reconcile it to a dwarf standard character 
in the north Of middle size, round, and of a lively 
green. 



16 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



19. Seurre Ranee (March to June). This is the 
best late pear in the country, at least for the amateur. 
Much, however, depends on the aspect and stock. 
We should think the quince would be most suitable, 
and it would succeed with similar aspect and treat- 
ment as the Easter Beurre. Fruit long, above middle 
size, of a dark green colour. 

20. A'e plus Metiris (March and April), An ugly- 
looking fruit, but nevertheless a useful late pear. 
This deserves a west or east aspect, and should be 
tried on the quince. Fruit below middle size, nearly 
round, with clumsy angular pi-otuberances ; colour 
greenish brown. 

We have now described twenty of the best pears 
in the country ; and it only remains to throw them 
into groups, bearing reference to tlieir cidtivation. 



This we shall readily do, by reference to the numbers 
placed at their l>ead. 

Pears adapted for the southern orchard — ^Nos. 1, 2, 
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14. 

For the northern orchard— Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 14. 

For east or west wall in the north, or for dwarf 
standards in the south— Nos. 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 
IG, 17, 19, 20. 

Pears peculiarly the cottager's, as being particu- 
larly profitable— Nos. 2, .3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17. 

We feel assured that the foregoing analysis of the 
Table previously given will he found in the main coi-- 
rect ; and it will present a ready means of makkig a 
selection. We have so trespassed on ordinary calen- 
darial business with the pear subject, that we must 
defer such remarks until our next. 

R. Errington, 



THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



General Directions : Shelters. — Stern winter 
has set in in good earnest, and it behoves the culti- 
Tator to keep a constant look out. The evenings are 
often ushered in by a clear sky, and if the wind in- 
clines to any point of the north, frost is almost sure to 
take place. Every thing ihat requires protection ought 
now, without fail, to be in their winttr quarters ; and 
every night cradles, (bedsbent over with hoops,) frames, 
and pits should be covered with mats. In our change- 
able climate it is scarcely ever safe to remit those 
precautions. It may even be a wet evening, clear up 
at midnight and be a sharp frost, to the gi-eat surprise 
of the neglectful in the morning. By way of being 
safe, it is far better, then, to cover all up every niglit. 

Order and Neatness. — .\11 dead fluwers should be 
cut down and the tops removed to the rubbish-heiip. 
Dahlias should be taken up and secured from frost in 
the manner recommended in a previous Number. 
The leaves of deciduous trees and shnibs will now be 
nearly all fallen from them, and must be collected into 
some convenient place, to decay and form leaf-mould. 
The borders should have a dressing of manure, or 
compost of loam, dung, and leaf-mould; spread this 
evenly all over the borders, digging it in, and leaving 
the surface quite rough. As the digging advances, 
it there sh.ould be any shrubs or flower-roots that 
require protection, let it be applied as you go on, so 
as not to have to go on the borders after they are 
dug. 

Amateur's Flower-garden. — So long as the 
weather continues open, that is, without snow, there 
is always something that requires attention. All new- 
planted shrubs should hav« their roots protected from 
frost, as far as they extend, by a covering of spent 
tanners' bark, short litter, or coal-ashes. If you keep 
the frost from reaching the roots they will continue to 
grow, and for this reason to draw up sap to enable 
the plant to push forth strongly in the spring. That 
they do put out new roots in the autumn may be 
easily proved by taking one up after it has been 
planted a month. The young white roots may then 
be seen pushing in all directions; and if the slrrub is 
immediately replanted tliere will be no harm done. 

Staking. — Every tree or shrub that requires stakes 
need them most during the boisterous months of 
autumn and winter. Examine all such as have been 
staked for some lime, and if the stakes are found de- 
cayed, which generally is the case just on the surface , 



of the earth, let all sirch he taken away and new ones 
put in their places. Such as are sound should have 
the ties renewed. The best stakes are those made of 
young larch-trees; they last the longest. The-baik 
should be removed, and the stake made smooth. The 
part to be driven into the earth should be sharpened 
to a point with a sharp instnunent; and then, to pre- 
serve it as long as possihle, let it be dipped into sinie 
hot tar and pitch. After it has become cool and dry, 
drive it in with a wooden mallet as close to the shrub 
as possible, taking care not to injure the roots. Place 
a shred of any kind of cloth round the stem, to prevent 
the string from cutting it, which it would be apt to do 
as the tree swells in growing. The best material to 
tie with is rope-yarn, or twine that has been tarred, 
such as is used in thatching hay or corn- stacks. 

Fences. — As every garden requires a fence from 
cattle or depredators, or as a division from a neigh- 
bouring garden, it is not out of place to mii'ke a few 
remarks on this kind of enclosure. There are several 
kinds of fences, but they may he divided into two — 
protective and ornamental. The protective, again, 
may be of two kinds, a wall or a hedge. 

Walls. — -The most simple, lasting, and effectual, 
is the wall ; and it may be either of brick or stone. 
In some localities stone is plentiful and cheaper than 
brick. A stone wall should always be built with lime, 
and have the front next the garden es/ieciaUi/ made 
smooth. In some cases the inside is built with brick 
and the outside with stone. If the wall is not used 
for fruit-trees, it may be covered with creepers, of 
which climbing roses are the most ornamental during 
summer, and the Irish ivy in winter. One shrub, 
however, must not be forgotten, — we mean the Pyra- 
cantha, or evergreen thorn. Though it has not such 
beautiful foliage as the ivy, it produces large bunehfs 
of bright scatlet berries, which are very ornamental 
during winter. Whichever kinds are used to cover 
the wall, they ought to be kept quite close to it by 
pruning and nailing. The gardens of villa-residences 
near large towns have the boiuidary next the general 
road formed with a substantial wall, and the division 
fences made with a low wall and an iron trelKs or 
railing upon it. This trellis would be very useful, 
and be much more ornamental to train creepers upon. 
The honeysuckle, the clematis, climbing-rose, and 
Irish ivy, would be much more pleasant to the eye 
an) gratifying to the sense than a naked trellis. Each 



THE COTTAGE GAJinENER, 



77 



proprieter of course will plant .oidy one fence of thia 
kind; and to cause it to aave a neat appearance the 
creepers -should be kept neatly and closely tied in, 
90 as not to interfere with or sliade- the flower-borders 
on each side. 

HEDGEs.^The other protective fence is the hedge, 
which may be described as a row of thorny shrubs, 
set so thick and allowed to grow so high as to pre- 
vent cattle or trespassers from creeping through it or 
getting over it. This- kind of fence is more general 
in the country than near large towns. There are two 
kinds of shrubs used for this purpose in this country, 
the common thorn and the holly. The thorn makes a 
strong effectual fence, if well managed. In the first 
place, the ground where it is to be planted should be 
properly prepared. , If the situation be low and 
swampy, dig it one spit deep, and, as the digging 
proceeds, form a ditch at the outside, one foot wide 
and as much deip, sloping it downwards to the bottom 
of the ditch. Form the slope with some of the turf; 
the soil out of the ditch will raise that where the 
hedge is to be planted. Break the soil well with the 
spade, keeping the turf, if any, at the bottom of the 
trench, and leave the surface smooth and even. As 
soon as the digging is finished, the thorns may be 
planted. Stretch a garden4ine one foot from the 
ditch, andw'ith the spade chop down the soil so as to 
form an^upright bank, and deep enough to cover the 
roots- it is then -ready to receive the thorns. Some 
persons plant two rows to form the hedge, this we 
judge to be a useless waste of plants : one row, with 
the plants four inches apart, will grow better, and 
consequently sooner be a fence than two rows. The 
thorns will grow faster if a portion of rotten dung be 
added to the soil at the time of planting. It will also 
be advantageous to protect the- roots the first season 
with some short- litter. In high dry situations the 
ditch may be dispensed with ; indeed it is then not 
only of no^use, but injurious, as it takes away the 
moisture from the roots ; and the- expense and labour 
of forming the ditch and bank is thrown away. Who- 
ever observes the stunted- miserable fences that divide 
our upland pastures in most places, will easily con- 
ceive the cause to be the injudicious mode in which the 
hedges have been planted and managed. Should you 
propose to the farmer a mode of growing wheat, or any 
other plant, on banks two feet high, he would laugh 
at the absurdity of your plan, and yet with his hedges 
he follows that method which in- any other case he 
would justly ridicule. If a correct calculation were 
to be made of the waste of earth, of space, and labour 
the hedges of Great Britain cause^ it would surely 
luing about a reform in the planting and management 
of our hedges. 

The next protective fence is one that we strongly 
commend. It has tw-o qualities to recommend it that the 
thorn does not possess, — it is an evergreen, and is much 
warmer. We mean our beautiful holly. The only disad- 
vantage that can be urged against it is the slowness 
of its growth. This, however, may be partly overcome 
if the same pains are taken as with the other. For a 
garden fence, a fine holly hedge is invaluable, adorned 
as it is, when in perfection, with its bright shining 
leaves and scarlet berries. The same pains and method 
as described for the thorns, should be bestowed upon 
it. Both are best planted when- young. Thorns should 
be three years old, and hollies four. All the soil may 
be shaken off thorns when taken up out of the nursery 
rows; but it should be carefully retained to the roots 
of the hollies. The latter should be planted imme- 
diately, and the roots as little exposed to the sun and 
wind as ppssible; . Tbe best season to. plant the holly. 



is early, in October ; the thorn, too, will do best H 
planted before Christmas. All these pains may ba 
taken, and yet, if proper care is not taken of the fence 
afterwards, the fence will make but slow progress. By 
a temporary fence of posts and rails, cattle should be 
kept from browsing, on it. No weeds sbould be allowed 
to grow among the plants, as they will not only choke 
them, but will rob them of the nomishment they would 
have if the weeds were kept down. Besides, by fre- 
quently hoeing, the surface is in a good state to be 
benefited by-rains and snows. Hedges should be 
dipt with the dubbing-shearss lightly, even tlie first 
season ; taking off all the straggling shoots, and so 
laying, as it were, the foundation for its proper form. 
That form should be pyramidal, or that of the letter 
A. When in that form, every part of it is equally ex- 
posed to the benefit of light, air, and rain : whereas, 
if the upright perpendicular method is adopted,- the 
lower branches will perish, and the fence, become 
naked at the lower part of it. 

We will give directions relative to ornamental fences 
in a future Number. 

Cottage Flower-garden. The weather last week 
having been very suitable for out-door operations, we 
trust our cottage friends have made good use of it. 
The turf-pit and arched walk, mentioned in the late 
Numbers, are, we hope, progressing. No time must be 
lost now,- as the days are approaching to\vards the 
shortest. Do not forget, amidst all your works, to 
collect the fallen leaves, wherever you. can honestly 
obtain them. It is a very pleasant employment for 
the cottager's children, and an exercise they will de- 
light in, with their wheelbarrow and rake. The leaves 
should be put in a corner of the garden, and wetted 
with the slops from the cottage^ and should be turned 
over frequently, to assist the progress of rotting. They 
will be excellent maniure, either for the flower-garden, 
or vegetable crops. - 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

TuLH-s. — If not already all planted, no time ought 
to be lost now, as the late fine weather has put the 
bed into fine order. The bed ought to have hoops 
stretched over it, so that it can be covered with mats 
during very heavy rains, or extreme frost. 

Anemonies. — The single ones may now be planted 
either in beds, or patches, in the general flower-border. 
Fine double ones had better be kept in the bags, till 
February or March. 

Pans v. — Agreeable to promise,, we now resume the 
culture of this interesting flower. In No. 5, we gave 
pretty full instructions how to propagate it : 

Soil. — Pansies love a light, rich soil. I.oam three 
parts, and leaf-mould one part, will grow them, finely. 
If the loam be strong, add one-eighth of river sand. 
Should the situation he damp, the bed ought to be 
drained. To produce high bright colours, the bed 
ought to be in an open situation. The bed should 
be got ready now, and be tm-ned over two or three 
times during tlie winter. 

Potted Pansies. — The best kinds should bekeptiu 
pots,underprotection,through the severe weather. Keep 
them rather dry and clean from weeds, pick off all 
decaying leaves as they occur, or they will cause the 
plants to damp off. Air must be given freely in fine 
weather, which will keep the plants healthy. When 
they become dry, water the soil, but do not let any 
water fall upon the leaves. The pots should stand 
upon dry coal-ashes ; and once or twice remove all the 
ppte, and -look out for snails, and other destructive 



7fi 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER 



verniin. At the same time sprinkle another slight 
covering of dry ashes ; they will absorb the damps. 
If all those precautions and pains are taken, you will 
cany the plants healthily and safely through the winter. 
Early in the spring, level your bed down, and proceed 
to plant. The space between the rows should be nine 



inches, and the saui^ ^etween the plants in the row 
Let the earth be pressed with the hand closely tc 
each plant. They then want no further care except- 
ing keeping clear of weeds, and the soil stirred on the 
surface occasionally, especially after heavy rains. 

T. ArPLEBY. 



WINDOW AND GREENHOUSE-GARDENING. 



Night Warmth. — In olden times, those who could 
afford to have a greenhouse or pit to keeji their plants 
in through the winter, were never satisfied unless they 
could have them in a green fresh state all the year 
round. I recollect very well, when I was a little 
fellow, that I had often to sit up till past eleven o'clock, 
on frosty nights, keeping on a roaring fire to the 
greenhouse. My instructions Avere to finish up at 
night by filling the fireplace with dusty small coals, 
and over them a thick layer of ashes, and pat the 
whole down for the night, and to be sure to be up 
early in the morning to poke and stir up the remains 
of this fire. By way of insuring all this to be done 
faithfully, — if the fire went out during the night, I 
had to make up a fresh one before the sun was up, by 
way of punishment. I took pretty good care, you 
may be sure, to avoid this drudgery, as much as I 
could. The plants next the flues could never go one 
day without a good watering in frosty weather ; and 
we thought this was very much in their favour. Of 
late years, however, all this has changed: the stimu- 
lus given to gardening by the great exhibitions and 
the diffusion of sound principles through the press, 
have changed all — or almost all — our old notions: so 
much so, indeed, that cottagers' windows along the 
roadsides exhibit better specimens of plant-growing 
nowadays, than we used to have with all the fires 
and greenhouses at our command. It is now clearly 
ascertained that plants, like ourselves, require rest at 
night all the year round, and also a season of repose, 
like our apple-trees. AVhen our hardy trees cast their 
leaves in the autumn, they take their rest till the 
return of spring, when their buds — now swelling fast 
— tell that they are again at work ; but their labour 
is not incessant, for every cold night — and every night 
is colder than the days — they go to rest more or less. 
It appears, therefore, that cold is necessary to allow 
plants to have their own natural way of living, and 
that to keep them too warm at night, or during the 
winter, is acting contrary to nature, and, therefore, 
must he injurious to them. No wonder then that 
plants treated on the roaring fire system — as above — 
should get gawky and long-legged, hut unhealthy and 
of short duration. The cottager who puts out his fire 
before he goes to bed, and for fear of frost places his 
window plants down in the middle of the room, is 
acting more rationally than his lordship's gardener 
who keeps his men trotting " after the fires" the best 
part of the night. The cooler greenhouse plants are 
kept during the winter the less water they require, and 
the less attendance in every respect : they will also 
grow with much greater vigour when they begin in 
tire spring. In frosty and stormy weather the green- 
house fire should be lighted early in the afternoon, 
and, no matter how cold the day may be, some air 
ought to be given, if only for an hour or two, after 
the fire is lit. The flue then gets warmed throughout 
before night, and the fire may be damped down with 
small coal and cinder ashes, a little damped previously : 
this will keep a smouldering fire for a long time ; if 



the night is very frosty and the thermometer stands 
below forty degrees, the fire may be stirred up about 
eight o'clock. 

Management of Fires. — Here I must digress a 
little, to say there is not one in five hundred who knows 
how to manage a coal fire properly — not even if he 
buys the coals himself. I have been on steam-boats 
of all sorts and sizes, both in England and Scotland, 
and I have travelled on most of our great lines of 
railroads ; I have also seen fires made in large foun- 
deries, and I can safely say that I never saw a stoker 
in any of these places manage a fire properly. If a 
gardener who has had much to do with fires were 
made a railway king, he could save thousands of 
pounds yearly in the coal bills alone. The way fires 
are mismanaged is this : when the coals are about 
half burnt, or rather so far coked as to burn clear 
with little or no smoke, a great fellow comes with a 
long black poker, and stirs them up — clearing away 
the ashes and small cinders from among the fire bars, 
'i'he fire then burns quite clear, and is perfect, and if 
left to itself in that state for a time, would be suffici- 
ently strong for any purpose. But no ; we are never 
satisfied with things as they should be. No sooner 
has the poker done its work but the coal-shovel must 
begin to undo it, by heaping on a fresh layer of coals all 
over the burning mass, and a black volume of smoke 
immediately destroys the efficiency of the clear fire. 
By the time this second feed of coals begins to burn 
clear — the state in which it is most powerful — the 
poker and shovel go the same unvaried round ; and 
it is no exaggeration to say, that one half of the coals 
used in this way are mere waste and useless smoke. 

The way intelligent gardeners manage their hot- 
house fires is this : when the first feed of coals becomes 
a clear bm-ning mass, no more fresh coals are thrown 
over it till the fires are made up for the night — their 
constant aim being to keep the body of the fire as 
clear as can possibly be done. When a fresh supply 
is necessary, the fire is stirred, and the unconsumed 
coals — now at a red heat — are pushed towards the 
farther end of the furnace, and the fresh feed is placed 
in front, next to the fire-place door. The quantity of 
smoke from this fresh fuel is nothing in comparison to 
that caused by throwing it over the surface of a hot 
fire, and a great part of i: is consumed in passing over 
the part ignited. The cold fuel ne.\t the door is thus 
coked, or carbonized, and when pushed forward in its 
turn, bums clear, and gives out a powerful heat ; 
besides, the coldest part of the fire being always next 
the furnace door, prevents this door from warping, 
and the rush of cold air through the crevices of 'he 
iron-work is also lessened. The air necessary for 
blowing a brisk fire should always be admitted by the 
ash-pit, and up through the bars, in order to get heated 
before it reaches the flame. This is the most effectual 
way of managing fires for flues or boilers ; and yet 
how often do you see directly the reverse — that is, to 
draw out the burning mass to the front of the fire- 
place, and apply the fresh coal beyond? Small cin- 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



ders, in equal quantities with coal, make a steadier 
fire than either alone. When the fire is made up for 
the night the coal and cinders should he damped a 
Httie, and some of the dust ashes thrown over the 
whole, which should then he patted down with the 
back of the fire-shovel ; and, if a damper is used, this 
reservoir of heat ought to last many hours. Every 
flue, or chimney, for plant-houses, ought to have a 
damper near the farthest end from the fire to regulate 
the draught when necessary, and to prevent a current 
of cold air passing through the flue after the fire is 
made up for the night. I have occupied more space 
on the subject of flues than many readers may think 
necessary at the present time, when they are nearly 
superseded all over the country by hot water-pipes; 
hut I am persuaded that with our improved knowledge 
of cultivation, plants can be as well grown with smoke 
flues as with hot water, and with half the expense in 
the long run. The advantages attending the use of 
hot water-pipes in small green-houses — such as this 
article is intended for — are more than overbalanced in 
the loss of heat driven up the chimney and lost. For- 
merly gardeners were not sufiiciently alive to the im- 
portance of supplying the atmosphere of their plant- 
houses with moisture in proportion to the necessary 
degree of heat : hence the outcry against smoke-flues. 
On the other hand, a hot water apparatus is far pre- 
ferable when one can go to the expense ; but thousands 
who could indulge the luxury of a small green-house 
are prevented by the necessary expense of a hot water 
apparatus, and also from an idea that plants cannot be 
managed well with smoke flues. One strong objection 
urged against flues is that a house can never be kept 
to a uniform temperature by them, as with hot water- 
pipes ;— the end next the fire-place must be so much 
hotter than the other end. This assertion is quite 
true ; but instead of that being a disadvantage or 
objectionable, it is precisely the reverse, as it will 
enable you to grow a greater variety of plants in one 
house than could be done were all parts of the house 
of equal temperature, which may be illustrated thus : 
geraniums require more warmth than fuchsias, there- 
fore geraniums must stand in the hottest end of the 
house: fuchsias, again, must have more heat than 
heaths, and should take their place between the gera- 
niums and heaths, and so on. Where heaths are grown 
in one house, fuchsias in another, and geraniums in a 
third, it is of the greatest advantage to have each 
house of uniform temperature throughout, and nothing 
can do that like hot water-pipes ; but I am not writing 
for such places. 

The less fire heat is used for a green-house, consist- 
ently with tlie safety of the plants, the more healthy they 
will be, although, for the time, they may not appear so 
to the eye ; therefore, to protect it with mats, wooden 
shutters, or asphalt covers, is not only a great saving 
of coals, but of some importance to the plants also. 
There will be little watering to do in a green-house for 
a long time, but the plants should all be looked over 
occasionally to see what they may want. 

Camellias. — These are beautiful green-house plants, 
of the more hardy sort, which, if rightly managed, will 
flower every spring and look well at all times. At 
present you may see their flower buds growing in 
little knots at the end of the branches, sometimes 
growing close together, like clusters of nuts cr filberts, 
and every one of them would produce a flower if left 



to themselves ; but that would burden the plant too 
much, and probably keep it from flowering next sea- 
son, or break down its constitution altogether, and be 
a cripple or sickly thing for years to come : besides, 
the individual flowers would not be nearly so fine and 
large if the whole of the buds were allowed to open. 
Gardeners always thin out the flower buds of this 
beautiful plant, as soon as they can distinguish them 
from the other buds. If not done already, this is 
a good time to rub or cut off those buds, where they 
are crowded. Two are the most that should be left at 
one place, and where the branches or shoots are small 
one flower bud is quite enough for it to bring to per- 
fection. This work is called disbudding ; of which vou 
will hear a good deal by-and-by. Although camellias 
are not growing at present, and appear to he quite at 
rest, they have a heavy task to perform in nursing 
their own flower buds ; therefore they require good 
feeding, by being regularly watered, and about every 
ten days by a dose of some liquid manure, of which 
the safest stimulant at this season is soapsuds. I 
hardly know a plant that will refuse — or, rather, that 
is not benefited by being watered occasionally with 
soapsuds ; and if in a warm state, so much the better 
for the camellias. 

Chrysanthemums and the earliest Cinerarias 
are the only other plants that occur to me now as re- 
quiring the assistance of slight liquid manures, that is 
in the green-house. It is difierent with window plants 
in warm rooms. You may safely allow them a little 
more feeding at all times, as they are under greater 
disadvantages than those in the green-house. A mix- 
ture of one-half rain-water, and the other half of soap- 
suds, may be given them alternately, with clear rain 
or soft water. Ice-cold water, and all hard spring- 
water, fresh from the pump, is very injurious to all 
plants ; and some kinds of plants never prosper, if 
constantly watered with hard water. For green-house 
plants in general, I do not put so much stress on, 
having the water for them luke-warm ; if the chill is 
taken off, it is enough ; and that can easily be done by 
keeping a water-pot or two always full on the flue, or 
near the fire-place : if this gets too hot when the fire 
is at work, it is easily cooled by adding more cold 
water to it. 

It is now time to put by such window-plants as are 
kept quite dry over the winter, such as fuchsias, scar- 
let geraniums, cactus, etc. The branches of the fuchsias 
may he cut to within a foot of the pot : the remaining 
leaves on the scarlet geraniums had better be taken 
off also. In short, any plant put to complete rest, 
should have the leaves and small twigs first stripped 
off, as they can be of no use, and may do some harm 
by damping, and so bring destruction to the plants. 
Any place where the frost cannot get at, will do to 
winter such things. Damp is more destructive for 
them than frost, and they will do for months with little 
or no light. Indeed, some people keep their dry 
plants in the cellar ; but that is a dangerous place for 
them ; unless the cellar is perfectly dry, you may as 
well throw them in the fire at once. A dry lumber- 
room at the top of the house, is much better than a 
cellar ; and plants may he put into a box or basket, 
covered over with some thick warm covering while 
hard frost prevails, and in mild weather open them to 
the air ; look at them occasionally wherever they are. 

D. Beaton. 



80 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 



Beans. — A small crop of these may be planted on 
a south border. The Mazagans are usually employed 
for this crop, but we prefer the Dwarl Fan. They 
come into bearing nearly, or quite, as early, and are 
not so liable to be blown down by the spring equi- 
noctial gales. Cover the surface of the earth over the 
rows with coal-ashes to the depth of an inch, for this 
brings the plants up quicker, protects their roots, and 
saves the seed from being attacked by mice. 

Cabbages, plant out for seed. Three of the finest 
cabbages of any one sort that have had good hearts, 
and have not been cut for use, are quite sufficient for 
producing seed enough for one family. Plant them 
in a row, so that in the spring their seed-stems may 
be easily supported between four stakes and cross 
rods. Do not grow more than one kind for seed at 
the same time, otherwise the bees, in flying from 
flower to flower, will cross-impregnate them, and none 
will come " true." Do not let each cabbage ripen 
more than three stems bearing seed-pods, but cut all 
others away. When planting the cabbages for pro- 
duc ng seed remove the large outer leaves, and dig 
the hole for each so deep that it can be buried quite 
down to the head. Do not plant them nearer than 
three feet from each other. 

Earthing-up attend to, for all crops, such as cab- 
bages, savoys, and brocoli. The oflener the soil is 
stirred between them the better. We find this season, 
in consequence of the extreme wetness of the summer 
and autumn, that the crops of winter-standing brocoli 
are very soft in texture and long-shanked. These are 
bad qualities for them to have, with the prospect of a 
severe winter ; for it this occurs, and they are ;& i pro- 
tected, or aided in some way, they will all be de- 
stroyed by being frostbitten in the neck. To prevent 
this, we have taken up, with as little disturbance as 
possible to their roots, all our long-shanked friends, 
and digging holes of the depth of their shanks, have 
replanted them in the same places, quite down to their 
leaves, and earthed them up still higher. 

Cucumbers. — Attend to keeping up the heat by 
linings of fresh dung if necessary, as directed in our 
Sixth Number. A very important operation for ob- 
raming early fruit, is the first pruning of the plants, 
or, as it is termed, stopping them : that is, nipping off 
the top of the first advancing stem. This makes it 
throw out side shoots, which become the fruit-bearing 
branches. 

In November and December, while the influence of 
the sun is little, and the excitability of the plants 
feeble, the attempt to stop them should not be made, 
unless their strengtli gives good proof that other 
shoots will be emitted. But plants in a young state, 
in spring, should be stopped at the first joint. Their 
being fruitful or otherwise in the early part of their 
life, will depend iu a great measure upon a proper 
pe.formance of this operation. Plants intended for I 
treilis culture should not be stopped until they have ' 
attained to a proper height, the distance from the soil 
of the bed to the trellis being necessary. The end 
bud, and every one btlow the three top ones, should 
be removed; and the shoots from these will become 
the skeleton of tlie future system of branches. Every 
useless or not requii'ed bud should be rubbed off im- 



mediately it is produced, and every shoot imnecessary 
removed with the fingers, the knife being required 
only in removing a worn-out branch in a later stage of 
growth, and to cut the fruit. The shoots with fruit 
should be stopped at the second joint beyond the 
fruit, as soon as it is out of bloom. The shoot emitted 
at the fruit, and the one before it, must be rubbed 
away; and should there be one behind it, that should 
be stopped, not removed ; but the shoots at the end 
bud, and others on other parts of the plants, must be 
encouraged to proceed unstopped, to succeed in a 
similar way, pioportioning their number and the 
number of fruit to the strength of the plants. 

When the plants begin to run, if a ti-ellis is not 
used, the shoots must be trained and pegged down at 
regular distances, which not only prevents their rub- 
bing against the glass, but also becoming entangled 
with each other. Never more than two or three main 
branches should be left to each plant, all otiiers to be 
removed as they appear. If more are left it causes 
the whole to be weak, and entirely prevents the due 
exposure of the leaves to the sun. 

For attaining this last-named object, as well as to 
obtain fruit unstained and of a uniform colour, it is 
by far the best mode of training to have the branches 
supported on a wire trellis at a regulated and equal 
distance from the glass. 

To promote the admission of light in fine days in 
winter, when it is calm, it is very beneficial to clean 
the inside of the frame by washing and wiping, using 
a little warm water and a sponge, and once a fort- 
night, or as often as required, the lights too ; these 
must be removed to a distance, and well sj'ringed and 
washed with a soft brush ; and before they are put on 
again allowed to dry. While this is being done, some 
other lights must be put on in their stead ; but prefer- 
ably to this, if it be convenient, is to use two sets of 
lights, one to be at rest and the other in use alter- 
nately every fortnight or three weeks. 

The training must be regularly attended to, and all 
needless shoots and leaves removed. If the plants 
which have been once stopped have extended their 
runners to three joints without showing fruit, they 
must be again stopped. As the fruit advances, if not 
trained on a trellis, tiles, sand, or other material must 
be placed beneath it to preserve it from specking, or a 
glass cylinder is still better; if a bulb containing 
water is attached, the fruit grows faster and finer. 

The greatest care is necessary in regulating the 
temperature ; it must never be allowed to decline 
below 70 degrees, or to rise above 95 degrees. The 
temperature of the bed, as well as of the exterior air, 
governs also the degree of freedom with which the air 
may be admitted ; whenever allowalde, the glasses 
should be raised. The best time for doing so, is from 
ten to three o'clock. 

It may not be misplaced to remark, that chilly, 
foggy days are even less propitious for admitting air 
than severe frosty ones ; during such it is best to 
keep the frames close, and to lessen tlie opening of 
tlie glasses, in proportion as the air is cold or tlie beds 
declining in heat, it never exceeding two inches under 
the most favourable circumstances. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEll. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



My JLOWERS. 

[No. 6.] 

The auricula and polyanthus ave beautiful border- 
flowers. I'hey are too often considered so much as 
florists' flowers, and as not worth growing, except 
in perfection; but this should not prevent our en- 
couraging them as much as we can, because even 
inferior plants are lovely, and a very little care will 
improve them, and make their flowers rich and abimd- 
ant. I scarcely know any flower more beautiful than 
the auricula, with its downy, velvet-like blossoms ; 
and, when growing in clusters, it is a great ornament 
to the garden. They like a good soil — leaf-mould, 
mixed with sand, suits them. I do not mention the 
composts generally used, because ladies can seldom 
procure them — and if they can, every work on gar- 
dening will direct them much better than I can do. 
Auriculas must be placed deep in the soil, but it 
should not be pressed round them. In some old- 
fashioned gardens we see large tufts of these plants, 
with their deep purple, maroon, and yellow clusters, 
blooming exuberantly ; and although a practical eye 
might condemn them, they afford infinite pleasure to 
those who love flowers for themselves, and whose 
enjoyment has not been ruined by over-much know- 
ledge. Too refined a taste in flowers is sometimes 
almost a misfortune — it cuts off many sources of real 
pleasure, and prevents our doing anything when we 
cannot effect all. I have experienced this myself 
with regard to the polyanthus. I was taught to dis- 
tinguish the qualities of a perfect flower : and al- 
though I never arrived at any eminence as a judge, I 
lost my pleasure as an admirer. I have endeavoured 
to forget — hut it will not do ; my eye most perversely 
remembers ; and as I seldom meet with a tolerable 
specimen, I endure continual disappointment. The 
polyanthus should not be allowed to remain long 
without parting the roots, or the flowers become very 
poor, and are disfigured by leaves which choke the 
blossoms ; the plants should be divided, and replaced 
in good fresh soil. Plant them very deep in the 
ground, quite up to the leaves, as roots will form high 
up the stems. Cut off" all the stumpy, carrot^like 
roots from the old plant, and leave only those which 
have plenty of fibres. Choice plants are often tied 
up like lettuces when the flowering-season is over, to 
prevent the wet settling among their leaves and in- 
juring them. 

Lilies-ofthe-valley should be far more extensively 
cultivated than they are in every garden. Their fra- 
grance is so exquisite, yet so delicate, that they are 
delightful even in a sitting-room ; and the air never 
seems oppressive that is laden with their perfume. 
Cottagers do not seem to care for these very charming 
flowers ; I never remember seeing them in any of 
their gardens, but they should ever be encouraged, 
from the splendid parterres of royalty to the peasant's 
humble though smiling border. They possess a pe- 
culiar interest, also, in the eym "t the Christian, as 
being used in Scripture to describe the grace and 
beauty of the church; and a glorious pi-omise to 
Israel was made also under the figure of another 
variety of the same fragrant plant : " He shall grow 
as the lilv." T-et us. while enjoying the treasures of 



our gardens, ever extend our thoughts to higher and 
holier things ; for not a tree, or plant, or flower, or 
stone, or tuft of grass by the wayside, but leads our 
thoughts to God ! 

The lily-of-the-valley grows freely in the shade, 
but it loves the sun, and gives forth its richest odours 
j under his full influence. How good would it be for 
us to listen to the Idies of the garden as well as to 
those "of the field," and like them pour forth ihe 
incense of prayer and praise for the full radiance of 
the " Sun of Righteousness ! " Cottagers might culti- 
vate this flower With profit ; a few bunches, neatly 
tied up, would decorate the basket of eggs, or vege- 
tables, and catch the attention of many who perhaps 
seldom enjoy such sweetness. Few flowers grow so 
prettily as these. The little column of snowy bells 
stands folded so closely, yet so becomingly in its rich 
green mantle, that it seems almost cruel to disturb it 
— yet its fragrance is irresistible. I recommend every 
lady and every cottager to encourage its growth, and 
to place it everywhere — in shade and sunshine, under 
shrubs, and in beds and borders. 

There is a splendid flower, too generally considered 
as only belonging to the green-house, — I mean the 
camelia japonica. Many pet and preserve them 
through the winter in sitting-rooms, but with much 
care and difficulty ; but the advantage would be 
great if they could be hardened into shrubs, and this 
may be done in lime. V\^.ce roimd the plants wooden 
cases, according to their size, and on the top of each 
fix a hand-glass, through which may be admitted 
light, air, and water. Leaf-mould, or tanners' bark, 
six or seven inches in depth, should be laid within 
each case. This plan must be pursued for foitr win- 
ters ; during the next four winters, hoops supporting 
mats will be a sufficient protection ; after which they 
may be left uncovered with safety, — for seasons that 
have killed laurels, have never injured camelias thus 
hardened to the open air. The experiment is worih 
trying by any one who doubts the fact — for the plant 
would form a noble addition to the lawn and shrub- 
bery. The pure white blossoms of this plant — the 
deep crimson, and the white and red — glow brightly 
among their dark polished leaves, and would make 
our gardens very gay ; they are beautiful ornaments 
for the hair, and, being scentless, are well suited for 
the flower-vase. 

Our winter's last preparations must be made now 
with speed — the frosts and snows are at hand, and 
then we must cease from our labours. All nature is 
about to sleep, while the mighty hand of God is 
silently working beneath the dreary, frozen surface, 
performing the wondrous operations that are so soon 
again to send forth "food and gladness" to fill our 
hearts. Eye cannot discern these deep, mysterious 
works, nor can we hear the Voice that bids the sap 
awake and flow into the topmost bough ; yet we mark 
the swelling bud and the shooting blade, and we 
know that the mightv engines of God's power are in 
full activity — that He neither slumbereth nor sleepeth 
^-and that soon the earth shall again " bring forth 
her increase," "the field shall be joyful, and a!l 
that is therein," and "the trees of the wood shiJJ 
rejoice." 



82 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



HARDY AND GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS, 

LATELY INTRODUCED AND WORTH 

CULTIVATING. 

Slender-sfurred Columbine {AquUeijialepfoceras). 
— This flower was found by Mr. Burke, in 1845, in 
the regions of the Rocky Mountains of North Ame- 
rica. It is perfectly hardy, and its white flowers, 
slightly tinged with yellow and pink, are beautiful 
when grown in large groups or masses. Mr. Burke 
thus describes its first appearance to him : — " I found, 
near Medicine River, a most beautiful columbine, 
which I have never seen elsewhere,* growing at the 
foot of a iiill, in rich loamy soil: the flowers very 
large, beautifully white, variously tinged above with 
light bhie. In my opinion, it is not only the queen of 
columbines, but the most beautiful of all herbaceous 
piants." — {Doi. Mag. tab. 4407). It is easily propa- 
gated by seed as well as by division of the roots, a 
rich well-drained soil will best suit it. 

EcHiuM-LiKE Arnebia {Ameh'ia echisides). This 
bard)" herbaceous flower is a native of Armenia, and 
the Caucasian Alps. It has yellow flowers, marked 
with five purple spots. The flowers grow in trusses, 
like the cowslip and polyanthus. It is very pretty, 
and blooms in June and July. — {Bot. Mag., tab. 
4409). It is easily raised from seed, and proliably by 
division of the root. Like its relatives, it will probably 
thrive best in a rich light soil, free from the shade of 
other plants. 

Hairy Burtonia (Burtonia villosa). This native 
of the country near Swan River, in Australia, has 
much the appearance of our common RfSt Harrow, 
but is much larger and handsomer. Its flowers are 
lilac, with a yellow throat. It requires the shelter of 
a green-house ; and bloomed during May, at Messrs. 
Lucombe, Pince and Co. 's nursery, E.\eter. — (Bot. 
Mag., tab. 4410). 

The pots in which it is grown must be well drained, 
and the soil a mixture of equal parts, peat and sandy 
loam. Nothing is so hijurious to this genus of plants, 
as too much water about their roots. It is raised from 
seeds, and from cuttings of the young shoots planted 
in sand under a bell-glass. 



DEEPEN THE SOIL. 

BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. 

There is perhaps no mode of rendering the soil of 
a garden more certainly productive, than by deepen- 
ing it. This is an improvement which few persons are 
SO poor as not to have it in their power to adopt. It 
very commonly needs only a good heart, and a stout 
arm, to make in this way the cultivation of the most 
stubborn soils more profitable. I do not confine my 
remarks to any particular description of land. The 
sands of Surrey, by merely deepening them, are in 
this way made to produce the best crops of potatoes. 
I have witnessed this not only in the gardens inclosed 
from the wild heaths of Bagshot, and around Woking, 
' but in the deep strata of sands at Addington. In that 
' parish deep pits are excavated to get at the fine white 
or silver sand, so well known to the housewives of 
London. To accomplish this, it is necessary to dig 
through two or three layers of different kinds of sand. 
These, when the silver sand is taken out, are thrown 
back into the pit, and it is these merely thus deeply- 
stirred sands which produce the excellent crops of 
potatoes to which I have referred. 

• Mr. .7aine« had previously discovered it in the neigiiljourhood of 
the mme niuiintatini. 



On the chalk soils of Sussex and North Hampshire 
the same excellent results of deeply stirring the soil 
are apparent : and this is a result which we might 
perhaps have had reasonable doubts of being attained : 
for the surface soil is already abounding with chalk 
and rests immediately upon a subsoil almost entirely 
composed of the same substance. Here, however, 
deeper digging or forking has been found very bene- 
ficial. The benefit may be thus explained: — Loosen- 
ing the subsoil not only affords a larger space for the 
roots of the plants to extend in search of moisture an<l 
air, but it often gives them access to certain mineral 
substances, (such as bone-earth,) of which, by long- 
continued cropping, the surface soil is exhausted. 
This bone-earth, (the phosphate of lime of the che- 
mists,) is an essential part of almost all plants : it is 
the portion of vegetable food which supplies the en- 
larging bones of all growing animals ; so that as this is 
constantly carried away in some form or other from 
all gardens, it is only by keeping up the supply in 
either manure, or in enlarging the soil, that these 
grounds can be kept in a state of profitable produc- 
tion. The very heaviest clay soils are equally bene- 
fited by thus increasing their depth. It is here that 
the fork is so useful and so powerful : it is not only 
a tool worked with less labour than the spade, but it 
breaks the soil better. I of course regard the use of 
the fork only in conjimction with good and deep 
drainage. To attempt to deepen a soil where the 
land-water approaches within a few inches of the sur- 
face, is useless. The first operation is to get rid of 
the water, and then to apply the fork at the bottom of 
the first trench ; and to attain the most certain ad- 
vantage, the plan 1 have ever seen to answer best is 
to keep this substratum at first from the surface, by 
merely turning it over in the trench, that is, by 
merely deeply loosening it, without at first mixing it 
with the surface-soil. A little time soon enables the 
gases of the atmosphere to render this soH a suitable 
pasture for the roots of the plants ; and these roots are 
sure to very readily find their way down into it. The 
death and decay of these roots still farther improves 
this under-soil ; and in consequence, a still greater 
proportion of the roots of succeeding crops penetrate 
into, and find food in the formerly inert soil. These 
operations steadily continue, until after the lapse of a 
year or two the upper and under soils may be trenched 
and mixt d together with advantage, to a depth of two 
spits. We have here one instance, amongst many, of 
the advantages of merely applying extra manual labour 
to the soil, and the result is pretty general in its appli- 
cations. I have given my experience on only three 
descriptions of soils, — the sands, the chalks, and the 
clays : but there are others who have borne their tes- 
timony to the marvellous effects of mere manual labour 
on soil, still more unlikely to be thus benefited than 
the three I have named. The deep peat-soils of halt 
South Lincolnshire have thus been rendered valnable 
by merely raising a portion of their clay substratum to 
the surface. The late Mrs. Davis Gilbert, in the same 
way, formed a soil on the shingle beach of East Bourn. 
There is then, one may safely conclude, no soil so bad 
but it may be rendered more productive, if we have 
but the courage to encounter the labour required. 



STORING GRAPES IN WINTER. 

Instead of tying the bunches by the stalk when 
hanging them up, take a piece of worsted, two feet 
long, tie the two ends in a knot, make a noose, and 
insert three or four of the berries of the point of tlw 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



bS 



bunch in it ; do the same thing at the other end of 
tlie loop. Hang the two bunches on a nail or a rod 
— putting one of them higher than the other, that 
they may not come in contact. 

The advantage of this method is obvious. When 
the bunch hangs in its natural position, the berries 
rest on each other, and if one decays, the contagion 
spreads so rapidly that the whole bunch is soon de- 
stroyed. Reverse the position of the bunch, and 
almost every berry is separated from the others, and 
disease is far less likely to spread than in the former 
case. The grapes should of course be kept in a cold 
dry room. 

F. L. Lavanchy, Spring-hill, Southampton. 



SCARLET-RUNNER BEANS. 

As you condescend to take the commonest hints 
with regard to out-door gardening, I will suggest 
one (if not before kno%vn) which I have given atten- 
tion to for the last two years. It has often struck me 
how much trouble people take to obtain very long 
sticks for their scarlet runners. Now I have used 
sticks not more than four feet high out of the ground, 
and by nipping off the extreme end of the bean when 
it gets to the height of the stick, I have invai-iably 
found the plants much more strong, early, and pro- 
ductive ; besides, the fact that they do not take off 
the sun from nearly so much ground by their shadow. 
I am anxious, if possible, in my parish to promote a 
better style of garden cultivation. 

I hope, in your columns, we shall be informed, 
amongst the valuable remarks on Manures, which 
manure must naturally suit best the different vege- 
tables; and which are in particular cases unsuitable. 
Rev. Edward Mansfield, Buerdean. 

[The above mode of sticking the runner kidney- 
beans is very good. We never use any sticks at all, 
however, but pinch off the stems of the beans as fast 
as they reach to a height of eighteen inches; the pro- 
duce of beans is not so great as when the plants are 
allowed to twine up sticks, but the advantages of 
neatness and not overshadowing other crops, as 
stated by our correspondent, are more than a com- 
pensation. — Ed. C. G.] 



CHARRING. 

In answer to a correspondent (S. of Manchester), 
I beg to state, to char turfy soil the best method is to 
cut it into sods of about a spade's width, and two or 
three inches thick, when the soil is not over-saturated 
with moisture. Indeed the easiest and cheapest method 
of charring sods of earth is to perform the charring 
process in the dry part of the season, as during the 
month of March or in the summer season, and if the 
sods are cut and packed into rows or ridges to dry 
partially previously to charring, so much the easier 
will it be performed. Not but that sods of earth or 
any other material may be charred at any season, no 
matter how wet they may be, but then they take more 
time and require more burnable matter to intermix 
with them. Burning any kind of material, and allsw- 
ing it to be consumed, producing nothing but smoke 
and ashes, is a real waste of valuable property, which 
could be turned to valuable account for the culture of 
the soil. To char sods, or surface soil of any kind, 
commence by placing a small quantity of combustible 
stuff — such as dry weeds, hedge trimmings, furze, 
heath, sbfviiigs, brush-wood or bushes, or any kind of 



dry vegetable refuse the place produces near at hand ; 
then commence packing the sods, no matter how or 
what thickness, as any thickness may be charred by 
placing amongst them, as the heap or kiln is proceeded 
with, some one of the before-mentioned mateiials, or 
old tan or saw-dust, just to keep the materials ignited. 
It is no matter how large or small the kiln may be 
formed ; for this may be regulated by the convenience 
of the material at hand, and the quantity of chan-ed 
materials required — only when the kiln is formed it 
should be slightly covered or cased with fineish earth, 
to prevent the fire from flaring, and to maintain a 
steady smouldering, charring or roasting. Much 
smoke will escape for a time ; and when the smoke 
begins to subside, it is a sign that the materials are 
chan-ed enough. The fire should then be smothered 
out by caseing-up the outside of the kiln quite close 
with earth. 

The above, I hope, vrill suffice for the present ; but 
as I have been requested by several large landed pro- 
prietors to publish what I know in respect to charring 
and charcoal for the cultivation of the soil, I purpose 
collecting all that I have hitherto written upon the 
subject, and arranging it in a cheap form, to publish 
it with the results of my later experience upon the 
same important fertilizer. 

The roots and refuse grass should not be separated 
from the earth for charring purposes, for they are an 
assistance for ignition, and a saving of the application 
of any of the other materials required for fuel. To 
char at the present wet season would require much 
more ignitable materials, and more time to char. 
It is of no consequence which side of the sod is placed 
downwards in forming the kiln, so that enough of 
combustible matters besides are placed to char it pro- 
perly; tfie outside layer of sods, forming the kiln, I 
place all the turfy side downwards. No large quantity 
of fuel is required ; if too much is employed, it is 
more likely to consmne the sods away into mere smoke 
and ashes. James Barnes. 



HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. 

Dressing Strawberry-beds. — Mr. Morgan, gai^ 
dener at Inverie, in Scotland, recommends the rows 
to be now hand-weeded ; the runners, but none of the 
loaves, to be cut off, and the earth between the rows 
to be well stirred with a fork. Let no more be done 
until February, and then a covering, an inch and a half 
or two inches thick, of fresh cow-dung, be put on 
betweei, 'he plants. Smooth the dung down with the 
back of ti.e spade, and sprinkle over it a little earth, 
merely for the sake of neatness This, Mr. Morgan 
says, will insure a good crop even in dry seasons. — 
Gard, Chronicle. 

Celery. — Mr. Errington says that where good qua- 
lity rather than size is desired, and the chief aim is 
" to obtain it tender, crisp, and good-keeping," it 
must be sown later than usual ; namely, early in April, 
for the main crop. " Sown in contact with a thin 
layer of very rotten manure, and, above all things, 
keep it constantly moist." The seed-bed need not be 
covered by a frame. Transplant the seedlings so soon 
as they are large enough to be handled. " Elevated 
beds should be had recourse to as a guarantee against 
battering storms, the young plants being extremely 
liable to ' choke' during heavy rains. These beds should 
be thoroughly pulverized, and after this process — being 
duly marked out — a coating of rotten manure should 
be spread over the surface, two inches in thickness, 
and a casing of the ordinary soil strewn over this, 
about an inch in thickness. 



84 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



" The soil being neatly levelled, alight roller may be 
passed over the bed, in cider to make a close and even 
surface ; or in default of a roller, the soil may be 
patted with a spade; this precaution will prevent 
injury from storms. By a kindly attention the plants 
will be ready for final transplanting in about a month ; 
and no delay nmst be permitted in this matter, as it is 
well known in tliese days that a sudden check after 
very rapid growth induces the formation of blossom, 
or, ill teclinical terms, as applied to the celery, causes 
the plant to ' run.' The smaller the plant, there- 
fore, at this removal the better, provided it is stout, 
and of a dark-green colour." When finally planted 
out, Mr. Errington prefers doing so on the surface of 
the ground, which is termed " the Scotch bed mode," 
rather than in trenches, — the old mode. In either 
way, abundance of manure, and in dry weather a 
plentiful supply of water are essential. Mr. Errington 
prefers earthing- up celery gradually, two or three 
inches at a time. In this part of his practice we 
venture to differ from him (see p. 15). Mr. E. recom- 
mends the Manchester red celery for the earliest crop, 
and Seymour's white for that required to keep longest. 
— (Hort. Society's Journal, iii. 298.) 

The First Cherry in the Mauritius. — The first 
cherry ever grown on this island appears to have 
given rise to some extraordinary proceedings. A tree 
had been introduced and tended with great care by 
a planter, who watched over it witli trembling anxiety 
drtring the flowering season ; all the fruit, however, 
failed, except one cherry, which gradually ripened 
and came to perfection. A festival was given in cele- 
bration of the event by the delighted planter, and the 
governor. Sir 11. Farquhar, invited to gather the 
unique and interesting specimen. He arrived punc- 
tual at the hour, and at the head of the assembled 
company approached the tree. The cherry was gone ! 
— a young negro, unable to resist the temptation of 
the rich and juicy fruit, had swallowed it. The 
governor appeased the planter's ve.xation with the 
good-humoured remark, that the will would suffice for 
the deed ; and the company consoled themselves for 
the disappointment by adjourning to the breakfast- 
table. — Chambers' Edmhuryh Journal. 

Sulphate of Ammonia.' — Half an ounce of this 
salt to each gallon of water is recommended, after 
numerous trials, as an application to Geraniums, 
Fuchsias, Peas, Dahlias, and newly-potted greenhouse 
cuttings. It greatly promotes their vigour, but must 
not be applied oftener than once in ten days. — Gar- 
dtners' Almunack. 



Staking Trees. — In this season of planting, it may 
be useful to impress upon our readers the very great 
importance of firmly staking all newly-planted stand- 
ards and half-standards. A tree now freshly planted, 
if undisturbed, will emit numerous little roots between 
this and March ; but this will be checked, or entirelv 
prevented, just in proportion to the disturbance of the 
root by the violent waving of the stem. The most 
effectual mode of steadying a tree, however large, is 
by three stakes, proportioned to its size, set firmly 
into the ground at equal dislaiices from each other, 
round its stem, and pointing so acutely towards it as 
to cross it at about two-thirds the height between the 
surface of the soil and the branches. At the point of 
contact with the stem, secure each to it by a separate 
band of straw. Pass this first round the stem, bring- 
ing the two ends towards the stake, and tying it be- 
tween this and the stem ; then passing one end round 
the stake, tie this firmly to the stem. — Card. Journal. 

Crust in Boilers.- — This is the month in which 
fires are usually lighted for daily use in the Green- 
house and Hot-house departments ; and we may ad- 
vantageously tell the gardener to add one ounce of 
sal ammoniac (muriate of ammonia) to every si.xty 
gallons of water in each hot-water apparatus he em- 
ploys. This will effectually prevent the incrustation 
or " furring " to which all boilers and pipes so used 
are liable. All water, except rain, snow, and distilled 
water, contains a considerable amount of carbonate of 
lime (chalk), held in solution by aid of the carbonic- 
acid gas contained by the water. Heating the water 
drives off' the gas, and the carbonate of lime falls, or 
is precipitated, upon the sides of the vessel, forming 
gradually a hard earthy crust, materially inteiTupting, 
being a bad conductor of heat, the operation of the 
fire. This is prevented by adding the muriate of 
ammonia ; for its muriatic acid combines with the 
lime of the cai'bonate, and the carbonic acid of this 
unites with the ammonia of the muriate, forming two 
salts always soluble in water. The efficacy of this 
plan has been proved by some years' experience on 
the South 'Western Railway — it being always employed 
in the boilers of their locomotive engines. — Gard. 
Citron., 1G3. It has been suggested that muriatic 
acid would do better, because cheaper than muriate 
of ammonia ; but this is not so, for it would be driven 
oflf from the water by heat, and, whilst in excess in 
the water, would corrode both the boiler and the 
pipes. 



TO CORRBSFONDENTS. 



Scale on Myrtles [Vincentia-Grantham). — To kill these insect^, 
Lrush over them spirits of turpentine twice, allowing an interval of 
two liays, and shutting up the plants in a close-covered (jarden-frame 
durinf; the whole time. You would not have this pest at all, pro- 
bably, if vou kept the air of your greenhouse in the summer more 
moist and yout plants more vigorous. 

Error (p. 51, col. 2, line 8 from top), for "eighth" read " one- 
fourth." 

BotANy(ft. T. yewbury). It is difficult to say which is "the 
cheapest and best work " on the elements of this science, but we can 
recommend Dr. Carpenter's " Vegetable Physiology and Botany," as 
very good and very cheaf). 

Silk-worms' (C/nro). —Wfrhave turned our attention to this sub- 
ject. Your communication shall appear in our nejrt. 

One of our Subscribehs has our thanks for his friendlv criti- 
cism. His hint about the meteorological addition to our calendar 
shall be adopted at the close of our first volume. We must complete 
what we have begun, and hope each year to have something fre.sh 
and better. We will olfer some remarks, as y6u suggest, about 
weather prognostics. 



Feediko Bees {A younp one. Stoke Damaret). — The best com- 
pfeund for this purpose is, one pound of brown sugar, one quart of 
beer, and a dessert spoonful of salt boiled together for five minuter. 
Put it into a small shaillow plate with two sticks across it and a sheet 
of paper Uid upon them cut full of small holes, for the bees to puss 
their probosces through. The paper saves them from drowning. 
Lift up the hive and place the plate under it. There is no need for 
a slide to close the entrance of the hive. A piece of very thin sheet- 
lead, pierced with holes, may be pressed over the entrance, so as to 
adapt itself to the shape of the hive. The lead may be kept in its 
place by a small peg thrust through one of the holes and into the 
straw of the hive. 

Potato-planting {Ibid). — You may do this now or in Decembet 
during dry open weather. Plant ash-leaved kidueys, Julys, or an; 
other early sort except the walnut-leaved. 

Night-soil {Ibid). — You will see how to deodorize this In our 
last Number. 

Many Letters have arrived too late to he answered until next 
week. 



London : — Printed hv William Tyler and Charles Reed, 5, 6, and 7, Bolt-court, Fleel-street, in the Parish of St. Dtinstan's-in-the- 
Wesl. and Published by William Somekville Orm, at the OIBce, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Marj-le-Strand, London. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



85 



WEEKL? CALENDAR. 



M 
D 


D 


NOV. 30— DEC. 6, 3 848. 


Plants rtedicated to 
each day. 


Sun 
Rises. 


Sun 
Sets. 


Moon R. 
and Sets. 


Moon's 
Age. 


Clock 
aft. Sun. 


Day of 
Year. 


30 


Th. 


St. Andrew. 




45 a 7 


53 a 3 


8 14 


5 


10 58 


335 


1 


t' 


Trees everywhere leafless. 


Dark-flower'd Stapelia. 


47 


52 


9al8 


6 


10 36 


336 


2 


a 


Pipistrelle Bat last seen. 


Lemon-color'd Deodorum. 


48 


52 


10 25 


7 


10 13 


337 


3 


Sun 


Advent Sunday. 


Tirusallian Spurge, [berry. 


49 


51 


11 35 


2) 


9 49 


338 


4 


M 


[cieties' Meetings 


Prickly Barbadoes Goose- 


51 


51 


mom. 


9 


9 24 


339 


5 


Tu 


Linnean and Horticultural So- 


Long-stalked Hybiscus. 


52 


50 


48 


10 


8 59 


340 


6 


W 


Nicholas. 


Nest-flowered Heath. 


53 


50 


2 3 


11 


8 34 


341 



St. Andrew, the younger brother of St. Peter, and the first of 
the Apostles who came to Christ, suffered martyrdom about the year 
69, on a cross shaped like the letter X, and hence known as the St. 
Andrew's cross. Part of this instrument of death, and other relics 
of this apostle were believed to have been brought to Scotland in 
369, and deposited in a church standing where now is the city of St. 
Andrews. The celebrity of the relics led to the adoption of the 
apostle as the tutelary saint of Scotland. 

Nicholas, the tutelary saint of virgins, boys, sailors, and parish- 
clerks, was made bishop of Myra, in Syria, by Constantine the Great. 
In connection with a miracle alleged to have been wrought by him 
in bringing to life two murdered children, there was annually on this 
day an election at Salisbury of " The Boy Bishop." 

Phenomena of the Season. — In the neighhourhood of Win- 
chester the last leaves of the black mulberry fell on the I5th of 
November; and the night of that day was the coldest we have ex- 
perienced this year, the thermometer fell to 17 degrees, w^hich is 
15 degrees below the temperature at which water freezes. The 

Insects.— The bulbs of the daffodil and of other 
-siiecies of the narcissus frequently refuse to vege- 



common crimson fuchsia, which there endures the winter with no 
other shelter than a pile of coal-ashes around its stem, and covering 
the surface of the soil over its roots to the depth of six inches, had 
all its leaves killed by this cold. The weather at this time, says Dr. 
Forster, is usually nuld and wet, and foggy, but with an occasional 
interchange of frosts. On some days a kind of weather now occurs 
which not unusually happens during all the winter months. The 
air becomes perfectly calm, the sky clouded and dark, without much 
mist below ; the ground gets dry, and not a leaf stirs ; the sounds of 
distant hells and other noises are heard from a great distance, just 
as they often are before rain. The thermometer is often as high as 
52 degrees, the barometer rises to "set fair," remaining steady; cur- 
rents of smoke from the chimneys rise straight and with slight but 
varying inclination to different quarters. The crowing of cocks, and 
the noise of busy rooks and daws, now feeding in flocks in the mea- 
dows, and church- chimes, are heard for miles, as if carried alonii 
under the apparent sounding-boards of the clouds above. Even the 
voices of persons are ieard at a vast distance, all being hu^ed 
around. 






1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


30 


Kain. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Rain. 


1 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


showery. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


2 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


3 


Rain. 


, Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Rain. 


4 


Rain. 


Clondy. 


Cloudy. 


Fiostv. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Rain. 


5 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


6 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Rain. 



tate; and the usual cause is, that their interiors have been eaten by the grub of a two- 
winged insect, known as the Narcissus-fly {Merodon Narcissi). This disappointment 
may be avoided if these bulbs are e.xaniined at the present season before being planted. 

In the month of November, says Mr. Curtis, one or two large roundish holes are some- 
tiroes found on the outsides of the bulbs of the daffodil and narcissus. The bulbs are 
Bore or less decayed within, where a maggot will generally be found, which by feeding in the heart during the summer and autumn months, 
has been the sole author of the mischief. This larva is somewhat like the flesh-maggot, and not unlike a bot, only that it is not jagged with 
spines, and instead of being whitish, its natural colour, is changed to brown by its living amongst the slimy matter which has been discharged 
from its own body, causing the gradual rotting of the bulb. Towards the end of November the maggot is transformed into a pupa, to accom- 
plish which it eats its way out of the bulb near the roots, and buries itself in the surrounding earth. The pups are dull brown, egg-shaped, 
rough, and strongly wrinkled. In this state they remain until the following spring, when the flies issue from them. Their eggs are then 
deposited, but upon what part of the plant they are laid, has not been observed, but probably upon the bulb near the base of the leaves. April 
seems to be the month when most of the flies hatch ; and they have been compared to small humble-bees, from the disposition of the colours, 
which are, for the most part, yellow, orange, and black, but they certainly bear a greater resemblance to some of the bot-flies ; from bees they 
are readily distinguished by having only two wings, the horns and proboscis are totally different, and they have no stings. 

..Bulbs affected by these tnaggots are readily detected by their not throwing out leaves; when therefore, a bulb fails to .vegetate, it ou£ht.to 
-be immediately dug up.and.destroy.ed.'^Gardeaer'f Chronicle, 



Not even the most unuiformed of our readers is 
ignorant of the fact, that his pigs and his chickens 
partake of the colour and shape of both theii parents, 
and that he thus has a ready mode of improving them. 
If his sow be small, he resorts, to improve the size of 
her progeny, to some neighbouring boar of superior 
size ; and if his chickens are tender or unthrifty, 
he adds to his hen-roost some cockerel of superior 
vigour and hardihood. All this is a mere matter 
of course with cottagers ; yet when we tell them 
they may effect just the same changes in their gar- 
den vegetables, fruits, and flowers, some of them, 
probably, will not at once give credit to the statement. 
Nevertheless, it is quite true, for every plant has male 



and female flowers, either separate or united, and 
unless both are present and healthy, no plant yields 
fertile seed. So if by a bee, or any other means, a 
few grains of pollen (dust from the male flowers) are 
borne from one plant to the female flower of another 
plant of the same, or nearly the same kind, that 
female flower will produce seed partaking of the 
nature of both parents. 

This is no recent discovery, for Moses, when deli- 
vering ordinances to the Israelites for their woridly 
welfare, and bidding them to add battlements to the 
roofs of their houses, that no man might " fall from 
thence," adds also the direction that they should not 
sow the vineyard " with divers seeds," lest its fruit 



No. IX, Vol. I- 



86 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



should "be defileil." (Deut. xxii. 7—9.) Similar 
knowledge may be found in the writings of the earliest 
Greeks and Romans; but it was knowledge Trom 
which no benefit was derived. 

More and more facts relative to the existence of 
male and female flowers were gradually ascertained, 
but it was reserved for the late President of the Lon- 
don Horticultural Society, Mr. Knight, to render all 
such knowledge useful. 

This gentleman, residing in Hertfordshire, the very 
centre of the orchard districts of England ; and ob- 
serving how the favourite varieties of their apples and 
pears were wearing out, directed his attention towards 
the best mode of obtaining new and better kinds. 
This was necessarily a work of time, for Mr. Knight's 
seedling fruit-trees required some years to elapse 
before they would produce fruit, and thus prove 
whether his experiments were successful. He there- 
fore determined to try in the mean time some similar 
experiments on a plant that would give a more speedy 
result, and for that purpose he selected the garden 
pea. This was well suited for his experiments, both 
by the quickness of its growth and the many kinds of 
pea that were even then existing, all varying in size, 
form, and colour. In 1787 he had a degenerate sort 
of white pea growing in his garden at Downton ; a 
sort which no superior richness of soil in any way 
improved, and this, therefore, was selected to be the 
female parent in his experiments. Before its blossoms 
were quite open, with a pair of finely-pointed scissors 
he cut away their male organs, leaving the female 
organs in the centre of each blossom uninjured. So 
soon as these blossoms were fully blown, some pollen 
from a very large and vigorous grey pea, blooming at 
the same time, was introduced into one half of the 
blossoms that had been mutilated, but not into the 
other half. The pods of all grew equally well, but 
the seeds in those where no pollen had been intro- 
duced witliered away ; the seeds of the other half 
ripened without showing any marked diflference from 
those in other pods on the same plants. But when 
they were sown the following spring, the success of 
the experiment was very evident. The plants they 
produced were vigorous, and the seeds from these 
plants were gray. By serving the flowers of the 
variety thus obtained in the same way as its mother 
had been served, and adding to them the pollen of 
better sorts, other and better varieties, itill more dif- 
ferent, were obtained, and among thera were two of 
the best now grown, and known as Knight's Tall 
Marrow, or Wrinkled Pea, and Knight's Dwarf 
Marrow. 

Mr. Knight's experiments on the apple,|>esr, cherry, 
plum, and peach were similarly successful. Many other 
horticulturists have since followed in the steps which 
he first took, and hence we have those extraordinary 
improvements, not only in fruits but in flowers, such as 
geraniums, fuchsias, dahlias, and many others; alljjf 



which are obtained by crossing one kind with another, 
by taking the pollen from one to the female flower of 
a different plant of the same kind. 
I Every one having a garden could try similar expe- 
riments; and it is for the purpose of rousing the 
attention of our readers to the subject that we remark 
upon it thus fully. To guide them in their experi- 
ments we reprint, some Rules that we published else- 
where a few years ago : 

1. The seed-vessel is not altered in appearance by 
impregnation from another plant ; therefore, no hasty 
conclusion of failure is justified by that want of 
change. 

2. The colour of the firture seed, not of that first 
hybridized, seems to be most influenced by the male 
plant, if.its seeds and flowers are darker than those of 
the female. Mr. Knight found, that when the pollen 
of a coloured-blossomed pea was introduced into a 
white one, the whole of the future seeds were coloured. 
But when the pollen of a white blossom was intro- 
duced to the stigma of a coloured blossom, the whole 
of the future seeds were not white. Capt. Thurtell, 
from his experiments on the pelargonium, also informs 
us that he has always found the colour and spot of 
the petals to be more influenced by the male than by 
the female parent. Indeed, all experience proves 
that the progeny usually, though not invariably, most 
resembles in colour the male parent. 

3. Large stature and robustness are transmitted 
to the offspring by either parent. It does not abso- 
lutely matter for obtaining this characteristic, whether 
it be the male or female wliich i* large ; but Mr. 
Knight generally found that the most robust female 
parent produced the finest offspring. 

4. Capt. Thiu-tcll, from lengthened observation and 
experiment, has ascertained that the form of the flowers 
follows most closely that of the female parent. 

5. Mr. Knight says that the largest seed from the 
finest fruit that has ripened earliest and most perfectly 
should always be selected. In stone-fmit,' if two 
kernels are in' one stone, these give rise to inferior 
plants. 

6. The most successful mode of obtaining good and 
very distinct varieties, is to employ the pollen from a 
male in a flower grown on. another plant than that 
bearing the female parent. To avoid previous and 
undesired impregnation, the anthers of the male parts 
of each flower in the female parent, if they are pro- 
duced in the same flower with the pistils, or female 
parts, must be removed by a sharp-pointed pair of 
scissors, and the flower inclosed in a gauze bag, to 
exclude insects, until the desired pollen is ripe. An- 
other effectual mode of avoiding undesired impregna- 
tion is, bringing the female parent into flower a little 
earlier, and removing the anthers as above described ; 
the female parts of the flower will remain a long time 
vigorous if unimpregnated. 

7. Although the fertility of all the-aeed in one seed- 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 



87 



vessel may be secured by applying pollen only to one 
style, even where there are several, yet the quantity of 
pollen is by no means a matter of indifference. Koel- 
ruter found, that from fifty to sixty globules of pollen 
were required to complete the impregnation of one 
flower of Hybiscus Syriacus; but in Mirabilis jalapa, 
and M. longiflora, two or three globules were enough ; 
and in the case of pelargoniums, Capt. Thurtell says 
two or three globules are certainly sufficient. 

8. M. Haquin, a distinguished horticulturist at 
Liege, has impregnated flowers of the Azalea with 
pollen kept six weeks, and Camellias with pollen kept 
sixty-five days. He gathers the stamens (male or- 
gans) just previously to the anthers (their tops) open- 
ing, wraps them in writing-paper, places them in a 
warm room for a day, collects the pollen they emit, 
and preserves it in sheet-lead in a cool dry place. 
M. Godefroy suggests, that two concave glasses, like 
those employed for vaccine virus, would be better. 
The globules of the pollen must not be crushed. M. 
Haquin thinks the pollen of one year will be effective 
if preserved until the year following. Mr. Jackson, of 
Cross Lanes Nursery, near Bedale, says, he has found 
the pollen of the Rhododendron Smithii tigrinum 
retain its fertilizing power even for twelve months. 

9. It is easy to discern whether impregnation has 
been effected, as in such case the stigmas soon wither. 
The stigmas which have not received the pollen re- 
main for a long time green and vigorous. " By the 
aid of the Stanhope lens," observes Capt. Thurtell in a 
letter now before us, " I fancy I can (fiscover the seed 
of the pelargonium being closed over in the space of 
four hours after impregnation." 



10. When double flowers are desired, if a double 
flower should chance to have a fertile anther or two, 
those should be employed for fertilization, as their 
oflTspring are almost sure to be very double. 

1 1 . Plants nearly related, that is, closely similar in 
the structure of their various parts, are those only 
which will immediately impregnate each other ; but 
it is impossible at present to say what families of 
plants may or may not be brought into fertile union 
through intermediate crosses. A very short time ago 
the azalea and rhododendron were thought incapable 
of such union ; but this opinion is now exploded, for 
Rhododendron Ponticum has been fertilized with the 
pollen of Azalea Sinensis, and the progeny between 
that evergreen and this deciduous shrub is the pre- 
viously unknown phenomenon, a yellow rhododendron. 
Though such unions may be effected, we entirely 
agree with Mr. Knight in anticipating that the pro- 
geny will be mules, incapable of producing oflTspring. 



The applications for Himalayah pumpkin-seed have 
far exceeded our supply ; a few of the earliest appli- 
cants had two seeds each, many had only one seed, 
and the latest, still more in number, had their postage- 
stamps returned. We hope to have a better supply 
next year ; and those to whom we have been able to 
send, we trust will save seed, and distribute it in their 
respective neighbourhoods. 

To two applicants, " Mr. James Gilbert " and " Mr. 
George Howard," we cannot send, because they have 
not given us their directions. If these correspondents 
will send their full directions, they shall hear from us. 



THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 



Stations fok Fruit-Trees. — Where the garden- 
soil is pretty good, these may be dispensed with ; but 
in the majority of cases some preparation is required, 
especially in order to carry out what we term a 
dwarfing system, which alone is adapted to limited 
gardens, where vegetable culture forms a most im- 
portant item; for of what use is it to plant gross 
kinds of apples, or other fruits, in such small plots, 
unless means are taken to prevent their over-luxu- 
riance ? How many gardens of the kind have we all 
seen, in which some huge tree overshadowed whole 
Jroles of ground ? whilst a continual conflict existed 
in the mind of the proprietor, as to whether it were 
expedient to cut the leviathan down. In a good 
season, with plenty of fruit, the monopolist character 
of such a tree would be overlooked ; but come a bad 
year or two together, and the question again recurs, 
whether the ground beneath the huge branches would 
not profit more on the whole under vegetable culture? 
It is not easy, however, to rear such trees; and the 
conviction of this deters many from applying the axe 
in due time, and the consequence is, in a majority of 
cases, that a decided loss occurs to the proprietor, in 
the long run, without his perceiving it. On such a 
course of argument, then, we lay the foundation of a 
dwarfing system, which of course involves the consi- 
deration of both stocks, soil, and even root-pruning. 
We would here beg to dissipate a very common error 
as to those matters. Many think they can keep trees 
within the desired limits by pruning alone ; nothing 
can be more fallacious. Certainly, the axe or the 
pruning-knife may at any time reduce the tree to 



one-half its original compass; but what then f From 
that moment it ceases to be fruitful, or, more properly 
speaking, profitable ; and the tendency of the tree 
henceforth is to produce abundance of watery growth, 
which, we need scarcely add, are indisputable symp- 
toms of barrenness. 

We have now to deal with the preparation of the 
soil for carrying out such a dwarfing system, or in 
our way of terming this subject, "station-making." 
It is astonishing what a very limited amount of soil, 
if of a proper staple, will suffice for a compact fruit- 
tree under this dwarfing system. We have a score 
or two of pear-trees trained horizontally, a foot from 
the soil, which were planted by ourselves eighteen 
years since, and which now cover not more than forty 
square feet; some of these produce annually on an 
average two or three pecks of first-rate Flemish pears. 
These trees were planted on stations, the natural soil 
of the ground being a loose, sandy loam, of a very 
porous character. We merely introduced about foiu- 
barrowfiils of very adhesive loam to each tree ; and 
these trees are in the best of health, and increasing 
in produce annually. We have no doubt that they 
will endure for at least twenty years longer. In many 
fresh enclosed gardens, it is both easier and more 
economical to make such stations, than to carry out 
general improvements, adapted at once to fruit and 
vegetable culture. Moreover, the plan we are about 
to recommend, frequently supersedes the necessity of 
any special drainage on behalf of the fruit-trees. 
After marking out the desired position for the stations, 
the first thing to be considered is, whether the ground 



8S 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



ia naturally too wet or too dry. If the former, the 
hole need only be half the prescribed depth ; the 
other half may rise above the ordinary ground level. 
If too dry, there is no occasion to elevate the surface, 
only care must be taken not to place the collar of the 
tree too deep, which is a serious fault under all cir- 
cumstances. Our stations are made to extend three 
feet on each side the position for the trep, thus pro- 
ducing an excavation of six feet square. We consider 
two feet in depth amply sufficient for any fruit-tree, 
especially for a dwarfing plan. The soil then should 
be thrown entirely out, and four or five inches more 
must be allowed for some impervious material, which 
we will presently describe. In throwing out the soil, 
care must be taken to place it in samples, or both 
labour and material will be wasted. It very frequently 
happens that three distinct samples of soil or sub- 
soil will come to hand during the operation. Of 
course all clayey, or sour, and badly-coloured subsoil 
must be rejected, and its amount will be supplied by 
the new material to be introduced ; and if this is 
scarce, any ordinary surface-soil may be in part sub- 
stituted. In filling the materials back again, the best 
of the original surface-soil must be kept downwards, 
mixing it thoroughly with the new soil ; the inferior 
or second-rate soil may be kept to dress the surface 
with. As to character of soil to be introduced, that 
depends partly upon the soil already existing in the 
garden, as well as on the kind of fruit-tree about to 
be planted. If the soil is naturally sandy and dry, 
a very stiff or clayey loam should be selected ; if 
naturally clayey, any fresh, mellow, sandy loam, or 
even the paring of road-sides, commons, or lanes will 
prove excellent material ; indeed, these should at all 
times be collected by the cottager, as they prove of 
immense service, when mellowed down, for dressing 
carrot and onion beds, which are liable to the grub in 
old soils. Tlie furrowings of old leys from what is 
considered good wheat soil, is, however, of all other 
soils the best adapted for general fruit culture. This, 
we fear, is seldom within the reach of the cottager. 
Whatever materials are used, let it be remembered 
that the more of turfy matter that can be introduced, 
the longer will the compost endure. Any sort of turf, 
even from hungry situations, is most relished by fruit- 
trees. If, nevertheless, no turf can be obtained, and 
the soil is loose and poor, it is well to introduce any 
refuse vegetables of a dry character, such as decayed 
bean or pea haulm, ordinary straw, old thatch, or 
indeed anything of a decaying vegetable character 
which is strong in fibre and enduring. If any manure 
is thought necessary, it should be fresh from the 
stable or cow-shed, as such will endure longer in the 
soil ; merely using one barrowful of mellow and rather 
rich soil to plant the tree m. As before observed, 
the most inferior portion of the soil may be reserved 
to dress the surface of the station with, after the tree 
is planted ; here it will do no harm, and will be in an 
improvable position. 

We come now to the hard materials for the bottom 
of the hole ; four or five inches in depth, as before 
stated. It matters not what this is composed of: 
broken stones fi-om quarries, brickbats, chalk, cinders, 
or clinkers, Src, all are eligible. These being rammed 
hard, our practice is to throw a coating of fine riddled 
cinders over the whole, or very fine gravel : this 
secures drainage and prevents the roots entering to 
any injurious extent. 

Pruning {continued :) — The Raspberry. — Early 
autumn pruning is of benefit to the raspberry, which, 
being of an excitable character, begins to swell betimes 
in the spring ; and pruning after the buds are swelled 



is always at the expense of the vigour of the plant. 
The pruning of this fruit is very simple indeed. The 
plants produce their fruit on long rods of the previous 
year's growth ; at least the ordinary kind does. What 
is termed the double-bearing or autumnal raspberry 
produces on wood of the same summer's growth, or, 
in other words, on the annual wood. Of this kind 
we shall offer some special remarks in due course. 

It is the practice in June to go over the raspberry 
bushes, and thin out the young suckers or rods, for 
they in general produce so abundantly, that they 
would become confused, and the character of the fruit 
would be materially injured. About half a dozen of 
the best are left to select from, and it now become* 
necessary to reduce this number. We think that four 
good rods are better than more ; this, however, de- 
pends on the strength of the soil, and more especially 
its continued moisture, even in summer, which is 
an essential with the raspberry and the black-currant, 
as we before observed. If any of the stools or parent 
plants are very weakly, they must be allowed a less 
number of shoots ; some three, others only two, and 
in some very weakly roots, it is necessary to cut them 
entirely down, in order to strengthen them for the 
ensuing year. In selecting the canes, the strongest 
must in the main be preferred. It is worthy of re- 
mark, however, that when they are very gross indeed, 
some of the canes are liable to produce side branches 
during the season they are springing. Such must be 
cut away, for, although so promising in appearance, 
they will not produce such nice fruit as those of a 
reasonable amount of strength, and, indeed, prove of 
too monopolist a character,— drawing too much of 
the sap into their huge vessels. About five feet is 
the greatest height to which the raspberry canes 
should be cut : our practice is, however, to cut the 
canes at different lengths. Thus, suppose four canes 
on a stool, — we cut the strongest to five feet, the 
second in point of strength to four feet six inches, the 
third to four feet, and the fourth to little more than 
three feet. Now, as the top buds grow strongest, it 
follows, by this arrangement, that the young fruit- 
bearing shoots, which grow from the canes, are more 
equally divided and enjoy more room, and, of course, 
more light Such completes the winter's pruning, 
after which the canes must be staked, and the soil 
about them top-dressed. The top-dressing we consider 
an important matter in their cultivation. As we have 
not space to complete our remarks on tbisusefiil fruit, 
we must reserve them for a little while, when we will 
give the general culture more at lai^e. 

Draining. — We have now fairly turned our back 
on the past year, as far as cultivation matters are 
concerned. There has been a vast amount of rain on 
the whole, which will surely have led many to consi- 
der seriously the great importance of draining. Much 
has been written and said about its importance, and 
which to some minds might savour of exaggeration. 
For our own parts, we are assured that this great 
fundamental step to all good culture has never been 
treated of accordihg to its merits. It is indeed so 
broad a matter, that it is a national question. If any 
one can prove that some twenty or thirty per cent, 
more produce could be created by this mechanical 
process alone, and that extra employ could be pro- 
duced for years for our surplus labour, he would 
indeed give some importance to the affair. This we 
conceive is by no means difficult to prove. Doubters 
will of course say, where is the capital to come from ? 
We ask, in return, where did the railway capital 
come from? or who anticipated such an amount of 
adventure twenty years since? R. Errington. 



THE COTFAGE GARDENER. 



89 



THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



General Flower-Gardem. — The operations in the 
flower-garden now comprise removing into winter 
quarters all the summer flowers, such as verbenas, 
scarlet and other geraniums, petunias, dahlias, &c. 
When these are all removed, the beds should be 
manured and dug, and their places either filled up 
with evergreens in pots, or planted with bulbs. We 
mentioned in detail all these things in a former num- 
ber, and only repeat the notice to prevent any neglect. 
The digging, pruning, and replanting of the shrub- 
bery will be going on during fine weather; and during 
wet or snowy days, roots may be put away, sticks 
and labels made, mats tied, bundles of mat in proper 
lengths cut, and put in a place ready to be used to tie 
up the flowers next season. Hooked pegs may like- 
wise be made in such quantities as may be likely to 
be wanted for layering or pegging-down verbenas 
and other things that require training on the earth's 
surface. In fact, every thing ought to be done that 
will save time in spring, for at that season every hour 
will bring abundance of work, and all those useful 
little things being ready, there will be no time lost in 
seeking for them at the moment they are wanted. 

Amateur's Flower - Garden. — Ornamental 
Hedges. — We treated pretty largely upon protective 
fences in our last Number, and shall now fulfil our 
promise by describing the ornamental one. By this 
term is meant, a fence or division formed with a 
row of deciduous flowering or handsome evergreen 
shrubs. Flowering deciduous shrubs for this purpose 
may consist of sweet briar, roses, Pyrus japonica. 
Daphne mezereum (mezereon), Deutzia scabra (rough- 
kaved deutzia), lilacs, sweet gale, Syringa, double 
sloe, Ribes sanguineum (red - blossomed currant), 
snowberry, and the double furze. The ornamental 
evergreens for a hedge may consist of the American, 
Chinese, and Siberian Arbor vitse, aucuba, box-tree, 
variegated hollies, Swedish junipers, common laurel, 
privet, and the yew. All, or any part of these, as 
may be convenient, may be used for a fence where 
protection from animus is not required; some of 
these may be used alone, as, for instance, the Arbor 
vitffi; which by itself is a beautiful, warm, and close- 
growing shrub, for division fences, to shelter the 
flower-garden. Again, in deciduous shrubs, the sweet 
briar and rose make a sweet-smelling and beautifully- 
flowering division between the flower-garden and 
kitchen-garden, or from the gardens of others. AU 
those shrubs will bear pruning, to keep them in form. 
The knife is a better instrument for that purpose than 
the shears^ In planting, do not regularly mix them, 
but put in. three or four of one kind by themselves, then 
one or two of some otlier; then again a greater num- 
ber, with a honeysuckle here and there. When the 
whole is finished and grown for a season or two, it will 
appear something like those beautiful natural hedges 
we so much admire in country lanes. 

R0CK.W0RK. — The amateur and cottager were re- 
commended in a former Number to cultivate the 
interesting little gems of Alpine scenery. The plants 
that grow in those elevated regions are many of them 
very pretty ; as,, for instance, the Cyclamen coum, or 
round-leaved sow-bread, which; in eariy spring, may 
be seen pushing up through the pure white snow its 
lovely crimson-purple blossoms ; and as soon as the 
snow melts away from our own Ingleborough moun- 
tain, the bright purplerflowered, opposite-leaved saxi- 



frage garnishes its sides and highest points with its 
mossy-like appearance and rich-coloured blossoms. 
These elegant plants may be successfully cultivated 
and brought together, so as to bring their beauties 
under our observation without having to travel to 
seek them in their native wilds. They may be grown, 
and very well too, either in an artificial imitation of 
rock, or alpinery, as it may be termed, or they may 
be cultivated in pots. Upon the latter method w» 
will dilate a little, for this reason, that some of our 
friends may not have the materials to form this aerial 
habitation for them, or may not choose to go to the 
expense. Still, some who have not the convenience 
of a rockery, might wish to have some of these 
admired plants, if they only knew how to manage 
them. We will endeavour to supply that knowledge. 
To cultivate Alpine plants in pots, three things are 
necessary, — the proper soil, the right-sized pots, and 
good drainage. 

Soil or Compost. — ^Whatever kind of plant we 
attempt to cultivate, we ought to learn as correctly as 
possible what kind of soil was natural to it. Now, 
the soil in Alpine situations we may easily conceive 
to be of a poor, gravelly nature, formed by the decay 
of rocks and mosses and other small plants. This 
soil may be imitated by using heath mould, rotten, 
leaves, and broken potsherds : of the two former two 
equal parts each, and of the latter one part. In other 
words, two bushels of heath mould, two bushels of 
rotten leaves, and one bushel of potsherds, or pieces 
of broken flower-pots. The whole to be well mixed 
with one-eighth of coarse white sand. 

Pots. — Those plants in nurseries are generally 
grown in small pots, about five inches diameter. The 
proper size to grow them fine in, is a pot nine inches 
across at its top. It should be rather shallow, about 
seven inches deep, and be pierced with holes to admit 
air to the soil. These pots may appear rather large 
for such small plants, but such as are of a creeping 
habit, as many of the saxifrages, for instance, will 
soon cover the top of the pot, and such as do not 
creep may have three or four plants put in one pot. 
The reason why we recommend such pots, is to have 
fine specimens. We have seen them grown in such 
pots, and they were so fine, both in growth and 
flower, as to appear almost like gigantic varieties of 
their puny brethren, as grown in small pots ; in fact, 
quite equal to the finest plant on the best-managed 
rockery. 

Drainage is the third important article in the 
culture of Alpine plants. Unless the pots are well 
and perfectly drained, the plants will soon turn yellow 
and die. The way to drain them is to place over or 
against each hole in the pots a piece of a broken pot 
with its hollow side downward. Then put in so manv 
large pieces as will cover the bottom of the pot one 
inch thick ; upon this stratum place another inch of 
fine broken .pots, the dust being sifted out (the fine 
sifting will answer well to mix with the compost), and 
over this second layerplace some of the rough fibrous 
parts of the soil; the pot is then ready for filling with 
the compost and receiving the plants. 

Situation. — There is an advantage in having these 
plants in pots, that they can be removed to suit the 
seasons. During hot weather the best situation for 
them will be on the north side of a low hedge or wall, 
but in the early spring or late autumn, the east side of 



90 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



tlie garden will be the place for them. During winter, 
a bed covered with hoops and mats will be a good 
habitation for them. 

Watering. — Whilst the plants are growing, they 
should be watered freely, but should be kept pretty 
dry during winter. All these minute particulars may 
appear to the practical man to be too precise, but to 
the uninformed we are conscious such instruction 
cannot be too explicit ; and we are so much delighted 
with Alpine plants, when well grown, that we could 
like to infuse the same feeling into every amateur and 
cottager in the kingdom. 

To complete this essay on the Alpinery, we subjoin 
a short select list of those interesting little gems of 
the Alpine region. 

■^juga geneverisis (Geneva Bugle). Purple. 

Alyssum saxatile (Rock Madwort). Yellow. 
,, ,, variegatun (Variegated). 

jirahis saxatile (Rock Wall-Cress). White. 

„ lucida variegata (Shining-leaved Variegated 
Wall-Cress). White. 

Arenaria verna (Early Sandwort). White. 

Aretia Vitaliana (Vital's Aretia). Yellow. 

Aubrietia purpurea (Purple Aubrietia). Purple. 

Campanula nitida alba (Shining Bell-flower). White. 
„ pumilla alba (Dwarf ditto). White. 

„ puUa (Russet ditto). Blue. 

Chieranthus alpinus (Alpine Wall-flower). Yellow. 

Corntts Canadensis (Canadian Dogwood). White. 

Cortusa Malhioli (Mathioli's Bear's-ear Sanicle). 
Red. 

Coronilla minima (Least Coronilla). Yellow. 

Dianthus a/pestris (Rock Sweet-William). White. 
„ Hendersonii (Henderson's ditto). Bright 
Red. 

Draba aiznides (Aizoon-like Whitlow-Grass) . Yellow. 

Erinus alpinus (Smooth Alpine Erihus). Purple. 

Erodium Reichardii (Reichard's Heron's- Bill). 
White. 

GnaphaUum dioicum (Dioecious Everlasting Flower). 
Pink. 

Gypsophila prostrata (Trailing Gypsophila). White. 

Linaria alba alpina (Alpina Toad-Flax). White. 
,, Cymbalaria variegata (Variegated Cymbal- 
ieaved Toad-Flax). Rose-colour. 

Mi/osotis riipicola (Rock Scorpion-Grass or Forget- 
me-not). Blue. 

„ paluslris (Marsh ditto ditto). 

Pkhx divaricata (Early-flowering Flame-flower). 
Blue. 

„ nivalis (Snowy ditto). White. 
„ setacea (Bristly ditto). Red. 
„ verna (Early ditto). Purple. 
,, procumbens (Trailing ditto). Lilac. 

PotenfUla reptans plena (Double-creeping Cinque- 
foil). Yellow. 



Primula auricula alpina (Alpine Bear's-ear Prim- 
rose). Various. 

„ farinosa (Mealy Bird's-eye ditto). Lilac. 
„ nivalis (Snowy ditto). 
,, marginata (Margined ditto). Rose. 
„ Ci7ia<a^Kr^urf a (Fringed ditto). Purple. 
Saponaria ocgmoides (Basil-like Soap- Wort). Pink. 
Saxifraga granulata plena (Double- grain- rooted 
Saxifrage). White. 

„ muscoides (Moss-like ditto). Yellow. 

„ nivalis (Snowy ditto). 

„ oppositifalia (Opposite - leaved ditto). 

Purple. 

„ pedatifida (Bird's-foot ditto). Purple. 

„ pyrajmVya/a (Pyramidal ditto). White. 

,, retusa (Close-sitting ditto). Purple. 

., rasularis (Rose-shaped ditto). 

„ stellaris (Star-like ditto). White. 

Sedum dasyphyllum (Thick - leaved Stonecrop). 
White. 

„ monstrosum (Monstrous ditto). 
,, rupestris (Rock ditto). 
,, Sicboldii (Siebold's ditto). 
Setnpervivum arachnaideum (Spider Houseleek). 
Red. 

„ globiferum (Globe-bearing ditto). Red. 

„ tectorum (Roof ditto) . Red. 

,, Wehbianum (Webb's ditto). Red. 

,, montanum (Mountain ditto). Red. 

Silene acaulis (Stemless Catchfly). Pink. 

,, giiadrideniala (Four-toothed ditto). White. 
Soldanella alpina (Alpine Soldanella). Purple. 

„ „ mimmaa^ffl (Smallest White ditto). 

Thymus Corsica (Corsican Thyme). Purple. 
„ serpt/llum (Wild ditto). Purple. 
,, azorica (Azorian ditto). Purple. 
Veronica montanum (Mountain Speedwell). Blue. 
,, saxatile (Rock ditto). Blue. 
,, taurica (Taurian ditto). Blue. 
Finca herbacea (Herbaceous Periwinkle). 

„ minor rubra plena (Lesser double Red ditto). 
Cottager's Flower-Garden. — We have taken up 
so much space with our favourite Alpines, that we can 
only say to our cottage friends, appropriate all we 
have written to yourselves, and, as much as you pos- 
sibly can, make use of it in your own flower-garden. 
You can cultivate rock-plants as well and as easily 
as your richest neighbour. Many of them will grow 
on the roof of your cottage or any low walls about 
your dwellings. Try to procure some ; we are quite 
sure they will delight you. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
(This subject must be deferred till next week.) 

T. Appleby. 



WINDOW AND GREENHOUSE GARDENING. 



Cleansing the Leaves. — Without cleanliness no 
rule or mode of growing plants can answer long. 
Dust and insects are the great enemies to successful 
cultivation. — Doubtless it will sound strange to those 
who never heard of it before, that plants breathe and 
perspire just as we do ourselves; this has been 
proved, however, beyond a doubt. The leaves of 
plants have the power of breathing, perspiring, and 
also of digesting the food necessary for them. A leaf, 
then, has to perform the duties which are the par- 



ticular offices of our lungs, stomach, and skin ; and 
we all know that when anything is amiss with these 
parts of our mortality, our system is deranged. It il 
even so with plants when their leaves get out of theii 
working condition by accidents, filth, insects, or any 
other cause whatever. How necessary, therefore, that 
we should bestow much care and attention to the 
leaves on our plants. The safest way to free them from 
dust is to water them often over their leaves, or 
" over-head," as gardeners say, with the rose of a 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



91 



watering-pot ; but lest you should do more harm than 
good, special directions must be given for this opera- 
tion, simple as it is. Take the pots to a convenient 
place out of doors, turn them all on their sides in a 
row, then hold the watering-pot as high above them 
as your arms will reach, and let a heavy shower fall 
on the leaves ; then turn the pots, to get at the rest 
of the leaves in the same way. Unless the pots were 
placed on their sides, all this watering would make a 
puddle of the soil in the pots, and the remedy would 
be worse than the disease. Another easy way of 
freeing the leaves from dust is by squirting water on 
them with a hand-syringe : but for the consolation of 
the many who, having a few plants in the window, 
yet cannot afford to buy a syringe, the rose of a water- 
ing-pot will answer Just as well. 

Destroying Insects. — Insects are great enemies to 
plants, as they feed on their juices, and so deprive them 
of part of their nourishment, besides covering them 
with filth. Fortunately, however, the most part of these 
insects are easily kept down, or got rid of altogether. 
When they come in swarms on the plants in a green- 
house, smoke from tobacco-paper kills them instantly ; 
but for a few plants in a window, it is not necessary to 
usesmoke, andif itwere, it would be inconvenient. The 
simplest and cheapest way to keep window-plants free 
from insects is tobacco-tea. Every one knows how to 
make tea of any herb,^-camomile-tea, sage -tea, mint- 
tea, and all kinds of tea are made by pouring boiling 
water over the dry herb, and the infusion is called tea. 
Tobacco-tea is made like the rest, and as much good 
shop tobacco as would fill John's or Harry's pipe will 
make a wine-glass full of tea in five minutes, and 
that quantity will clean a great number of plants. 
Dip a bit of sponge or woollen rag in the tea, and 
moisten the underside of the leaves, their stalks, and 
all the green parts about the top of the plant. If the 
creatures are alive in half an .hour afterwards, your 
tea was not strong enough, and you must try again ; 
for there is no question about the eff'ects of tobacco- 
liquor or smoke on insects. Who, therefore, would 
have dirty-looking plants in their houses, seeing how 
easily they may be kept free from all disfigurements? 

The Cyclamen. — There is a little family of plants 
called Cyclamens, or Suw-Bread, in English books, 
consisting of half a dozen sorts, and for window-plants 
there are few in cultivation more suitable, particularly 
one sort of them called the Persian Cyclamen. Of 
this there are four or five varieties, differing only in 
the shades of their colour or markings of the flowers ; 
all of them are particularly gay and pretty lady-like 
flowers, and so easily managed and increased that no 
one should be without some of them who is at all fon-d 
of flowers. I believe there is no place to grow them 
in better than a good window, if they are allowed 
plenty of fresh air. No plants are easier to manage 
than these cyclamens, none more free from insects ; 
and if you possessed half-a-doaen of them, you might 
have one in bloom from October to May, simply by 
bringing in one at a time into a warm room. "They 
are very old-fashioaed plants, as plentiful as black- 
berries, and so cheap that you might almost buy cme 
for an old song. Every nurseryman in the kingdom 
with a greenhouse has lots of them. And yet, for all 
this, one hardly ever sees them grown as window plants 
— the place of all others where they are seen to most 
advantage. The reason why they are not generally 
grown, must surely be that people do not know them, 
or never see them in perfection. They ought to be 
seen in the seed-shop windows all the winter, like 
hyacinths , and if they were as well known as 
hyacinths, they would meet with a ready sale. Nur- 



serymen, however, having little demand fbr them, do 
not bestow much pains on their cultivation, and, there- 
forej what few flowers their plants produce never at- 
tract much attention. There are some few exceptions 
to this rule. Mr. Wilmot, a celebrated London mar- 
ket-gardener, has been more successful with the 
Persian cyclamen than any one else that I ever heard 
of. He says he "frequently counted from fifty to 
eighty fine, strong, expanded blossoms from a bulb 
two years old, growing in a forty-eigbfr-sized pot." 
That is, a small pot only six inches wide over the 
mouth. What an extraordinary sight it must have 
been to see a little bulb, not larger than a middle-sized 
apple, produce eighty blossoms at one time ! Each of 
these blossoms stand on a stiif footstalk, suificiently 
long to keep the flower well up above the leaves. 
The flower is divided into several divisions or seg- 
ments, down to the bottom, where they twist and bend 
backward, giving the whole flower a peculiar appear- 
ance, adding much to its gaiety and interest. The 
colour of the flower varies in seedlings from pure 
white to pale lilac and pink. Some have a deep-pink 
eye, others are spotted and blotched with pink on a 
white or French white ground, and some of them are 
sweet-scented. There is also one which is double, but 
it is very scarce, and is likely to remam so, for the 
whole of them are only increased by seeds with any 
certainty, antl it is only at chance times that a double 
one appears among the seedlings. Those who are 
not acquainted with these cyclamens may form a 
general idea of them, if I say they are solid bulbs, 
much like a young turnip in shape, with their leaves 
and flowers growing together immediately from the 
crown of the bulb without any branches. The size of 
the bulbs varies in the different kinds from that of a 
nutmeg to a large round apple. It has been said that 
the wild boars eat these bulbs, and that hence it was 
that our old herbalists named them "sow-bread," a 
stupid name, English though it be. We might as rea- 
sonably call our turnips " cow bread." Cyclamen, on 
the other hand, is apretty, short name, easily kept in 
mind. Now, to grow these beautiful little plants, so 
as to make gay ornaments for our windows, it is only 
necessary to pot them in upright or bulb-pots, using 
good rich soil. Any good garden-mould will answer, 
if a little leaf-mould, or very rotten dung in a dry 
state, is mixed with it. The pots must be very well 
drained ; first with an oyster-shell, or hollow piece of 
potsherd, over the hole, and then an inch deep of 
small crocks over that; potsherds, or crocks, are 
pieces of flower-pots broken small with a hammer. 
The bulb should jiot be all buried in the soil, like most 
bulbs, but only half its depth. The reason for leaving 
the crown of the bulb out of the soil, is that the leaves 
and flowers grow immediately from that part, and if 
it was buried their footstalks would be in the soil, and 
get often injured by frequent waterings. Turnips 
always grow best when they are only one-third 
covered with earth, and so it is with cyclamens. 
Being solid, like the turnip, water cannot hurt them, 
as it often does those bulbs which are formed of dif- 
ferent coats or layers, by getting to the heart of the 
bulb between these layers. Cyclamens are not thirsty 
plants, not requiring much water ; but the soil should 
not get too dry. They keep in bloom two months, — 
a fresh quantity of flowers rising up all the time to 
succeed those that fade. As each flower drops off- the 
flower-stalk will begin to twist like a screw, holding 
the seed-pod in the middle, and by the time the seeds 
are ripe the screw is hid down among the leavo .. A 
beautiful provision for protecting the young seeds 
from the birds and also for sowing them close under 



92 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 



the shelter of tlie parent plant — ^reminding us of that 
beautiful passage in Scripture, where our Saviour says, 
" How often would I have gathered thy children toge- 
ther, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings." 
While many plants scatter their seeds in all directions, 
the lowly cyclamen gathers her seeds under her own 
protection. The seeds of all the cyclamens require to 
be sown as soon as they are ripe, but of that, and how 
to rear young plants from them, it will be time enough 
to write when the proper time comes. I shall give a 
list of all their names shortly, for they are peculiarly 
adapted for window plants. What I have here stated 
refers chiefly to the Persian cyclamen, the best of 
them, and the easiest to be met with. 

Turning Window Plants. — There is a cottage not 
far from here with three windows full of plants, and 
some of them good plants too, but they are all sadly 
disfigured by growing to one side. Plants with their 
leaves on cannot live without light, so they turn side- 
ways, striving to receive as much light as the window 
will afford ; and to prevent them from growing out of 
shape in that way, they ought to be turned round 
every two or three days. 

Calla Ethiopica. — Ethiopian Arum, or the Arum 
plant, as it is generally called by country people, is 
good for the window or room, when grown as a winter 
plant. I saw a very fine large plant of it in flower in 
our village the other day, standing on a table along 
with some fine-looking camellias, one of which, a 
double white one, was in flower. The lady who owns 
these has no more convenience to grow them than a 
two-light pit and the windows ; but I never pass with- 
out seeing her windows full of fine-looking plants. 
Winter and summer, there are always some to be seen 
in flower. One secret of her good management is, 
keeping the plants scrupulously clean. I think I 
never saw such beautiful glossy leaves on a camellia 
before, as those on this lady's. For cold rooms, or 
where only occasionally fires are kept, the camellia 
seems to be one of the best plants to fill up a stand. 
But I am neglecting the arum. It is not because I 
saw it so fine with this lady that I recommend it, but 
because it is one of the very easiest to manage by a 
new beginner, for it seems to do well under any kind 
of management. Many plants dwindle away and die 
because receiving too much water ; but no amount of 
watering will injure the arum ; indeed, it is one of 
those easy-to-do plants that will live in water or out 



of water, all the year round, and it is so hardy, 
although a native of Africa, that it will live out all 
the winter, if grown in a pond: so that it is quite safe 
to leave a saucer full of water under it all the time it 
is green, or in a green state. After it has flowered, 
and when the leaves begin to turn yellow round the 
edges, it will be time to keep it more dry; till at last, 
as the leaves get quite yellow it may be allowed to get 
dry altogether, and then may be placed anywhere out 
of sight. When it is in this dry state is the proper 
time to increase it. It is multiplied by the roots, like 
potatoes. Shake off the dry soil from the roots, for at 
that season the roots are in their most inactive state, 
and are not at all injured by being shook out of the 
soil, any more than potatoes are when lifted in the 
autumn. The roots are thick fleshy tubers, not unlike 
long kidney potatoes in shape and substance. From 
these fleshy tubers, strong roots branch out into the 
soil : these last j'ou will preserve whole as much as 
possible. You will find abundance of small tubers, 
or offsets, attached to the old roots ; each of these off- 
sets has an eye, like the potato eye, and when sepa- 
rated from the parent root will make a young plant, 
and they are so numerous that, unless you mean to 
give some of them to your friends, you need not keep 
the half of them. Choose the largest offsets, as they 
will produce plants that will come into flowering 
sooner than the smaller ones. You may put each 
offset into a small pot, and when it begins to show 
leaves, water it like the old plant, or, what is better, if 
you have a garden, plant the offsets three inches deep 
and six inches a))art, in a rich, light border, where 
they will grow faster than in the pots, and throw coal- 
ashes, or any litter, over them in winter, and. in two 
years they will be large enough to flower, and may 
then be potted to flower in the window. Besides the 
facility of increasing it, and the ease with which it 
may be flowered, the arum is that kind of plant that 
looks bold and stately, and such as one would like to 
see in the middle of a stand of flowers. The leaves 
are nine or ten inches long on strong footstalks from 
ten to twenty inches high, the .flower-«talk rises from 
among the leaves, and overtops them with a large 
snow-white flower at the top, in the shape of a com- 
mon arum flower; hence its name. The common 
arum of our hedges is locally known by many other 
names, such as. Lords and Ladies, Bloody Men's Fin- 
gers, etc. . D. Beaton. 



THE WEEK« KITCHEN-GARDENING. 



Asparagus take up from an old bed for forcing. 
Carefully commence on one side one of the outer rows 
so the bed by digging out a trench, forking the eatth 
af much as possible from underneath the plants, so 
that they may easily and without straining or injuring 
their roots be moved out entirely, by thrusting down the 
fork behind tihem. Be very careful at the same time that 
the buds about the crowns of the plants are not injured 
by the fork, or of being trampled upon, or of being 
bruised in any way during their removal. Obtaining 
handsome strong shoots, depends much upon the care 
with which the plants are thus handled. Asparagus 
is very easily forced, and is very productive under the 
treatment when properly managed. ,It may be forced 
in various modes through the winter ; but those who 
have the command of hot water, to give it a moderate 
bottom-heat, will find this give the least trouble. It may 
also be grown in winter in any kind of forcing-house, 



either in boxes filled with earth, or in a pit filled with 
leaves, tan, or other fermenting materials. Melon pits 
and frames may be used for the same purpose ; the hot- 
bed may give but a slight heat, and on it may be put 
six inches of old tan, or leaf-mould. Put the asparagus 
plants into this, and keep them during the winter 
months about one foot from the glass. Cover them 
at first only slightly with the old tan or leaf-mould ; 
but in ten days or a fortnight add three or four more 
inches of the same kind of covering. Take care that 
altogether the crowns of th« plants are not covered 
more than five or six inches deep. When the plants 
have begun to grow freely, and the shoots begin to 
appear through the surface, give them some weak, 
slightly warmed, or tepid, liquid manure, adding to 
each gallon of it two ounces of common salt. This 
will increase the size and flavour of the asparagus. 
Celery. — Take care to have that which ie forward 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



93 



earthed-up thickly tefore any continued severe frost 
sets la. Do this earthing-up during dry windy days. 

Lettuce. — Young, late-sown lettuce-plants require 
at this season particular care. They must have plenty 
of air admitted night and day into the frames by 
which they are protected, for if they are not kept dry, 
they will mildew and decay. Dry loam and charcoal- 
dust are of the greatest benefit, if sifted among the 
plants. 

Mice. — Take timely caution in setting a number of 
mouse-traps near the rows of newly-sown peas. The 
simplest and most efficient traps are prepared as fol- 
lows : — Soak a few peas in warm water, and when 
they have begun to grow, take a needle and thread, 
and, passing the needle through the peas, have two 
of them on every nine inches of thread. Cut the 
thread into nine-inch lengths, having two peas on 
each length. Tie a knot at the end of each length. 
Take a raspberry-cane, currant-tree shoot, or any 
pieces of straight wood of similar size ; cut these into 
one-foot lengths ; make a slit an inch deep in one of 
each ; thrust two of these lengths six inches into the 
ground, and just a little further apart than the width 
of a brick ; draw an end of one thread through the 
slit in each of those two sticks ; place a brick with 
one of its ends on the ground, so that it leans upon 
the thread; let the thread be very nearly across its 



middle, and the two peas on the thread also near the 
middle, and about half an inch apart. This allows 
room enough for a mouse to thrust its nose in, so as 
to gnaw through the thread, witliout even eating the 
pea, and thus to become his own executioner. The 
reason for having the peas sprouted before they are 
used for baits is because the mice then more readOy 
take them. They never even attack those in the earth 
imtil they have begun to grow. Besides setting traps, 
we recommend the rows of peas to be covered an inch 
deep with coal ashes. It advances the growth of the 
peas, protects their roots in the winter, and prevents 
the mice burrowing down to them. 

Routine Work. — Spinach and other winter stand- 
ing crops clear from dead leaves and slugs ; keep the 
surface about them open by hoeing ; drain all vacant 
ground, requiring to have all superfluous water re- 
moved, taking care to drain deep and systematically ; 
trench spare ground, throwing it up into high rough 
ridges; repair outside hedges; cleanse ditches and 
watercourses, employing the earth and refuse taken 
from them to form the bottom of manure heaps, 
throwing over it first a few bushels of salt, to destroy 
the slugs and other vermin ; form garden walks, tura 
old ones, and put the edgings in order. 

J. B. & G. W. J. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 7.) 

How perseveringly the trumpet honeysuckle blooms, 
even at this late season ! In spite of frosts and wither- 
ing ivinds, I find its scarlet blossoms still bright and 
gay ; and it is now the only flower left in my cold 
northern garden to " fraternize," as our neighbours 
say, with one lingering wallflower. My honeysuckle, 
however, is not favourably placed. It ought to be 
trained against a wall or trellis ; but as I possess 
nothing of that kind to support a creeper, I have 
twined it round a larch pole, and it does not do well. 
The aspect, too, is against it; it is exposed to the keen 
north-east, and the tips of its shoots are black and 
withered in consequence. Still it blooms cheerfully 
on, making the best of its situation, like a wise and 
thankful spirit, reminding us, by its silent example, 
that when the state of life to which we are called does 
not exactly suit our tastes and feelings, we should 
still, with cheerful submission to the Hand that nur- 
tures us, enjoy the good, and turn to the best account 
the disagreeables of this passing world. 

The beauty of the trumpet honeysuckle consists in 
the shape and colours of the flower, for it is scentless, 
its stems long, bare, and straggling, and its foliage by 
no means rich. Against a wall it blooms freely, and 
this is its proper situation. I always cast an envious 
glance upon one that decorates a cottage, near which 
I often pass, and I am told that branches of its flowers 
are continually given to those who stop to admire it; 
so that it is useful as well as beautiful, and enables a 
kindly heart to enjoy the pleasure of giving, when it 
has nothing else to bestow. It is delightful to see the 
ready kindness with which the cottager gathers her 
finest flowers for the passer by, who pauses to admire 
them ; and her little child will, following her example, 
run to its atom of a border, and bring a double daisy, 
or a marygold, to add to the simple present. In how 



many ways, in what little things the disposition shows 
itself! A henevolent heart is true politeness. I have 
known, and heard of persons, who can take their 
friends through hot-houses, darkened with clustering 
grapes, yet never offer to pluck one bunch. Of how 
much pleasure do persons such as these deprive them- 
selves I Our gardens might be allowed to exercise 
those feelings of benevolence that cannot, perhaps, 
expand in any other way ; and where we do possess 
the abundant blessings of this world, it adds intensely 
to their value, when we give to those who need. A 
lady — the dear and valued friend of a member of my 
family — devoted the rich contents of her grapery to 
the sick and poor ! 

The common honeysuckle — one of the sweetest 
flowers we possess — should be much encouraged. The 
plant thrives either as a climber or as a bush, and in 
each form it is delightful. It is very subject to a 
gummy sort of blight, like honey dew, which makes 
it unpleasant to the touch, and ruins its beauty, for 
the season ; and I have heard ladies complain that 
their honeysuckles were never free from it. Now, I 
have in my garden two young hollies, which have 
been for many years covered with a redundant mass 
of honeysuckles, looking, in fact, like honeysuckle 
trees ; and I have also a hedge of the same lovely 
plant on one side of my garden ; yet I have never 
once known them to be affected with this blight. I 
attribute this healthy state to their being shaded 
almost entirely from the sun, except in the height of 
summer. They grow almost beneath the boughs of 
fir-trees, yet they flourish and bloom more richly than 
those in sunny situations ; and, therefore, from my own 
experience, I recommend ladies to alter the situation 
of those plants that suffer from this disease, and place 
them in colder stations. Their shoots should be cut 
off constantly, to prevent their rambling, and becom- 
ing weak ; and by keeping them back in this manner 
they thicken in their growth, the flowers are larger, 



9i 



THE COrrAGE GARDENER. 



and more abundant, and their effect in the blooming 
season consequently increased. The perfume is deli- 
cious, particularly when the dew falls ; and for the 
period of a month or rather more, they are in full 
beauty. I do not think anything can exceed the 
loveliness of their rich, waving wreaths of golden 
blossoms, except their aromatic fragrance. Roses 
even, do not scent the air like honeysuckles; and I 
have stood beneath their boughs in the cool of the even^ 
ing, and almost fancied myself in " the balmy East.'* 
There is a late flowering variety which blooms after 
the others have departed ; the flowers are even richer 
in size and colour, but they are not so sweet. With a 
little management, we may, therefore, have a succes- 
sion of these ornamental creepers. They should be 
placed in every vacant spot, round every tree, and 
against every wall and fence. No bower is complete 
without them, and every porch should be clothed with 
them. Cuttings root well from October to March. 
Take the strongest of the last year's shoots, and 
divide them into cuttings from eight to fifteen inches 
long ; place them in a shady border, about a foot 
asunder, and plant each cutting two-thirds of its 
length beneath the soil. By the next autumn or 
winter they will be ready for transplanting. They 
will increase also by layers, made in autumn, winter, 
or spring. They must be the previous summer's 
shoots, and their tops should be nipped off" when laid 
in the ground. They will also be well rooted by the 
following autumn, and should then be taken off and 
planted elsewhere. I recommend every lady and every 



cottager to cultivate these sweet flowers abundantly, 
for they will flourish anywhere — in shady places, and 
under trees, where little else will grow ; and they 
need little culture, except to shorten the luxuriant 
shoots, and keep them in some order. The cottage 
garden is usually surrounded by a hedge, frequently 
neglected, or merely clipped coarsely, to prevent its 
growing thin. It is too often an unsightly kind of 
boundary, when it might be one of great natural 
beauty, both to the garden and the road. Plant a 
few honeysuckles here and there ; some of the wild 
graceful clematis also, and the appearance will change 
completely ; in the spring it will glow with spicy 
blossoms, and through much of the summer too, and 
in the autumn be mantled with soft, feathery flowers, 
twining themselves round every bush and bough. 
I have seen the rugged banks and hedges covered 
with this elegant wild climber ; and nothing can be 
prettier. How graciously does the hand of God adorn 
and beautify this ball of earth for man's enjoyment! 
The very lanes are gardens in themselves, and tell of 
that boundless love that gratifies every sense He gives 
His creatures. What language there is in every leaf, 
and flower, and moss ! Even the bramble, with its 
graceful sprays, and grape-like clusters, speaks to the 
passer-by ; so does the thorn. They bid him look to 
the fruit he bears : " For every tree that beareth not 
good fruit, shall be hewn down, and cast into the 
fire." A solemn, salutary truth is this to the careless 
mind. If we will ** hearken," we may learn much in a 
morning walk ! 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Pear Trees for a Routh-Eabt Aspect (Jf. Taylor, HighfieJd, 
Edgebaston). Your situation is well adapted for the Winter Neilis, 
the richest and most melting pear in the kingdom. It has, more- 
over, the merit of continuing in use from Uie second week in No- 
vember until the beginning of January. The Beurre d'Aremberg 
would be as eligible in point of situation, and a much larj^er pear, 
bat not quite so rich. Did we possess oucli a gable, and that ovhj, 
in a town, we would graft many sorts on one. Do not plant until 
February. Watch our columns, we will soon show how this should 
be carried out. 

Pruning Standard Roses (R. C. S., Cheltenham). — Hoses may 
be pruned from December to March; but the best time is as soon as 
all the leaves have fallen, if tl.e wood is ripe. If the rose is pruned 
too early in the autumn, and the weather keeps open and mild, its 
buds may break, that is, burst into leaf before winter. You may 
prune in December, for if the pruning is deferred till spring, much 
sap is wasted on the buds which have then to be cut off. We except 
climbing roses, which ought not to be pruned until the end of Febru- 
ary or early in March. 

Correspondence {M. Sai/D.—We prefer all letters being ad- 
dressed to our Office, 147, Strand, London. 

Vine Planting {J. L., St. John's /rood-terrace). — Directions 
relative to this will appear in our ■' Fruit-garden " department. 

Celery ( IV. Ward).—\\e are informed that Mr. Nutt, of Sheffield, 
will not sell celery seed, but that he will stlltbe plants in the spring. 

Advice (yl. Y.Z.) — We are verj-much obliged by your sugges- 
tione, — some we shall at once adopt, and all will be duly considered. 

W. L. S. D. — The two first pages of The Cottage Garden fr are 
intended to be cut off when it is bound. The binder will have no 
difficuliy if it is left to him. 

Salt as a Manure {A Subscri her). —At p. 53 it should be " One 
peck to each half rood, or one-eighth of an acre " 

Hardy Annuals { W. A'.) — We will give a list. 

Hyacinths (M. WiVfti/oon).— The moss in which these are grown 
need not be pressed down tightly ; it must be kept gently moist. 

Abparagus BEDS{ilfr. Godfrey). — The time for making and plant- 
ing these is early in the spring; we shall then give full directions. 
The best variety is the giant asparagus. 

Dissolved Bones [F. J. Williams).— Ti\e sulphuric acid is com- 
bined with the calcareous matter of the bones, so that it will not 
Injure either your plants or bulbs. 

Caie Jasmines [Ibid.)— The best treatment is to grow them in 
a soil composed of one-th;rd turfy peat, one third leaf-mould, and 
one-ttiird decayed cow-dung ; in March plunge in a bottom-heat of 
80 degrees; temperature of air 70 degrees, and kept very moist. 
Pot in 12-inch pots before plunging ihem as above. Water with 
water as warm as the air tliey are growing in, and give liquid ma- 
nure as soon as the blossom-buds are fully formed. 

S. Shires. — We will give you answers to all your queries, and 
probably io otir next. 



Seedling Orange-trees {Ibid ) — No treatment will make these 
grow very fast. The best mode of advancing them is to keeji them 
in a warm greenhouse and supplied liberally with liquid manure. 

Polmaise-heatin'^ (<7. J?j-c^cr).— We do not know any one near 
you who has adopted this mode of heating. It has failed in the 
Church of St. Thomas, Winchester, tliough erected under the per- 
sonal direction of Mr. Meek, iis great advocate. Mr. Fortune, after 
due inquiry and consideration, declined employing it iu the Clielsea 
gardens. 

Seedsmen (Clericm, Cookham). — We really cannot recommend 
seedsmen f ven in the mode you name. If you require a new flower, 
ani/ first-rate florist will get it for you : if you require a new seed, 
any first-rate seedsman will supply you — for if they have not any, 
they will procure it Seymour's W hite and Red Solid Celery can he ob- 
tained from most, if not from every seedsman. Julys and Red-nosed 
Kidney Potatoes of the salesmen in Covent-garden Market,— those 
varieties abound in Hampshire. Torena Asiat ca is not yet gene- 
rally to he had. Super-phosphate of lime of the London Manure 
Company, Bridge-street, Blackfriars. Thanks for all your hints : we 
will do our best to be useful. 

Slugs (£.£.)— Do not mix lime and stable-dung together; the 
lime will drive off the ammonia of the latter. Digging lime into 
the soil will not destroy slugs. The best mode of keeping them 
under is to sprinkle sometimes lime, and sometimes common salt 
over the surface of the beds during the evening when the slugs are 
out in the spring and summer. This, with frequent hoeing, will 
keep them under. They may be trapped also as directed by Mr. 
Barnes in a lormer Number. 

Melons in Open Air (Z(;/a). — Mr. Williams's direction is given 
in our seventh Number. 

Bees {^. //'.)— Can you not buy them of some cottager near you? 
Mr. Neighbour, Holborn, J^ondon, can probably supply you. 

Succession of Flowers (A constant Subscriber, S'o/ce Newing- 
iov). — You will find a couple of flowering Calla Ethiopica men- 
tioned in to-day's " Greenhouse and Window-gardening," and a 
couple of red flowering Cameliia>, for contrast, will suit the centre of 
your four stands, — hyacinths, narcissus, early tulips, Chinese prim- 
roses, cinerarias, or any dwarf plants to surround them. Indeed 
your stands may be kept as full, if not quite as gay, in winter as in 
summer, by looking occasionally round the nurseries, to see for 
yourself what kind of plants you would like. Nurserymen no w-a 
days force all spring flowering plants for sale. 

i-'owLs' Dung (/. T. C.) — This is one of the richest of manures. 
Save it until the spring, keeping it dry and cool, and then dig it into 
the soil just before planting any crops you may wish to he very 
luxuriant. Il is most excellent for spring-dressing strawbtrries. 

Vegetable Marrow ijl/r.J*A./;)j).— Take the seed out of the 
fruit now, and convert its flesh into soup, as directed in. our fifth 
Number. Dry the seed well, and store in a dry place. Sow the 
pumpkin seed an inch and a half deep. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



95 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M 


w 


D D 


7 Th 


8:F 


n;s 


lO; Son 


U 


M 


12 


Tu 


13 


W 



DECEMBER 7—13, 1848. 



Pintailed Duck arrives, [flocks. 
Conception B.V.M. Skylai'ks in 
Laughing Goose an-ives. 

2 SUND.^Y IN Ad'S'ENT. 

Gross-beak sometimes seen. 
Black-throated Diver aiiives. 
Lucy. Red-tlu-oatedDirer arrives 



Plants dedicated to 
each day. 



Hauy Malvaviscus. 

Arbor Vitas. 

Larch. 

Cedar of Goa. 

Alepjio Pine. 

Cro wded-flow'r'd Heath 

Afi'ican Arbor Vitfe. 



Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon's 


Clock 


Day of 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


aft. 


Sun. 


Year. 


54 a 7 


50 a 3 


3 21 


12 


8 


8 


342 


55 


49 


4 41 


13 


7 


42 


343 


56 


49 


5 59 


14 


7 


15 


344 


58 


49 


rises. 


(V) 


6 


47 


345 


59 


49 


5 a. 31 


16 


6 


20 


346 


Till 


49 


6 38 


17 


5 


52 


347 





49 


7 49 


18 


5 


23 


348 



Conception of the Virgin Mary. — This festival was instituted 
by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the eleventh century, in 
gratitude for the preservation of the fleet of William the Conqueror 
during a violent storm. 

Ldcy, a wealthy virgin of Syracuse, who embraced Christianity, 
and distributed her property among the poorer brethren of the same 
creed. Being accused before a heathen judge, he condemned her to 
death, and she was martyred on this day in the year 305. 

Phenomena of the Season. — We have now, says a popular 
writer, a full sense of the loss we sustain in the departure of the 
summer birds, for we feel the absence of the cheerfulness which 
those wanderers communicate to our woods and gardens. Among 
the few remaining, we see the tom-tits pendent from the mossy 
limbs of some tree, seeking, active though silent, their insect food, 

Insects. — This is the Ash- destroying beetle {By- 
lesimts Fraxini). It is no more than two lines DECEfti, 



uttering at long intervals a note low and feeble, making us the more 
sensible of the surrounding stillness. The nut-hatch hammering on 
some distant tree, and the harsh screech of the jay, more loudly dis- 
turb the remarkable stillness of Nature so characteristic of this 
period. The redbreast, who forsook \is all the summer long, now 
joins us in our rambles, flitting before our steps like some ministering 
attendant, coming from we know not where, yet ever present, voice- 
less, and watchfiil. The insect myriads which peopled every wood- 
land are almost all departed, yet many are secretly at work, and 
among them are those small beetles who form such curious little 
winding channels in the form of a leaf, or a regular trained espalier- 
tree, which we see on the surface of elm palings, or on the ashen bar 
of a stile. These channels, or labyrinths, are formed by the grubs 
of beetles, of the kind of which the following cut is an example 
magnified, its natural length being no more than that of the line 
beneath it. 




DECEftl. 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


7 

Highest 
& lowest 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


tTne. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


50°— 47° 


39°— 33° 


55°— 47° 


34°— 20° 


47°-I9° 


42°— 33° 


53°— 31° 


temp. 
















8 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Fine. 




54°— 33° 


37°— 31° 


58°— 30° 


32°— 26° 


50°— 11° 


42°— 34° 


43°— 28° 


9 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Frostv. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 




44°— 38° 


43°— 36° 


44°— 34° 


32°— 2S° 


48°— 29° 


43°— 33° 


57°— 51° 


10 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Rain. 




55°— 36° 


39°— 38° 


49°— 36° 


32°— 28° 


5.3°— 29° 


44°— 24° 


55° — 19° 


11 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 




47°— 37° 


43°— 38° 


50°— 28° 


30°— 22° 


51°— 34° 


44°— 19° 


53°— 29° 


12 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 




52°— 47° 


57°— 60° 


50»— 28° 


31°— 24° 


43°— 23° 


34°— 24° 


53°— 38° 


13 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 




52°— 10° 


6l°— 42° 


48?— 31° 


32°— 25° 


36°— 25° 


30°— 11° 


53°— 35° 



longr, and half a line broad. The head and throat black and shining, the horns brown, 
ending in a small oval knob, pointed at the end ; the wing-cases very dark brown, 
marked with minute lines and dots. The grub, or larva, is yellowish white, with a large 
head and dark-coloured mouth. There is a peculiar swelling between its head and throat. They are now at work, eating their secret 
passages in the inner bark of the ash. There are other species, and though their ravages are not known to be very injurious in this countrj-, 
yet iii^Germany, among the elms in the islands of the Danube, great destruction is occasioned by the elm-destroying Scolytus (Hijlesimts 
scotiitus). This, we believe, is more injurious even in this country than is usually estimated. Some of the elms in the avenue at Southampton, 
we think, have died partly from the attack of this insect. 



In previous Numbers we have directed attention 
to several cheap manures, such as the house sewage, 
bones, chan-ed rubbish, salt, etc. ; and we would now 
claim fi-om our readers a due regard for the refuse 
they may obtain, almost for carrying away, at the Gas- 
works. That refuse is of two very different kinds — 
gas-lime and ammoniacal liquor, — both valuable, but 
the latter by very far the most valuable as a manure. 
We shall confine our observations to-day to the gas- 
lime, and we would premise that a substance may be 
productive of benefit to plants in many ways besides 
being taken in by their roots, and thus actually be- 
coming their food. Beuig fit for their food, entering 
into their very composition, is, of coui'se, a most im- 
portant characteristic of a manure ; but there are many 
other qualities only just a little less beneficial to a 
plant, when those qualities are possessed by a manure 



applied to it. For example, the manm-e may attract 
moisture from the ah', and thus in dry weather gather 
into the soO more moisture than it would otherwise 
have for the supply of the roots of the plants gi'owing 
upon it. Now, gas-lime (hydro-sulphuret of lime) 
attracts moistui'e from the air, for if dried by expo- 
sure to the fire, and then left in a cold outhouse for 
twenty-four hour's, it wUl be found to be quite clammy. 
Then again, a manm-e may benefit plants by destroy 
ing or driving away insects and other vermin that 
are apt to injm'e their leaves or roots. Now this 
quaUty is also possessed by gas-lime, for it is so 
acrid that it destroys every slug and wu-e-worm with 
which it comes in contact ; and is so offensive in its 
smell, or rather stench, that it puts to flight the 
turnip-beetle, if used as a slight top-dressing where 
turnips have been just previously sown. 



No. X, Vol. I. 



96 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Gas-lime is formed in the purifiers of the gas- 
works, by passing the gas through caustic lime ; the 
latter attracting from and combining with the sul- 
phuretted hydrogen with which the gas is contami- 
nated. But, besides sulphinetted hydrogen, it also 
contains a little ammonia and sulphurous acid ; so 
that the refuse sold to the cultivator of the soil is a 
mixture of hydi-o-sidphuret of lime, sidphate of lime, 
and oai'bouate of ammonia. 

Lime in some form exists in all plants. Wheat, 
barley, oats, tiu-nips, potatoes, cabbages, peas, beans, 
etc., contain it in considerable quantity. Now plants 
can only imbibe it by their roots in a state of solution, 
yet in the soU it is only found, unless added by 
means of manure, as chalk (carbonate of lime), which 
is insoluble. Therefore, a manure which will present 
Ume to the roots of plants in a soluble form must be 
beneficial; and such a maniu-e is gas lime, for this 
hydro-sulphui'et of lime dissolves in water. That 
plants have the power of decomposing it, retaining 
the hme and other constituents which they require, 
and emitting those which are unnecessary, is rendered 
clear by the experiments of M. Vogel and others. 

Sulphuret of Ume, by exposure to the atmosphei-e, 
is speedily converted into gypsmn (sulphate of lime), 
so well known to the cultivator as useful when ap- 
pUed as a maniu'e to the gi-asses, clover, turnips, and 
potatoes, and which it benefits by being actually 
one of their components. 

Carbonate of ammonia, the other substance found 
in gas lime, is a highly beneficial application to 
jjlants ; but, as it forms the principal ingredient in 
tlie ammouiacal liquor of the gas-works, it will be 
considered more in detail hereafter. From these 
facts it is very evident that gas-lime is compounded 
of matters well known to be beneficial to our crops, 
and practice has been found to justify the conclusion 
that it is a good manm-e. Thus Mr. Handley, one of 
our best practical agi-ioultmists, observes, that 

" In many parts of the country where gas-works 
are established, the refuse has become an object of 
interest to the farmer, as containing many of the 
essentials of the most efiective manui'es. The refuse 
lime, which was formerly an inconvenience to the 
manufacturers, and was carted away as valueless 
rubbish, is now contracted for by the ueighbom-ing 
farmers (in an instance within my own knowledge at 
7s. 6d. per chaldron), and applied either in compost 
or in a direct form to the land, where, in addition to 
tlie usual operation of lime, it is said to furnish a 
protection against many of the noxious grubs and in- 
sects." — Journal of English Agricultural Society, i. 4(j. 

This last suggestion has since been demonstrated 
to be most valuably true. A top-dressing of fresh 
gas-lime, about 20 bushels per acre, mixed with 
about 100 bushels of earth or chalk, applied the day 
after the tui'nips are sown, drives away the turnip-fly 
by its disgusting fumes; and when trenched into the 
ground on wliich the carrot and onioti crops are to 



be sown, it has been found to banish from them the 
gi-ub and maggot, to whose attacks they are liable. 

Mr. Morton, manager of Lord Ducie's experimental 
farm, recommends gas-hme to be mixed with fresh 
earth or decomposing vegetable matters, for the form- 
ation of a compost. — Agricultural Gazette, 1844 (p. 30). 

Gas-lime, like many other really good manures, as 
is justly observed by Dr. Lindley, is injurious if 
applied to the surface-soil in large quantities, or 
unweakened, by mixture with earth or other compost. 
The proportions should be about eight bushels of eai'th 
or compost to one bushel of gas-Ume, and may then 
be drilled or harrowed in with the seed. On grass, 
thus mixed, Dr. Lindley says he has seen it produce 
excellent effects; and even when it has been applied 
unadvisedly in such quantities as to destroy the blade 
of the gi'ass, yet, after rains and exposure to the 
weather had diminished its power, the gi-ass revived 
with very marked increase of luxuriance and verdure. 

A farmer, writing in the Gardeners Chronicle for 
1843, says — 

" Gas-Hme, not sufficiently mixed with earth, does 
not do as a top-dressing for wheat or tares ; it 
answers best for the bottom of muck-heaps, mixed 
with about ten times its own bulk of earth, and 
turned over twice before the muck is put on. It cer- 
tainly drives aioay the uire-Korm, and kills the seeds 
(of weeds) in the earth. I liave now used it for 
can-ots and barley, both of which look well." 

The Editor of the Carhw Sentinel, writing fiom 
his own experience in the November just past, says — 

"The plan ti-ied with great success in this town 
and neighbourhood, especially in laud where fi-om the 
wh-e-worm and other causes carrots and parsnips 
were never gi-own beyond their early stages, is this — 

"The gas-lime was sprinkled, not thickly, over the 
plot to be cultivated, taking due care that every part 
received a portion of that thin sprinkling ; over this 
coating of lime spread the manure to the extent re- 
quired immediately, and without further exposure 
to the air; dig both, so amalgamated, into the soU, 
tm-ning it completely up ; let the plots so cultivated 
rest for about five days ; after tlus, form the beds, if 
for parsnips, carrots, or any other crop ; and before 
the seed is sown the vermin are destroyed effectually, 
as the surface of the land frequently exhibits. By 
this simple process we have known land which for 
years never produced a carrot, grow them of enor- 
mous magnitude, and the ground completely freed 
from vei-min. 

" We firmly believe, from experience of the past 
year, upon a quarter of an acre of land, that potato 
ground so treated, if it be not too richly manured, 
will resist the progress of the potato disease, whether 
arising from atmospheric influences or other causes, 
if planted early. We draw this conclusion from the 
fact, that in the part planted without the gas-lime, 
the potato was, to a certain extent, diseased. On tbe 
contrary, where the Ume was put into the good 
ground in autumn, the potatoes were every one per- 
fectly sound, although receiving only equal care and 
attention ; and we affirm that the same seed was 
productive aud sound in the one soil, which was 
diseased in the other. We may observe that the seed 
was planted on tbe a3rd of February, 1848, and that 
the one was sound, wbile the other was unsound." 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



97 



THE PRUIT-GAEDElSr. 

EooNOJtY OF Space in Small Gardens (continued). 
— It will be remembered that we offered some obser- 
Tations on this head in The Cottage Gardener of 
November 9th, our remarks then being chiefly con- 
fined to " slopes." We now proceed farther with this 
subject, and propose to offer advice on the following 
heads; viz. — 1st, how fruit-trees should be arranged; 
and, 2ndly, where the bush-fruit should be planted. 

We think that, for the ordinary dwai-f standard 
fruit-tree, no better place can be selected than the 
marginal borders, whether as to neatness of appear- 
ance, or economy of space. Such trees, or rather 
huge bushes, in the interior of the garden, are totally 
incompatible with all success in vegetable cropping ; 
they prevent both the fi-ee access of Hght and a pro- 
per cii'culation of air. We would even on most occa- 
sions, especially where the garden does not exceed 
half an acre, refi-ain from introducing any along the 
sides of a central walk. 

The principal walks round small gardens, there- 
fore, as before advised, should be next the hedge or 
other boundary, for the reason given in the Number 
for November 9th. If it becomes expedient to in- 
ti'oduce a central walk, we would advise the cottager 
to plant gooseberiy and currant bushes along its 
sides. In the case of the amateur such a walk will 
sometimes be requned to add to the oi-uamental or 
decorative department, when the bush-fruit may be 
in part or wholly dispensed with ; and tree-roses, 
dahlias, and hollyhocks, may form a back-gi-ound for 
the dressy annuals, or hall-hardy flowers, together 
with a sprinkling of some of our best herbaceous 
plants, as phloxes, larkspurs, peonies, gentians, prim- 
roses, auricidas, polyanthuses, and various others. 

Dwarf Standards.' — The first point is their dis- 
tance from the hedge or other bouudaiy. There 
should be as much as five feet allowed, provided the 
boundary be a hedge ; and if a wall, or dead fence, 
four feet, or even three will suffice. However, an- 
other consideration arises, as to whether hedge-row 
fruit-trees are introduced. If such be the case, six 
feet will be none too much ; and the ti-ees in the 
hedge-row must be so placed, as to fonn a ta-iangle 
with the two opposite dwarf standards in the mar- 
ginal border. They must by no means be opposite, 
or all will become confusion ; and the consequence 
will be, that some of the trees will in the end requii'e 
to be destroyed before they are worn out. 

It must be borne in mind that this walk will not 
be idle : it will in due time be completely filled be- 
neath with the roots of the fruit-trees and of the 
hedge. The fruit-tree roots will here, at least, be 
safe fi'om tlieu- great enemy — the spade. We would 
in all cases plant some gooseberry bushes between 
the dwarf standard fruit-trees ; and, in such case, a 
little more room must be allowed for the fruit-trees. 
Gooseberries are veiy Uable to suffer fi-om spring 
frosts when in blossom, and we have many times 
known a crop saved in such situations, when those 
fully exposed to the atmosphere were destroyed. 
The overhanging boughs of the dwai-f standards 
proved a protection to the bushes ; and although the 
fruit is not quite so firm, yet, if bushes are not inh'O- 
duced, the ground would be idle, for no vegetable 
cropping that requires spade culture should be al- 
lowed. Gardening, according to these ideas, may be 
divided into two parts, which may be termed dis- 
tinctly vegetable culture, and fruit-tree culture : the 
first needing good spade cultivation, and the last 
an almost total absence of the spade. The bushes, 



therefoi'e, chime in with the same ti'eatment as to 
root-management as the fi-uit-trees. From 10 to 12 
feet apart may be allowed for the fruit-ti-ees : the 
gooseberry-bushes of com'se in the centre, between 
each two. 

We come now to the remainder of the bush-fniit; 
such as red and white currants, raspbeiTies, and the 
black-currant; the latter, perhaps, the most profitable 
fr'uit the cottager can gi'ow, provided the soil is suitable. 

Gooseberry and Currant-bushes. — We before 
spoke of using the borders of a central walk — if there 
must be one — for some of these bushes. It so hap- 
pens, however, that very fi-equently the gaa-den is not 
quite square. When such is the case it is good policy 
to endeavour to form a square out of it, for the sake 
of facility of croppmg, — a matter where spade culture 
by line is observed of no small moment in the end. 
In such cases, then, the sui'plus angles, or pieces, 
may be given up to the culture of the bush-fniit, to- 
gether with such useful things as rhubarb, &c. If 
no such plots occur, there is no alternative but to set 
out a row or two of bush-fi-uit, side by side, with the 
established rows of fi-uit-trees ; but herein some judg- 
ment must be exercised. None should be planted 
on the south side of the garden ; for the ti-ees would 
throw them into complete shade, and baiTenness 
would be the result. The row of bushes will of 
course be on the vegetable-garden side ; and if the 
north side of the garden be long, it would perhaps 
hold enough of itself, which would be a very desir- 
able matter ; for the east and west sides we would 
keep for beans or peas, especially the latter, which 
we would seldom place in the interior of the vegetable 
quarters : they always pod best when standing ft'ee, 
and running north and south, in which case they get 
the sun on both sides equally ; the same may, indeed, 
be said of all vegetable cropping when in drUls. 

The Black Currant and the Easpberrt require a 
separate notice. It is well known that the goosebeny 
and the red cun'ant will succeed in almost any soU 
with due cultm-e : not so the black currant, which, to 
thrive, requires above all things a permanently moist 
soil. It will certainly grow and make a laj-ge bush 
in dry soUs, by dint of manures; but if overtaken by 
drought, when the fi-uit is getting as large as small 
peas, tins susceptible bush will assuredly cast the 
chief of its crop : after which, eased of its burden, 
the bush with the next shower will produce a strong 
growth ; and thus they will proceed in such soils : 
continually flattering their owner by their fi-ee growth, 
and yet frequently disappointing him. As this is a 
most profitable crop to the cottager when rightly un- 
derstood, we propose to recur to its culture ; but now 
we must rest content to point to an eligible situation. 

Many gardens contain a portion of soil inclining 
to a boggy natm-e ; many, otherwise sandy, incline 
towards clay or loam at some point. These, of 
course, ai-e the portions containing most moistm-e, 
and tlierefore most eligible for this fiiut, and less so 
for vegetable culture. It is, indeed, a common prac- 
tice in the north to plant the black currant close 
beside a ditch, down which run the soapsuds and 
other refuse of the cottage ; and although we highly 
disapprove of the practice of letting such nuti-itious 
matters thus run waste, we must say that black cm-- 
rants enjoy such a situation. 

The raspberi-y is also particularly partial to soU 
permanently moist. It will certainly not cast its 
fi-uit lOve the black currant, but in hot and dry soils 
the fruit will lose half its size. The raspben-ies, then, 
as forming a uniform system of root-culture with the 
black cm-rant, we would place in alternate rows with 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



them ; in wliicli case the rows should he eight feet 
apai't, or nearly so; the currants should he six feet 
apait in the row, and the raspherries ahout three 
feet. We wDl shortly return to the suhject of plant- 
ing fi'uit-trees, when we will endeavour to point to a 
ready, economical, and successful mode of making 
holes, or stations, for them generally. 

Draining. — Although we have hefore suggested 
attention to this suhject, we must again recm- to the 
suhject, which is, peculiarly, autumn work. Spring 
will arrive quite as soon as many ai-e prepared for it, 
and will then scarcely offer a chance of hringing up 
arrears. In a future Number we will shew what 
general maxims are applioahle to all soils, and what 
are of a special nature. In the meantime, those who 
are not prepared to proceed with a complete system 
adapted to the whole of a wet garden, should try their 
hand at a " preventive drain ;" that is to say, a deep 
drain, so placed, at the highest end of the plot of 
gi-ound, as to intercept the waters which come from 
higher gi-ounds. This judiciously carried out will 
frequently supersede all other drains in smaU enclo- 
sures. Materials for draining may in the meantime 
he procured. The character of these depends entirely 
on the neighbourhood. In some places stone may 
he obtained, in others gi-avel, and in some the soorise, 
or the huge clinkers from factories. It matters not 
■what material, so that it he of an imperishable chai'ac- 
ter. Nothing excels the ordinary draining tile ; the 
cottager, however, cannot always avail liimself of these. 

Mulching Trees. — We beg to remind those who 
have recently planted choice kinds of fruit-trees, of 
the gi-eat importance of what is termed mulching 
them ; that is to say, covering the soil over their 
roots with half-rotten manure, or other porous mate- 
rial ; this serves as a regulator, or controller, of 
sudden vicissitudes in the atmosphere, and a guard 
against extreme low temperatm'e on the one hand, 
and severe di-oughts, or drying winds, on the other. 
It moreover retains the ground-heat much longer, 
and consequently facilitates speedy rooting. By 
such precautions a whole twelvemonth may be 
gained over a neglected tree. 

Let no time be lost in carrying on pruning, except- 
ing vrith the peach, the nectarine, the apricot, and 
the fig ; the latter should have the shoots in-otected 
forthwith. 

Exhausted Trees.— This is the period at which 
to carry out the maxims explained ixi the Nimiber 
for November 16th, by applying heavy top-dressings 
of manure, slutch, &c., as therein recommended for 
the old apple-trees. The same practice is suitable to 
all fruit-trees ; and in limited gardens, or where an 
objection is raised to the unsightliness of such mat- 
ters, the dressing may be removed in the end of 
March, and dug in for spring crops. The manure 
reserved for spring crojijiiug would thus be much 
better employed, than in lying in badly managed 
manure-holes to fatten the neighbouring ditch. 

Charred M.\tekials. — AU surplus, coarse vegeta- 
ble matter, including useless spray or brushwood, 
should now be charred and housed for general gar- 
dening purposes in the ensuing year. As soon as we 
have room we will describe the bestmethod of doing so. 

We would also direct attention to the cottager's 
compost heaps; the spouts of his building, if out of 
repair, too frequently rob his manure heap of its most 
precious properties. The |iast autunni has been a wet 
one, and many adung-heap has, no doubt, run to waste. 
When a surplus of manui-e-water thus comes to hand, 
it can seldom be wrong to apply it between the rows 
of cabbages or other greens. E. Ehringion. 



THE FLOWER-GAEDEN. 

Fernery. — There is aclass of plants which, though 
they do not produce much floral beauty, are yet exceed- 
ingly interesting, and well worthy of cultivation ; we 
mean the hardy ferns. It may be asked — Why are 
they worthy of that trouble ? We answer — because 
they win grow where few plants else will. Their 
beautiful foliage is different from, and njore elegant 
than, the foliage of any other tribe of plants. If tliey 
are placed in proper situations they are easily culti- 
vated ; also, excepting some of the rarer kinds, they 
are easily procured. Some of the most beautifnl grow 
abundantly in almost evei-y locality, at least at a sliort 
distance from large towns. We do not envy the feel- 
ings of that mortal who cannot see any beauty in 
ferns, who can pass by them without stopping to ad- 
mire the elegance of their form, the fi-esbness of tlieir 
green, and their pecuhar fitness for certain situations 
in which they gi-ow. Admiring those lovely plants 
as we do, we shall this week give our readers our 
ideas and experience on the culture they requh'e. We 
wlU consider, first, the various situations in which 
they grow naturally, for, if ignorant of this, the culti- 
vator may commit great, and, in some cases, fatal mis- 
takes. If a fern in its natmal home luxuriates in the 
crevices of an old wall, it woidd manifestly be wrong 
to plant it in a moist, shady place. Again, if a fern 
flourishes in warm, moist woods, it would be equally 
wrong to place it upon rockwork exposed to the burn- 
ing sun of J uly. The only Adiantum, or True Maiden 
Hair, that grows wild in this country, is found on 
moist rocks, while the Allosm'us Crispus, or Parsley- 
fern, is found in high, dry, rocky places. 

The common Polypody grows on dry hedge-hanks, 
on stumps of decayed trees, and on half-buried rocks ; 
but the Polypodium Phegopteris, or Beech-fern, loves 
the rock moistened continually by waterfalls. The 
Lastrea Thelypteris, or Marsh-fern, inhabits, as its 
name imports, wet, boggy places, whilst the Lastrea 
Rigida, or Rigid-fern, gi-ows on high limestone rocks ; 
Asplenium Marinum, or Sea Spleenwort, is found only 
on sea clifls; Asplenium Trichomanes, or Maiden- 
hair Spleenwort, exists and flom'ishes on old brick- 
walls. The Hart's-tongue-fern (Scolopendrium vul- 
gare) has its native home in dry hedge-rows, or dry, 
open plantations ; whilst the noble Osmunda Regalis, 
or Royal-fern, sends forth its magnificent fronds* 
from its habitation on the open boggy heath. These 
examples might be multiplied, but the above are suffi- 
cient to shew that some care and knowledge of such 
facts are necessary to ensure success in the cultiva- 
tion of those beautiful plants. 

In order, then, to guide the tyro or young begin- 
ner to grow ferns, we shall, in the next place, endea- 
vour to describe such a fernery as will be suitable 
for the greater number of those admirable plants. 
We have, in a Number or two back, du'ected the 
attention of our readers to the cultivation of Alpine 
flowering plants. A somewhat similar mode will suit 
ferns, with this diflereuce, that provision must be 
made for such species of fern as grow in low, shady, 
moist places. The form of bank shoidd be half- 
circular, about the shape of a horse-shoe, the two 
points of which should face the south. A gravel walk 
should be made round the whole, and across the space 
inclosed within the bend. This space is intended to 
plant such ferns in as require moisture and shade. If 
convenient, a small tank, or basin of water, would be 
desirable. This water may have an hregular outline 

• Frond — the name applied to the branches of the fern ; those 
branches being a peculiar compound of leaf, leaf-stalk, and branch. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



99 



of rockwork, and outside that a bed of peat earth, to 
be edged, Mke the walk, with such rough pieces of 
stones, flints, or furnace-clinkers, as may be most 
conveniently procured. The bank may he made with 
any kind of earth at hand. It should be fonued in 
steps, and the upright edges built with rockwork, in 
the insterstices of which those species of fern that 
gi-ow naturally on walls will find a suitable habita- 
tion. The space between the rockwork, which we 
have denominated steps, is intended to receive such 
species as grow in hedge-rows, or open glades. The 
lowest step may be planted with such species as re- 
quh'e moisture, but not so much shade. The inside 
of the bank may be formed into rockwork with rough 
stones, stumps of old trees, &o., to receive such ferns 
as grow on moist shaded rocks. As soon as we can 
find room for it, we shall give a list of ferns, with the 
different aspects they requh-e. 

Situation of the Fernery. — In small gardens, in 
the suburbs of towns, the habitation for those plants 
should be in some retired part, the south side of it, 
to be shaded either with a north wall or shrubbery. 
Several species of fern will gi-ow well in shady plan- 
tations, without any further care than planting them, 
and occasionally stiiTing the ground around them, 
and clearing away anything likely to smother or 
otherwise injure them. They may also be success- 
fully cultivated in pots, of which method more anon. 

In gardens of large extent, the situation of the 
fernery should be in some retu-ed place, with a dense 
shrubbery or plantation to the north of it. An 
arbour made of rustic materials might either be 
formed in the bank of ferns itself, or be placed in the 
plantation to face the rockwork, so as to have a view 
of it. Those who will be at the trouble and expense 
to form such a scene will not only be delighted with 
the eiieot themselves, but will find it give great plea- 
sure to all their fi'iends and visitors. 

Grass-plots — Most gardens have more or less of 
a lawn in them. The grass ought now to be closely 
mown, well swept, and rolled frequently. Should any 
places be bare of gi'ass, it is now a good time to relay 
it, if suitable turf can be procured. Let all the edges 
be neatly cut, and the cuttings put into some place to 
decay. This makes excellent compost for potting. 

Bulbous Irises. — These are singularly beautiful 
plants. Tbey are commonly known as the Spanish 
Iris {Iris Xiphioides). The price of them is mode- 
rate. A bed of four or five rows, about 12 feet long, 
at six inches apart every way, will hold a good col- 
lection. They may also be planted in clumps of four 
or five each, amongst other flowers. 

Soil. — Any good sound garden-mould, enriched 
with some well-decayed dung dug deep into the earth, 
will grow them finely. As they are perfectly hardy, 
no protection is necessary. The only attentions tbey 
require are frequently stirring the surface, keejjiug 
them clear from weeds, snails, and other vermin, and 
to have sticks 18 inches high put in as soon as the 
flower-stems appear, tying them loosely to these from 
time to time until the flowers are open. The colours 
of these flowers are as various as the hues of the 
rainbow. 

Cottager's Flower-G.\rden : Evergreens. — As 
during winter a garden without evergreen shmbs is 
exceedingly blank and dreaiy, we hope our cottage 
Mends will try to procure a few of those winter- 
cheering plants. One or two common laurels, with 
a Portugal laurel, a bay-tree, three or ibur laurus- 
tinuses, which flower at this season ; an aucuba, 
with its beautifully-spotted leaves ; an arbutus, or 
sti'awbeny-tree, with its red, strawberry-like fruit; 



and a pyracantha, or evergreen-thom, with its scarlet 
berries, against the walls of the cottage or any out- 
building, make all look smiling. Also, let our cot- 
tage friends find room for a bush of rosemary, the 
herb of remembrance : it is beautiful as well as use- 
ful (see p. 1-5). 

Sweet-brier. — The cottager can scarcely have too 
many of this fragi-ant shrub; and as the fruit, com- 
monly called hips, are now ripe, let a few be gathered. 
Break them in pieces, so as to separate the seeds ; 
then mix them with sand, and put them in a vessel 
(a garden-pot will answer), and keep them in a cool 
place till next March. In that month sow them 
thinly in rows, in some narrow, convenient border, 
and transplant the seedlings, after one year's growth, 
into the places where they are to remain. They grow 
best at that age. 

Let us remind om' amateur and cottage readers of 
the constant and necessaiy attention aU kinds of 
plants in pits and frames require now. Look for 
dead or decaying leaves every day or two, and in- 
stantly remove them. Water, when absolutely neces- 
sary, early in the forenoon, with water that does not 
feel of a freezing coldness. Cover up securely from 
fi'ost, and on all fine days give plenty of an-. If the 
sun shines, and there is no frost, pull the lights, 
straw mats, &c., quite ofi'; but cover up again in- 
stantly should rain or snow begin to fall. By these 
proper and necessary precautions, the plants will 
acquire the power to endure a long privation of heat 
and light during the dark, snowy, stonny weather we 
may calculate upon in January and February. 



FLORISTS' FLOWEES. 

Auriculas and Polyanthuses, during the dark, 
damp months, will require constant care to keep 
tliem fi'esh and healthy. They should have air on 
all fair days by drawing off the glass-lights, and on 
rainy days by tilting them up behind. To these 
plants decaying leaves are as bad as the cholera, if 
not timely removed. The surface of the soil in the 
pots should be clear of moss aud appear dry. No 
green moidd should he allowed to appear on the out- 
side of the pots. The pots ought to stand either on 
a proper stage of boards, standing upon a paved sur- 
face, or upon coal ashes, frequently renewed, in a dry 
state. Every morning, when the frames are opened, 
look for snail tracks, — the slime they leave wiU betray 
them. Do not leave them till their retreat is found, 
and then destroy them. 

Roses, for gi-owing in pots, for exhibition, or other 
purposes, sliould now be placed in a cold fi'ame or 
pit. The list below requii'es no protection, and are 
all excellent kinds for blooming in pots. They are 
the sorts that were exhibited in such fine perfection 
at the diilerent shows at Chiswick aud the Regent's 
Park during the last season. The soil they do best 
in is a good loam, formed of rotten turf, with a free 
mixture of well-rotted hotbed dung or two yeai-s' old 
cow-dung. Let the pots be well drained, of a size 
suitable to the plants. They wiU be one year in the 
pots before they flower profusely. The growing of 
roses in pots is very desh'able, independently of exhi- 
bition purposes, they being very ornamental for the 
greeuliouse. the parlour window, or the teiTace walk. 

List of forty kinds of roses, suitable for gi-owing in 
pots, that may be preserved through winter in a cold 
frame : 

Moss. — Celine ; rich crimson. Alba la Sediurant ; 
rosy blush. 

Gallica (French Roses). — Boule de Nanteuil ; 
crimson, rosy purple. 



100 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Hyeeid Pkovenoe. — Princess Clementiue ; paper 
white. 

Hybetd CHrNA.- — Beauty of Billiard; vivid scarlet. 
Belle Maria ; superb rose. Cbeuedolle ; light rich 
crimson. Coup de Hebe ; rich dark pink. William 
Jesse ; pm'plish crimson. 

Adsthi.\n. — Persian Yellow ; deep yellow. 

Damask Perpetual. — Mogadore ; jiurpiish rose. 

Hybrid Perpethals. — Aubernou ; bright rose. 
Baronne Prevost ; pale rose. Clementine Seringa ; 
flesh rose. Docteur Marx; carmine. Duchess of 
Sutherland; pale rose. La Reine ; rosy pink. Lady 
Alice Peel; deep rosy carmine. Louis Buonaparte; 
Vermillion. Madame Laftay; rosy crimson. Madame 
Verdier ; pink flesh. Mrs. Elliott ; rosy purple. 

Bourbons. — Armosa; fine bright pink. George 
Cuvier ; bright rose. Madame Ruychin ; rich cream. 
Madame Nerard, lively blush. Paul Joseph ; dark 
velvety crimson. Queen; buff rose. Souvenir de 
Malmaison ; clear flesh. 

Noisettes. — Aimee Vibert; pure white. Clara 
Wendee ; pale yellow. 

China. — Abbe Miolana; rosy purple. Cramoise 
superieure ; rich velvety crimson. Eugene Beau- 
harnois ; amaranth. Madame Breon ; beautiful rich 
rose. Madame Beureau; pure white. Mrs. Bosan- 
quet; delicate pale flesh. 

Tea-scented. — Comte de Paris ; flesh colour. Ni- 
phetos ; ditto, veiy fine. Viscomtesse de Cazes ; pale 
yellow, orange centre. 

GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 

Greenhouse Bulbs. — There are hardly any tribes 
of plants more easy to manage than the different half- 
hardy bulbs which may be grown in a small green- 
house : few are more interesting, few take up less 
room, and none are more beautiful and varied in 
their flowers. They are also of all sizes, from a few 
inches high, as some of the African iris tribe, up to a 
lofty stature of 12 or 1.5 feet, as the gigantic lilies of 
Nepal. Although these are really so very easy to 
manage, yet they have the reputation of being very 
troublesome ; and for one question that a gardener is 
asked about other plants, lie is sure to have three in- 
quiries as to the proper management of Cape bulbs — 
" What ti'eatment do you recommend for Cape bulbs ? 
A friend sent me a box of them two or tliree years 
since, but I can do nothing with them ; and now we 
expect him home, and I am so annoyed that I hardly 
know what to do or say about them." This is the 
substance of numerous questions put to myself; and 
I am persuaded that a general idea exists among 
those who have thus been disappointed, that green- 
house bulbs are, of all other plants, the most difficult 
and dangerous one can take in hand. If, therefore, 
I can e.\plain this matter so as to remove part of this 
unfounded prejudice, I shall be doing at least, some 
service. But, first of all, let me give the substance 
of my answers to all the inquiries about Ca]ie bulbs 
newly imported. It may seem a paradox, after say- 
ing how easily these may be managed, to add that 
my answers invariably are, " Have nothing to do 
with these bulbs. The best advice that I can give 
you is to throw the box aud its contents at once into 
the fire." Tlie tnith is, that African bulbs, impoi-ted 
as above, are seldom gathered by European travel- 
lers ; they are bought at Cape Town from the seeds- 
men, who keep assortments of them ready in their 
warehouses to su)iply the demands of the English 
residents, or of others who may call at the Cape on 
their way home from India and other parts of the 



world. Those bulbs are gathered at the worst season 
of the year, when they are in flower, as at that time 
the different sorts are more easily recognized, and less 
difficult to be taken up, for the gi-ound then, it being 
the rainy season, is moist. We may form a better 
idea of the condition of bulbs thus treated, if we con- 
sider what would be the state of our own hyacinths 
or tulips, if taken up when in full flower, divested of 
their roots and leaves, dtied and packed ready for ex- 
portation. The case is worse, however, with a large 
class of African bulbs, which belong to the iris or 
coni-flag tribe ; most of these flower only once from 
the same bulb, which then dies, after producing 
others for succession. The renewal of these bulbs 
takes place only when the plants are growing ; and 
when they are distm-bed in that state, the chances 
are that the old bulb is too far spent to be of any use 
afterwards, while the yoimg ones are not sufficiently 
ripened to be fit for removal, although to all appear- 
ance they may seem promising enough. Another 
set of Cape bulbs, belonging to the amai-yUis tribe, 
are permanent, and flower from the same bulb for 
years in succession; but when these are taken up at 
the wrong season, they require several years of good 
management to bring them round again. Besides, 
they are always infested with insects of the mealy bug 
tribe, rendering it most dangerous to introduce them 
into our gi'eenhouses ; for if these creatines are once 
allowed to spread to other plants, there is no getting 
rid of them without enormous labour, if at all. But 
I think I have shewn sufficient reason for advising 
our readers to " have nothing to do with imported 
Cape bulbs." The safest plan, and the cheapest in 
the long run, is to procure your bulbs from those 
collections of them that have been cultivated at home 
for many years ; among these there are many splen- 
did ones, which have been originated here from cross- 
breeding, and which surpass in beauty and stateU- 
ness the best of the wOd African sorts. They are also 
so prolific in seeds and ofisets, that nurserymen ai-e 
able to supply them cheaper than most other plants, 
and when once you possess any of them, there is 
little fear of your ever losing the breed again, as they 
multiply as fast as our native crocuses. 

Gladiolus. — The first family of plants that I shall 
mention is the gladiolus, or corn-flag, of which there 
are many very beautiful sorts from Africa, as weU as 
many handsome varieties raised in this countiy from 
seeds ; but before I mention any of them more parti- 
cularly, it may be as well to put you on your guard 
against a common provincial way some jieople have 
of pronoimcing the word " gladiolus," by putting the 
accent, or stress, on the letter o, thus, " gladiolus," 
whereas the true way of uttering the same is as if 
written Glad-eye-lus, putting the accent on the i. 

Gladiolus Cardinalis, or, as we may call it, the Car- 
dinal corn-flag. This is the best known of all the old 
Cape sorts, aud is remarkably showy, having bright 
scarlet flowers, dashed in the centre with white dia- 
mond spots. The flower-stems rising to two or three 
feet high. Every one who means to begin gi-owing 
this class of bulbs, ought to get this one among the 
first, as it is one of the best to breed new ones from, 
and is already the parent and gi-andpapa of an end- 
less variety of most beautiful flowers, some of the 
best of which I shall mention below. 

Gladiolus Qppositiflonis (Opposite-flowered Corn- 
flag). — This is another well-known plant, a native of 
Madagascar, gi-owing as tall as the first-named. The 
flowers are wliite, with a bright pink stripe in each 
division. I place these two together, because between 
them a beautiful race of strong-habited plants may be 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



101 



raised. Formerly another wMte kind, called Gladio- 
lus Blandus (Fair Corn-flag), was used to cross-breed 
with cardinalis, but theii- offspring, though veiy beau- 
tiful, were not nearly so fine and large as those be- 
tween these two. Witness one of the earliest crosses 
between those two called ramosus, or " the branch- 
ing," which at once echpsed the work of thirty years 
in crossing andrecrossingthe cardinal with the breed 
of blandus, " or the fair one ;" this ramosus is much 
taller than either of its parents, and their colours are 
so beautifully blended together in it, that it is scarcely 
possible for words to describe them. All these flowers 
grow so much better in the Mghtrich soil of the nur- 
sery gardens in Holland than with us, that this very 
plant, ramosus, was brought by our nurseiymen from 
those of Haarlem, not longer ago than a dozen years, 
as quite a new plant, from the Cape of Good Hope, 
although it was first raised in England some years 
before ! Now, any of my readers, with only the aid 
of a single window, may grow these plants to perfec- 
tion; and I shall undertake to teach them how to raise 
new seedlings from them that will excel even race- 
mosus in beauty, by the simple process of cross-breed- 
ing the plants "when they are in flower. There is no- 
thing connected with the rearing or management of 
flowers more exciting and interesting than this, or 
more likely to arrest your attention ; I am, therefore, 
the more earnest to fix it on your mind. To be able 
to tell your ft-iends that such and such flowers were 
first originated by your industiy, aided by a little 
twopenny weekly gardening-book, is surely worth try- 
ing for ; and then, when you have more of them than 
you have room for, to be able to give some away as 
presents, or exchange for others, is both pleasant and 
profitable. But, instead of this kind of speculation, 
perhaps you would like better to hear what other 
kinds of beautiful corn-flags I would recommend. If, 
therefore, you are so far in earnest, and mean to buy 
those r have mentioned, I must tell you that the 
white one with the beautiful pink stripes, called 
Oppositiflorus, is often sold in the seed shops under 
another name, the meaning of which being that it is 
an abundant flower, or floribundus ; therefore that is 
the surest name by which to ask for it in the country, 
but in London either of the names vrill find it out. 
The next corn-flag I would recommend is fully as 
strong as the scarlet or white one, and also equally 
hard, but of a very different colour from either. I 
purposely mention it that you may have the most 
dissimilar colours which the corn-flag family affords. 
For, if you should be induced by my representation 
to try your hand at cross-breeding — a process that I 
shall have no difficulty in making you understand 
when they are in flower^ — -it is essential to success that 
you should proceed with the best kinds, and those 
with the most varied colours ; the Latin name of this 
one is Gladiolus Natalensis (Natal Corn-flag), the 
meaning of which is that it is a native of Natal, a 
place on the south-east coast of Africa, named by the 
Portuguese navigators, who first discovered it on 
Christmas-day (the natal or birth- day of our Savioui-), 
in the year 1-198. The Port Natal district now forms 
part of our Cape Colony, and not far from where Sir 
Henry Smith, " the hero of Ahwal," so gallantly put 
an end to the last Caffir war. Europeans in that 
country often send this beautiful plant to England by 
the name of " The Port Natal Lily ;" it is also called 
Gladiolus Psittacinus, or the parrot-hke corn-flag, in 
allusion to its beautiful colours, which are of a ver- 
million orange, spotted and feathered on the edges 
with dark scarlet or purple. Sb- WiUiam Hooker 
says of it, "The colours are indeed splendid beyond 



anything that can be expressed, except by the most 
elaborate miniature painting." Two out of the three 
species that I have mentioned, the Madagascar and 
Port Natal Plants, have the valuable property of not 
gi-owing — above ground — till the spring, like the old 
European sorts ; so, though they are best potted in 
the autumn, they may be stowed away anywhere 
during the winter when room is scarce. This quality 
of not growing in winter we must bear in mind when 
we come to rear seedlings between the different 
kinds, as it is now clearly ascertained that certain 
peculiarities in the parents, either of plants or ani- 
mals, can be transmitted to their offspring. But not 
to detain you any longer on this subject, let us pass 
to that of their management in pots. All the sorts — 
for there are a great number of them — except the two 
that do not grow in winter, and those reared between 
them, should be potted about the end of September ; 
but if you mean to try them now, it is not too late ; 
and there ai'e bushels of them yet in the London 
seed-shops. Indeed, I was offered any quantity the 
other day, of the Cardinal, at foiu'pence each, if I 
would take them by dozen or score ; and the white 
one, with the Port Natal plant, at half the sum, or 
twopence each, that is, if I took a large quantity of 
them, and all of these would flower next summer. 
It will be time enough to pot the last two tiU March, 
but I would rather have them in sooner. 

The pots must be particularly well drained. Put 
an oyster shell with the hollow side down over the 
hole, and a large haudful or two of potsherds broken 
small over that ; they like a light rich soil, and 
rather in a rough state, to let the water pass through 
more li-eely ; one half light loam, the other half equal 
quantities of peat and leaf mould, with a little sprink- 
ling of sand, is the best compost for them. They will 
grow, however, almost in any soil that is not too stiff" 
and not sifted. Gardeners often plant a dozen of 
them in one large pot, and about two inches deep 
in the soil, and the effect of the whole when iu flower 
is indeed most splendid. 

As soon as the bulbs are potted they are watered 
and put away any where till their leaves are above 
gi-ound, then they must have light; they are very 
fond of being near the glass, either in the window, 
pit, or greenhouse; and they are so hardy, that a 
close hot room would draw them up weak. They will 
stand a sharp frost if they are allowed plenty of air 
ft-om the beginning; the best place of all for them, 
except in very fi'osty weather, would be to stand 
under a veranda all day, and to be taken in at night. 
When they are six inches high, they may have water 
twice or three times a week in mild weather ; but if 
they are kept cool they do not want much water at a time. 

Hyacinths. — ^You may now see if the hyacinths 
and your other bulbs have made roots suflicient to 
support a steady growth. If the roots are beginning 
to coil round the ball, you may take some of them to 
the window of a warm room, and those for glasses 
may be removed also, as soon as their roots appear 
through the ball; if they are in pots, o)' if you put 
them all into a box of sandy soU, watch till the roots 
are three or four inches long, when they are fit to be 
put into the water-glass. For the first ten days after 
the glasses are brought into the room, put a covering 
of soft blotting paper, or moss, over the bulbs, as the 
sudden change from a cool moist situation to a di-y 
warm room may prove too much for them. Indeed, 
I am certain that they would bloom finer if the bulbs 
were constantly enveloped in a little moss or wad- 
ding, and this covering damped every three or four 
days, but it must be done very neatly. D. Beaton. 



102 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. 

CoLEwoRTS, or youug newly-turned-m, or firm- 
hearted cabbages, sliould now be taken up carefully 
with the fork or spade, and laid in rows in some 
spare corner or piece of gi-ound, very thickly placed 
together. This increases the convenience of protect- 
ing them when severe frost sets in ; a little straw, pea- 
haulm, fern, evergi'een boughs, or other such article, 
wliicli may be at command, are used to advantage in 
covering them, and thus securing a plentiful supply 
of young cabbages and gi-eens tln-oughout midwinter. 
The same plan may be adopted by those who have 
saved their summer cabbage-stumps for winter greens, 
laying them in deep and thickly together. Another 
advantage is, that the gi-ound will be cleared for get- 
ting in manure on suitable occasions, and ojiportu- 
nity afforded to have it thoroughly trenched. 

MnsHRooir Beds out of doors should be protected 
with thatched hurdles, and a little addition made to 
the covering occasionally, and the damp short litter 
at all times kept clear from the bed. It may injure 
and weaken the spawn much, if allowed to remain 
adliering to the bed. The same direction as to pro- 
tection holds good for aU plants under shelter, which 
require covering. 

Mint, Tansy, and Tarragon, place in a hotbed of 
gentle heat; and Parsley in pots put into sheltered 
situations. 

Radishes. — A little short-top early-frame radish- 
seed may now be sown on a light friable soil, in a 
sheltered warm situation, and protected with straw or 
fern at night, but to be taken off during fine days. 

Sea-kale and Rhubarb. — A few successional roots 
of sea-kale and rhubarb should be taken up by those 
who have convenient room for placing them in 
warmth. Sea-kale roots placed in earth or sand in a 
cellar, mushroom-shed, or back shed, that are close 
and warm, and the light kept from the plants, may be 
produced very fine, and with little attendant trouble 
or expense. ( )f the early varieties of rhubarb, strong 
roots taken up now may be placed in any sheltered 
situation to forward their growth : such as a mush- 
room-shed, near the lightest part ; back sheds, where 
heat escapes from hothouse furnaces ; under green- 
house stages ; inside of a hothouse of any kind, where 
that convenience is at hand ; or a slight hotbed of 
leaves or fermenting materials of any kind may be 
made, and a frame and lights placed over it ; and the 
roots being put on the bed covered with tan, leaf- 
mould, or any light soil. Those who intend planting 
this season either rliubarb or sea-kale, should select 
a good piece of soil, and manure and trench it well, 
and the oftener it is turned and forked over, the more 
healthy it will become for early spring planting, or 
the sowing of the seed of the sea-kale, which is pre- 
ferred by some. 

Routine Work. — All old hotbeds and old pit- 
linings should now be cleared away, taking advantage 
of dry or frosty mornings for wheeling this manure 
out upon the spare ground to be trenched. The 
drains should be examined and repaired if requisite, 
and other necessary repairs at once attended to. By 
those who have no other convenience for forcing early 
vegetables, &c., than by fermenting materials, sligbt 
hotbeds should be made in succession for early horn- 
carrots, shoi't-top early frame radishes, and asparagus 
in succession. Leaves and litter of any kind sbould 
be collected together, and turned and mixed over 
well several times, to be in readiness for successional 
beds and linings. The season also is advancing for 



selecting the stock of nest season kitchen-garden 
seeds; we will, in a future number, give a list of 
well-proved useful articles. James Barnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS mEOEMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 8.) 

The cold stormy winds of winter have set in, and 
the glory of the woods has departed. Nothing now 
remains of the waving splendour of the trees except 
tlie crisp brown leaves of the beech and oak, which 
still cling to the boughs hke gratefid hearts, unwiUing 
to forsake them. The larch plantations look cold 
and comfortless ; the ground is strewn with leaves, 
some of so bright a yellow, that we seem to be step- 
ping upon gold ; and gusts blow them about in sport, 
as if to shew us what nothingness there is in their 
short-lived beauty. Yet even leaves have a work to 
do ; in nature nothing is idle, nothing is made in 
vain. Man dares to waste his energies, his reasoning 
powers, his time and talents, and leaves too often the 
great business of his life undone ; but every thing in 
nature does its duty well, and rejoices to fulfil the 
will of God. Leaves are of great importance to the 
life and health of the tree ; through them the excesn 
of moisture drawn into the trunk from the root, passes 
off into the air, and again they convey to the trunk 
nourishment from the air. They are, as it were, the 
lungs of the tree, and unseasouably deprived of their 
assistance, it would languish and die. Various and 
wonderful are the works of God! a simple leaf, with 
its delicate, thread-like veins, its use and beauty, pro- 
claims the hand that made our world and sun, and 
the thousand suns and worlds that fill the universe. 

When vegetation ceases, when the season of repose 
arrives, leaves are no longer needed ; they are done 
with, and dismissed. Let us remember the work we 
have to do — one of far deeper importance than that 
of leaves ; and as they rustle beneath our feet, they 
should remind us that "the end of all things is at 
hand," and " the night cometh when no man can 
work." 

Yet even now, how cheering it is to see the pro- 
mise of future beauty ! The leaf-buds of the Idao are 
formed and full; the honeysuckle buds are ready to 
burst into fresh life, and here and there a little sprig 
has fairly expanded, looking quite like spring. These 
natural objects are symbols of better things. Is there 
with any of us a tima so dark and dreary, that a word 
of peace, or promise of mercy, is not sent to cheer us? 

The rich blossoms of the laurustinus are now the 
ornament of the garden. It is an invaluable winter 
shrub, for it blossoms just wlien we most I'equu-e it; 
when there is nothing but the holly-berry to enliven 
the scene. It is remarkable that the laurustinus 
should so fearlessly brave our northern winds and 
frosts, for its native clime is tbe South of Europe, and 
tlie northern part of Africa ; and it was not brought 
into England until the end of the sixteenth century. 
Mach care, no doubt, was taken to harden it to the se- 
verity of our winters, which in those days were far more 
bitter tlian they are now ; and by the success with 
which it has been cultivated, we may be encouraged 
to try if we cannot harden other tender plants. The 
myrtle might with little trouble be inured to the open 
air. It is a hardier plant than many people are aware 
of, and less liable to suffer from frosts when in the 
open border than in pots ; and the more woody the 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



103 



plant is the better ; tliey thrive exti'emely well against 
a south wall, matted up through the winter with 
litter, ashes, or other protection over their roots ; but 
let them have aii', or else the shoots will be very 
weak. With a little shelter they would do well as 
garden shrubs, and be beautiful additions to the 
borders. They make fine plants if cut down, and 
covered with thick cotton or wool, as I have directed 
for border geraniums; but then they never grow 
beyond a certain size. They might increase to be a 
large and vigorous shnib, if cared for during the win- 
ter, and would amply reward om- trouble : then- deli- 
cate silky blossoms are very fi-agi-ant, and their 
foliage bright, glossy, and ornamental. The myrtle 
is a native of warm climates, grows abundantly in 
the East, as well as in many parts of the South of 
Europe ; and is used in Scriptm-e as one of the em- 
blems of the flourishing beauty of the church. It 
leads our thoughts, too, to the vision of Zechariah, 
amidst the myrtle trees, full of good and comfortable 
words to the aflBicted people of God. The mild an- 
of Devonshu-e permits the myi-tle to live through the 
year, and it abounds on its southern coast, which may 
give us hope of gradually strengthening it in the 
colder parts of England. 

The poor languid-looking chi-ysanthemums ai'e 
fading fast, but they have brightened our borders long 
after other beauties closed their summer season ; and 
very graceful, deUcate-looking flowers they are. They 
should always occupy a sheltered spot, and the soU 
should be light and good. Leaf-mould suits them 
very well, and they are improved by soapsuds. I see 
them in cottage gardens flourishing with very little 
cai'e ; and although, of course, smaller in size, yet 
valuable as so long enlivening the border. If placed 
against a wall they look very graceful, and do well ; 
they should be trained thinly and regularly, like a 
peach-tree, and if possible enjoy a southern aspect; 
they will then bloom tEl a late period of the year. 
The dark red IDao, and primrose-coloured varieties, 
are most frequently seen as border plants ; and 
grouped together, have a beautiful appearance. Those 
raised in pots are sometimes exti-emely large, and 
very rich in colour. 

Our garden work is now drawing fast to a close ; 
there is Uttle left to do, except to sweep up scattered 
leaves, and tie up the branches of climbing plants 
when storms have loosened them. Do not rake away 
the dead leaves beneath evergreens ; they protect the 
roots, and enrich them too, as they decay ; let them 
be swept under the shi-ubs again, as the winds distm-b 
them. If evergi-eens require to he headed down or 
clipped, wait till the spring, the season is now too far 
advanced — fi-osts are at hand, and would injure them. 
But shrubs or hedges that shed theii' leaves, such as 
hawthorn, privet, hornbeam, &c., may be clipped and 
trimmed with safety. Even at this ohUly season it is 
pleasant to wander about our garden, if we only find 
one stray twig to trim, or fix in its proper place. We 
mark the spots where our bulbs lie hid ; we watch the 
early spring plants, hoping to see the first shoot rising 
among the decaying leaves ; and till the snow falls 
and hides them from our sight, we ai'e daily visiting 
our borders. To the rich and poor alike the garden 
is of perpetual interest. How much enjoyment is lost 
to those who do not possess this taste ! and to those 
who do, all season have a charm. To ladies it is a 
source of health as well as pleasure ; it draws them 
from their weaiy worsted work, to inhale fresh balmy 
air; benefits mind and body, and if they wiU. perceive, 
their views of the wonders of creation will be extended, 
and their thoughts led in ten thousand ways to God. 



MANGOLD-WURTZEL AND 
TURNIPS. 



SWEDISH 



Having stored the mangold-wurtzel and Swedish 
turnip crops, it may not be uninteresting to some of 
the readers of The Cottage Gardener to know the 
particulars of theii- cultivation adopted at Bicton, for 
an abundant crop of these roots is no bad store for 
those who keep a cow or pig. It is a resource to go 
to through the winter, instead of having to incur- a 
heavy account at the mill or the mealman's. Both 
the roots above-named are of well-known value for 
stock, particularly when boiled or steamed ; and since 
the potato has so much fallen off, they will come into 
more extensive use. 

When good pig or farm-yard manure, or manure 
made fi-om a mixture of the slops and refuse of the 
house and gai-den, can be had in abundance, no ai-ti- 
ficial manures are requii'ed ; but as that abundance 
cannot always be commanded, it maybe of service to 
detail some results I have obtained from using the 
latter. To plots of Mangold and Swedes were applied 
Peruvian guano, at the rate of 3 cwt. per acre. It 
was mixed with dry ashes, and put on and hoed in 
at twice after the plants had commenced gi-owing 
strongly. To two other plots were apjjUed 3 cwt. of 
Mr. Barker's " New Patent Submaiine Manure ;" and 
to other plots was applied a mixture of 2 cwt. char- 
coal-dust and 1 cwt. common salt. In both cases 
applied at twice. The results were nearly equally 
good in all. The Swedes were drilled in, the rows 
twenty seven inches apart, in May, on a sandy loam 
well prepared for them. They came up quickly, and 
gi-ew away strongly. As soon as they were up tlie 
surface of the ground was gently crust-broken, by 
running over it a light wooden one-man roUev, with a 
few light bushes tied to its frame behind. This was 
done two or three times before the turnips were hoed. 
At the first hoeing no plants were cut out, but the 
thinning was done in due time, and the hoeing re- 
peated as long as it was possible to perform it. 

The average produce of these Swedes per pole or 
rod, of lU^ yards square, was from 298 tbs to 314 fbs 
after their tops and roots had been trimmed off. The 
tops per square rod averaged 53 tbs. 

The mangold-wurtzel averaged 146 tbs per row 
thu-ty-three feet long, after tlieir tops, &c., had been 
cut oft'. The tops fi-om the same length of rows 
averaged about 15 tbs. In cidtivatiug these crops, if 
a plant fails at the time of then- early gi-owth, the 
vacancy is immediately filled up by transplanting : 
and they are kept perfectly fi-ee fi-om weeds, and the 
surface as open as possible by frequent hoeings. 
This, in my opinion, is the grand, though simple, 
operation of all good cultivation. Unless the siu-face 
of the soU be kept open to admit the air, there wUl 
always be a proportionate deficiency of produce, and 
the crops will always be more liable to the attacks of 
vermin and disease. 

J. Barnes, Bicton Gardens. 



HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. 

Crtptomehia Japonica. — We are much gratified to 
find that Mr. TUlery, of Welbeck, Mr. Cox, of Red- 
leaf, Mr. Kail, of East Horsely Park, and other first- 
rate gardeners, agree in stating that they find this 
beautiful tree perfectly hardy, and capable of enduring 
our climate. For this member of the fir or pine-tribe 
we are indebted to the researches of Mr. Fortune in 
China. — Oard. Journal. 



104 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Roses. — Mr. H. Bowers, of Busbridge, near Go- 
dalming. says he finds these flowers much improved 
by being root-pruned and transplanted once every 
three years. Early in November he removes a part 
of the soil about them, puts in its place plenty of rich 
dung, shortens the strong roots, and replants them 
immediately. This treatment makes the roots com- 
pact and vigorous ; and they bloom freely, producing 
no suckers. — Gard. Chronicle. 

Charcoal. — Many of the Orchidacese at the Lon- 
don Horticultural Society's Gardens at Chiswick are 
growing on charred blocks of wood, and their vigour- 
ous aspect shews that they dehght in this treatment. 
— Gard. Almanack, 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Mulching (J. Wharfe). — mulching is puttincr fresh long dung 
about the roots of a plant, but on the surface of the ground, to keep 
them moist. 

Kidney Bean Seed {E. W. Childs).~lt will produce fruitful 
plants next year, if only two years old. 

Cut Potato-sets (Ibid). — As you have been so badly persuaded, 
leave them ; they may survive, though the chances are against tliera. 

Seedsmen's Names (Iota, Middleborutigh). — A list will be found 
in "Johnson's Gardener's Almanac for 1849," just published. The 
error you point out has been corrected. 

Foundry Loam [J. J.). — This, if clayey, would benefit alight soil ; 
and, if saudy, it would be equally goud for a heavy soil. It gets 
nothing from being used in a foundry that will render it injurious to 
plants. 

Hollyhock (G. Hownrd). — We will give some directions for its 
cultivation. If you have your copy of The Cottage Gardener 
through a Bookseller, the delay arises from his having no parcel from 
London until Saturday or Monday. 

Soot (M. Bury, Green Lodge). — Soot may be employed advanta- 
geously to mix with the earth in potting most plants. We shall give 
directions for cultivating the verbena in due time ; and all the illus- 
trations we can afford. 

Raspberries (An Amateur Gardener, Fnreham). — You will find 
an answer to your query in our sixth Number. Cut all the canes 
down in April. The young shoots, Blr. Barnes says, will bear the 
same autumn. " Picking out the tops " of the young shoots, means 
nipping off the top bud of each. 

Cows, Pigs, Poultry {Rev. P. W.). — We intend to include these 
among our subjects by degrees. The difficulty is to get practical men 
to write about them. 

Celery (V. Hampson), — A letter addressed to Blr. J. Turner, 
Neepsend, Sheffield, stating your wants, will reach Mr. Nutt. 

Chou De Milan (A Willing Payer). — This is not a brocoli, but a 
borecole, and, translated into English, means the Milan cabbage. 
Cut off its head, when it will produce numerous sprouts. 

Kohl Rabi (Ibid). — This is the turnip-rooted cabbage (Brassica 
caulorapa). The bulbs are not so palatable as the turnip, and the 
tops are not so good as the cabbage. Nohl Khol is the turnip-cab- 
bage (Brassica napo-brassica), having a fleshy swelling on the stem, 
and, like the other, is of little value for table use. They are hardy 
and good for pigs, &c. 

Productiveness of Fruit-trees (A Subscriber). — This de- 
pends so much upon soil and management, that we fear we can 
give you no accurate information, but we will inquire. The book you 
ask for is "Johnson's Gardener's Dictionary." 

Un Francais {Cheltenham). — Asphodel tricolor we do not know; 
and the daphne and pitonia are tor borders, not for pot-culture. Full 
directions lor cultivating the camellia in rooms will soon appear in 
our pages. 

Hyacinths in Moss (E. M. Gawsworth). — All the common 
spring bulbs, such as snow-drops, snow-tlakes, tulips, hyacinths, nar- 
cissus, &c., will grow and flower in moss. The plan has been 
followed more than thirty years, and there is no question about its 
answering. Pack the moss firm, and bury the roots below the sur- 
face. All the water required is to keep the moss always damp. The 
pot or vessel, must be drained as when soil is used. 

Warm Pit ^2). — It will not answer to place soil over the flue, to 
plunge pots in ; the soil when dried by the flue would be a powerful 
non-conductor of heat. Melons and cucumbers can hardly succeed 
by your arrangement. Place a stage of boards above your flue, and 
twelve or eighteen inches above it, to lay the pots on ; all greenhouse 
and window-plants may easily be wintered in pits, where they have 
head-room enough, and where frost can be excluded. 

Scarlet Geraniums {iV/ur^'/re^). — A kitchen-window is generally 
too hot to winter scarlet geraniums in ; the heat will not let them 
rest properly : pick off their leaves and put them in a spare box or 
cupboard upstairs, and cover them well when frost prevails, and let 
them have air in mild weather ; if any of the tops are damp, cut 
them off instantly. 

Charring Peat (A Subscriber). — Both the samples of peat you 
have sent to us would answer admirably for charring. You will find 
sufficient directions by Mr. Barnes, at page 83 of our eighth Number. 



You can char any quantity at a time, from a few barrow-loads to as 
many waggons-full. The black portion of your peat is not charred, 
it is merely dried vegetalile matter and soil str.mgly coloured with 
the oxide of iron. Charred peat would act admirably as a disinfec- 
tant for the fifty years' accumulation of night-soil. One load of 
charred peat to five of night-soil would be sufficient. 
• Stakks (A. J.).— Pitch or tar on that part of a stake driven into 
the ground is not at all injurious to the roots of plants. The best 
mode of preserving that part of a staKe is to char it, letting the 
charring extend over that portion just above the soil. Paint can be 
put on over the charred part, as well as over the rest. Stakes and 
posts thus treated will outlast three or four that are uncharred. 

Names OF RnsES {W. H. Thomas).— We should have given the 
names in English if they had any, for we are quite alive to the utility 
of putting everything in our own language ; but we could not re- 
christen the roses. 

Nutritive Matter in Vegetable Marrow (O. S.).~-\Ve be- 
lieve that there is 10 percent, of nutritive matter in the vegetable 
marrow, and about 13 per cent, in mangold-iivurtzel. 

Apple and Pear-keeping {Ibid). — You will find our opinions 
on this subject fully given at page 3 J of our fourth Number. 

Book on the Potato (J. H. Chippenham) .—.Johnson on the Po- 
tato, published by Bohn. We will see as to the list of potatoes you 
suggest. 

Cottage Gardener (J. S.,Neu'caxfle-on-Tyne). — The delay in 
the delivery must be with your bookseller or his agent. We supply 
the country trade a day or two before the regular dav of publication. 

Greenhouse (DaMHml. — We will before long publish a descrip- 
tion and plan of what we consider the best mode of constructing 
this. 

Portugal Cabbage (A. TF.).— This, we presume, is the Portugal, 
or large-ribbed borecole. The heart of this is boiled as usual, out 
the ribs, which are very large, of the outer leaves are most excellent 
if cut out, tied into bundles, and served up at table as asparagus. 
Seed of it sown at the end of March, will produce plants ready for 
use at the end of autumn and early winter; sown about the middle, 
the plants are ripe late in the winter. 

Bower (G. W. Pretty). — To have this covered with evergreens as 
(juickly as possible, situated as it is under the branches of a spread- 
ing apple-tree, you cannot do better than to planty ivy and evergreen 
honeysuckle. We would also recommend a row of the large peri- 
winkle (Vinca major) all round; it will keep the bottom thickly 
evergreen. We shall be glad to hear of the results of the autumn- 
planting of potatoes adopted by you and your neighbours. 

Plants Under a Sycamore (C M.). — No plants will do here so 
well as where they have more light, a freer circulation of air, and 
less drip. The plant that will endure such a situation with least 
injury is the large periwinkle (Vinca major). You may try also, 
with a prospect of some success, the lily of the valley and the wood- 
sorrel. If you wish for a few shrubs also, plant the variegated holly, 
aucuba, laurustinus, holly-leaved berberry, scarlet-blossomed currant, 
and guelder rose. 

Seed Damaged by Post-office (W. X.). — We hope that the 
slight injury your seed has received will not prevent its growing. 
Unfortunately we have no more to send you. We have had one 
accidentally broken in two, which we have joined again by means of 
a little coUodium [gun-cotton dissolved in ether); this forms an 
artificial skin over the wound, insoluble in water, and we are trying 
whether the seed will now grow. 

Probable Product of a Dwarf Ridston Pippin (A Sub- 
scriber). — The Ribston pippin is so liable to canker in some situations, 
that it is a very uncertain kind to calculate upon. So much also 
depends upon the character of the soil, and of course the well-being 
and permanency of the tree. We should say, at 5 years old it would 
not bear more than one bushel per annum, average; at 10 years, not 
above two bushels ; and at 10 years, about three bushels. These 
remarks apply to the dwarf trees, which are supposed to undergo 
regular pruning, Standards unpruned would produce much more. 

DIanure for Roses (An Amateur, Tavistock). — It is quite true 
that Mr, Rivers recommends night-soil for roses, and its offensiveness 
may be removed by mixing it with charred peat, or even charred 
weeds in equal quantities. Pig manures, from styes where pigs are 
fatting, would be nearly as good ; especially if mixed with a little 
soot. One of the best manures for roses is super-phosphate of lime 
(bones dissolved in oil of vitrei). See page 56, in our sixth Number. 

Moving Large Trees (J. Harrison, Preston). — We have re- 
moved many large apples vvithin the last twenty years with much 
success. Our trees have not, however, exceeded twelve years in age ; 
their trunk at the base not more, on an average, than five inches in 
diameter. We do not cut them down to mere stumps, as you have 
done, but merely thin the shoots much more than usual. They 
should be removed with much care, and the surface over their roots, 
when replanted, should be mulched. If the succeeding May be dry, 
thev should be copiously watered. We will deal with this subject at 
large in the C. G. shortly. Your mode of covering wounds in trees 
with gutta percha dissolved in naptha seems good. 

OvER-LDxuRiANT Marie Locise Pear (.4. TT^.). — Throw out a 
circular trench about five feet from the stem of your Marie Louise 
pear, and cut every root clear away which comes to hand. Fill the 
trench again with any fresh turfy soil, and apply some littery mulch, 
three inches thick, over the surface of the uncut roots. In pruning, 
thin heavily, but do not shorten the shoots. 



London: Printed by Harry Wooldridgb, 147, Strand, in the 

Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish oi St. Mary Kalendar ; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Otfice, H7, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Stranl, Lonion. — Deccmbsr 7th, 18(8. 



THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



105 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M W 
D D 

U Th 


DECEMBER 14—20, 1848. 


Plants dedicated to 
each day. 


Sun 
Rises. 


Sun 
Sets. 


Moon R. 
and Sets. 


Moon's 
Age. 


Clock 
aft. Sun. 


Day of 
Year. 


Tufted Pocher comes. 


Swamp Pine. 


laS 


49 a 3 


9 1 


19 


4 55 


349 


I.") F G-reenfinches collect in flocks. 


Pitch Pine. 


2 


49 


10 11 


20 


4 26 


3.50 


' 1 fi S Camb. Term ends. ! Sapientia ! 


Chinese Arbor Vitae. 


3 


49 


11 19 


21 


3 56 


351 


117 SrN':i SuND-iY IX Advent. [comes. 


Wliite Cedar. [press. 


4 


49 


mom. 


«?■ 


3 27 


352 


'is M Ox.Term ends. Brent Wild goose 


Slender - branch ed Cy- 


5 


50 


25 


23 


2 57 


353 


19: Tn Linnean Soc. Meeting, [comes. 


Two-coloured Heath. 


.5 


50 


1 29 


24 


2 27 


354 


20 W ^Embei-Week. Long-tailedPocher 


Stone Pine. 


6 


50 


2 33 


25 


1 57 


355 



O ! Pap!ENTia !— These were the first two words of a Latin hymn, 
formerly s:ing in the church from this day until Christ mas- eve. The 
first liii? of this hymn in English was, " O ! the wisdomwhich pro- 
ceeded from the mouth of the Most High." 

E:mber Wr.EK.— This is one of four weeks first appointed by Pope 
Calixtus, in the third century, for imploring a blessmg upon the 
earth's produce. They were seasons of peculiar fasting and mortifi- 
cation, when the priests put on "sackcloth and embers" (ashes). 
The Sundays immediately after these weeks are now appointed by 
the English Church for the ordination of her ministers. 

Phenomena of the Season.— Although we have had a few 

Insects.— Early in the present month appears 
the December Moth lEriogaster—PwcHocampa— 
populi) ; and it is the more notable by being almost 
the only one that is now to be found. It is not a 



very severe night-frosts, yet the days and weather generally were so 
mild and moist throughout November, that the common earth-worms 
were always to be found ^vithin a few inches of the surface, and 
often stretched upon it enjoying the moisture of the air. Their casts 
are even now almost as abundant upon our lawns as they are in the 
mildest and most showery days of April. Such casts are obnoxious 
to the eye of those who " in trim gardens take their pleasure ; " but 
otherwise these timid piercers and borers of the subsoil are the 
friends, rather than the enemies, of the cultivator. There is no doubc 
of worms promoting the natural drainage of the soil ; and, though 
they occasionally unroot a seedling, we think the good they do far 
outbalances their misdeeds. 




Decem. 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. i 


U 

Highest 

& lowest 

temp. 

15 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Shower)'. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


42°— 27° 


56°-36° 


51°— 41° 


32°— 28° 


44°— 35° 


30°— 13° 


51°— 32° 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 




50°— 37° 


56°— 39° 


54°— 39° 


40°— 3'4° 


51°— 39° 


30°— 13° 


54°— 17° 


I6 


Pine. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Pine. 




49°— 30° 


55°— 48° 


54°— 38° 


43'— 35° 


51° — 12° 


35°— 21° 


53°— 16° 


17 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 




39°— 17° 


51°— 31° 


54°— 30° 


44°— 35° 


49°- 40° 


36°— 15° 


55°— 46° 


18 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Rainy. 


Frosty. 


Rainy. 




35°— 16° 


47°— 35° 


45°— 40° 


44°— 40° 


49°— 35° 


33°— 23° 


49°— 26° 


19 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Uainy. 


Fine. 




37°— 27° 


45°— 35° 


47°— 42° 


42°— 29° 


49°— 36° 


44°^1° 


47°— 32° 


20 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rainy. 


Cloudy. 




39°— 20° 


52°— 16° 


49°— 41° 


38°— 23° 


47°— 32° 


48°— 42° 


41°— 3'l° 



rare moth, and is to be detected sticking to the 

trunks of trees in orchards. The colour of the 

upper wincis is a dark chesnut, with a grayish 

fringe ; and \vhen outspread, they are about an inch 

and a quarter across. They haye a pale band curving towards the body, and another wavy band across the centre of each upper wing. The 

two under wings are brown ; the horns, or feelers fantennije), are thread-shaped. The female moth deposits her eggs on the upper branches 

of the poplar, and of vaiious fruit-trees. From those eggs the caterpillars are produced late in the spring. Their sides are grey, their 

backs are dark grey, with four red dots on each ring. They are in companies when young, under a silky web, from which they come out 

at night to feed upon the leaves. By degrees, as they grow larger, they leave the web, and live singly until full grown, when they spin 

a little silky bag, or cocoon, in which they remain in the chrysalis state until the next December, when they in their turn give birth to 

moths. 



Last week we confined our attention to the lime, 
or calcai-eous refuse of the gas-works, and we now 
address ourselves to the consideration of the gas- 
water, or ammoniacal liquor obtainable at the same 
manufactories. In so doing, we hare little to add 
to the following statements which the editor had 
previously published in another form. 

Every gardener must be aware of the experiments 
lately made, by mixing gypsum, gi-een vitriol (sul- 
phate of ii'on), and other bodies, with fanny ard ma- 
nure, to fix or prevent the escape, during its putri- 
fying, of the ammonia it contains. The reason for 
making those experiments is, that all chemists and 
all practical men agree that manui'es are fertilizing 
just in proportion to the quantity of ammonia which 
they contain.* All animal matters are more feitUiz- 



• We explained in a former Number that ammonia is the active 
spirit of smelling salts, hartshorn, S:c. Gypsum, or Plaster-of-Paris, 
is composed of oil of vitriol and lime, and the ammonia unites with 
its oil of vitriol. 



ing than vegetable matters, because the first contain 
abimdance of ammonia, and the latter very little. 
Then again, night-soU, pig-dung, guano, andpigeon's- 
dung, are the richest manures; and these contain 
more ammonia than any other ; and ammonia is 
beneficial to plants, not only as a stimulant, but be- 
cause it is a component of aU cultivated plants, as 
the researches of modern chemists demonsti'ate. 

Now ammonia is contained in large quantities by 
tlie gas-water. AU coals yield cai-bonate and acetate 
of ammonia when distilied in the retorts of the gas- 
works, and, being soluble, the gas is purified fi-om 
these salts by passing it through water; and how 
valuable it is thus rendered as a manui'e is thus 
testified by Mr. Cuthbert Johnson, in his Farmer's 
Encyclopedia : 

" There are many testimonials in favour of the use, 
as fertilizers, of the salts of ammonia, either in their 
pure state, or as foimd in an impiu'e combination with 
soot, or in the liquor of the gas-work. ' Soot,' says 



106 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Davy, ' owes part of its eflScaoy to the ammouiaeal 
salt it contains.' The liquor produced by the distil- 
lation of coal contains carbonate and acetate of am- 
monia, and is said to be a very good manure. In 
IftO^, I observed that the growth of wheat, in a field 
at Roehampton. was greatly assisted by a veij weak 
solution of acetate of ammonia." 

Care must be taken in using this and all other 
liquid fertilizers not to make the solution too strong; 
it is an en-or into which all cultivators are apt to fall 
in their early experiments. Davy was not an excep- 
tion : from making his liquids too concentrated, he 
obtained results which widely differed from his latter 
experiments. 

There is no doubt but that the salts of ammonia, 
and all the compound manures which contain them, 
have a very considerable forcing or stimulating 
effect upon vegetation. 

In the experiments of Dr. Belcher upon the com- 
mon garden cress, by watering it with a solution of 
phosphate of ammonia, the plants were fifteen days 
forwarder than other plants gi'owing under similar 
circumstances, but watered with plain water; and he 
also describes the experiment of a Mr. Gregory, who, 
by wateiing one half of a grass-field with urine 
(which aboimds with the salts of ammonia), nearly 
doubled his crop of hay. 

" It is probable," says Mr. Handley, " that the am- 
moniacal liquor which abounds in gas-works, and 
which, when formerly allowed to run waste into the 
Thames, was said to destroy the fish and prejudice the 
quality of the river water for human consumption, 
and which is still thrown away throughout the 
coimtry, except at a few works, where they manufac- 
ture sal ammoniac, will, ere long, be extensively used 
as a manure, either through the intervention of the 
water-cai't, or for the process of satiating and decom- 
posing soil or vegetable matter. A veiy satisfactory 
illustration, on a small scale, has recently been sub- 
mitted by Mr. Pain. He put into a vessel some 
leaves of ti'ees, saw-dust, chopped straw, and bran, to 
which he applied ammonia, and closed it up. In 
about three weeks the whole was reduced to a slimy 
mass ; he then stirred it, and added a little more am- 
monia, and, when submitted to the English Agi-icultu- 
ral Society, it was reduced to a black mass of vegeta- 
ble mould, strongly impregnated with volatile salts, 
and in very small particles, similar to peat mould. 
When applied in its liquid form to grass, like salt, it 
apparently destroys the plant ; but the spot is distin- 
guished by increased verdure the succeeding year." 

If applied to land in a liquid form, by means of a 
watering-pot, it should be previously diluted by mix- 
ing with it at least five gallons of water to each one 
gallon of gas-liquor. And its effects will be rendered 
more permanent, if the sour grounds of beer-casks, 
oil of vitriol, or other cheap acid, be mixed with it ; 
for the acid combines with the ammonia, and renders 
it less volatile, or, in common language, fixes it. 

The best mode of proceeding is to add oil of vitriol 
to the gas-liquor until it ceases to effervesce, or 
until bubbles cease to rise copiously in it, and then 
to add five-times the quantity of water than there is 



of liquor. A gallon of liquor will not require more 
than half a pound of oil of vitriol. Two hundred 
gallons of gas-liquor are sufficient for an acre. 

By experiments made by a practical farmer, it was 
proved that gas-liquor was far more beneficial to 
grass than eight other manures, though two of them 
were bone dust and soot. For an outlay of forty 
shillings per acre two tons additional per acre of hay 
were obtained. The London Horticultural Society 
have lately instituted experiments upon manures, 
for the improvement of laicns, and the conclusion 
arrived at was extremely in favom- of gas-liquor 
when compared with other manm'es. — Johnson's Gar- 
dener's Almanack. 

Mr. Knight, a most respectable faa'mer of exten- 
sive lands at Winnal, near Winchester, uses annually 
thirty bushels per acre of gas-lime and ashes, one- 
thu'd being gas-lime. He drUls it in with turnips, 
and sows with barley and grass afterwards. He 
allows the gas-compost to lie twelve months before 
it is used. The ashes are also from the gas-works, 
and have absorbed gas-water and tar. He has tried 
them against guano successfully. 

To the gardener, gas-water also ofiers a powerful 
remedy against one of their greatest enemies, the 
louse or green-fly (Aphis), which attacks their pea, 
bean, and other crops so destructively. I have found 
it equally effective in destroying the black louse 
(Aphis cehasi), which is occasionally so injurious to 
the Morello cherry. Dr. Lindley states (Oardener's 
Clironicle), that — 

"It has lately been ascertained by Mr. George 
Gordon, the Superintendent of the Hardy Depart- 
ment in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, 
that the ammoniacal liquor of the gas-works, diluted 
with water, is a certain remedy for the green-fly, 
which has been so unusually abundant during the 
present year. He has found that, although gas-water 
in its undiluted state bums foliage whenever it 
touches it, yet that plants do not suffer from it when 
considerably weakened with water." 

It appears that when the London gas-liquor is 
mixed with ten times its measure of water, and applied 
with a syringe to the parts of plants infected with the 
green-fly, it causes so speedy a destruction of those 
insects, that the greater part disappear after the first 
dose, and a second application is sufficient to clear 
away all the remainder. Upon mentioning this dis- 
covery to a person whose garden was, four days since, 
in a most deplorable state from swarms of green-fly, 
he ordered his gai'dener to repeat the experiment with 
gas-liquor, weakened with twelve times its measure of 
water. The following morning, upon looking over 
the bushes, it was scarcely possible to detect a living 
individual; the leaves were green and much refreshed 
by the operation. The syringing was only used twice. 

As we foresee that many inquiries will be made as 
to the proper proportion of gas-Uquor and water that 
ought to be employed, it is as well to anticipate them 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



lor 



by saying, that it is impossible for us to answer such 
inquiries, except in general terms. 

Everybody must ascertain the fact for himself, by 
mixing gas-liquor and water in various proportions, 
and trying their effect in a small way at first 

The fact is, that the quantity of ammonia contained 
in gas-liquor is extremely variable — the gas-works 
making it of no uniform strength. 

That used by Mr. Gordon and by the gentleman above 
alluded to was very strong ; effervescence not ceasing 
in an ounce of it untU iifty drops of the sulphuric acid 
(oil of vitriol) of the apothecaries had been added. 
Those who wish to determine the relative strength of 
that which they employ, can do so by a very simple 
process ; take one fluid ounce of the gas-Uquor to be 
employed, and add to it, drop by drop, such sulphuric 
acid as may be bought in the apothecaries' shops, 
until effervescence ceases. Then, supposing they find 
this to occur after twenty-five drops have been added, 
they will know that their gas4iquor is only half as 
strong as that used by the Horticultural Society ; 
and, consequently, instead of adding ten parts of 
water to one part of gas liquor, they must only add 
five parts, to obtain the same strength, and so on. 

It is true that this is not a very exact proceeding, 
because the sulphuric acid of the apotliecaiies itself 
varies in strength, but we conceive it to be quite suf- 
ficiency exact for gardening purposes. There is one 
important advantage that is obtained by this process, 
namely, that independently of killing the green-fly, 
the plants are well manured by the same operation ; 
so that nothing is lost. 

Gas-tar is an excellent manure, for it not only is 
composed entirely of vegetable matters, but is abound- 
ing in ammonia. Daniell's manm'e, which has been 
found so beneficial in many instances, has gas-tar 
funong its chief constituents. It is easily spread over 
the suj'face of the soil, and ploughed or dug in, if 
mixed with earth and ashes. It should be applied 
just previously to the last ploughing or digging, 
immediately before sowing or planting. But this is 
not the only use to which the gardener can apply gas- 
tar beneficially. It is an admhable paint for old 
walls, giving them a fi-esh face, desti'oying insects, 
filling up boles, especially if mixed with a little lime- 
dust, and so combines with the old mortar as to give 
it additional firmness to retain the nails used la train- 
ing fi'uiHiees. 



Finding it quite impossible to make room for the 
contributions sent us by Coeeespondents, or for 
special directions for Ailotmbnt Tenants, we pm-- 
pose publishing, at the end of each month, an extra 
Niunber, to be devoted to those subjects, and to con- 
tain a copious Index of the contents of the previous 
month's Numbers. 



THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 

Hedges and Hedge-bow FHuii-iREEa are by no 
means unimportant items in small gardens. Otlier 
boundaries prevail, especially in tlie neighbourhood 
of towns, such as wooden fences and regular garden 
walls; the latter for the most part forming an en- 
closure to the garden of the amateur; but om- purpose 
now win be to deal with the ordinary hedge, as bear- 
ing on the cultivation of hedge-row fruit-tiees. 



The mode of planting hedge boundaries differs in 
various situations; the diffei'ence for the most part 
being founded on the mere custom of the district. 
Thus, in one county, the folks have no other idea of a 
hedge but one raised half a yard above the groimd 
level; this, in the north-western parts of England, is 
termed a " cop." This cop has been forced into 
practice, no doubt, fi-om the gi-azing fields in the 
vicinity ; and certainly, whilst the hedge is in an in- 
fant state, the cop is of much service in withstanding 
the inroads of the cattle on the other side. These 
cops, however, are very sori-y affairs in some instances, 
especially on dry uplands. We have known many 
such in our day, which neither could produce nor 
maintain a good hedge. This is in part owing to the 
small amount of pains bestowed on the constniction 
of the cop bank; for, whether the soil on the spot be 
good or bad, it is tumbled over, and tinfed up at the 
sides; and where the soil is of a changeable character, 
— now a morass, now clayey, and then again mere 
sand — the hedge of course partakes in appearance of 
the fitful nature of the soil beneath. We know of 
hedges of this character extending for miles, in which 
luxuriant patches alternate with th ose in a half-starved 
state. In fact, in some places the hedge never rises a 
foot iirom the suiiace. To the stranger, this is a cause 
of surprise, but on a little examination it is perceived 
that all the strong-growing parts (many of which rise 
seven or eight feet in much luxuriance) are in the 
lowest dips, whilst those on the rising ground are 
stunted. The hedges in question flank the road-sides 
from Delamere Forest onwards towards Chester. They 
were fonned, probably, by gentlemen deputed ft-om 
the Woods and Forests' Board, who, not having prac- 
tical and local information on the subject, have missed 
their aim. 

If a hedge is at all necessaiy, means should be 
taken to make it a good and an equal hedge, for we are 
in the habit of thinking a boundary-fence a most im- 
portant affair. 

The introduction of fruit-trees into hedge-rows is 
worthy of much consideration, for, as we have before 
obsei'ved, we have known the cottager to realize a 
considerable portion of his rent fi'om his hedge-row 
fruit-ti'ces. We will, therefore, endeavour to encourage 
such cultivation, by a httle advice founded on practice. 

The best chance for thus estabUshing fruit-trees 
occurs when a new hedge is being planted : then 
it is that soil can with faciUty be introduced at the 
station for the trees, which will render them perma- 
nent in character; and, if manured aright, not unfi'e- 
quently superior in productiveness to those in culti- 
vated gardens, where, by an injudicious attempt at 
cropping close to the surface of the ti'ees, the spade 
carries on a most destructive waj'fare with the valuable 
surface roots. When such a hedge is planned, and 
it is determined to inti'oduce fruit-trees, some pains 
should be taken to examine both soil and subsoil 
along the whole length. It not unfrequently happens 
that, from sudden variations in the textm'e of the soO, 
an exchange may be accomplished, which wUl preclude 
the necessity of caiTying soil from other parts. 

The first tiling to be done, is to set out stations for 
the fruit brees. Their distance must be ruled by the 
situation of the dwarf fruit-trees on the garden-border, 
which, as we suggested in oui- chapter on slopes, 
should be within some eight or ten feet of the hedge. 
In this case, one hedge-row fruit-tree between every 
two gai'den or border-trees would be too much, espe- 
cially on the south side of the garden ; indeed, it is a 
question whether they ought to be inti'oduced at all 
on the south. We would, therefore, plant only half the 



108 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



number of liedge-trees ; that is to say, in beginning at 
one end, we would plant one hedge-row tree in an 
angle, opposite the first two border-trees. We would 
then miss the ne.xt angle, and plant another hedge 
tree in the succeeding one, and so on. 

In preparing gi-ound for a hedge, which is to be a 
boimdary defence, a portion of gi-ound four feet in 
width should be trenched, or otherwise broken up. 
The depth to which this trenching should be can-ied 
depends on two things : first, whether there is to be a 
cop or bank above the ground level; and, secondly, 
as to what depth the good soil extends. If the ground 
in this part is very uneven in depth, and some jiarts a 
hungi-y sand or clay, we would remove as much of the 
very had soil, before proceeding to trench, as was 
needed to receive some of a better staple. After this, 
some better soil must be placed in its room. When 
other portions of the line are rich in soD, a part may 
be borrowed from thence. The stations for the fruit- 
ti'ees being each marked with a stake, the soil in those 
spots must have a little extra examination, and mate- 
rials of a sound and enduiing character dug in at 
those points. When it is considered how much the 
ground will be " sucked " by the roots of the hedge as 
well as of the fruit-tree, it is manifest that a little extra 
labour at these points wiU not be thrown away. 

As to what kind of soU to introduce for the fiiiit- 
tree, that depends much on the character of the soil 
already there. If of a clayey and wet character, some 
mellow and fi-ee soil of any kind will render assist- 
ance ; but if diy or sandy, marl, strong loam, or even 
clay may be introduced. We are anxious to impress 
on our readers that a strong staple should be provided 
at the tree stations, — a soil rather approaching clay 
than sand. We are aware that the mere cottager has 
much difficulty in procuring soD, and that some far- 
mers are not so ready to accommodate them as they 
ought to be. We have, however, known plenty of 
cases where a man may give a day's labour in hay or 
corn harvest as an exchange for things of this kind ; 
and two, or at most three, days' service would gene- 
rally procure as much soil as the cottager woidd 
requu-e. Tbei-e is generally some low gi'ass lands in 
most districts, where some furrowing has to be per- 
formed annually for temporaiy drainage purposes, and 
soil of this character is invaluable to mix with the 
hedge-sou, for the fniit-tree stations. 

It must be remembered that turf of any kind, even 
from the sides of the lanes, commons, or wastes, is of 
the utmost seiTice in this case ; too much turf of any 
ordinai-y kind can scai-cely be introduced. Even 
weeds, cabbage stalks, and other vegetable refuse may 
be blended with the mass. When good sound soil 
cannot be obtained, and the ground is poor and diy, 
we would strongly advise lumps of marl or clay to be 
tumbled in the bottom of the holes, where the fruit- 
trees are to be planted. A mixture, according to cir- 
cumstances, being thus introduced, the work, as far as 
the fruit-trees are concerned, is complete. The deep 
digging or trenching of the hedge line may now be 
carried out, taking care on aniving at the fruit-tree 
stations not to rob it of its materials, but to pass by it. 
Any ordinary sandy or poor material met with in 
trenching may be tossed into heaps on one side; such, 
if requisite, wiU do very well to raise the surface with, 
for six inches of such on the surface will do no harm: 
the main business is to secure sound material ibrthe 
roots below. About the hedge and fi-uit-tree planting 
we wiU oifer farther advice in due course. 

Peaches and other Trees on Walls. — We shall 
now soon turn our backs on Christmas, when spring, 
with its peculiar and pressing labours, will soon begin 



to advance. Nailing and training, if delayed, some- 
times becomes a serious impediment to other matters; 
and we advise that all these things be got forward with 
speed. Many persons do not like to prune their 
peaches in the dead of winter : for our own part, we 
have pnined at all seasons for many years, and could 
never find any injm-y resulting from midwinter prun- 
ing of the peach. Where such has occurred, it must 
have been in the case of bloated and badly-ripened 
wood : and this is liable to such injiu'ies under any 
circiunstances. At any rate, let all the young shoots 
be loosened immediately fi-om the wall, for the sake of 
picking and cleaning the shi-eds and nails, and placing 
them under horticultm-al quarantine. It is best with 
the peach and nectarine to remove eveiy shred which 
can be spared, in order not to be fettered in re-anaug- 
ing the shoots. Such may seem to involve much 
labom' ; we do not think so. We would rather under- 
take to nail a peach-tree totally un-uailed than one 
from which the bands had been removed sparingly. 

Indeed, all the trained trees on walls or fences must 
now be gone over, with the same view; and as soon 
as the shreds ai'e collected, they should, as in-door 
work, be picked over as soon as possible, using the 
test of a good tug with the two hands, in order to see 
if they wUl endure another year-. As soon as picked, 
throw them into boiling water for a quarter of an hour 
or more, in order to destroy the eggs of insects, and 
then spread them out to dry, and secure them for 
business. 

The nails should be shaken in a sack, the coarser it 
is the better. Put about a gallon into it, and let two 
persons, one at each end, shake them backwards and 
foiTvai'ds ; the fiiction against the bottom of the sack 
and each other, wiD loosen all extraneous matter. 
Some riddle them afterwards, and toss them in an- 
other sack, dropping a little oil amongst them before 
the operation. This will prevent rusting, and make 
them look quite fi'esh. In loosening the bands of the 
trees, care must be taken to leave as many as will pre- 
vent the shoots wind-waving, or they will get broken. 

Plums, pears, cherries, and apricots, need not have 
so many bands removed; they bear chiefly on spurs, 
and spur-beai-ing trees do not require so extensive a 
re-an-angement as those which bear on the young 
wood. 

Again we say, lose no time in canying out pruning 
matters. The gooseberries should be done as soon as 
possible, but where their buds are liable to the depre- 
dations of bii'ds, it is well to cut them very sparingly 
at this period. If they escape these pests, it is easy to 
go over them in the early part of April, and remove 
a few more shoots. R. Ekrington. 



THE rLOWER-GARDEN. 

Ferns {continued) : Soil. — The soils suitable for 
ferns are of very various kinds. Such ferns as are 
found in moist shady woods require a mixture of 
heath-mould and rotten leaves. Those that grow on 
mountains will thrive in gravelly loam ; whilst those 
that flourish in peaty bogs requu-e a peaty bog soU, as, 
also, sudi as ai-e natives of heaths or crevices of rocks 
do best if planted among sandy heath-mould. With 
those different soils most kinds of ferns may be suc- 
cessfully cultivated. 

Fekns in Pots. — Like the Alpine plants mentioned 
in the eighth Number, ferns may be satisfactorily culti- 
vated Ln pots. We have under our care, at Pine Apple- 
place, a good potted collection of them plunged in 



THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



coal-ashes, under a wall facing the west, where they 
thrive very well. The larger-gi'owing species, how- 
erer, do not send up such fine fronds as they would 
do if they were planted out in a proper situation, and 
in the right soil. Some of the more delicate kinds do 
exceedingly well in pots, in a compost of peat-earth, 
light loam, and sand, mixed with very small pieces of 
broken garden-pots. The larger pieces can he used 
for di'ainage. Those delicate kinds are such as grow 
naturally in the crevices of rocks in exposed situa- 
tions. Should the rains fall ever so abundantly and 
frequently, the roots of those ferns are never over- 
supplied with, moisture, so in the pots the di-ainage 
must be so perfect that the superabundant water will 
readily pass off fi-om the plants. Of course, those 
that are found in low moist places do not require so 
much di-ainage. In fact, if there be one piece of 
broken pot, or an oyster-shell, over the hole of the 
pot, it is quite sufficient. 

Water. — Ferns in pots should never be allowed to 
become dry The fibres of the roots are so small 
and delicate, that drought soon destroys them. They 
should be sprinkled over head every morning and 
evening fi*om April to August, excepting rainy days. 
In the autumn and winter they require no care but 
removing from them the decaying fi-ouds and weeds. 
Mosses and lichens may be allowed to gi'ow, as they 
will assist in protecting the roots fi"om the severe 
weather of winter. 

The following list of British hardy ferns, divided 
into theii' several localities, will materially assist the 
cultivator in placing them in his fenieiy : 



I. — Such Fems as grow on ex- 
posed rocks and crevices of 
walls. 

Adinntiim capillus veneris. True 

Maiden's-hair Fern. 
Allosorus rrispvs. Rock-brake. 
Polypodium calcareum. Smith's 

Polypody. 
Woodsia ilvenais. Ray's Woo dsia. 

„ atf}i?in. Bolron'.s dn. 
Ct/stopleris inuntmui. \V ilaou's 

Mountain Fern. 
Pofi/stichum Sonchitis. Holly 

Fern. 
Lastrea oreopteris. Mountain 
Lastrea. 
„ rigida. Rigid Fern. , 
,, recurva. Recurved do. 
Asplenium lanceolntum. Lance- 
leaved Spleenwort. (Also on i 
Sea-cliffs.) 

,, Adiantum nigrum, j 

Black do. j 

,, Ruta muraria. 

Wall-rue do. 

,, germnnirum. Alter- 

nate-leaved German do. 

,, septentrionale. Forked 
Spleenwort. 

,, trichomanes. Common ■ 

Spleenwort. 

Ceterach qfficionaruyn. Scaly 

do. I 

Lycopodium annotinum. Inter- ' 

rupted Club-moss. 

„ alpinum. Alpine, or ! 
savin-leaved do. ' 

, , selaginioides. Selago- 
like do. { 



II. — Such as grow on shady, 

moist Rocks, near Waterfalls 

or Ditches. 
Lomaria spicant. Spiked Lo- 

maria. 
Polypodium vulgare, var. cam- 

brictim. M'elsh Polypody. 
Polr/podium phegopteris. Beech 

Fern. 
Cystopteris fragilis. Brittle do. 
Aspfenium viride. Green Spleen- 
wort. 
,, fontanam. Fountain's 

Abbey do. 
Trvchomanes spt'-iosum. Bristly 

Fern.* 
Hymenophi/llum Tunbridgense. 

Timbridge Filmy Fem.t 
,, Wilnnnii. Wilson's 

do.t 

III. — Such as erow in moist, 
shady Woods. 

Polypodium dryopteris. Oak 
Polypody. 

Polyftfic/ium angulnre. Angular 
Polystichum. 

Lastrea spinosa. Spiny Lastrea. 
,, multiflwa. Many-flow- 
ered do. 

,, fili.r mas. Male Fern. 

AthyHum fil'u fctmina. Female 
Fern. 



IV. — Such as grow on Hedge- 
rows, open dry Heaths, and 
old Pastures. 

Athyrium Jilix famina, var. 
Smithii. Smith's Lady Fern. 



* This is a very choice fern, chiefly found in Ireland ; it requires a 
constant dipping of water over it. This may be managed by having 
a small vessel — a tub, for instance — higher than where the fern is 
planted, with a small hole bored in the vessel suflBcient to allow a 
drop or two out at a time. 

t These two are also scarce and elegant fems, loving moist rocks, 
but not requiring the drip over the herb, as the former one. In 
winter the whole three should be covered with hand-glasses, and a 
little common dried brake, or fern, thrown over them in severe frost. 
They are so lovely and curiously elegant, that they are worth all the 
pains you can bestow upon them. 



Polypodium vulgare. Common 
Polypody. 

Polystichum aculeafum. Prickly 
Polystichum. 

Scolopendrium officiiianim. 
Hart's Tongue Spleenwort. 
„ var. undulatum. 

Wavy do. 

,, var. aiigustifolium. 

Narrow-leaved do. 

Bntrychium lunaria. Moon- 
wort. 

Lycopodium clavatum . Club- 
Moas. 
,, selago. Fir do. 

Ophioglossvm mtlgatum. Com- 
mon Adder's-tongue. 



109 

V. — Such as grow in Boggy 
Heaths. 

Lastrea thalypteris. Marsh 
Fern. 

„ cristata. Crested Las- 
trea. 

Osmunda regnlis. Royal Fern. 

Lycopodium inundatum. Marsh 
Lycopodium. 

VI. — Sea-side Fems. 

Asplenmm marinum. Marine 
Spleenwort. 

}, Lajweolatum. Lance- 
leaved Spleenwort. 



Planting. — The fernery being completed and ready 
for planting, select as many of the first section as you 
may possess, then tmTi them out of their pots, and fix 
them in the crevices of the roclovork, pressing with 
the hand as much of heath-mould as will serve to fix 
them fii-mly hi their several places. Plant this section 
on the east and west sides of the rookwork. The se- 
cond section should be planted on the north and 
inside of the femeiy in the crevices of the rocks, in a 
simUar manner as the foregoing division, with the 
exception of the Bristly or Irish fern, which should be 
managed as described in the note. The third division 
should be planted on the lowest step, all round the 
fernery, in a compost of equal parts of loam and 
sandy heath-mould. As these are all, excepting Poly- 
podium Dryopteris, large growing species, they re- 
quire a space of at least two feet each to exhibit their 
fine foliage to advantage. The fourth section ought 
to be planted on the highest levels, in the same com- 
post. The common polypody is a creeping species, 
and may be inserted in hollows of old stumps of ti-ees, 
but the Moonwort and Adder's-tongue should be 
planted on a level part, and the sm-face covered with 
a coating of moss. A few pebbles or flints laid upon 
the moss will keep it in its place. The club mosses 
require planting, and part of their stems covered with 
moss and pebbles. The rest of the species of this lot 
merely require planting, and allowing a moderate 
space to grow in. Fifth section. The Royal Fem is 
in this division, and a noble, elegant species it is. As 
the whole of them are natives of boggy, wet places, 
they should be planted in the space round the small 
piece of water, inside the bank described in the last 
>f umber. The space allotted for them should have a 
coating of real bog-eai-th, nine inches or a foot thick. 
Plant them in it thinly, and keep the soil very moist, 
and as light as possible. They will then flourish 
surprisingly, and be exceedingly ornamental. 

Section the sixth, only numbering two species, 
should have a little sea-salt and gi-avel added to the 
compost, and be planted on ledges of stone orcUnkers. 
We have thus at some length dilated upon the culture 
of this tribe of plants so remarkable for their loveli- 
ness. We thought it best to give a pretty complete 
essay on the subject at once, so as to render it unne- 
cessary to refer to the subject again, except as a 
matter of routine management in future. One point 
is stni wanting to render it complete, and that is, a 
list of hardy foreign ferns, which we intend to give 
in some future Number. 

A.M-\teur's Flower-Garuen. — Again we must in- 
treat oiu- amatem- and cottage friends to read the 
essay on hardy fenis in this and the preceding Num- 
ber, and put it into practice as far as possible. We 
are quite sure they will he highly pleased with their 
labours. The alpinery and fernei-y may on a small 
scale be joined, but the plants should be kept sepa- 
rate, that is, the ferns and Alpine plants should not 
be mixed, as they do not bear the same treatment. 



no 



THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



Pruning. — Now is the proper time to prune shrubs, , 
&o. The principles to act upon are to produce the 
gi-eatest quantity of flowers, and to bilng the object 
into the proper and natural shape. All the small 
twigs in such shrubs as lilacs and syiingas should 
be carefully removed, especially near the ground. 
If they are left, they only serve as receptacles for 
fallen leaves blown about by the winds, and to waste 
the energies of the shrubs, so as to prevent, in a 
measui-e, the j)roduction of flowers and healthy foli- 
age. Common laurels frequently send forth a (ew 
extra strong shoots ; these must be shortened-in level 
with the more moderate gi'owing ones. All dead 
branches must be cut clean out, and also such as are 
diseased or ill placed. All the tools used in pruning — 
the knife, chisel, and saw — ought to be kept in good 
order. The wounds made by the saw should be 
pared smooth with the knife. All the prunings should 
be thrown together in some open place, and set fire 
to. Put upon them either some turf or rough soil, 
so as to char them. This is an excellent manure. 

Cottager's Flowek-gahden. — We tnist our cotter 
friends are profitting by the fine open weather we have 
been favoured with, and that all the various projects 
we have ti-eated upon are either completed or pro- 
gressing. Continue to watch the plants that require 
protection, and remove all things that will injure 
them. Strive to have in your flower-garden what we 
have recommended to you fi'om time to time. De- 
pend upon it your labom- will gratify and reward 
you when the season for your floral display anives. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
Cabkations and Picotees. — These beautiful, 
sweetly-scented favourites are of similar habits, and 
requii"e the same treatment, and, consequently, are 
genei'ally gi-own together. We shall, in the first place, 
consider (in answer to a correspondent) what kind of 
a blooming stage they require. We will suppose the 
collection to be small, say forty pots, containing eighty 
plants. The situation for this stage may be against a 
wall, facing the west or east. The stage itself should 
be level, raised from the ground one foot, three feet 
six inches wide, and fourteen feet long. This will 
hold three rows of pots, thirteen in a row, each pot 
being one foot wide, the centi-e or back row may con- 
tain foiu-teen. The stage should be suppoi-ted by posts 
driven into the ground, and cross pieces of wood, 
three iuches squai'e, nailed upon them. Upon these 
the boards, eleven inches wide and one inch thick, 
must be laid, leaving about an inch between each, to 
allow the water to run ofl'. Provision must be made 
for a shade to protect the blooms from the sun and 
rain. Four posts must be set up at six feet from the 
wall. This distance will allow two and a half feet for 
a walk. The height out of the gi'ound being six feet; 
also foiu- rafters to sup])ort the roller and canvass, 
should be laid sloping up to the wall. A roller of 
deal wood made round, two and a half inches diame- 
ter, will serve to nail the canvass to ; the other end of 
it should be nailed to a flat piece of wood, fastened to 
the top of the wall. The canvass ought to be strong, 
and moderately-close woven. Such canvass costs 
about 7d. a yard. The wheel is formed of three cir- 
cular pieces of wood, the centre one being two inches 
thick and five inches in diameter. The other two 
should be each ten inches diameter, and one and a 
half inch thick. The two latter pieces are to be 
nailed to the other, and bevelled off, so as to bring 
them to an edge outwards. When the wheel is thus 



made, and fastened to the roller, it wiH form a sort of 
gi-oove to receive the cord. When the blind is drawn 
up, the cord, one end of which is nailed to the inner 
circular piece of the wheel, is all oflf the wheel ; and 
when let down, it is all rolled round it. This is a 
simple and effectual mode of drawing up and letting 
down a shade or blind. The blind should come down 
as low as the stage ; and as, in the blooming season, 
winds may at times prevail, the ends ought to be 
closed up either with mats or canvass. Previously 
to fastening the canvass to the roller, let the whole 
have two or three coats of paint, stone colour being 
the neatest and cheapest. The post and rafters may 
be ornamented with honeysuckles or roses, which 
should be fastened with nails and shreds to the inside, 
so as not to interfere with the blind. The cost of a 
stage with shade, &c., of the above dimensions, will 
be about six pounds. 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 

Eemembebing Names. — The most difficult part to a 
new beginner in gardening and growing plants is the 
quantity of strange hard names he has to leam. At 
first sight the gi-eat majority of these names look for- 
midable enough; but as names of some kind are 
necessai7 to distinguish one plant from another, we 
must learn them; and if we begin aright, all difficul- 
ties will soon vanish away with a little perseverance. 
The best way is to think of only one name at a time, 
to repeat it over and over again ; and if it sounds like 
anything you already know, associate it with that, 
and it will so far aid the memory. Writing a hard 
word two or three times is a capital way of assisting 
the mind. After you are fully master of this first 
name, you will find it more easy to learn the ne.xt; 
and you will succeed still more readily in your third 
attempt. Thus imperceptibly, and without any 
extraordinary exertion, the memory wiU soon get 
accustomed to this kind of exercise. Fortunately for 
the student in these days, every facDity which learn- 
ing and ingenuity can suggest for acquh-ing a know- 
ledge of the names and properties of plants has been 
made available for his use. Plants are now arranged 
in natural families, or tribes, so th at when one knows 
an individual of any one of these tribes, all the others 
belonging to it, having a family likeness, may easily 
be comprehended in a general way, and this is a great 
assistance to the memory in acquiring their names. 
All animals are classed in the same way ; and let us 
take an instance to shew how this arrangement assists 
us in finding out the names of things. Suppose one 
of your fi-iends had been to see a collection of wild 
animals, and told you he had seen among them a 
" fierce-looking beast;" you could not possibly under- 
stand from this description what sort of an animal 
he meant, or how its fiei-ceness manifested itself: he 
might even tell you the name of it was Leo Africanus, 
and still you would have no clue to guide you as to 
the aspect or form of the creature, if you never heard 
that name before. But if he were to tell you it looked 
like a huge cat, you would immediately form a dis- 
tinct idea of the shape, look, and general appearance 
of the brute ; and why? because pussey is already so 
famiUar to you. If you were then told that Leo 
meant a lion, and Africanus Africa, you would have 
the whole mystery cleared up at once: the fierce-look- 
ing beast turns out to be the African Hon ; and it 
further appears that the lion belongs to the same tribe 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



Ill 



as the domestic oat. Now all the difficulties ahoiit 
the outlandish names of plants may be got over, with 
a little management, much in the same way. Take, 
for example, the corn-flag, — three kinds of which I 
recommended so strongly in my last letter. If you 
should only know the common one that blooms so 
gay in every old garden in the countiy about the 
beginning of June, you have a clear idea of the look 
and form of all the other corn-flags, which are very 
numerous, and not only to that, but of a host of 
other plants that belong to the same tribe, notwith- 
standing that their general appearance varies con- 
siderably. The greatest part of them, however, have 
their leaves sharp-pointed and flat, like a two-edged 
sword ; one of the edges being always turned towards 
the flower-stalk, which rises from among the leaves 
as if issuing out of a double sheath. 

Before I dismiss the subject of corn-flags, let me 
remark to such of my readers as are not acquainted 
with such matters, that if it were possible to destroy 
all the beautiful corn-flags that have been originated 
in this country and on the Continent by cross-breed- 
ing for the last thirty years, the whole of them, and 
many more besides, might easily be reproduced in 
three or four years by a judicious mixture of those 
three kinds I recommended, with the assistance of 
one other species, which is less generally known, and 
called Gladiolus tristis — " the sad corn-flag." Here, 
therefore, is an encouragement to begin cultivating 
these beautiful plants. There are upwards of two 
dozen more species of corn-flag found wild in South 
Africa — all pretty in their way — but the great acces- 
sion to the family by cross-breeding having thi'own 
these into the shade, I need say no more about them. 
Of the more recent seedlings that deserve general 
cultivation, the following half-dozen ai-e the cream. 
I am told, however, that there are a few raised within 
the last three years still more handsome; but not 
having seen them yet, I cannot say what they are : — 
Gladiolus Raraosus, "branching corn-flag," was men- 
tioned incidentally in my last letter ; G. Insignis, or 
" beautiful " corn-flag ; G. Formosissimus, or " most 
beautiful;" G. Speciosissimus, or "most showy;" G. 
Multiflorus, or " many-flowered ;" and G. Gandevensis, 
or " Ghent corn-flag." A large potful of each of these 
would make a gorgeous display for two months on a 
balcony or under a veranda, or indeed anywhere. 

IxiAs. — The next family of Cape bulbs that deserve 
special notice are the Ixias. They also belong to the 
same tribe, and may be said to be coi-n-flags in minia- 
ture, but with several shades of colour and markings 
not to be met with in the corn-flags. They are so 
numerous that it was found expedient to divide thera 
into several groups, under such names as Sparaxis, 
Babiana, Tritonia, &c. ; but for practical purposes 
we may set them all down as Ixias, without loading 
the memory with such hard names. It is the Ixias 
and two or three other families which give an inde- 
scribable charm to the vegetation of our Cape colony 
during the rainy season, when they issue forth, as if 
bj' magic, over the gi-eat plains which a few weeks 
before were hard-baked and sterile as a desert. Their 
little bulbs are enabled to bear the gi-eatest hardships 
in those hot regions. During the dry season the earth 
in which they grow is reduced to the hardness of brick ; 
hence the reason why it is so difficult to dig them up, 
except in the rainy season, when they are growing, 
and in the worst condition to be moved. They begin 
to grow with us in the autumn, which corresponds 
witli the spring in Africa, and they are so hardy 
that they only require the protection of a cold frame 
through the winter. It is very interesting to attend 



to all these bulbs, which gi'ow slowly all the winter ; 
one can mark their progress fi-om week to week, while 
other plants are at rest. Then they take up so little 
room that a one-light box would hold several dozens 
of them, and then- pots need not be larger than six 
inches across, These pots will hold sufficient soU 
for half a dozen bulbs; for in their native co^iutry 
they receive the most scanty nourishment from the 
ungenerous soils of the Kan-oos, as the great Afri- 
can plains ai'e called. Therefore it is that strong 
feeding is averse to them by nature. Almost all gai-- 
deners renew the soil for them every autumn, at which 
time they shake them from the old soil, and repot 
them in fresh mould. This is not at all necessary, for 
they will flower just as well, and look as healthy if 
they are only fi-esh potted every thu-d or fourth year. 
I once, as an experiment, kept some of them six years 
in the same soil, and I cordd see no difference between 
them and others more frequently repotted. I used 
to scrape away an inch of tbe surface soil down 
to the tops of the bulbs, and add fresh soil in its stead, 
and that was all the assistance they had during the six 
years. When we kno w the conditions natui'al to any 
set of plants m their native counti-y, we are never 
much at a loss to know the right way to treat them 
artificially, although we may not be able to follow out 
strictly those conditions. Formerly there were some 
elegant Cape bulbs belonging to this tribe in our 
gardens that are now lost, and 1 aui persuaded the 
reason why they were unable to bear our treatment 
was our pernicious habit of shaking them out of the 
soil, and keeping them in boxes and drawers while 
tbey were at rest; then giving them damp soU at 
potting time in the autumn, and as a climax to our 
bad practice, they were watered immediately after 
being potted ; for no gardener thinks he has done 
justice to a new potted plant tDl he has given it a 
good dose of water ! It is only by owning these our 
faults that we may reasonably expect to improve our 
practice. Now our practice, in tliis instance, is much 
at variance with tbe natural conditions under which 
these Ixias exist in Africa. When their leaves die 
down on the return of tbe dry season, their little 
bidbs are covered with a thin crust of sun-bm'nt earth, 
whOst the heat of an unclouded sky, and almost a 
vertical sun, plays over them for six or seven months 
running; so that you might think they would be 
baked Uke potatoes in an oven, instead of which this 
extreme dryness seems indeed to be necessaiy to their 
well-being. On tbe return of the periodical rains, 
these bulbs can only be gradually moistened; they 
then swell by degi-ees, and at last shoot forth so 
simultaneously that the parched plains become at once 
the seat of a charming vegetation. Now to imitate 
this state of things, as soon as the tips and edges of 
the leaves turn yellow — au unfailing indication that a 
bulb seeks repose — we should withhold water by de- 
grees, till the leaves finally die down ; then, instead of 
shaking the bidbs out of the pots to be exposed to our 
damp northern atmosphere, let us place the pots in 
the very hottest place within our reach; a top-shelf in 
a greenhouse, or back-shelf in a pit, close to the glass, 
is the best situation; next to that, the leads over a 
balcony, or on the outside of any spare window facing 
the south. Gardeners make use of then- walls for such 
pm-poses, and would say, place them " under a south 
wall." Whichever place is most convenient, let the 
pots be tm-ned down on their sides, the mouth of each 
facing the south, and there let them " summer" till 
the end of September, and you need have no mis- 
givings about their being roasted; our climate forbids 
that. In September, let the pots be turned upwards, 



11-2 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



and let the autumnal rains give them the first two or 
three waterinn;s ; at le^i^it. he in no hurry with the 
watering-pot, for if no rain falls tlie air at that season 
will 1)6 elaiiip enough to atfect them and tlie soil also, 
and they will spring up immediately. When their 
leaves appear go over them, and with your forefinger 
take away tlie surl'ace-soil till you see the hulbs, and 
replace it with a fresh supply of soil. They should 
now he put in a sheltered place in the open air, with 
coal-ashes under the pots to keep down worms and to 
allow a free drainage in case of heavy rains. Leave 
them out as long as the frost keeps off, and when they 
are put under shelter let them have abundance of fresh 
air every day. except in very frosty weather. A cold 
pit, without a flue, is the very hest place to keep them 
in all the winter and spring, till they begin to flower, 
as when a fine day or mild weather occurs, the light 
may be drawn oif all day, and put on at night. The 
pots should stand within ten inches or a foot of the 
glass, and be plunged to their brims in sand or finely- 
sifted coal-ashes. Double dri/ mats will protect them 
from ordinary frost; and in vei-y severe weather addi- 
tional covering of straw, fern, or some other litter, 
must be added. Hundreds of plants would live over 
the whiter in such a pit, and with that management. 
All greenhouse and window plants would answer that 
way, provided they had head-room enough ; but I 
should make it a condition that the pots did not stand 
more than twenty inches from the glass, if possible, 
and that the top of the tallest plants not nearer than 
three inches to the glass. But I must finish what I 
mean to say about these Ixias. They require peat- 
earth to grow in; nothing else will do for them under 
cultivation. It is true that gardeners can grow many 
of the sorts in light composts, but gardeners can do 
many things which would be imprudent for others to 
attempt; and if they happen to kill a plant now and 
then with their fancies, they know where to lay their 
hands on another to fill up its place. No fancies, 
however, for him who must put his hands into his own 
pocket to replace his mishaps. No, — turfy peat ours 
must have, and chopped quite small with a spade, but 
not sifted ; good drainage, also, and the bulbs placed 
one inch beneath the sui-faoe ; and there are so many 
of them that dislike to be suddenly watered when 
they are in this dry state, that I think the safest way 
would be not to water them at aU when fi'esh potted. 
Let the soil be moderately damp, and the bulbs will 
imbibe sufficient moisture from it for the first ten 
days, and by that time they will have made a few 
roots, and may be gently watered or left out of doors 
to be first watered by the rains. 

I have not been led into these long detaOs for the 
sake of tlie Ixia tribe only — as few plants are more 
easily managed than they are — hut because there are 
a host of other beautiful greenhouse bvdbs to which 
these remarks are nearly equally applicable. Among 
these are bulbs from the highlands of Mexico, Peru, 
Chili, and the Brazils; and, indeed, ft-om the tempe- 
rate regions on either side of the Great Andes chain 
of mountains, to say nothing of many others from 
similar parts in the old world, which are sadly neg- 
lected, either from not knowing of their existence or 
how to manage them when we have them. 

I am unwilling to load this long letter with many 
hard names, otherwise I might easily give a long list 
of very beautiful Ixias, and. probably, I may do so 
some of these days; at present, I shall only mention a 
very few of them, but you will be at no loss to procure 
good ones at the nurseries, as they only grow the best 
sorts ; and I have known half a dozen pots of them 
bought for a mere trifle. Another way one might get 



a great quantity of them is by buying a sixpenny or 
a shiUing jiacket of mixed seeds of them. They may 
he sown now or any time till the beginning of March. 
Peat-earth is essential for getting the seeds to grow, 
and you must add a little sand to it; a quarter of an 
inch deep will be enough ; and you may water them as 
soon as they are all sown. The best sized are six-inch 
])ots — that is, six inches over the mouth. Sow thin, 
as there will be no occasion to disturb the seedlings 
till they flower, which they will do the second season. 
When the leaves of the seedlings turn yellow, put 
the pots on their side as for the parent bulb, and 
afterwards treat them similarly. I ought to tell you, 
perhaps, that the seedlings wOl come up first just like 
barley, and you might think you had a potful of grass 
in place of Ixias. The first Ixia that you should try 
to get is the "Green-flowering" (Ixia Viridiflora) ; 
and if you get it into blossom before your neighbours, 
you will have all the people in the neighbourhood 
come to see it ; for there is not another flower in the 
world like it, and I am sure you can buy a pot of it 
for less than a shilling, and a single lootmuoh cheaper ; 
so that it is everybody's flower, and every cottage 
window in the kingdom is good enough to grow it in. 
If the roots are strong, it wiU grow eighteen inches 
high ; first, somewhat like a young stalk of wheat, and 
then come the flowers in gi'eat numbers. The colour 
is a kind of sea-gi-een, and a large jet-black eye in 
the centre of each flower. The next Ixia has two other 
names — Sparaxis Orandiflora — long enough at any 
rate, but not diflicult to remember; for grandiflora is 
nearly an English word, grand-flowered ; you will often 
meet with the name grandiflora, so you had better 
learn it at once. As to Sparaxis, you may or may not 
learn it, as you like ; but Ixia wUl answer our purpose 
just as weU, and I shall always call the Sparaxis an 
Ixia after this. This grows only nine inches high. 
The flowers are large, as the name implies, and are of 
a beautifid mixed colour, chiefly purplish. Iida Patens 
(patens means spreading out) : the flowers of this 
sort are splendid crimson. They spread wide open, 
and is the first of them to come into blossom in April. 
Ixia Aidira. or the Courtly Ixia, is another beautiful 
one, with brilliant rose-coloured flowers ; and so is 
Ixia Incarnato., or the flesh-coloured. It has large 
pink-flowers, often richly marked with dark-coloured 
veins or stripes. D. Be.\ton. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 

Sheltering. — The season is now ai-riving when 
protecting vegetables, herbs, &c., must be attended 
to, or the table will be scantily supplied in a needful 
season. Cauliflowers, brooolies, at this time, if at all 
turning-iu (coming to a head), should he secured by 
being pidled up, and hanging in dark slieds, cellars, 
or other suitable places. If these are not at command, 
let the plants be taken up and placed in sheltei'ed 
corners, or in trenches thrown out deep enougli for 
each side bank to protect them when laid in thickly ; 
these banks will support poles placed across to keep 
up mats, pea-haidm, straw, evergreen boughs, or 
other protecting litter. Lettuces, endive, and newly 
turned-in cabbages, may be protected in a similar 
manner. To find shed-room, by some, is considered 
a difficult matter; but, as I have often observed, 
where there is a will, oftentimes there may be found 
a way. At this season of the year, when thinning 
and pruning of shrubberies, the refuse may be bound 
in flat fagots, the same size at both ends, with two 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



113 



withies." also iu hedge-trimming and wood cutting, 
the brambles, furze, &o., may be saved and turned to 
the same account, for forming the wall and covering 
the roof. Some strong stakes or rough scantlings 
may be used for framing the shed, and a thin coat of 
reeds, rushes, or straight straw placed on the roof for 
making it water-proof Where clay, marl, or stiff soil 
abounds, it may be puddled, — short grass, hay or 
straw-chaff, being well mixed and incorporated with 
it, which will hold it well together ; and walls may be 
formed of any dimensions with such materials, with 
the trifling expense of labour only. We have run up 
many a shed iu haste formed of various materials, and 
experienced their usefulness for storing winter vege- 
tables and cultivating the mushroom. Where heath, 
furze, or fern abound, it may quickly be turned to 
valuable account for the hke purposes. 

Beans and Peas. — A few early beans and peas may 
be sown in shallow boxes or pans, and placed in any 
sheltered convenient situation in a house, pit, fi-ame, 
or out of doors, in a place to be sheltered or covered 
when requisite. The plants they produce are for 
transplanting, or making up any gaps that may have 
been made in the early sown-crops by vermin or wea- 
ther. Those beans and peas already up in rows should 
be attended to, by sowing amongst them dry dust of 
any kind, or charcoal-dust. 

Seeds required. — The season now advancing, it 
win be needful for us to think about our seed-list for 
the ensuing year. Having made all possible spaed 
in the way of manuring and trenching all spare 
gi-ound, and made up oui- minds generally how and 
what we intend cropping with throughout the ensuing 
season, let us see how we can manage to crop in suc- 
cession, to furnish the table bountifully throughout 
the year, whether in the humble cottage, or the noble 
mansion, and yet with economy. Long practice has 
taught us, that it is not the large quantity of seed, or 
the multiplicity of varieties pi'ocured, that wiU insure 
a bountiful supply daily throughout the year, but the 
due selection of varieties, to which some variation, of 
com'se, is needful. As respects soil and locality, the 
working the soil into a healthy condition at all times 
and seasons, the due selection of sowing and planting 
seasons, and the after-management, all combined me- 
thodically together, has something to do with insuring 
those matters ; consequently we wOl endeavour, after 
giving a list of a few good and proved varieties of 
vegetables, and after making a few practical remarks 
on them, to point out the season as it arrives for seed- 
sowing, planting, and insm-ing good vegetables in 
succession. 

AsPABAGus we need say little about, it being so 
generally known and appreciated, as an excellent and 
wholesome vegetable. There is a difference as regards 
colour; one variety being bright green, and the other 
a lighter colour, or brown. To procure a succession 
of good and large shoots, seeds of either variety should 
be sown on well-prepared rich soil in April ; if in a 
seed-bed, one foot apart in drills; but if to remain 
permanently where sown, it should be in diills two 
feet apart, and the seedlings thinned out to one foot 
from plant to plant. At the age of two years, every 
alternate row must be taken up ; those removed being, 
if well managed, good plants for forcing; the re- 
maining rows four feet apart ; which space is a good 
situation for summer-gi-owing cauliflowers orbrooolies, 
it being partially shaded. Our permanent rows of 
asparagus at Bicton are always four feet apart, and 
the quantity of fine shoots thus produced is astonish- 
ing. If transplanted, our practice is to plant in April, 
when the young shoots are three or four inches long. 



and these, called the crowns, are kept to the surface 
of the earth when planted ; and when ripened in Octo- 
ber, and cut down, we cover the earth's surface with 
two or three inches of good manui-e of any kind, if it 
can be procured, or decomposed short gi-ass, or other 
vegetable matter, and fork it in carefully in the month 
of March; never covering the crowns by casting up 
the earth. All is level, and with a coat of manure 
annually the crowns get sufflciently protected, as we 
find the shoots most liked when tender and green from 
bottom to top, so that the whole, or neai'ly so, may be 
eaten. The first preparation of the soil for planting 
asparagus should be well attended to ; for on laying a 
good foundation depends the future produce being 
good in quality and quantity. Our practice is to select 
a piece of ground that has been for years well trenched, 
manured, and worked about for other crops, and apply 
all the manure we can possibly spare, refuse, and 
decomposed vegetables of any kind, trenching the 
gi'ound three feet deep, if suitable soil can be found 
at that depth, and forking up the subsoil, and letting 
it remain; taking an early opportunity in autumn or 
winter for performing it (the present month being 
a good time), and turning it back twice, if possible, 
previously to the month of April. We will incorporate 
the whole together, the same way as one would a 
compost heap, and at all times forming as much as 
possible of the surface-soil into ridges, for the frosts 
and air to peneti-ate. Asparagus is also fond of salt, 
which we apply in a liquid state, with manure water, 
in the height of the growing season (April and May), 
atwhichtime we findit of most benefit. Those matters, 
however, will be noticed as the seasons arrive. 

Beans (True Early Mazagan). — One planting is 
sufficient, except by those who like a small bean in 
preference to a large one. It is generally a good 
cropper, and branches well from the earth's surface, if 
allowed room enough. We prefer, for all kinds of 
beans, planting in single rows ; they being so much 
benefited by the influence of the sun and air. When 
so grown they branch out luxuriantly, and pod to the 
very bottom of then- stems. The bulky crop we thus 
obtain is sm'prising ; and by running a few rough 
stakes along the row, and a piece of rope-yarn on 
each side of the row, bringing the yarn from both 
sides to the same stakes, which are placed at about 
twenty feet intervals, the wind and wet does not 
baffle them about, and a shelter is formed for neigh- 
bouring crops. Tlie True Long Pod, Windsor, and 
Green Seeded Beans, ai'e the best varieties to foUow 
in succession. James Baknes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTOEMATIOlSr. 



APPLE-TEEES FROM CUTTINGS. 

It is known to many hortioidturists, but unknown 
to the public generally, that branches of some apple- 
trees strike root as readily as willows, and beautiful 
specimens of little trees they become. Last February 
I inserted cuttings of an American Codhu, not mere 
shoots, but well furnished branches, in a north border, 
and the strongest of them are now well rooted, full of 
blossom-buds, and will, I doubt not, bear fruit next 
summer. A ft-iend, too, hasjust sent me Manx CodHn- 
n-ees, as large as little gooseberry-bushes, which were 



114 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



struck from cuttings, taken at the time above men- 
tioned, and now having abundance of roots and 
blossom-buds. Although these trees may be encou- 
raged in their growth to become as large as it" grafted 
on young stocks, still they may be kept, by jjlantiug 
and root-pruning, after the method of your excellent 
coadjutor, jNIr. Errington, to any size desii'ed — as pot- 
plants for the curious, or as miniature trees, that would 
not be very inconsistent ornaments even in the flower- 
gai'den. B. Maund, Broonisgrove. 



GOOSEBERRIES. 

I OBSERVE noticed, in page 40 of the "Cottage 
Gardener," an assertion by the Midland Florist, that 
the London, Companion, Gunner, and Eagle varieties 
are the four best ever seen, but which I do not think 
is the fact* The red berries up to the present time 
have always proved the largest, and the one called 
"Wonderful has produced fruit weigliing 83dwts. It 
is liardy, a fi-ee grower, and an abundant bearer, and 
is therefore highly deserving of a place in evei'y cot- 
tage-garden. The London and Companion (reds) 
have weighed this year— the former, 31dwts. ]9grs.; 
the latter, 28dwts. 3grs, ; and are also well worthy of 
the cottager's cultivation. The variety called Thumper 
(gi-een) is also deserving of notice; it has produced 
fi'uit this year weighing 3Udwts. 9grs. It is a fact, 
however strange it may appear, that the green-coloured 
gooseberries require less sugar for making into tarts 
than the red. The newest yellow berry this year is 
called the Catherine, its fruit weighing yodwts. logrs., 
and the newest white is the Freedom, weighing 
28dwts. Igr. These improved varieties are obtained 
from seed, and if only one in a thousand succeeds, it 
is well worth the pains ; the fruit upon such trees 
having the appearance of large and delicious plums, 
contrasted with the old varieties, which look, in com- 
paiison, no larger than grey peas. The large ones, 
too, come in earlier in the spring than the small ones 
for culinary purposes, and are also far superior for 
preserves, for which pm'pose they should be taken 
I'rom the trees when they are beginning to ripen, 
sliced into a brass pan, and boiled about an hour. 
Then put to each quart of the sliced berries one pound 
of loaf sugar, and boil them another hour, when the 
whole will be reduced to a jelly, and must be put into 
jars for keeping, either for tarts or to spread upon 
bi'ead instead of butter. 

In propagating these varieties from cuttings, a little 
moss put to the end of the cutting has a gi-eat eti'ect 
in assisting the formation of the roots. Tliey should 
be placed in shady situations, and kept well watered 
dining the summer. M. Saul, Garstang. 

* Our correspondent, upon referring to page 40 again, will see 
that the varieties he mentions are only named as among the best. 
— Eo. C. G. 20 dwts., or pennyweights, make an ounce. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Sowing Himalatad Pumpkin (F. iJorfrf).— The best mode of 
raising plants of this is by sowing the seed in a gentle hot-bed, and 
with the shelter of a frame and glass, early in April. The seed may 
be sown in the open ground at the end of Dlay, in the place where 
the plants are to remain. 

A Cottage Fabm (Cemfort and Economy). — As you require a 
locality with cheapness, nearness to the sea, and a bracing air, we 
should recommend you to look out on the coast of Wales, or north 
coast of Devon. Advertise for such a farm as you require in some 
Devonshire or Welsh newspaper circulating iu the neighbourhood 
you pitch upon. 

PoTATo-GEOwiNG {Rei\ F, A. S.). — We cannot agree with you in 
sdvucating the discontinuance of potato-cultivation, for we believe 



that with proper precautions it is a safe crop, safe to produce a larger 
amount per rod of preservable food than can be obtained from any 
other crop, even though every soil would grow, like yours, forty tons 
of carrots per acre. This is a very large produce. The penstemon 
will be noticed in its planting season. 

Ivy (Rev. C. C. PF.).— We will take an early opportunity to advo- 
cate your taste ; it is our own likewise. We love "the ivy green." 
Thanks for your cheering us on. 

Salt, Soot, and Limb (Ebor). — Vou will find full directions for 
applying salt as a manure at p. 54 of our sixth Number. There is 
some information as to soot at p. 72 of Number seven ; but upon this, 
as well as upon lime as a fertilizer, we will give copious directions 
ere long. 

Drainage FROM Pigstte (/Airf).— It is scarcely possible to give 
you directions as to the amount of water you should mix with this. 
In rainy weather it is weaker than in dry weather. In general, one 
bucketfull mixed with two or three buckets of water will be strong 
enough for applying to growing plants in your kitchen-garden, such 
as Brussels sprouts, savoys, spinach, &c. When your supply is 
larger than you require for them, we know of no better mode of 
saving it than pouring it over a heap of coal-ashes or earth mixed 
■with gypsum, and kept under a shed. The watery particles will 
evaporate, but the fertilizing and ammoniacal parts will be thus 
retained until required for manure. 

Rhubarb andJerusalfm Av.tic'rok'r {Mnidstone Subscriber). 
— We will give you full information on these in due course. 

Peat-ashes {A Suhstriber, Wigtonshire). — These ashes are an 
excellent top-dressing for lawns, and are very good manures for 
turnips, cabbages, potatoes, and peas. Peat-ashes contain a little 
charcoal, gypsum (sulphate of lime), Glauber salt (sulphate of soda}, 
common salt, and chalk {carbonate of lime), all useful as fertilizers. 

Flowers foe Exhibition {Un Francois}. — Every cultivator of 
flowers knows the time at which a flower naturally blooms, and, 
accordingly, if he \vishes it to do so a month or more earlier, he 
stans it so much earlier in the spring, by putting it into a gently- 
heated house, and takes care to keep it afterwards growing freely 
and unchecked. If, on the other hand, he wishes to retard the 
blooming, he keeps it in the cold, and uses other means to render 
its progress slower and more gradual. 

Azaleas {Ibid}. — Indian Azaleas are propagated by seed, which 
they ripen in February, and should be sown in March. American 
Azaleas are propagated by cuttings, taken ofl^ close to the stem. The 
proper time is May. Young shoots, about two inches long, must be 
employed. Plant them in moist sand, and turn a bell-glass, or even 
a common tumbler, over them, 

Rotation of Crops on Allotments (Ren. J. W. R.). — The 
directions we have given at p. 51 of our tifth Number will apply to 
this subject. We will, however, give some separate observations, 
and then see whether we cannot carry out your other suggestions. 

The late President of the Horticultural Society (J 
Neighbour u/Dowiiton Castle). — Thanks for pointing out the printer's 
error in our 86th page. We well know that Mr. Knight resided in 
Herefordshire, and not in Herefordshire, as there printed. Mr. 
Knight, in a letter addressed to the Editor, some years since, says, 
" Being born in the midst of orchards, I was early led to ask whence 
the varieties of fruit I saw came, and how they were produced. I 
could obtain no satisfactory answer, and was thence tirst led to com- 
mence experiments, in which, through a long life of scarcely in- 
terrupted health, I have persevered, and probably shall persevere, as 
long as I possess the power. 

Trees Grafted last March (B. C).— You may move these 
now without any injuri' to them, if you are particularly careful not 
to shake them violently, so as to disturb the scions (grafts). The 
parts where these are united to the stocks are yet brittle. Every care 
should he taken, also, to injure the roots as little as possible. Dip 
the roots into a thick puddle or mud, made of earth ana water, imme- 
diately they are taken up. This keeps their bark from getting dry 
during removal. 

Cyclamens (/I Subscriber, Bath). — The Persian Cyclamen is re- 
tailed in all the London seed-shops, at one shilling each. Not many 
years since the same cost half-a-crown, 

Camellias.— (S- C.).— Camellias may he presen-ed through the 
winter in a room with one or more windows facing any aspect ; they 
do not require a hothouse at any time ; they are easily reared, and 
not at all uncertain plants to flower. Keep them moist at all seasons ; 
and in spring, when they are making their growth, water them every 
day, and see the pots are well drained. 

Ivy (J. G.).— Lose not a day in planting slips of this beautiful 
evergreen. Cut the young branches into lengths, about six inches 
long, and leaving four joints, as well as some of the root-like fibres 
by which they attach themselves to walls. Remove the leaves from 
the three lower joints, and plant in a north or other shaded border, 
burying the three lower joints in the soil. They will be strong, well- 
rooted plants by next autumn, and ready for removal. If the place 
where you require the ivy has a north aspect, or is well shaded, you 
may plant the cuttings there at once. 

Holly {J. Bensu7t) .—The best time for cutting holly-hedges is 
early in the spring, before they begin to shoot. At the end of February 
is a good time. Never use shears in trimming the holly ; you will 
find how its health and beauty are improved by cutting-iu each su- 
perfluous sprav with a sharp knife. 

Pansy-sowing {Rev. G. Griffith) .Some directions relative to 
this will soon appear in our weekly " Flower-garden." 



London; Printed by Harry Wooldridge. 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mafv-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Marv Kalendar ; and Published by William 
Somebville Orr. at" the Office, U7, Strand, in the Pariah of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, Loadoa.— December 14th, 1848. 



THE COTTAGE aARDENER. 



115 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M W 


DECEMBER 21 — 27, 1848. 


Plants dedicated to 


Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon*s 


Clock 


Day of 


B 


D 




each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


aft. Sun. 


Year. 


21 


Th 


St. Thomas. Shortest Day. 


Sparrow- wort. 


6a8 


51 a 3 


3 35 


26 


1 27 


356 


23 


F 


Snow-flake & Wild Swan come. 


Transparent heatli. 


7 


51 


4 36 


27 


57 


357 


23 


S 


Sun's dec. 23° 27" S. Orange-breasted Goos- 


Cedar of Lebanon. 


7 


52 


5 36 


28 


27 


358 


24 


Son 


4 Sunday in Advent. White Nun comes. 


Frankincense Pine 


8 


52 


6 33 


29 


bef. 3 


359 


25 


M 


Christmas Day. Chaffinches in flocks. 


Holly. 


8 


53 


sets. 


® 


33 


360 


26 


Tn 


St. Stephen. Scaup-duck comes. 


Purple Heath. 


8 


54 


5 a 8 


1 


1 3 


361 


27 


W 


St. John Evangel. Black Diver comes. 


Flame-coloured Heath 


8 


55 6 6 


2 


1 33 


362 



St. Thomas the apostle, surnamed Didymus, or the Twin, is 
believed to have preached the Gospel in Hindostan, or India, and to 
have there been killed with lances at the suggestion of some of the 
priests of Brahma. It is an evidence in support of the opinion that 
St. Thomas visited India — that when the Portuguese discovered 
Malabar, they found there a district inhabited by native Christians. 
Most interesting particulars concerning them are in Dr. Buchanan's 
*' Researches in India." 

Christmas Day. — 

" England was merry England when 
Old Christmas brought his sports ag:mi. 
'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale— 
'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale : 
A Christmas gambol oft would cheer 
A poor man's heart through half the year." 

And why should it not now ? — ^^Tiy should not 
" All hail with uncontrol'd delight 
And general voice the happy night 
That, to the cottage as the crown, 
Brought tidings of salvation down ?" 

We knotv of no reason why all should not be as merry, and joyous, 
and grateful, as our forefathers were. We have even greater Sless- 



iNSEcrs — At the end of this month, especially in 
the south of England, is found the somewhat rare 



ings than they had, and we have the same sure and steadfast hope. 
We can only briefly add, that if the proprietors of the soil would 
more generally allot to every cottager a helping plot, and if every 
cottager would cultivate his plot more judiciously, there then would 
be throutihout the length and breadth of the land the diflriised plenty, 
helping to realise that merry, happy Christmas, which we heartily 
wish to every reader. 



Phenomena of the Season. — One of the most particular occur- 
rences among animated things at this season, is the arrival of the 
various water-birds upon our coasts. The various species of wild 
duck, goose, diver, &c., appear almost at one and the same time. 
They come from more northern countries, where the severity of the 
season now renders food for them difficult to be obtained. The dis- 
tance over which these water-fuwl travel, and in a short space of time, 
is very great. There is a small duck, about the size, and marked 
much like a pigeon, so abounding near the Cape of Good Hope as to 
be known to sailors by the name of "The Cape Pigeon." One of 
these was caught by the writer of this, on the 23rd of July, 1842, in 
lat. a*'^' 41", long. 22° 52". It had a button of the 78th Regiment 
fastened to its leg by a piece of wire ; and a notice of this being given 
in a London paper, an answer was sent, stating that the button had 
been so fastened by an officer of the regiment a few days before, and 
when at sea 1 ,500 or 2,000 miles horn where the bbrd had been caught 
a second time. 




Decem. 


1841. 


184a. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


21 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Highest 
















& lowest 


35°— 26° 


54°— 48° 


50°— 42° 


37°— 30° 


39°— 28° 


49°— 25° 


35°— 31° 


22 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 
64°-46' 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 




37°— 33° 


52°— 42° 


35°— 27° 


46°— 34° 


49°— 26° 


36°— 31° 


23 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Cloudv. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 




46°— 27° 


46°— 31° 


56°— 48° 


34°— 28° 


44°— 31° 


39°— 34° 


39°— 32° 


24 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 




50°— 42° 


50°— 25° 


55°— 46° 


34°— 31° 


43°— 24° 


35°— 26° 


40°— 35° 


2a 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 




49°— 22° 


50°— 48° 


62°— 30° 


35°— 31° 


48°— 34° 


34°— 19° 


41°— 35° 


26 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showerj'. 


Cloudv. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 




39°— 24° 


51°— 41° 


46°— 41° 


39°— 30° 


50°— 37° 


37°— 21° 


40°— 30° 


27 


Froatv. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 




36°— 25° 


47°— 35° 


45°— 33° 


38°— 30° 


62°— 41° 


38°— 23° 


S7°— 30° 



Yellow-line Quaker Moth (Noctua FlaviUnea ol 
Haworth and other British authors). It measures 
about an inch and one-third across the expanded fore-wings, the ground of which is of a reddish colour, with the ordinary streaks very indis- 
tinct, and with the middle ear-shaped marks slightly distinct, rather distant, and rather yellowish. A black spot is on the hind part of the 
hind one in most specimens, a black dot near the base of the wings, and a nearly straight reddish slender streak near the wing's outer part, 
and angulated near the fore margin, where it is rather obscure, and outwardly edged with a pale yellow line — whence the English name. The 
hind wings are dark brown, with the fringe reddish. The caterpillar is found in the spring, and feeds on the plantain and chickweed usually, 
but we have found it on some of the cultivated pimpernels. 



No notion is more erroneous than that entertained 
by many, that neatness and embellishment are ne- 
cessarily expensive ; that a labouring man must be 
dirty, and his cottage must be unadorned, unless 
more money is spent, to prevent these disagreeables, 
than either he can aiford or than others would be 
justified in employing to prevent them. These 
opinions are totally incorrect, and, like everything else 
that is not true, they are very mischievous opinions. 
AU who are acquinted with country life know 
that every cottager of good character, and blessed 
with an undustrious wife, is never either dirty or un- 
tidy. On this subject we do not here intend to insist. 



for it comes scarcely within the province of the Cot- 
tage Gardener ; but the adornment of the cottage 
does — and how much can he done in effecting this, 
for very little money judiciously spent, every one of 
our essays on window and flower-gardening has 
shewn, as weU as did the true history of Brittou 
Abbot, in our 17th page, iUustiate. 

No cottager would have a bare unadorned dwell- 
ing if once convinced of the importance of having it 
covered with evergreens and climbing flowers — the 
importance, for his own character's sake, because 
many less wiser men than Solomon conclude, and 
usually truly conclude, that the garden " all grown 



116 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



over with thorns and nettles," and the neglected 
" wall," bespeak a tenant " slothful and devoid of un- 
derstanding" (Prov. sxiv. 30). But the importance 
of having a neat and well-garnished cottage is not 
confined to the credit it reflects upon the labourer 
who inhabits it — for, beyond all doubt, it has an in- 
fluence over the future lives and characters of his 
children. Every one of Britton Abbot's sons and 
daughters endeavoured to obtain comfortable and 
trim-kept cottages — they had been accustomed to the 
neat and the beautiful, and they shrunk from descend- 
ing into untidy and carelessly-kept hovels. Man, it 
has been well said, is a bundle of habits ; and no 
habit is more inveterate, when once acquired by a 
child, than a love for order and comfort— and it is 
a habit which goes far towards making that child 
respectable and happy in after-life. 

Usually the outside of our country cottages — and 
we must confine ourselves to this — is bare, desolate, 
and neglected ; whereas for the smallest outlay, or 
rather without any outlay at all, those cottages might 
be clothed with a never-failing leafy ornament, 
equalling in beauty any that the most lavish expen- 
diture could obtain, — we mean the Ivr. 

If we chose to ask for public attention to an ex- 
ample, we coidd direct it to the two-roomed cottage 
of a widow in Berkshire, so enveloped in this British 
evergi-een as to look like an ivy-bush pierced with 
two lattices and a doorway. It is the result of her 
own exertions and her own taste, and forms one of 
the most beautiful objects — the very perfection of a 
snuggery — with which the eye can be refreshed. 

Some persons will object that ivy makes a house 
damp ; but no objection can be more groundless. 
That widow's experience, and the expeiience of every 
one who has bad either a house or shed mantled over 
with ivy, agree in testifying, that an ivy-covered 
buUdiug is always dryer and warmer than one that 
is not so clothed. Nor could it be otherwise, for the 
leaves of the ivy, glossy and compact as they are, 
throw off all rain, snow, and hail, and prevent even 
the winds from cooling the walls. Other persons 
may object that the fibres of this " rare old plant " 
injure walls ; but this objection is as groundless as 
the other. We can point to the Westgate and houses 
in Winchester and elsewhere that have been over- 
grown with ivy for centuries ; and when by the force 
of the wind, or other accident, a part of it is torn 
down, the brick-work and the mortar it had covered 
are invariably more perfect, because less weather- 
beaten, than such neighbouring parts as had not 
been protected by the "ivy -green." 

On all the reasons we have assigned, and on others 
which we could advance if we had more space to 
occupy in our columns, we say to every landlord and 
to every labourer, Pla.ni Ivy nocxu took cottage 
WALLS. You may plant at once, foUowing the direc- 
tions we gave to a correspondent in our last Number ; 



and we know that if you do, you will one day thank 
us for adding to your comfort and your respectaliility. 
Most sincerely do we wish that our recommendation 
may be adopted, for we know those consequences 
would follow; and we also feel, to quote the words of 
the rector of Whittington, that then " many villages 
would be converted, fi-om being positively ugly places, 
to prettiness itself." 



THE FEUIT-GAKDEN. 

Pbunixg the Peach and Nectarine. — In our 
younger days we can well remember what a ceremony 
was made over peach-pruning. The blue-apron gen- 
tlemen of the olden time, wlio loved a little mysticism 
in their movements, would look as grave over this 
proceeding as though the fate of nations was involved 
in the motions of their pruniug-knife. Things have 
taken in these days another and a better chrection; 
modes of pruning, considered in themselves alone, 
are thought of little avail, unless a proper action of 
root be maintained, and the ripening of the wood 
thoroughly carried out. Still, however, the pruning 
of the peach and nectarine is a matter of some im- 
port; after the above gi-eat principles have been 
secured, pruning is, of course, next in consequence, 
or nearly so, especially as not only the fi-uitfulness 
but the symmetry of the tree, and the equalization of 
the sap are in some degree influenced by it. We 
will, tlierefore, endeavour to remove some of the mys- 
tery from this delicate process. 

To understand this operation the better, it will be 
well to state what are the prime objects, viz. ; — 

First — To thill out, or I'emove, superfluous shoots, 
in order to insm'e sufficient light and a due circula- 
tion of air to the remainder. 

Secondly — To shorten hack, for the twofold purpose 
of removing unripe or immature portions, and of 
inducing plenty of successive shoots lower down the 
tree. 

For illustration, we will suppose an established tree, 
which has been planted five or six years. I'he nails 
being all unloosed, excepting a few to hold the princi- 
pal shoots, operations should commence at the bottom 
of the tree, near the coUar.* Here it is that a watch- 
ful eye must be keenly exercised at each returning 
pruning season, in order to preserve and continue a 
due succession of rising slioots from the lowest portion 
of the tree. It is evident, that if the young shoots at 
this point are not taken care of, the lower part of the 
tree will become barren, and a part of the wall wasted : 
besides which, the tree wOl not be so ornamental. 
It frequently happens that some of the young shoots 
in this part are inferior in character ; and veiy fre- 
quently shoots which spring from the collar, and 
reach a yard or so, possess a fine young shoot lower 
down, wliich is fitter to become the leading shoot of 
that portion of the tree than the one already existing. 
When such is the case, it becomes necessary to cut 
away the older portion ; this must be done with a 
clean cut, and neai'ly close to the point from which 
the future leader comes. However, the first point 
is to cut away any cankered or diseased shoots, and 
tlien to shorten judiciously those at the lowest level 
which can be obtained. It may here be observed, 
than no fruit should ever be permitted to grow for the 

• Collar. — The place where the main stem begins to fork into 
branches . 



THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



117 



space of a foot from the top of the collar on any 
given shoot. If fruit are produced at these lower 
extremities, they are always inferior, and they only 
serve to oppress a portion of the tree, which ought 
always to be kept as a nursery for young shoots, to 
keep the tree well furnished. By " shortening judi- 
ciously," we mean cutting back the lowest-placed 
young shoots as loio as jiossihle, provided a few good 
eyes, or buds, are left, and that such shoots are not 
required to fill existing blanks in the walls. Such 
then, when'pruned back, may be considered a guai'- 
antee against the tree becoming "naked." 

We come now to bearing-wood, and here the main 
point is selection, supposing there are more young 
shoots than are required. In making a choice, it is 
necessai-y to distinguish between the different kinds 
of young shoots; for, strange to say, there are at 
least three kinds of young shoots on many peach and 
nectaiine-trees, and on most there are two. 

We may characterize them as follows : — 1st. 
Perfect bearing-shoots; 2nd. Exhausted shoots ; 3rd. 
Barren shoots. 

It will here be understood that the above refers 
merely to the young spray. 

1 . Perfect bearing-slioots. — These, in general, may 
be known by the majority of the eyes or buds seated 
on them being threefold, that is to say, in threes. 
AVhen such is the case, the two outer ones are almost 
always blossom-buds, and the centi'al one a wood-bud. 
All such is deemed wood of first-rate chai'acter, and 
it is the aim of the experienced cultivator to secure 
as much of this as possible. 

2. Exhausted shoots. — We are not assured that this 
is the most proper title to give this class of shoots ; 
one thing, liowever, we do know, that when such 
shoots begin to prevail generally over a tree, it is a 
pretty sure sign of what medical men would term a 
" breaking up of the constitution." These have for 
the most part a single hud at a joint, and that bud a 
solitary blossom-bud ; such covdd not be readily dis- 
tinguished in early autumn-pruning, by a novice, 
from the next class ; and this is a reason why ama- 
teurs, who prune for themselves, li ad better defer it 
until the early part of February. Wood of this cha- 
racter, if left on the ti-ee, has seldom vigour enough 
to produce fine fruit Indeed such wood not un- 
fi-equently " sets" its blossom more freely than the 
preceding class ; and it is by no means unusual, at 
the thinning period in the end of May, to meet with 
shoots of tills class with a score of fruit on, yet no 
leading bud or growing shoot. These ii-uit exhaust 
the tree much, and eventually fall off. 

•3 Barren shoots. — These, again, possess solitary 
buds ; they ai'e, however, usually late gi'owths, and 
may readily be known by theu' pale and unripe cha- 
racter; or they are the production of over-luxuriant 
trees, and serve to denote a ti'ee of gi'oss condition, 
or vigour misjilaced. The difference between these 
and the preceding section is at once apparent at 
spring-pruning. The sohtai-y buds of the former 
become very plump of a sudden, whilst these do not 
appear to increase at all. Wood of this character, )/ 
ripened, is frequently of eminent service, inasmuch 
as it serves to keep up the main fabric of the tree ; 
and although not bearing-wood itself, it is capable of 
producing fine bearing-shoots at tire end of the year. 
Some of this must, therefore, be occasionally reserved, 
especially if a blank or space bare of shoots in any 
part be anticipated ; for, be it understood, much in 
peach-pruning depends on a far-seeing eye, or skilful 
antici]iations. 

We now revert to the pruning. The main business 



is to reserve a series of shoots all over the tree of the 
class No. 1 ; and where this class cannot be obtained, 
to secure enough of No. 3 ; the No. 2 class may, iu 
most cases, be considered a last resort. So much for 
selection. We must now advert to the shortening of 
the young spray. Only two reasons exist for shorten- 
ing at all ; the one is, where shoots overtake each 
other ; in which case some must be made to retreat, 
or the tree would soon be all confusion. The other 
is foimded on the necessity of removing unripe por- 
tions. The first case any mere tyi-o can judge for 
himself, the second requires some care. A little 
practice, however, will soon teach the uninitiated the 
diS'erence between the two. The principal criterion 
is hardness. A practical man would soon distinguish 
them, although blindfolded, by means of his knife. 
Colour has something to do in this matter. Ripe 
wood is generally of a brownish colour — unripe, of a 
pale and delicate green. We would advise those who 
do not understand this, to request some gardener to 
give them a shoot or two of each character ; and by 
the time they have exercised their pruning-knife in 
cutting these shoots to pieces, they will have learned 
this portion of peach-pruning. In ordinary cases, 
about one-third has to be cut away ; nevertheless, it 
is not easy to lay down a general maxim as to short- 
ening, for it becomes necessary, for the sake of suc- 
cessional wood, to shorten more severely at the lower 
parts of the tree, decreasing it in auiount progres- 
sively upwards. We wiU now add a sketch, which 
may assist in illustrating the above description. 




On referring to the foregoing sketch, it will be seen 
that the round black dots denote the lowest shoots on 
tlie ti-ee to which we directed attention in the outset. 
The cross-marks, in like manner, denote the shorten- 
ings by the knife ; and it must be remarked that these 
are ly no means ojiposite each other, but at different 
distances. The due observance of this principle in 
shortening prevents much confusion — tending to keep 
the young spray about to be produced well divided. 

In conclusion, we would remark upon the pruning 
or cutting-off of lai-ge limbs. We never take these 
away unless compelled by sheer necessity. The peach 
and nectarine are very impatient under such violent 
operations. Sometimes, however, actual decay of a 
branch takes place ; and theu such operations must 
be performed. The main business is to secm'e the 
wound afterwards : the admission of air and wet to 
the wound is ruinous. A kind of grafting-mixture, 
composed of cow-dung and lime, is very good : this 
should be fastened down with some waterproof mate- 
rial, and the whole tied tight. Upon all wounds on two 
or three-yeai's' old wood we make a point of applying a 
good coating of thick white-lead. E. Errington. 



118 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



THE FLOWER-GAEDEN. 
Variegated Plants. — The colour that most pre- 
dominates in the vegetable kingdom is green. That 
tliis is wisely ordered there cannot he any doubt. 
As all things were created for the use of God's 
noblest creature — man, the coloiu- that best suited 
his sense of seeing is just the one which, generally 
speaking, clothes the earth. If we stretch the imagin- 
ation a little, and suppose any other colour had 
been the prevailing one, what a dreary scene the 
world would have presented. Look through a piece 
of coloured glass, and it will be seen at once what 
the effect would be. Certainly the sight is novel, and 
for a time pleasing : but if the colour was imiversal 
and constant, the eye would soon be tired and op- 
pressed by looking upon it. Let us think for a 
moment what colour would be a good substitute for 
green. Would the flaming red? No. Would the 
sombre black ? Oh, no ! Well, would the absence 
of all colour be desirable ? Ask the natives of those 
regions where the snow never melts. Take a walk 
when the sun is shining through the fields covered 
with snow, do not the eyes of the beholder suffer for 
want of the pleasant green ? The very idea of the 
pleasant gi-een fields and woods is refreshing to the 
mind ; how much more the reality to the eye. There- 
fore this delightful colour, so general, is the best. 
Yet if it had been quite universal, or all of one shade, 
we should have had no contrast to show its excel- 
lence and use. For this purpose we have the beau- 
tiful colours of flowers ; we have the light greens of 
spring and the dark ones of summer, succeeded by 
the more sombre, but not less pleasing, tints of 
autumn. We have also the subject of our present 
consideration — variegation in the leaves of plants. 
Some physiologists consider the partial absence of 
gi'een on the leaves of plants a disease. That it may 
be so in some cases is more than probable. That 
the absence of light will turn leaves yellow is well 
known, and in that case the plant is diseased ; yet 
the Aucuba Japonica is never so finely variegated in 
the shade as when fully exposed to the sun. We 
have some variegated forest-trees that flourish quite 
as well and grow as fast as their verdant brethren. 
Leaving the question, then, as to whether variega- 
tion is disease or not, we wish to point out how very 
pleasing and desirable vai'iegated plants are. They 
exhibit their beauties to the best advantage just at 
the season when the more gay colours of Flora have 
vanished from the garden. One of the most useful 
for thus ornamenting the flower-garden is the above- 
named Aucuba Japonica (what a pity it is that it 
has not an English name).* This elegantly-mottled 
shrab not only thrives in the gardens of the country, 
but flourishes better than every other shrub in town 
gardens, and in pots on the terraces and balconies 
of our streets. For these places it is invaluable : we 
have no other, whether green or variegated, that 
answers these purposes so well. The many varieties 
of striped and blotched hollies diversify the shrub- 
bery and ornament the lawn at this season of the 
year in a very pleasing manner. Variegation is not 
confined to the colder climates of the earth, as the 
various-coloured leaves in our hothouses and gi-een- 
houses testify. Neither is this peculiarity confined 
to our shrubs. A considerable number of the more 
lowly herbaceous (plants that are not woody) plants 
have their leaves prettily striped. Those plants re- 
quire no peculiar treatment, — the same soil and 
situation suits them as that in which the green ones 

• Aucuba is its name in its native country, Japan ; and we can 
only translate the two used by botanists — Japan Aucuba. 



thrive : they can also be propagated as easily (ex- 
cepting by seed). A collection of them grown by 
themselves is very interesting and pleasant to look 
upon. Below is a list of the most remarkable and 
beautiful of variegated trees, shrubs, and herbaceous 
plants : — 



Variegated Trees. 

Acer vulgaris variegata. Varie- 
gated common maple. 

Acer pseudo platanns variegatvs. 
Common striped sycamore. 

JEscvlus vulgaris variegatus. 
Variegated common horse- 
chesnut. 

Castanea vesca variegata. Striped 
sweet chesnut. 

Fraxinus excelsior variegatus. 
Striped ash. 

Ulmus campestris variegatus. 

Variegated English elm. 
Variegated Hardy Shrubs. 

Ataternus latifoUa variegatus. 
Variegated broad-leaved ala- 
temus. 

Aucuba Japonica. Gold-blotched 
Japan Aucuba. 

BtLxus sempervirens variegatus. 
Striped box-tree. 

Daphne crcorum variegata. Va- 
riegated trailing Daphne. 

Euonymus japonicus variegatus. 
Variegated Japan spindle-tree. 

Ilex communis variegatus. 
Striped common holly (many 
varieties). 

Juniperus saliina variegatus. 
Striped Savin. 

PItiladelphus coronarius varie- 
gatus. Striped Syringa. 

Rhododendron pontica variegata. 
Striped rhododendron, or rose- 
bay. 

Spartium scoparia variegata. 
Variegated broom. 

Taxus communis aurea. Golden 
yew. 

Ttiymus vulgaris variegatus. 
Striped thyme. 

Salvia officinalis variegatus. 
Striped sage. 



Variegated Bardt Hbrba- 
CEODS Plants. 

r. Alyssum saxatite variegatum. 

Variegated mad-wort, 
r. Arabis bellidifotia variegata. 

striped daisy-leaved wall-cre.HS, 
r. ,, lucida variegata. 

Striped shining-leaved ditto, 
r. ,, stricta variegata. 

Striped upright ditto. 
Epilobium hirsutum variega- 
tum. Variegated hairy willow 

herb. 
Glechoma hederacea variegata. 

Striped ground-ivy. 
7m pumilta variegata. Striped 

dwarf iris, 
r. Linaria cymbalaria variegata. 

Striped cymbal-leaved toad- 
flax. 
Melissa officinalis variegata. 

Striped balm. 
Menttia piperita variegata. 

Striped peppermint. 
T. Primula marginata. Margined 

primrose. 
Saaifraga umbrosa variegata . 

Striped London pride, 
r. ,, cristata variegata. 

Variegated crested saxifrage, 
r. ,, rosulaiis. Rose-like 

saxifrage. 
Spireea ulmaria variegata. 

Striped meadow-sweet. 
Veronica spicata variegata. 

Striped spike speedwell. 
Vinca major picta. Painted 

greater periwinkle. 

Climbing Variegated 
Plants. 

Hedera helix. Striped ivy. 
Rubus fruticosus variegatus. 
Variegated bramble. 



Those marked r are rock-plants, and either must 
be grown on rock-work, or on little mounds of earth, 
with some small stones or pebbles surrounding them. 
Where the space will allow the variegated trees to be 
planted, by all means have them, as they are very 
ornamental, and will add considerably to the beauty 
of the plantation dui-ing summer. The shrubs with 
coloured, or rather discoloured leaves, are both deci- 
duous (plants losing their leaves) and evergreen, 
and, therefore, are ornamental all the year. Most 
of the herbaceous plants keep their pretty leaves 
through the winter, and even on that account alone 
are very desirable. 

Hollyhocks. — Amongst the many fine flowers that 
ornament our gardens during the last montlis of 
summer, there are none that surpass the hollyhock. 
We saw this last season, in the month of August, at 
Eaby Castle, the seat of the Duke of Cleveland, a 
magnificent example of what this plant can effect. 
On each side of a long broad walk leading to the 
hothouses was a closely-planted row of tall holly- 
hocks, forming an object of great beauty, and, at the 
same time, hiding the kitchen-garden crops. Their 
appearance was noble and imposing in the highest 
degree. We were so well pleased with them that we 
shall devote a few lines to recommend them, and 
describe the culture necessai-y for them. Hollyhocks 
are raised from seed, and propagated by division or 
cuttings. 

Sow the seeds in wide shallow pots in March, and 
set them on a warm bed of either dung, leaves, or 
tanner's bark, covered with two inches of coal ashes, 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



J 19 



firmly beaten. The soil proper to grow them in is a 
light sandy loam, enriched with about one-fom-th of 
vegetable mould. Cover the seeds about half an inch, 
and give a gentle watering. They will soon come up, 
and will then requke plenty of air in mild weather. 
As the season advances, give still more aii-, to prevent 
the plants drawing up weak. By the end of April 
they may be exposed to the open air during the day 
for a week or ten days, and as soon as there is no 
danger from frosty nights, set them out of the frame 
in a warm corner, and dig a bed of sufficient di- 
mensions to hold them all, enriching it with soot and 
rotten dung. Then turn the plants out of the pots, 
and divide them carefully fi-om each other, and plant 
them at six inches apart eveiy way ; choose showery 
weather, if possible, for this operation. The plants 
can remain in this bed until September, and will be 
then good strong plants. That month is the best to 
plant them out in the situation where they are to 
flower. These plants love a rich soil ; and if you 
wish to see them in all their grandeur, give them 
strong food. Provide strong stakes, at least seven or 
eight feet long ; apply these in good time, and tie the 
hollyhocks up to them frequently and strongly, for the 
winds have gi-eat power over their tall stems. During 
the flowering season mark such as are very double, 
of a good shape, and fine colours ; and on a durable 
label describe the particulars of the character of each. 
From those good lands you are to propagate by divi- 
sion or cuttings. 

By Divmon. — Sometimes the plants throw out 
shoots from the main stem below the surface ; these 
shoots commonly produce roots independent of those 
belonging to the main stem. With a knife divide such 
shoots from the old plant, taking them cai'efully up, 
preserving every fibre ; plant them in a bed as di- 
rected for seedlings, and in the autumn following they 
wOl be fit to take their place where they are to flower. 

By Cuttings. — The best time for propagating by cut- 
tings is the spring. Take off the shoots when they are 
rather woody, and trim off all the large leaves. Plant 
tliem 6 inches apart in sand on a shady border under 
hand-glasses, burying one bud, or eye, below the 
surface. Pick off, as they occui', the decaying leaves. 
They will root in about six weeks, when the hand- 
glasses may be removed, and in a fortnight the plants 
will be fit to transplant into a bed, and afterwards 
managed the same as seedlings. To cottagers who 
may not have the convenience of hand-glasses, we 
would suggest that hollyhocks may be sown in a warm 
border in April, and aftei-wards transplanted as de- 
scribed above for those raised in fi-ames. Though 
managed in this way as well as possible, they wOl by 
no means make such strong plants as by the former, 
at least for the first year. Hollyhocks may thus be 
procured for a moderate sized garden for a mere trifle. 
A shilling packet of seeds will produce at least one 
hundred plants. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
The Carnation. — In our last number we described 
the stage for blooming them on. We would remark 
that this stage, by a little management, may be made 
use of for auriculas and polyanthuses. The only 
thing to alter wUl be the shelves ; instead of being 
level, and only one foot from the ground, the back- 
board should be brought up nearly level with the eye, 
and the other two about six inches below each other; 
the three will then form a sloping stage. After the 
auriculas are out of bloom, the carnations will be 
ready to put in their place. 



Soil. — The proper compost for carnations is as fol- 
lows: — Sound light loam, made of turf from an old 
pasture, well rotted and frequently turned, three bar- 
row-loads ; rotted hotbed dung, one barrow-load ; 
rotted leaves, one barrow-load ; one peck of soot, and 
one peck of river sand. Let these be weU mixed and 
turned over once a month for a year. In turning it 
over remove the largest stones and roots of bad peren- 
nial weeds, such as couch-gi'ass, dandelions, docks, 
&c., and be very particular to look dDigently for that 
destnictive pest to these plants, the wire-worm. 

Pots. — During winter, carnations should be kept 
in pots five inches wide, two of a kind in each pot. 
The pots for blooming them in should be twelve inches 
wide and ten inches deep. In the month of March 
have in readiness some broken pots, about one or two 
inches wide — or oyster-shells will answer when broken 
pots cannot be had; cover the hole at the bottom of 
the pot with a large piece, the hollow side downwards ; 
then place round it as many largish pieces as will 
cover the bottom of the pot level with the large piece 
in the centre. Upon these place about an inch thick 
of small pieces about the size of hazel-nuts ; over these 
put some of tlie turfy part of the compost; the pot is 
now ready for the plant. TmTi them carefully out of 
their winter pots, keeping the balls entire, excepting 
removing the crocks at the bottom ; put as much soil 
in the pot as will raise the ball a little above the level 
of the rim, then fill up with the compost round the 
ball till the pot is pretty full, give a smart shake down 
upon the bench, level the soil with the hand, and the 
operation of potting is finished. T. Appleby. 



GEEENHOUSE AND WINDOW 

GAEDENING. 

Greenhouses. — Of all the departments of garden- 
ing, perhaps there are none of more interest to a 
retired family than that afforded by a small green- 
house, more particularly so if the greenhouse is at- 
tached to the dwelling-house, and the female members 
of the family are fond of rearing plants. At any rate, 
a small gi'eenhouse would very much extend the 
source of enjoyment to be procured from a garden. 
Persons who have not paid any attention to this sub- 
ject themselves have little idea of the variety of plants 
which a small greenhouse is calculated to afford, at 
perhaps little or no more expense than what is often 
incurred with a three or foiu'-light pit with a flue in 
it. The trouble of lighting a fire is the same in both 
instances ; the work of attendance is more troublesome 
where plants are wintered in a pit, for they are more 
liable to damps and other injuries there than in a 
gi'eenhouse, where they can be kept drier, and looked 
over in bad weather when nothing can be done out of 
doors. When one has got over the difiiculty of in- 
cm-ring the necessary expense of erecting a gi-een- 
house, and fixed on the situation, the next great difii- 
culty is, how to plan the house itself, what elevation 
the glass should have, what the arrangements inside 
as to shelves, stages, paths, flues, &c. It has often 
been objected to by books and gardeners, that no two 
of them agree about the mode of even planning and 
arranging such a small concern as an ordinary gi'een- 
house. And the objection is valid enough to a certain 
extent ; but it may be asked, if two of any other craft 
agi'ee in anything but on some main points or certain 
fixed principles ? Will two physicians, for instance, 
agree in prescribing for a patient ? or two engineers 



120 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



in laying down a railroad? It is quite enough if men 
who have studied a profession, or any branch of know- 
ledge, agree in the fundamental principles of their 
art. Matters of detail are always more or less guided 
by fancy and convenience. If two gardeners are 
agi'eed as to the strength and durability of the timber, 
the kind of glass best suited to the purpose, and the 
best aspect and slant, or inclination, of the roof, they 
may differ as to all other points in the edifice they 
produce, but each will erect a good greenhouse. 

The best aspect for either a greenhouse or pit is 
south ; but east or west aspects will answer. The 
angle of the roof is best when low, say about thirty 
degrees ; the width inside from twelve to fourteen 
feet. Greeuhouse-plants always do best when the 
roof is pitclied low. The usual objection to low roofs 
is, that the wind will di-ive in the rain between the 
glass ; but that is easily got over by having the laps 
of the panes puttied. A higher angle for the roof 
than thirty degrees is apt to draw the plants too much 
to one side. You always see nurserymen, who are 
good judges of what is best for their plants, use flat 
roofs to their greenhouses. The roof sashes should be 
in two lengths, and the top ones one-third shorter than 
the bottom cues; ttiey will thus be lighter for sliding 
up and down in giving air to the house. A better 
plan, however, would be to have all the roof lights or 
sashes fixed, and in that case they would be better in 
one length ; but that could only be done well when a 
good dry shed is placed against the wall, behind the 
gi-eenhouse ; into this shed large openings might be 
made at the top of the back wall, for giving air. One 
of the greenhouses here (Sln-ubland Park) is thus con- 
structed, and answei-s very well. The lights have 
never been moved since they were put on, ten years 
since. Indeed, this very house and shed may be de- 
scribed as an example of one very economical and use- 
ful for an amateur. This house is twelve feet wide in- 
side, the bade of it thirteen feet high, and the fi-ont six 
feet, consistiug of two and a half feet of brickwork, and 
the rest of glass ; the front sashes move on htuges, by 
which they ai-e fastened to the top plate, and when 
opened, for giving air, are retained in their position by 
a thin piece of flat ii-on, fifteen inches long, fastened 
to the bottom frame of each sash. This flat handle, as 
I may call it, is pierced with ten holes along the cen- 
tre, about an inch apart, and there is an iron pin, 
one and a lialf inch long, fixed in the lower wall-plate, 
which fits these holes. Now, when you want to give 
air you take hold of this handle, lift it from the pin, 
and push out the sash with it, say to the length of six 
holes ; drop down the handle then over the iron pin, 
and your light stands open six or eight inches wide. 
No wind or accident can alter it backwards or forwards 
till the handle is let go ofl' the pin. There is nothing 
in tills contrivance to get out of order, and it is the 
siin])lest thing possible. All the front sashes may he 
opened to fourteen inches wide, and, with the door 
open, the plants are nearly as free as if they were in 
the open air. The roof sashes are all fi.xed, and just 
under the top angle there is an opening into the back 
shed under each light. These openings are three feet 
long and a foot wide, without any shutters to them; 
there they are wide open day and night, winter and 
summer. The shed behind is always dry, being used 
to liold large myrtles, fuchsias, &c., during the winter, 
and as a pointer's shop rvnd lumber-room in summer, 
so that a current of dry air plays over the plants all the 
year round. When the shed and gi-eenhouse are closely 
shut up in fi-osty weather, the current of air goes on 
nearly as strong as when all is ojien, by a very simple 
contrivance. The floor of the shed is six inches lower 



at one end, and here a hole is made through into the 
greenhouse ; this hole is directly over the furnace, 
which heats the greenhouse flue. As the air cools in 
the shed, it rolls down to this ojiening, and is sucked 
into the greenhouse by the heat of the furnace ; it then 
ascends over the plants till it escapes into the shed 
again by the top openings. I may state also, for the 
economy of the thing, that what we call the back wall 
is only made up of posts and strong boards, plastered 
over on the greenhouse side, and whitewashed with 
lime on the shed side; and being always kept dry, will 
last a life-time. 

A shelf, thirty inches wide, runs along the ft-ont and 
one end of this greenhouse, and under this shelf the 
fl ue passes all the way : the shelf is two feet thi-ee inches 
high from the level of the path — the bearers which 
support it being cross-pieces let into the second course 
of brickwork next the top; the shelf thus standing 
one brick lower than the front glass. The path ought 
to be two feet ten inches wide, or if you give it a yard 
it will be all the better. Eecollect there will be a shelf 
on each side of it; and when your friends come to see 
your success in growing plants, they have to walk, 
stand, or turn round in the path ; and if there are 
ladies in the party, their dresses are sure to be made 
so full that a narrow path will not allow them to pass 
without pulling down your pots and plants on either 
side of the way, and instead of getting any praise for 
your plants and lor the laying-out of your new gi-een- 
house, you will be told, and very properly too, that "you 
have made a poking place of it after all." Let us 
therefore have a wide comfortable path at any rate, 
thougli by doing so we encroach a little on the shelves. 
The front shelf need not be wider than eighteen inches, 
just to cover over the flue, if you are tied for room, as 
no tall plants could occupy that part for fear of inter- 
cepting the light fi-om the rest of the plants. The 
roof sashes are best made four feet wide, or as near to 
that as the size of the glass will allow ; let them be 
made of the best red deal, ]n'imed, and once painted 
before the glazing is done. The reason for giving two 
coats of paint is, that after the glass is in there must 
be no more painting allowed for full three mouths. 
Now, if you contract with abuilder to erect the house, 
recollect to enter this clause about the painting in the 
speciflcation, as he will be siu'e to lU'ge you to finish it 
oft' at once. The reason for the three months' delay is 
that the putty may get dry throughout before it is fit 
to be painted. Of course you will be told this is all 
fancy, and that ninety-nine persons out of a hundred 
never think of such a thing, and that a little white 
lead mixed with the putty will make it set hard in a 
few days ; and so it would, but have nothing to do with 
that sort of putty ; gardeners never allow the use of 
that old kind of putty in these days, because once it 
gets dry they can hardly cut it when repairs or altera- 
tions are to be made afterwards. I have seen a good 
glazier break four squares of glass tryiug to mend one 
broken one, besides spending an hour and a half at the 
job, which a mere lad could do in five minutes, and 
without any breakage, if proper putty had been used 
in the first instance. Hothouse putty is made with 
whiting, pounded down and sifted very fine, and boiled 
linseed-oil, making it into dough as the bakers do their 
bread ; the more the dough of putty is worked the better 
it will be, and it should be at least ten days old before 
it is used ; in that time a large lump of it will '• sweat," 
that is, shghtly ferment, which is necessary to give 
it the proper adhesive power. When tliis soft putty, 
as it is called, is allowed to dry thoroughly before it is 
painted over, it wUl last as long as the hardest white- 
lead putty, and at the end of twenty years be soft 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



121 



enough td be cut away with your knife. If, there- 
foi-e, you wished to remove your greenhouse at any 
future time, you could easily take out the glass, pack 
it in boxes, and the timber-work could then be hand- 
led and packed without the risk of annoyance of 
breaking the glass. We often see very neat well- 
built green-houses in all respects, except that the 
putty having been painted over as soon as the lights 
were glazed gives way the second season, the paint 
having blistered, not being able to fix or unite 
with the putty in a green or damp state. Then the 
rains drip in between the putty and the glass in all 
directions. Now, to guard against this every-day 
occurrence is the reason for my dwelling so long on 
such minute details. To say that this, that, or the 
other, should or should not be done, without assign- 
ing reasons for wliat you say, is no proof that the 
party giving such directions is any judge of what he 
recommends or condemns. In making the shelves 
for the body of the house, the lowest shelf ought to 
be on a level with the front one, and the others car- 
ried up in i-egular gradations, according to the slope 
of the roof. If the house is detached ft-om other 
buildings, botli ends should be glazed above the 
level of the shelves. The door is to be at one end, 
and the fire-place behind the door, the flue passing 
under the ]jath within the doorway, and on reach- 
ing the front wall, to rise with a gentle slope, and to 
be carried nearly on a level along the front wall, and 
within two inches of it, and to pass along to the 
farthest end of the house into a chimney in the 
corner. The size of the flue to be nine inches wide 
and fourteen inches deep, made with biioks set on 
edge, and on no account to be plastered inside or 
out. The top and bottom of the flue to be made 
with thick tiles, called " foot-pamments," the bottom 
ones resting on flat bricks to clear them from the 
ground ; the fire-place should be eighteen inches 
long by fourteen inches wide, and fourteen inches 
high, with iron bars for a hearth. The door to bo a 
foot square, and the ash-pit nine inches deep, and 
the same length and width as the fire-place above it. 
The door of the fire-place would be more effective, 
and less liable to warp with the heat, if it is made a 
" double" door, that is, by having a plain square 
piece of half-inch thick iron rivetted to the inside of 
it, and two inches apart from the inside of the door ; 
this is a simple and very useful contrivance, but 
often neglected. British sheet glass, sixteen ounces 
to the foot, is the best kind to use ; the width of the 
panes for the roof sashes should be about eight or 
ten inches wide, and from a foot to eighteen inches 
long. For the front sashes the glass may be much 
larger every way. This kind of glass is sold in 
boxes, containing a hundred feet of glass each, and 
sold from StJ-d. to 3d. per foot. Sashes of the best 
red deal are generally made by contract, at about 6d. 
per square foot ; but the price, no doubt, varies in 
different parts of the country, but this will be suffi- 
cient to form a guess at what the sashes and glass 
will cost, for nothing of this kind ought to be at- 
tempted before every item of the expense is first 
ascertained. One suggestion more, and I have done. 
If the house is made by contract, let the contractor 
be responsible for the efficiency of the whole for the 
first twelve months. D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 

Dwarf and Eunner Kidney-beans. — Of these 
there are very numerous varieties. Almost every 
locality has its favourite, some distinguished for their 
earliness, and others for being pi-oMc. Amongst 



the best of the early dwarfs are the dun-coloured 
and white-seeded. The most prolific dwarfs are the 
negro and robin's egg. All four are of good quality. 
Of runners, the case knife and scarlet are considered 
the best; the latter is the most prolific and most useful 
bean of all ; it can be grown almost on any kind of soil 
and place in better condition than any other variety. 

Brocoli. — If the true Walcheren Brocoli is sown 
in March, and at intervals of three or four weeks 
until Midsummer, and planted in succession on well- 
prepared soil, it will produce good heads throughout 
the gi-eater part of the season. The Malta-white, 
Knight's-protecting, and the Russian-white, are ex- 
cellent varieties, succeeding each other in the order 
they are named through the winter and spring ; 
the Russian lasting until cauliflowers come in. The 
Wilcove, also, is a good and useful variety. The 
true Purple sprouting is the most prolific and useful 
kind for the cottager, and for all who can afford but 
little ground for this vegetable. The Purple and 
Hammond's White Cape are useful in summer and 
throughout autumn, if sown in succession as di- 
rected for the Walcheren. The other varieties, if 
sown in AprU, will produce plants strong enough to 
be put into the ground from which the peas and 
beans have been cleared at the end of summer. We 
generally sow at Bicton, for the principal crops of 
brocoli, about the middle of April, earlier or later, 
according to the season. 

Borecole or Kale. — Of this there are many pro- 
lific hardy varieties, useful for every cottage garden ; 
such as the Scotch or Curl Borecole, both dwarf and 
tall ; the Siberian and Egyptian, both very hardy 
and prolific. The Buda, Jerusalem, and Chou-de- 
Milan (tlie Milan cabbage), are equally hardy and 
good. The Buda, if the true variety, is the most 
prolific of any, continuing to yield an abundance of 
green tender shoots, even in very cold weather, when 
other vegetables have ceased to grow. The Brussels 
sprouts are always equally prolific, and are a good 
winter vegetable, if a true variety, and propeidy man- 
aged. In this country its cultivators are often dis- 
appointed, although the variety may be true, by the 
plants producing little open sprouts instead of the 
little firm-hearted bleached heads so generally ad- 
mired. There are two varieties, a tall and a dwarf, 
and both good. The seed should be sown in March 
and April, and as soon as the plants are large enough 
to handle they should be pricked out, on an open 
spot of rich soil. The Brussels sprouts is a hardy 
vegetable, requiring an open airy piece of ground for 
permanent planting out. We find that the soil for 
it sliould not be made over-rich with fresh manure ; 
for, if it is, the sprouts will most likely be open. It 
is best to plant this vegetable on gi-ound which has 
first borne a crop of some other kind after maniu-ing . 
The sprouts will then probably be produced firm 
and blanched. 

Cabbage. — This is certainly one of the most useful 
and productive of all vegetables. Its varieties have 
been greatly improved within the last twenty years, 
and are now so numerous that it is not easy to make 
a choise ; indeed, almost every locality has its own 
peculiar or favourite variety. The Battersea, Ful- 
ham. East Ham, Imperial, Sugar-loaf, and early 
York, are all weUproved good varieties. Of those 
lately introduced, we have the Matchless, a pretty 
dwai-f, dark green cabbage, growing close to the soil, 
having few leaves besides the heart, and coming in 
early. The Nonpareil is a good variety, also early, 
but of a lighter green and larger si7e than the 
Matchless. Shilling's Queen, Barnes, Sprotborough, 



122 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



and Paragon, are all first-rate varieties; they are 
eai'ly, and of good quality. For the Matchless, we 
never allow more room than one foot from plant to 
plant each way. On a sloping bank they have a very 
neat and orderly appearance, the ground looking as 
if paved with cabbages. The Dwarf Red Dutch is 
good for pickling, preserving, and stewing. The Flat 
Pole is the best for pigs, cattle, sheep, and poulti-y ; 
all of which are remarkably fond of it, and, indeed, 
thrive well on good cabbage of any kind. 

James Barnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 9.) 

The last month of the depai'ting year has opened 
upon us, and is fleeting rapidly away ; and although 
some of us have passed through more Decembers than 
we may cai"e to number, yet there is ever a solemn 
feeling in drawing near to the close of another of 
those stated periods which mark the flight of Time. 
In our childish days years felt Uke ages. With eyes 
and wishes fixed on distant things, Time seemed 
flying backwards ; but 7iow he rushes on with railroad 
speed, and none can call him back. No signal can 
check his rapid pace ; no station interrupts his steady 
course ; hut there is a terminus, whenever Time shall 
be no more, and for that solemn place and hour, each 
passing year loudly calls us to prepare. 

This mouth, dreary as it is considei-ed, has its em- 
bellishments. To the Christian, indeed, no season 
is dreary, all are aUke telling of the wisdom and 
goodness of God, and certifying his gracious promise, 
that " while the earth remaineth, seed time and har- 
vest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and 
day and night, shall not cease." But the sobriety of 
winter is enlivened by the brightness of two stout- 
hearted evergreens, the one adorning the house, and 
the other glittering in the garden. The gay Pyra- 
cantba, or Evergreen Thorn, spreads itself over the 
cottage wall, and glows like coals of fire. Its bunches 
of red berries form a beautiful contrast to the daa-k 
sombre leaves ; and during the snow they make us 
feel almost warm. I have often seen this plant 
clothing the gable of a cottage, and the effect is veiy 
rich. Useless plants — those, I mean, which bear no 
fruit — should never be encouraged in cottage gardens, 
where profitable ones would grow ; but there are 
situations and aspects, unfavourable to fruit trees, 
where ornamental plants do well, and the Pyracantha 
should be one of these. It gives to the little dwel- 
ling a cheerful, happy look, and when the thatch is 
dripping with rain, or fringed with icicles, the bright 
clusters smile through it all, and seem to defy the 
storm. On the walls of a cottage residence, where 
profit is less considered than a pleasing effect, this 
cheerful winter ornament might be often trained 
among the lovely summer creepers, and thus there 
would be a constant succession of rich colours 
throughout the year. It may be moved in spring or 
autumn, but the most advantageous time is very 
early spring. 

The hoUy is now decking itself with beads of coral, 
and its dark polished leaves are in full luxuriance 
and beauty. It speaks of the great approaching 
festival, of which it has long been the ornament and 
emblem, so much so, that the jjoor know it generally 
by the name of " Christmas." It is supposed that it 
takes its name from being used in religious festivals. 
Dr. Turner, an early writer on plants, calls it " holy- 
tree;" and among the Germans, Swedes, and Danes, 



it is called " Christdoon," " Christoon," and " Christ- 
toon," from which it appears to be a kind of holy plant 
among these nations. In some parts of India, wlien 
an infant is born, water is thrown on its face from a 
vessel formed of the bark of the holly tree. To 
Christians there is peculiar interest attached to it ; 
and from our earliest childhood we have seen it 
wreathing our homes and churches. The thorny 
leaves, the berries, like crimson drops, dimly remind 
us, too, of what to our hearts should be so deeply pre- 
cious ; and it is possible that earlier Christians had 
this in view when they hung it round their hearths 
and places of worship. 

The holly is of slow growth, but rewards our pa- 
tience, for its foliage is rich and handsome, and either 
as a standard or a hedge-plant it is both useful and 
beautiful. It is particularly well-suited for the hedge, 
either round fields or gardens ; and I am surprised 
that it is not more generally used, as cattle cannot 
break through it when propeiiy managed, and it 
would greatly protect cottage gardens from thieves 
as well as animals. Quickset-hedges are very pretty 
in summer, but they shed their leaves, and are, be- 
sides, easily broken through. Yew, hornbeam, &c., 
are also pleasing to the eye, hut too mild in their 
manners for a useful fence. There is a sturdy " John 
Bullism" about a holly, and a sharpness of reproof 
that cannot easily be tampered with, and tliis makes 
it highly advantageous near fields and commons 
especially, and a wild heathy soil suits it well. If 
cottagers would plant them on the bank that sur- 
rounds their garden they would soon thicken and 
displace the untidy broken hedge that usually forms 
the only fence ; and as their delicate white blossoms 
appear in May, they would be an ornament to the little 
homestead also nearly all the year. The variegated 
holly is a pretty-looking tree, and the yellow-berried 
variety is ornamental in a shrubbery, as the berries 
look like blossoms at a little distance, lasting from 
October to March ; so that the holly may be said to 
adorn the garden continually. The proper time for 
planting hollies is in October, but in open weather 
they may be moved much later. Spring planting 
rarely succeeds, and should not be risked if we can 
possibly avoid it. If the weather is dry when they 
are moved, sprinkle them with water two or three 
times a week for a little while. If seedlings are 
taken carefully up, and planted well, they will, in 
three or four years, be as many feet in height ; and 
they are frequently met with in woods and copses fit 
for removal. Never destroy a seedling holly. Plant 
it, forget it, and some day it will surprise you as a 
a stout little plant, ready to do you service. Do not 
cut the holly much, and then only in spring, before 
they make their shoots. If they become stunted, 
train up the leader and head-back the laterals (that 
is, the side shoots,) so as to increase then- height. 
But if you train them properly from their youth, 
they will not be stunted, and much cutting, which 
they dislike, may be avoided. The wayward heai't 
of childhood rejects the training that is good for it, 
but the senseless bough bends to the hand, and 
obeys the impulse given. In this particular are we 
not children still? 

If we would let our gardens reprove us, what useful 
lessons we might learn. How bitterly do they re- 
proach us ! We are vexed when pigs or chickens 
root up our plants and seeds ; we are ve.xed if we 
cannot lay in a redundant shoot, or train one just as 
we please ; out flies the knife, down falls the disobe- 
dient bough ; we will be obeyed one way or other. 
But if God thus dealt with the trees in His garden. 



THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



123 



what woiald become of us ? Let our own hasty ways 
magnify bis strong and patient goodness. We deserve 
at his hands wi-ath and indignation, yet he spares 
us still. Let the twig that lies at our feet lead us to 
adore that mercy which, for the Pleader's sake, waits 
yet another year before he cuts us down. 



STANDARD CURRANT-TREES. 

Respecting the cultivation 
of standard currant-trees, I beg 
to observe that the roots are 
pruned of necessity as the 
ground is dug and cultivated 
to within a circle of three feet, 
so that they are root-pruned; 
so strongly advised in your 
valuable work. Tlie stems are 
about three feet high, and the 
head is closely pruned-in every 
year, leaving only two or three 
buds on the young shoot. 
This pruning-in has a most 
surprising etfect in causing 
the tree to produce fruit so 
large that few would believe 
without seeing it. It is a year 
and a half since my best twelve 
plants were planted in my garden, aud then the 
roots were so full of small fibres, that they resembled 
a mop. 

The fruit on those that are well established is 
larger than the same kind is, cultivated in the ordi- 
nary way. 

Tlie advantages of cultivating fruit-trees^ this way 
ai-e — much less room is required, no fruit is lost by 
being trailed on the gi-ound, they are more easily pro- 
tected from birds, &c., the fruit larger, and they spoil 
no ground by shading it. We also learn, that it fruit- 
trees grown in the old form were pruned-m oftener, 
that they would bear mom fruit and gi-ow less icood. 




A Standard Currant-tree 
(leafless), shewing its 
fruit-buds. 




A Tree with Fruit-buds at the joint 
far apart. 



A Bough of a Tree 
pruned close each year, 
and producing a mass 
of Fruit-buds from top 
to bottom. 



I think it not impossible to produce the effect of 
the second drawing ; and if in one branch, so with 
sis. or eight, and then we have a tree of the old form, 
but fidl of fruit-buds. The first is an example of the 
old trees of my neighhom's' large and old ti'ees, pro- 
ducing very little fruit compared to their size and 
age. 
Jos. 'B.>a.-L,Lougton Farms Potteries, Staffordshire. 



HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. 

Gener.^l Principles foh Pruxin-g. — It would 
seem very difficult at first sight to classify our fruit- 
trees in general, as to compress within a narrow 
limit principles appUcable to the whole of our hardy 
fruits. We will, however, attempt to do so, and will 
first premise that some of these princij)les are appli- 
cable to the whole, whilst others are of a special na- 
ture. 

In order to render the matter more clear, it will be 
uecessaiy to cast the eye over the principal objects 
or reasons for pruning ; these clearly exhibited, the 
rest will be found simple indeed. 

In the first place, then, thinning-out is necessai-y, 
in order to admit or equalize the amount of light and 
air to the bearing-wood. 

In the second, it is frequently resorted to for the 
sake of increasing the size and quality of the fruit. 

Thus far what is termed " thinning-out." We will 
now advert to the process termed shortening, or 
pruning back the shoots. The latter process is prac- 
tised for two principal reasons, — the one to increase 
the number of shoots, and the other to cause the tree 
to produce abundance of side spm-s. It must not, 
however, he inferred that any kind of pruning will of 
necessity render a tree more fruitful than if left in a 
state of nature. Priming is altogether an artificial 
procedure, and becomes necessary principally through 
limitation of space. Nature has her own pecuHar 
modes of pruning, if such they may be termed ; and 
that is by suffocation, and by the continual tendency 
of the ascending or extending branches to weaken, 
and finally to starve out, the lower branches. 

Ha\'ing said thus much as in introduction to the 
subject, we will now proceed to another consideration 
bearing on pruning afl'airs, viz., the classification of 
fruit-trees, with regard to their modes of bearing. One 
portion of tliem, it is well-known, bears almost ex- 
clusively on the young wood of the past year; of 
such are the vine, peach, nectarine, goosehen-y, and 
black currant. 

A second portion bears almost exclusively on spurs 
attached to the older wood ; of such are the apricot, 
pluui, cherry, pear, apple, and the ordinary red and 
wliite currants. 

We must here observe, that there are some singu- 
lar exceptions to these rules, and that some fruit- 
trees produce indilferently on both ; these, however, 
need not be singled out; it is manifest witli such, 
that their pruning treatment must be a sort of com- 
promise, or rather amalgation of the principles ap- 
plied to the two distinct sections already enumerated. 
These constitute, in the main, the groundwork of all 
pruning; but, in carrying out these principles, it 
should be borne in mind that some trees are natives 
of brighter skies than Great Britain, to say nothing 
of the mere question of heat. Such should, there- 
fore, be more liberally thinned, and in training them 
the shoots placed farther apart. Of such we may 
quote the vine, the apricot, the peach, and nectarine, 
the fig, and the tender sorts of Flemish pears. ^ The 
order in which we have mentioned these, will, in our 
opinion, pretty correctly indicate their partiality re- 
spectively to Ught. 

It becomes necessai7 here to offer some advice as 
to the distance to which shortening the young shoots 
should be carried; for, although old practitioners 
can tell at a glance, by a sort of instinctive feeling, 
how these things should be performed, yet here we 
would rather address ourselves to the amateur, or the 



124 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



mere tyro, who have of course not been able to profit 
by the same amount of experience as those previously 
alluded to. 

Shortening back the shoots, as before observed, 
must be ruled by the object in view, bearing in mind, 
also, that some trees have an apter tendency to force 
out lateral shoots than others. It may, moreover, be 
observed, that great peculiaiities in this respect exist 
even in one family of fruits. Any person may be 
satisfied of this by observing the habits of even our 
common apple-tree, especially in a plantation of 
some seven years' standing. Some kinds will appear 
to be laterally choked with side shoots, others wiU be 
comparatively naked. 

Under these cii'cumstances, we can merely advise 
that, previously to pi-uning, it would be well to ac- 
quii-e some infoi-mation of the kind ; and having done 
so, the mode will readily suggest itself. However, 
as a plain rule, about one-half of the shoot mav be 
reduced ; but in tender fruit-trees, as the peach, 'it is 
necessary, above all things, to prune as far back as 
the firm, or, in other words, well-ripened wood. The 
best criterion, generally speaking, of well-ripened 
wood, is its sohdity ; that is to say, the small amount 
of pith in proportion to the true wood. — Gardeners 
Almanachfor 1849. 



Fertile Earthy Compost. — As it may be desir- 
able to many persons to know how to make a fertile 
loam, and as I have had much practice in this work, 
I send you an account of how I proceed. 

I procure a load of clay, and having tempered it 
well, and made it veiy soft, I add to it three loads of 
sand, one load of lime, and two loads of sawdust, 
peat, or leaf-mould. The whole is then beaten with 
a spade, and more water added, until as well mixed 
as lime and sand are in making mortar. The water 
used for this purpose may be the dirty water from 
the house. When this is done, the whole is left in a 
heap to dry ; and when dry, pared down in thin 
slices with a sharp spade as required. Where roads 
are mended with lime-stones, the scrapings may be 
used instead of lime ; and where marl can be had, 
instead of clay and lime. 

On analysis, sixteen of the simple substances ought 
to be found in soil. If the water mentioned has 
been used, there will be most of these substances, 
and in the quantity desirable, which is very minute. 



C. A. A. Lloyd, Whittington. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Heating by Gas(F. /., Ham;7s^ead).— This is not a new proposal. 
Gas has been often tried as a mode of warming greenhouses, &c., and 
as often failed. It is too expensive, and spoils the air so much as to 
injure the plants. 

Perforated Garden-Pot (Ibid).— Th.\% is not required for 
plants plunged in borders. If it is desirable that their roots should 
extend beyond the pot, it is best at once to turn them out of the pot, 
and plant them m the border. But it is generally most desirable to 
keep the roots withm the pot, for the sake of keeping the plants com- 
pact and of moderate size. One of the objects of annually repotting 
13 to reduce the quantity of the roots, so that the head or branches 
may be also kept within moderate bounds. 

Earth-worms (i?. ^.).— We do not recommend these to be de- 
Btroyed. If you sprmkle salt at the rate of four bushels per acre over 
your prass-plot about once in every two months, you will keep them 
away from the surface, and benefit your turf. 

Index (7A?(/).— We will take care that a very copious index shall 
be g;iven at the end of each volume. 



The Thrush {Ren. C. W. B., Dorset).~-\Ve have been much 
obliged by the following letter : 

" I saw in your Weekly Calendar, in the eighth Number of the 
Cottage Gardener, that the thrush (by which I presumed the 
song-thrush Tardus musicus, to be meant) would resume singing 
on Wednesday, Nov. 29. Your vaticination, upon what authority 
founded I know not, was certainly not far wrong. Sir, on Sunday 
morning, the 26th, the song-thrushes here began singing most 
lustily, and have been singing daily ever since. I have not, indeed, 
seen one so engaged, but I do not imagine I can be deceived as to 
their song. 

*' Upon looking into Mr. Yarrell's Birds, I find him representing 
the song of the thrush as 'beginning early in the spring;' and 
again, ' White, of Selbome, considered it a rule, that whenever 
there was incubation there was music ; and the early spring-song 
of the thrush is an equally true indication of an early breeder.' 
Volume i., page 203. 

'• Now, although this subject be not directly propounded in your 
very valuable little Publication, yet it grows so naturally out of it, 
that I venture to inquire, through its pages, which of the two par- 
ties concerned are in error; viz., White and Yarrell, or you and 
the thrushes ?" 

[We incline to think that we and the thrushes are right.— Ed. C. G.] 

Manure (H. H., Hammersmith). — As you object to the use of 
stable manure in your garden, we recommend you to use such charred 
vegetable matters as you can obtain ; the urate of the London Ma- 
nure Company, and super-phosphate of lime ; these are all very ma- 
nageable for a lady, and together will form an efficient substitute for 
the usual fertilizers. 

Oxide of Iron in Soil for Roses (H. Curtis and Co., West of 
England Rosaries). —These excellent cultivators of the rose think 
Mr. Appleby wrong in warning our readers, at page 14, from using a 
soil containing much oxide of iron. Their communication shall be 
published shortly ; but, in the meantime, will they oblige us by send- 
ing, post free, a few grains of the soil in which they find their roses 
thrive best ? 

Pots for Alpine Plants (Rev. C. W. L.).— The pierced pots 
we have recommended in "The Gardeners' Almanack" for 1849, 
could be made for you by any potter from the drawing there given. 
Thanks for your very agreeable letter. 

Dissolved Bones (Q. in a Comer, Kendal, and A Subscriber, 
Hornsey). — The quantity recommended to be used, at page 62, is 
small, because only intended for the supply of one crop. The larger 
quantity, mentioned at page 28, was for a dressing to endure through- 
out a rotation of crops. Whole bones take a very long time to dissolve 
in the acid. An ola tub or barrel is a very proper vessel for dissolv- 
ing bones in ; it vrill last for years with proper care. If properly 
broken, and the acid properly applied to them, a bushel of bones will 
be dissolved in twenty-four hours. 

Urine and Chloride op Lime (Tyro).— Neither of these can 
be used undiluted as a manure to plants ; they are far too powerful. 

Ferns in Glass Cases {A Working Man). — We will endeavour 
to give the information you require next week. 

Sandy Soil (H. B. S., Nottingham). — Your very sandy ground 
cannot be improved by manures alone. The staple must be altered 
by means of marl or clay. Salt may occasionally be applied, and gyp- 
sum, as a fixer, may be added to the manure. Plant strumer-pippin 
by all means. You must state whether your six apples are for 
table or not. Our Number for November 30 will give you the 
necessary information about preparing the soil. Plenty of quick- 
lime in water will destroy your worms on the grass-plot. Our space 
is out as to more remarks here : watch our columns — nothing will be 
neglected. We will shortly remark on your plan for making soil for 
fruits : in the meantime, pray do not proceed in the way you mention. 

Allotment Crofping (Beu. /. W. R.). — You will see that, in 
future, we intend to have a separate department for this subject ; in 
the meantime, we would beg to direct attention to our Diagram at 
page 51. We do not wish it to be inferred that this is the only eli- 
gible course : many modes of cropping a quarter of an acre may be 
urged. For the present we would say, divide the plot in three parts 
instead of two, if wheat mitst form a part of the rotation. 

1 849. Wheat Potatoes Miscellaneous. 

1850. Miscellaneous . Wheat Potatoes. 

1851. Potatoes Miscellaneous ^\'^leat. 

1 852. Wheat Potatoes Miscellaneous. 

It must be observed, that under the head " Miscellaneous " may be 
included carrots, parsnips, beet, and the various greens or cabbages — 
of which we should consider the green kale one of the chief. These, 
to be serviceable, would occupy their ground till the early part of 
March, which would be too late for cottager's wheat. 

It is our wish that nothing should appear in our Advertising 
columns that is not calculated to benefit our readers ; but the Editor 
of The Cottage Gardener begs to explain, once for all, that he 
in no case must be considered responsible for the goodness of the 
article advertised. Be will take care to exclude all that be knows to 
be bad, but he can do no more. 



London : Printed by Harrt Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le- Strand j and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kaleodar ; and published by William 
Somerville Ore, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-ie-Strand, London.— December 21st, 1849. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



125 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M 


w 


u 


D 


28 


Th 


an 


F 


30 


S 


31 


Son 


1 


J[ 


• 2 


Tu 


3 


W 



DEC. 28, 18iS— JAN. 3, 1849. 



Innocents. Black duck amves. 

Velvet duck arrives. 

Eider duck comes to Tarn Island. 

1 Sun. .\fter Christ. Silvester. 

Circumcision. 

Lime Hawk ^Moth's Gnib found. 

Bay-sboulderedButton-moth seen 



Plants dedicated to 
each day. 



Bloody-flowered Heath. 

Broom-leaved Heath. 

G-landulousPonthieva. 

Snwodrop. 

Launistinus. 

Groimdsel. 

IPersian Iris. 



Sun 
Rises. 



Sun 
Sets. 



Moon R. 
and Sets. 



a8 

9 

9 
8 
8 



55 a 3 
56 

57 
58 

IV 


2 



7 9 

8 16 
24 

10 35 

n a48 

morn. 

J 1 



Moon's 
Age- 



Clock 
aft. Sun. 



2 2 

2 32 

3 1 
3 29 

3 58 

4 26 
4 54 



Day of 
Year. 



363 
364 
365 
366 
1 



Innocents. — Onthisday is commemorated the slaughter of the 
children of Bethlehem. It is known in some districts as Childermas 
Day — masses hcinc: said on this anniversary by Roman Catholics for 
the repose of the souls of those " Innocents." 

Silvester died Bishop of Rome, in 331. He is known as Pope 
Silvester the First, and why commemorated we do not know. 

New Year's Day. — We will not neglect the good old English 
custom of wishing to every one whose eye rests upon these lines, 
" A happy New Year!" No one ever regarded this day with indif- 
ference ; and the gardener is certainly not an exception to the rule. 
Much are his future hopes dependent upon tlie character of this sea- 
son ; and it is not a bad wish, so far as the prosperity of his next 
year's crops are concerned, to wish that he may, for no brief period, 
be a " frozen-out gardener !" 

Phenomena of the Season. — The most characteristic, most 
beautiful, and most beneficial occurrence of this period of the year is 
the fall of snow. It is not our purpose to dwell upon the beauty of 
its star-shaped crystals, nor upon its magic influence over a land- 
scape, but to offer a few notes upon its utility to the gardener. There 

Insects. — The gardener must not 
consider all insects are his foes, and 



is now but little doubt that snow really acts as a manure— not merely 
by killing insects and converting them into decaying matter, but by 
actually adding ammonia to the soil. It was an opinion entertained 
by the earliest philosophers, that snow contained some kind of salt 
beneficial to plants ; and the poet Thomson only repeats theii opinion 
when he says of wintry weather, 

" Through the blue serene, 
For sight too fine, th' ethereal nitre flies. 

♦ * * The frost-concocted glebe 
Draws in abundant vegetable soul, 
And gathers vigour for the coming year." 
Liebig, however, by actual experiment, has shewn that both snow 
and rain contain ammonia in quantity quite sufficient to be materi- 
ally beneficial to jdants. Snow also acts as a protection from severe 
cold to the plants which it covers. We have knowii the temperature 
of the air, on several following days, to have fallen as low as 28", 
whilst a thermometer, buried six inches under snow, never fell, 
during the whole of the same time, lower than 32^. Brocoli plants, 
covered w^th snow, are never frosted in the neck, however cold the 
season may be. 




1 1841. 


1812. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


181-. 


1818. 


28 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Showery, 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 




Highest 


















& lowest 

temp. 

29 


44°— 37" 


43°— 27° 


49°— 42° 


48°— 12° 


52°— 22° 


34°— 27° 


37°— 25° 




Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 






45°— 39° 


52°— 46° 


45°— 37° 


49°— 38° 


52°— 40° 


40°— 27° 


35°— 35° 




,•10 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


Rain. 






42° — 31° 


55°-46° 


42°— 39° 


42°— 32° 


54°— 25° 


32°— 15° 


40°— 32° 




;u 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 






40°— 33° 


54°— 30° 


.•iO°— 30° 


44°— 32° 


52°— 40° 


28°— 21° 


37°— 30° 




1 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 1 




45°— 34° 


.18°— 27° 


41°— 25° 


39°— 27° 


45° — 34° 


46°— 30° 


35°— 29° 


42°— 29° 


2 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Snow. 


Fine. 




45° — 32° 


37° -25° 


38°— 19° 


37°— 14° 


44° — 24° 


41°— 22° 


34°-26° 


49°— 38° 


.1 


Stormy. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 




39°— 21° 


37°— 22° 


43°— 27° 


42°— 32° 


40°— 29° 


43°— 38° 


35°— 30° 


51°— 41° 



wa^e war against them yvithout distinction. Many of them are perfectly harmless, and others arc among the number of his best friends. Of 
these %ye shall have frequent occasion to take notice, but at present shall confine our notice to one small beetle — Ttieht/porus Chrysomelinus 
(Golden-coloured Tachyporus.) It is here represented of its natural size, and magnified. The prevailing colour of this insect is black, and it is 
remarkably smooth and shining all over — eWdently for the purpose of enabling it more easily to penetrate the soil. Its throat and outer case 
of the wings, and the legs, are reddish yellow, or golden-coloured. In the summer, about June, it is found in flowers, but in the months of 
December, January, and Fcbruarj', it is found among the roots of grass, and in the moss about grass-plots. In whatever situation found, it is 
doing no harm. On the contrary, at this season it is actually aiding the gardener to convey decayed matters into the body of the soil. It 
feeds upon these, and conveys them into the earth to the roots of the plants, among which this insect has its underground haunts. Some 
other very similar beetles do this in a still more remarkable manner. Thus the Dungy Earth-borer iGeotrnpes Stercorarius) makes a large 
deep hole" under a heap of dung, depositing its eggs in the hole after wrapping them up in a ball of dung. Thus burying it at the roots of the 
plants, and the hole, like a pipe, conveying rain — a liquid manure after passing through the dung — to the same imdergrouud position for most 
usefulness . 



So many applications have we had for information 
relative to the Jerusalem Aitichoke, that we tMnk it 
best to combine our answers — adding to them such 
observations as may be new or useful to some of our 
readers. 

It is difficult to imagine how the name of ai'ti- 
choke should have been applied to this vegetable — 
for, with the exception of its roots (tubers) when 
boiled being of a consistency like that of the bottom 
of the ai'tichoke-bead when similarly cooked, there is 
no single point of resemblance. The Jerusalem arti- 



choke, in fact, is neither more nor less than a tuber- 
ous-rooted sunflower. In England it does not usually 
bear any blossoms, though we have seen them — 
yellow, and differing chiefly fi-om those of the com- 
mon siuiflower, in being smaller. 

The Jenisalem artichoke does not bear blossoms 
for the same reason that the walnut-leaved kidneys, 
and other early vai-ieti* of the potato, are similarly 
flowerless — its productive, or breediug energies, are 
tm-ned into another channel. If the young tubers of 
the Jerusalem artichoke, or the tubers of the walnut- 



No. Xin., Vol. I. 



liC 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



leaved kiJuey-potato, are removed as fast as they are 
formed, totli plants will produce flowers and ripen 
ssed. This naturally suggests tlie mode by which 
new and improved varieties of tlie Jerusalem aiticlioke 
might perhaps he obtained; and it is very worthy of 
many experiments, being a vegetable that -will endure 
hardships almost more than any other, is nutritious, 
.and capable of cookeiy in many different modes. 
The chief jjoints of improvement to be sought for in 
seedlings of the Jerusalem artichoke are, mcreased 
size in the tubers, and less height in the stems. We 
are aware that, as at present cultivated, it does not 
ripen seed in this country; but it would do so, pro- 
bably, if the tubers were removed, and thus the 
blossoms made to appear much eai-lier. 

Before passing to more important points, we eaniot 
forbear remarking that, as one of the names of this 
vegetable is inapplicable, so is the other name only a 
viilgar corruption. The uninformed would think that 
this vegetable either was originally brought from, or 
is much cultivated at, Jerusalem : whereas this name 
is no other than an iguoi-ant alteration of the word 
ijirosole — tlie Italian name for the sunflower. The 
Jerusalem artichoke was brought from France into 
England in the year 1617, and was speedily cultivated 
extensively. It had reached France fi-om Italy, 
whither it had been introduced fi-om Brazil, its native 
country. 

Altliough it will be productive in any soil, yet it is 
by far- the most so in one that is light and moderately 
rich. It should never have any manure applied at 
the time of jilanting. Either fi-esh manm-e or a veiy 
fertile soil cause the Jerusalem artichoke to gi-ow too 
much to stem and leaf 

The best time for planting Joiiisalem artichokes is 
in Xovember, but, whether planted then or in tlie 
early spring, let them be planted with tlie dibble six 
inches deep, in rows tlu'ee feet apart, and the same 
space between every two plants in the rows. The 
rows should run north and south, so as to admit as 
much sunshine as possible between them. 

Xo after-cultm-e is requb-ed, but fi'equeut hoeing, 
and thinuiug the stems, produced by each set, to one 
or two at the most. Neither esirth-up the stems nor 
cut them shorter ; for if you do so, the sap is con- 
sumed iu producing side-branches, and the croj) of 
tubers is proportionately reduced in quantity. 

In November the tubers will be fit for taking up, 
citheras wanted, or to be storedin alternate layers with 
earth. The middle-sized tubers aa-e the best for jjlant- 
ing. It is tnie that small tubers wUl do forthispmpose, 
but tlie plants to wliich they give birth arc smaller 
and less productive tlian tiiosc from lai-ger tubers. 

In these times (to speak in the rmldest terms) of no 
superabundance, it is the duty of eveiy one to com- 
mimicatc any mode of improving and increasing our 
available food with which he may become acquainted, 
and we ju-e glad to do so with the Jerusalem ailichoko 



on the present occasion. Take two pounds of Jeru- 
salem artichokes, pared and halved, and one pound 
of turnips, also pared and sliced ; two or three good- 
sized onions, and a stick of celery ; add two quarts of 
cold water, and boU all together slowly for more than 
two hom-s : then add tn'o large tablespoonsful of flom-, 
an ounce of di-ipping, with pepper and salt to the 
taste, and let it simmer on for half-an-hour longer, 
stii'ring it fi-equeutiy of course. 

We request all om- readers, rich and poor, to make 
this soup precisely as here given, and they will find 
it, as we have done, if not quite " good enough for a 
pampered alderman," at least a most palatable ad- 
dition to om- every-day cookeiy. 



THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 

Pears for the G.^ble-exds of Houses. — It has 
often been occasion of much regi'et with us, in passing 
through the counny, to behold so many situations of 
this kind unoccupied by fi-uit-ti'ees. We do not mean 
to say that the majority are thus neglected, but tiiat 
a gi-eat many are ; and such, of comse, entail on the 
tenants a loss of profit, or of convenience, or of botli. 
But, besides tiie profit-view of the aft'air, how much 
nicer a biulding looks with a well-managed h'ained 
tjiiit-tree on its walls, especially when laden with its 
choice produce. 

Whenever we see a well-fumished gable of this 
character, a clean garden, and a good boundary 
hedge, we may always augm- well of the moral and 
industrial character of then- possessor. These are not 
the sort of persons who are ever seeking parish relief 
Self-rehaiice is manifest in the neat and thiifty garden 
of the liumblest cottager. 

In considering the subject of gables, it must be 
borne in mind that there is no necessity to confine 
ourselves to oue sort of pear alone. This would be 
very impohtic as to convenience, as it is quite easy to 
produce a succession of first-rate dessert or table- 
jiears, on the same tree, J'rom the Jargonelle in August 
to tlie BeiuTC-rauce in JIarch or April. 

The cottager, however, may think it better to grow 
a glut of one kind, and to throw them into the market 
at once ; but we do not, by any means, think this 
coiTect. This misapiirehension of matters arises fi'om 
the fact of the ordinary cottager being ignorant of the 
very superior chai-acter of many of the newer kinds of 
pears, both in point of healing, keeping, and melting 
properties. 

There are few cottagers but could find room to pre- 
serve a bushel or two of peai's untd the spring; and a 
cou])le of bushels of the Bern're d'Aremherg, or the 
BeuiTC-rance, sold in February, w-ould go far towards 
paying the rent of a small cottage. These peai-s arc 
not unfi-equentiy quoted as liigh as foiu-pcnce each 
in the fiaiiterers' prices. 

Soil. — We may first advert to soil, though littie 
cau be added to om- advice about stations (see p. 107) ; 
as, however, the tree on an extensive gable has a 
much gi'eater space to cover, and as the dwarfing 
system, jiropcrly so called, will not answer the end in 
view, we advi.=e a greater depth of soil ; to which we 
woidd add, that it may also be of a more nutritious 
character. We would here mge, above all things, 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



127 



the expediency of proenring a cart-load of the turfy 
soil described in The Cottage Gardenee for Decem- 
ber 7, under the head " Stations for fi'uit-trees." 

Furrowings li-om good wheat soils are there recom- 
mended. If fiuTowings cannot be obtained, the ordi- 
nary soil wOl suffice ; the tmfy principle may be 
imitated, by using a more liberal amount of any vege- 
table refuse. We \yould, therefore, say, let the soil 
beprepai'ed tliirty inches deep, if the gable be large; 
if not particularly so, twenty-four inches may well 
suffice. By no means put any manm-e in the soil ; this 
would ruin all. As before observed, fresh maiden 
soil, with some vegetable refuse, will be quite good 
enough, merely repeating the plan recommended 
pre\T!ously, of using one baiTow-full of rich soil at 
planting, to give the ti'ee what gardeners term "a 
start." Of course an impervious bottom of stones or 
otlier hard material will be placed beneath the soil ; 
this proceeding is described in the Number for De- 
cembev 7th. 

If the situation is natiu'aUy damp, one-thh'd of the 
bulk of the station-soil should be above the ordinary 
ground-level ; if a very dry subsoil, no elevation is 
necessary. 

Some persons would seem to imagine, that it is 
absolutely necessaiy to have the gi'ound cultivated 
over the siu'faoe of the roots. We beg, once for all, 
to aver, that it is a sad fallacy, not only in this case 
but in that of most other fi-uit-trees. 

We know that good fi-uit-cultivation may be earned 
out, with both digging and manming, by persons of 
much knowledge in the habits of fmit-trees ; but we 
also ];now, that a much superior, and certainly a more 
simplified, system will be found in a total withdrawal 
of surface-culture amongst fruit-trees ; and this wo 
hope to prove in many ways during the progress of 
The Cottage Gardener. In the meantime we say, 
attend to the principles here laid down as to soO, 
drainage, &c., aud then you may lay a jiavement over 
the soil as soon as well settled ; this, however, will 
not be for some six or eight montlis at least after 
planting. Diu-ing this period let some thorns, or 
other defensive bushes, be placed before or over the 
soil containing the roots of the tree ; let no treading 
or rambling over it take jjlace untU the pavement is 
down. Let, also, the pavement be laid dining a very 
dry period, and thou we 'will guarantee the whole 
proceeding as a sucoessfid one. 

Stocks for Pears on Gables. — Herein much room 
is oifered for advice. Persons who are not tliorouglily 
experienced in pear-culture may tlrink that an unne- 
cessary amoimt of importance has been attached to 
tills matter. Not so, however. There are certain 
points connected with all aftairs which at first sight 
appear inexplicable or tritiing, but wliich are really 
most necessary to observe ; so it is with many gar- 
dening practices. It unfortunately happens, however, 
that gardening, as well as other arts, lias had its 
quacks ; these are the gentlemen who mysticise. Our 
object is to simplify such matters. 

The Ijinds of pears are so various in habit, as to the 
amomit of luxuriance, and the cii-cumstances under 
which they produce blossom-buds, that much may be 
done m the way of either excitement or control, in 
order to render them profitable. Tlius some kinds, 
as the Beurre-Jiel, the Glout Morceau, tlie Beurre 
d'Aremberg, the Bemre-rance. &c., might answer 
well on quince-stocks, provided the soil was generous ; 
wliilst sucli as the Winter NeUis, the Ne plus Meuris, 
the Beurre de Capiaumont, &.C., would, on such 
stocks, never cover an extensive gable, even in the 
richest of soils. Under these oii'cumstances, therefore. 



and in order to simplify matters to the cottagers, we 
would advise the use of the fi-ee, or wild, pear stock, 
for gable-gi'owu ti'ees. 

Training. — Gables are generally lofty, and we 
think that one main leader carried up the centre, with 
shoots proceeding at a right angle, right and left, is 
above all others the best form, more especially if a 
chimney-shaft proceeding up the middle causes a 
gi-eater height at that part. In other cases the old fan 
shape may be successfully adopted. We care little, 
however, for modes of training ; stiU those who would 
make a good thing of a gable pear, must set out with 
some system. About modes of training under various 
circumstances, we wdl hereafter ofi'er advice. 

Selection of the Tree. — We should prefer what 
is caUed a half-standard in the nm-series, especially if 
having a leader, and a pan-, or a couple of paii's, of 
horizontal or side shoots, right and left. These we 
would at once train accordingly, and carry the 
central shoot or leader up the centre in a dii'ect hne, 
dividing the gable into two equal parts. Tliis leader 
ought, when the ti'ee is established, to be made to 
produce foiu- shoots annually fi-om its sides. Those 
shoots, and, indeed, the whole of the side shoots, 
should be nearly or quite a foot apart. Therefore it 
follows, that two feet of a main leader would be re- 
qiusite, in order to produce two pans of shoots. And 
so it woidd, but it is not always possible to secure two 
feet. Anotlierplan is sometimes resorted to, and that 
is to pinch ofl' the gi-owing point fi'om the young 
leaders in tlie month of June, as soon as advanced one 
foot fi'om the last pail' of side shoots. This shoot, if 
luxuriant, will in three weeks shoot again ; and a pair 
must be selected as side branches, and another leader 
carried straight ahead, which, at the ensuing winter's 
pruning, may be some twenty or thirty inches in 
length ; all this, however, must depend on the sort 
and the soQ. 

We hope these explanations will sufiice. with a little 
of individual ingenuity and perseverance, to enable 
our friends to carry out successful gable-cidtine. We 
must, however, offer a concluding remai-k on a veiy 
important part of tlie business. 

Tying down Shoots. — Oiu' practice is, aud has 
been for many years, to tie down young shoots diu'iug 
the growing season on the side or other branches. 
This matter lias so extensive an effect, both on the 
pear and other fruit, that we intend offering an article 
or two on it alone. For the present, therefore, we say, 
let the main side branches be viewed in the light of a 
trellis, on which to ti'ain any other kinds which may 
be grafted on their siu'face. A living trellis to be sine 
they will be, and this is requisite. They wiU, by a little 
labour, both carry the fndt of their own and other 
kinds; indeed, on a large gable, a very nice collection 
may be established on one shoot. Of this, however, 
more shortly. 

One piece of advice is still necessary. We would 
recommend the planting of a tree which had been 
grafted vith a usefid kind of strong growth, gi-afted 
on a pear stock. The Glout Morceau, the Beurro- 
diel, or even the Maiia Louise, we would recommend ; 
but, whatever the kind be, it should be possessed of a 
strong constitution, and also be a truly useful kind ; 
constituting in itseU' a kind tliat coidd not be dis- 
pensed with, and out of which it woidd be desirable 
to have a liberal produce. 

We come now to the close of the year. Time lost 
cannot be regained, as we all know, aud it will lie well 
for the cottager, during the long wiuter evenings, to 
examine his course of culture jiursued dining the past 
year, in order to trace to their source any failiu'es that 



128 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



may liave nccnn-ed, so as to lay the foundation of 
ijn]>roved practices. Let no man sujipose that he lias 
nothing wliich ho can improve. For our own part, 
we can never find any gardening practice so com- 
plete but that we can fancy some amendment. 

One improvement generally begets another ; and 
our gracious Creator has so ordained these things, that 
not only profit, but an imfaihng som'ce of interest is 
provided for the minds of the most humble, in all 
matters connected with the soii, provided they perse- 
vere with an imflinching resolution. 

EOBEHT EbKINGTON. 



THE FLOWEE-GARDEN. 

Feenehy (continued). — The weather having been 
propitious, we trust that some of our readers have 
made a beginning to form a habitation for those lovely 
plants in whose praise we have descanted pretty 
largely in some of the late niunbers of tins work. We 
gave in the eleventh Number a copious Ust of such 
species as inhabit this countiy ; but, as ferns are more 
or less disti'ibuted in all climates, we can scarcely con- 
sider we have done justice to the subject without 
eiuimerating such species as are hardy enough to live 
iu the open air of this coimtry, though natives of 
foreign localities. 

We shall proceed, therefore, to lay before the fem 
collector a list of hardy foreign ferns, in doing which 
we are in some ditficulty on one point, and that is, 
the aspect or situation iu which they are foimd. No 
work that we know of in om- language gives us this 
information : therefore we must, from experience, 
learn what situation in, or on, the fernery to plant 
them, so as they may thrive well. Neither can we 
inform our readers where they can be procured, — at 
least, the greater part of them. Some are iu one or 
two nm'series near London, but theyai'e by no means 
common. Perhaps, should this paper tall into the 
hands of some of oiu' continental friends, they may 
obligingly benefit our English gardeners hy making 
the matter known, through our columns, what species 
of the following list ai'e iu theii- collections : 



Adiantum pedatum. Bird's-foot 
maiden-hair. North America. 
Aspidium acrostichioides. Acros- 
tichum-like 5hield-fem, do. 

,, novaboracense. New 
York shield-fern, ditto. 

,, fragrans. Scented 

shield-fern. Siberia. 

,, marginata. Margined 
shield-fern. N.A.* 

,, intermedia. Interme- 
diate ditto. N.A. 

,, rigidum. Rigid ditto, 
South Europe. 

,, atomarium. Atomcd 
ditto. N.A. 

,, bulbiferum.BulbearJng 
ditto. N.A. 

,. alpinum. Alpine ditto. 
South Europe. 

,, montanum. Moxmtain 
ditto. Switzerland. 
Asplonium rhixophyllum. Root- 
ing-leavcd spleen\vurt. N..\. 

,, angustifoliitni. Narrow- 
leaved ditto. N.A. 

,. ebcneum. Ebony- 

stalked ditto. N.A. 
Botrychium fumarioidcs. Funia- 
tory-like nioonwort. Carolina, 
disscctuni. Cut-leaved 
ditto. N.A. 

., virginicum. \'irginian 
ditto. N.A. 

„ obliquum. Obliiruc 

ditto. N.A. 



Cheilanthes gracilis. Graceful 
Cheilanthes. N.A. 

,, vestita. Clothed ditto. 
N.A. 
Pavallia pilosiuscula. Rather 

hairy davallia. N.A. 
Gymnogramma leptophylla. 

Slender-leaved gymnogramma. 
South Europe. 
Lycopodium Carolinianum. 

Carolina club-moss. N.A. 

,, complanatum. Smooth- 
leaved ditto. N.A. 

,, dendroideum. Tree- 
like ditto. N.A. 

,, alopeeuroidcs. Fox- 
tail ditto. N.A. 

,, rupestre. Rock ditto. 
N.A. 

,, ornithopodoides.Bird's- 
foot-like ditto. N.A. 

,, hclvetieum. Svvissditto, 
Switzerland. 

,, dcnticulatum. Toothed 
ditto. Ditto. 

,, apoduni. Stemless do. 
N,A. 

,, lueidulum. Shinmg 
ditto. N.A. 
Lygodiuni humilis. Dwarf 

-snakc-tonpuc. N.A. 
Aspleniuni Petraclue. Petrach's 
spleenwort fcni. France. 

,, uielanocaulon. Black 
stalked ditto. N.A. 



* N.A. — North America. 



Asplenium thalypteroides. Tha- 
lyptris-Uke ditto. N..^. 

,, Hallerii. Haller's do. 
Switzerland. 

,, niichau.\ii. Slichaux's 
ditto. N.A. 

,, montanum. Mountain 
ditto. N.A. 
Onoclea sensibilis. Sensitive 

Onoclea. Virginia. 

,, obtusilobata. Blunt- 
lobed ditto. N.A. 
Ophioglossum lusitanicum. Por- 
tuguese bird's-tongue fern. 
Osmunda cinnamomea. Cinna- 
mon osmunda. N.A. 

,, Claytoniaua. Clayton's 
ditto. N.A. 

,, intcrrupta. Interrup- 
ted ditto. N.A. 

,, spectabilis. Showy do. 
N.A. 

,, gracilis. Slender ditto. 
N.A. 



Polypodium virginianum. Vir- 
ginian polypody. N.A. 

,, hexagonopterum. Sis- 
angled ditto. N.A. 

,, connectile. Connected 
ditto. Canada. 
Ptcris pedata. Footed brake. 
Virginia. 

,, argentea. Silverybrake. 
Sil}eria. 

,, atropurpurea. Dark 
purple stemmed ditto. N.A. 

,, caudata. Tailed ditto. 
N.A. 
Struthiopteris Pennsylvanica. 
Pennsylvanian ostrich-feather 
fern. 

,, germanica. German 
ditto. 
Woodwardia angustifolia. Nar- 
row-leaved Woodwardia. N.A. 

,, Virginica. Virginian 
ditto. 



Eerss IX Glass-cases. — There is yet another me- 
thoil by wliich ferns may be cidtivated successfidly 
even in the heart of London and other large towns. 
We mean growuig them in what are commonly known 
as Wardimi Cases, from their being first made known 
by a gentleman named Ward. In Wellclose-squiu-e, 
in the heart of London, this gentleman has cultivated 
successfully those delicate jilants to the highest de- 
gree of luxuriance and beauty. Some inquuies haviug 
been sent to us on this subject by a correspondent 
signuig himself " A Working-Man," and having had 
some experience in furnishing Ward's Cases, we shall 
proceed briefly to give such information about them 
as will, we trust, be useful to many of our readers. 

A Ward's Case is nothing more than an oblong box, 
about five inches deep, with a ledge all round the 
top. Upon this ledge rests a glazed frame, iu shape 
like a Lilliputian sjian-roofed hothouse. It is gene- 
rally as high as it is long. " A Working-Man" de- 
scribes his as being "two feet high, one foot and a 
half long, and foiu'teon inches wide." This, however, 
is rather too high in proportion to the length. We 
should recommend one of the following proportions : 
four feet loug, two and a half feet high, and eighteen 
inches wide. Such a one, handsomely made, glazed, 
and painted, would cost about i'3 lOji. or i.i. The 
glazed part should be separated from the bottom, so 
that when the fems require anything doing to them, 
it could be lifted off, the work done, the glass cleaned, 
and then set on again. A glass door iu the centre is 
also desu'able ; as, when the atmosphere is colder 
outside than inside the case, the moistiu'e condenses 
on the glass inside, and the beautiful inhabitants are 
almost invisible. This renders a door useful. Ojieu 
it a very short time, and the moistm-e or steam will 
evaporate or di'y away, and the little paradise will 
again show its beauties to the admiring spectator. 

The Soil to grow them in is rougii fibrous peat, 
the finer parts being sifted out, and the rest broken 
by the hand into small pieces. 

Tejipebature. — Wardian Cases slioiJd always be 
kept free fi'om frost. If the hardy ferns only are 
cidtivated, the case may stand upon a balcony or 
window-sill ; but if tlie case is placed in a room where 
a fire is kept, exotic fenis will thrive in it luxiuiantly. 
The temperature of a living-room is generally between 
5(1 and 60 degrees of l''alirenheit's thermometer ; and 
supposing the ease to be in a room of thatdescription, 
the list on our next page will be suitable for our 
friend "A Working-Man's" case. 

Watering. — To his next question — how often 
water is requii-ed ? — it is somewhat difficult to give a 
satisfactory answer. So much depends upon whether 
the Sim shines upon the case — whether the plants are 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



120 



Cccnoptcris circutaria. Cowbane- 
like Csenopteris. 

Doodia aspera. Rough doodia. 

Gymnogramma Lcptiphylla. 

Slender-leaved Gymnopramma. 

Lycopodium Btolonifcrum. 

Creeping club-moss. 

Nephrodium pectinatum. Comb- 
like Nephrodiuni, 



gi'owiug and in health — and the reteutiveness of the 
lieat in which they are jilanted, that om- answer must 
be rather a vague one, only amountiag to this, — that 
if the earth is dry inside, or below the surface, it 
requu-es water. If the plants are growing luxuriantly, 
they reqim-e more water tliun when the leaves (or 
fi-onds) are matured or going to rest. If the sun 
shines on the glass, we may expect moistm-e will be 
drawn up fi-oui the sod by tlie heat, and, oonsequeutly, 
a small quantity of water will be reqiui'ed. In all the 
operations of gardening there is not one thatrequnes 
sucli nice discrimination, such good judgment, as 
the timely and proper application of water. It is 
impossible to give such minute instruction in regard 
to watering, so as to be quite sui'e we have well 
informed tlie operator. Observation and experience 
are the best, the safest guides in tliis important matter. 
Wardian Cases, however, veiy seldom reqiui-e watering. 
We have known some that have not been watered for 
twelve months, and yet some of the plants had grown 
remarkably strong. We do not recommend such an 
extreme. Examine the sod, as we said before, and if 
it is dry, give a little tepid (lulcewarm) water. Do 
this during the morning, and leave the door open for 
an hour or two, to cany otf the supei-iiuous moisture 
in the air. 

The following ferns are suitable for a small Wardian 
Case in a room : 

Adiantum cuneatura. Wedge- 
leaved maiden-hair. 

,, trapeziformc. Tra- 

peziform-le.aved ditto.* 

Aspidium prolifa?rum. Proli- 
ferous shield-fcrn. 

Aspleniuni obtusatum. Obtuse- 
leaved spleeuwort. 

,, odontitis. Toothed 

ditto. 

The above ten fenis will be sufficient for " A Work- 
ing Man's case." We shall be glad to give a larger 
list to any one that has a larger-sized case. 

Some of om- cottage friends are ingenious enough 
to make such a case for themselves. We trust, also, 
thattliere are a goodly number of them who are lovers 
of plants, and who would not think it much trouble 
to make a case for plants. Should they not be able 
to purchase glass, the frame might be covered with 
oUed paper, and the ferns would live and flomish 
imder it nearly as well as imder glass. 

The following plants will tluive under a cover of 
this kind : — ^Sarracenia pui^iurea (Purple Side-saddle 
Flower), S. llava (Yellow do.), Cyqnipedium insigne 
(Noble Ladies' Slipper), C. venustunr (Charming do.). 
Yucca pilamentosa variegata (Variegated Tlu-eady 
Adam's Needle), and some of the more woody Me- 
sembryanthemums, or ice-plants. On the ribs of 
the roof some eyelets, or rings, may be fastened, 
and suitable plants procm'ed to hang from them. 
This will materially add to the interest of the nunia- 
ture conservatory. We have used the following with 
success, for this purpose ; — Epipliyllum tnmcatum 
(Truncated EpiphyUum), E. Truncatmn violaoeum 
(Tiolet-coloured do.), Cereus flagelliforme (Whip- 
formed Cereus), TOlandsia pi.irpurea (Purple Tilland- 
sia), Linaria Cymbalaria variegata (Variegated Cym- 
bal leaved Toad-flax). Some of the long leaved ferns 
also thrive well thus hung up. The ball of earth 
belonging to each plant shoidd be wrapped up in a 
little moss, tied round with some copper wne, leaving 
a loop outside to hang them up by ; or they might be 
suspended in small baskets, made of copper wne, or 

* Trapezium is a four-comcred figm-e — best described aa being a 
square, having unequal-lengthencd sides. 



china, or even gutta percha. One of the last-named 
material, about the size of a breakfast-cup, was shewn 
us by a fi'iend a few days ago, and a neater Uttle 
thing for the pui^pose cannot be conceived. 

We have taken up so much room iMs week on the 
above subject, that we Itave not much space left for 
florists' flowers, but we trust all we have written will 
be interesting to most of om' readers Eveiy one can 
have a Wardian Case, and so enjoy a garden ui their 
sitting-room, and daily admire the beauties of those 
tiny lovely plants. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

CAitN-Viioxs. — At this time of the year the carna- 
tion requires but httle care. On all fine days give 
plenty of ivir to the fi-i\mes. Give water when they 
appear dry early in the morning, with moderately- 
warm water. Examine the pots and sides of the 
frame to see if any snails are linking abortt, and 
destroy them. Although carnations are perfectly 
hardy, yet it is scarcely safe to expose them to severe 
fi-ost! Let them be covered up with double mats on 
the least appearance of hard weather setting in. We 
shall describe the method of layermg and piping those 
pla,nts at the season for performmg those interesting 
operations. Carnations may also be raised li'om seed, 
but the chances of raising a good double flower are so 
small, that it has been said by an eminent florist that 
" one standard good variety is a reward for a life- 
time." For border purposes it is indeed worth whUe 
to raise seedlings. The cottager should try to re- 
member this — A eottar/er is quite as likely to raise a 
Ji lie flower as the best florist in theJiingdom. Let Mm 
apply to a respectable seedsman for a paper of seed, 
perhaps six pennyworth ; for that money he will have 
as much seed as wiU raise lum 1.50 or MO plants, 
three-fomths of which will very likely be double.^ 
Sow the seed on a warm border, about the middle of 
Mai-oh, and when the plants are up about an inch 
high, transplant them into a bed in an open place, 
four or five uiches apart. They can remain in this 
bed till they flower the following season, when all 
the single and bad colom-ed ones may be tin-own 
away. Should any of the rest appear to be pretty 
good, they can be increased by layering ; instruction 
about which wiU be given at the right time. 

T. Appleby. 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 

Amakyllis.— The great mass of bulbous-rooted 
plants, passing under the common name of ''Amaryllis" 
among general observers, is divided in books into a 
number of different groups or genera; each group 
having something ui its nature difierent from the rest, 
and consequently requiring a different management. 
For instance, one group grows in summer and rests 
in winter ; another group grows in the winter and 
rests dming the summer. Some of them flower in the 
spring; some in the summer; and others in the 
autumn. Again, some of the plants are ha,rdy, or 
half-hardy ; others of them require a gi-eenhouse or 
good pit ; while a third portion will not live with us 
without the aid of a stove or hothouse. It is, there- 
fore, self-evident that if theii- natural habits arc to be 



180 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



attended to whilst under cultivation — and they wiU do 
no good unless they ave — the various gi'oups must be 
very ditierently heated at Jifl'crent times of the yeaa-. 
No wonder, therefore, that a sardener is much yuy.- 
zlcd when he is asked a question, as '• What is the 
best method of growing the amaryllis'?" — and I liave 
that question now lying before me. An answer to a 
question so general, woidd be as likely as not to lead 
tlic inquirer in the wi'ong' direction. To be of any 
use it could only aflect one particuliQ- group, and per- 
haps not more than a single plant of tlie amaryllis 
tribe. Unless, therefore, ho who seeks for inlbnna- 
tion is able to state to what particular group his plant 
or plants belong, the chances are tliat, if he asks for 
advice respecting their management, he wOl be in- 
formed, miintentioniJly, in the wi'ong way. In tliis 
article, therefore, I shall run over the principal divi- 
sions of the amaryllis, and give the proper treatment 
for eacli ; recommending those plants tliat have sho^vy 
flowers and are easy to manage. 

The oldest amaryllis in Enghrnd is that plant whic'n 
has gone xmder the name of the Jacnhau Lily lor 
many yeai's ; and, wliat is cmious enough, imtil the 
last few yeai's no one linew how it foimd its way to 
England, or from what part of tlie world it came. It 
is now known to be a native of the temperate regions 
of Mexico and Guatemala, or what is now called 
Centi'al America, and is found to be quite hai'dy in 
England, if planted in front of a gi-eeuhouse, or in ch-y 
earth anywhere, provided it is placed six inches below 
the smface ; and you know potatoes wiU hve out an 
ordinmy winter at that depth. Therefore, if you have 
got a garden, or any piece of groimd, you may manage 
it as easily as potatoes, and very much in the same 
way, and hi that way it will increase by oftset-bulbs 
faster than you can find room for it. What becomes 
of the veiy old plants of it I cannot say, but I never 
saw a yoiuig or old one dead yet : so there is not 
mucli fear about your losing it. It will not flower in 
England unless it is taken u]) in the autumn, as soon 
as the fi-ost comes, and di-ied like an onion : tliat is, 
letting its leaves and roots slirivol up in the thying, 
before they are cut oB". Tlieii you may put it in a 
paper bag, and hang it up in the kitchen for three 
raontlis ; a cooler place wUl not suit it nearly so well. 
In the spring you may pot it in any good kind of 
mould in a damp state, and it will suck in sufficient 
moisture, without being watered, to set itself growing ; 
and by the time the leaves are three or foiu' inches 
liigh the flower-stalk will push up, and then water it 
fi'eely every day. All this time it will do in the wuidow 
or in a greenhouse ; but wlieu the flowerhig is all over, 
you shoidd plant it out of the pot into a border, and 
water it occasionally in chy weather till late in the 
autumn, when you must take it up as before. When 
you have several roots of bidbs or this plant you can 
jiot a couple of them, at intervals of a fortnight or 
three weeks, in tlio spring ,to jirolong their season. 
The flower-stalk seldom produces more than one 
flower, and never more than two, but the flower is 
liU'ge, and of a goi-geous colour, diu-k pin-plish red all 
over, and the wliole flower stands nodding down on 
one side of the stalk, giving it a pecuUarly gi-aceful 
ajipearance. It has never been known to seed, nor 
will aU our skill make it breed with any other sort. I 
suppose it is for these unsociable qualities that they 
have given it such a hai-d Latin niune in books, as 
Sprekelia formosissima. 

The next amaiyUis I shall name is the most com- 
mon of them all, and often called the BcUa-donita Lilij ; 
a name given to it in Italy, where it gi-ows as well as 
it does at its native place — the Cape of Good Hoiie. 



In all probability it was the first plant that was intro- 
duced to Europe fi-om the Cape by the Portuguese 
navigators or Dutch settlers. At any rate, it is the 
tyjje of the tiiie amarylUs family, of which there ai-e 
only two or three more sorts, all from South Africa, 
and nearly hardy with us. The word amaiyllis was 
the name of a beautiful woman, unmortalized by 
Virgil, the Mantuan bard, as the Bella-donna of one 
of liis earliest jioems. Wlien Ijinnaeus luidertook his 
gi'eat reform in the system of naming jilants, he 
applied Vh-gil's name of a beantiful lady, AmaiyUis, 
wliieh was handed down fi-om the poet's time as pro- 
verbial for loveliness, to those beautiful plants called 
Bella-donna lilies by the Italian gardeners. " It was 
the exquisite blending of pink and white in that 
flower, as in the female complexion, that suggested 
the common name in Italy ; and to those lovely tints 
LinniEus referred, when he assigned to it the name of 
a beautiful woman." (Herbert.) How absurd, there- 
fore, to have broken these playfid associations of the 
gi'eat botaniccd philosophei', on which he first founded 
the genus, liy associating with it either such green- 
eyed and paiTOt-eoloured faced ladies, as Avdica, 
Cat^-pti'ata, and Vittata ; or with such bewded and 
yellow, copper-coloiu'ed Indians, as Bracteata, Eques- 
ti'is, and the whole race of tubulosum, which have 
liarcUy any pai'ts in common mth om' beautiful BeDa- 
donna. 

Where the soil is suitable, the Amaryllis Bella- 
donna will live out of doors with us, and flower every 
autumn; but it does not like to be often disturbed, or 
any capricious treatment. A south asjiect, imder a 
wall or in iioiit of a gi'eenhousc, being idl the shelter 
it reqidres. In some soils, however, it is next to im- 
possible to flower it, and then it increases by oftsets 
much faster than when it flowers regidai'ly. The 
cause of its not flowering can only be a mere guess : 
therefore tlie best way is to take it iqi about the end of 
dune, change the soil, and make a new border for it. 
If the Bella-donna has remained several years in the 
same place, the roots have worked down veiy deep ; 
and if they got into a wet subsoil, that may have been 
the reason of its not flowering ; for unless the roots aa'e 
kept ih'y fi'om the end of May to the end of August, 
it wOl eitlier not flower, or, at best, not very fi'eely. 
Perhaps the bottom soil maybe too poor and di-y, and 
in this case the plant has not noiu'ishment sufficient 
to produce a vigorous gi'owth in the leaves, and then 
a liberal watering once a week wUl be very likely to 
overcome the soil. It is of little use to water bulbs in 
the common way, especially if they have been long in 
the same place. The way to get at them is this ; — 
take a jiointed stick (the handle of a hoe or rake will 
do), and make half a dozen holes roimd each patch of 
leaves, and as deep as yom arms can push the stick. 
Pom the water gently into these holes from the spout 
of a watering-pot, and, if you are qiute satisfied that 
the bottom of the border is too dry, one whole water- 
ing-pot full ynR not be too much for every patch the 
first time, and half that quantity at eacli watering 
aftenvards, and you may continue these weekly doses 
till the middle of April ; tor if the bulbs are in active 
gi-owth, and have good di'ainago, they wiU take an 
enormous quantity of water. It is a good maxim 
wliich says, " let well alone ;" yet I would not leave 
tlie Bella-donna more tlian six years imreplanted, even 
if it flowered evcn-y autumn ; but as its roots do not 
die annually, as those of some bulbs do, the work of 
transplanting them must be veiy carefully performed ; 
all the roots ought to be preserved as nuich as possi- 
ble, and as soon as you get them up, lay the bidbson 
theu' sides in a row, and tlu'ow some earth over the 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



131 



roots. It is a strange notion to suppose, as some peo- 
ple do, that the roots of such bulbs are not very ne- 
cessaiy for them! It is true that they can renew 
tlxeii- roots if they are damaged, but then it is at the 
expense of then: store of sap, which ought to go for 
leaves and flowers next year. The instances of a oon- 
trai-y practice with tulips, hyacinths, &c., without any 
bad effects, is familiar enough, but the roots of these 
plants die natm-aUy eveiy yeai' : not so, however, the 
roots of the amarj'llis, and the older the roots ai'e the 
better they will flower. I once received a pai'oel of 
amaryUis bidba fi-om a gardener, and though I gave 
him insti-uctions about saving the roots, and the time 
I wished them, he took them up at the end of May, 
a month too soon, and cut oiT all their roots ; conse- 
quently, though they flowered regularly in his garden 
for twenty or thiity years, it took me five years to get 
them round. It is much easier to manage the Bella- 
donna lilies in pots in a pit, as you can regulate then- 
treatment with some certainty — but their flowers are 
not neaily so fine in pots ; and as the flowers appear 
before the leaves, Uke the Guernsey Uly, many people 
object to them on that account, alleging that it is 
" uncomfortable" to see plants flower without leaves, 
especiaUy in pots. Like all bulbs fi'om hot coimtries, 
the Bella-donna ought to be whoUy covered with the 
soil in a pot, as when they are at rest it is difficult to 
find a place sufiiciently diy to suit them. The air of 
QUI climate in the dryest season is altogether too moist 
for many bulbs ; but when they ai'e covered with a 
crust of di-y earth they ai'e safe enough fi-om its effects. 
Strong rich soil, and large pots, free ventilation, a 
vigorous gl•o^vth fi'om December to the end of March, 
after that water very gi'aduaUy %vithlield, and the pots 
when di-y placed in the hottest end of a shelf in a 
greenhouse or close pit, are the chief requisites for 
bringing out the Bella-donna as fine as pot-cultivation 
can do it. About the end of August place the pot in 
a saucer of water for four-and-twenty hoiu's, so that 
the whole mass of soil may become just wet, and keep 
it merely damp for a week or two ; by that time, if all 
is riglit, the flower-buds will sprout ; but do not give 
much water tiU the leaves are two or tlu-ee inches long, 
for jilants without then' leaves can use little water, 
and many bidbs perish ynth too much water at fii'st. 
There are half-a-dozen more amaiyllises which 
requu-e exaotli/ the same ti'eatment as the Bella-doima, 
and that is the reason why I said so much imder that 
head. These are only first cousins, not sisters, to the 
Bella-donna. They are called Brimsvigia, a land of 
complimentary name, in lionom- of the noble family 
of Bl•uns^vick, fi-om whom oiu- own gracious Queen is 
a descendant : so that it is easy enough to tliink of 
this name. Their bulbs are much lai-ger than those 
of Bella-donna, and if they are left above groimd, or 
half out of the soU in the pot, they never do much 
good. They like very strong loam, but no mamu'e 
mixed with it. If the jiots are well drained, as they 
ought to be, you can hardly give them too much 
water in winter. Some gardeners place them in hot- 
houses, tliinking to huny them on; but, being of a 
noble race, they resent this ti'espass on their dignity 
— they must have their own way. It is true they 
make a very rapid gi-owth, like all the bulbs of South 
Afi'ica, in their native wilds, as they can only grow 
dm'ing the rainy season, which in that country is not 
much above three months in the year, and when the 
rains ai'e over they are almost baked with the di'ought ; 
and we ought to mutate that diy heat as much as 
possible when they are at rest with us, by placing the 
pots where the sim strikes hottest about the premises. 
There is another peculiarity belonging to them, which 



puzzled all the gardeners for many years. Theu- 
roots never die of themselves, and, it' they meet with 
no accident, wiU penetrate down, in the com'se of 
yeai-s, beyond the influence of the annual di-oughts, 
and at that depth they have some moistiu-e, more or 
less, all the year roimd. Now, you could hardly 
beheve that we coidd imitate this part of their natm-al 
condition. If we put the pots in saucers when they 
were diy, and give a little water now and theu, we 
ooidd not so regulate the supjily as to prevent the 
soU imbibing part of it ; and the soU camiot be too 
diy, when they are at rest : many expeiiments failed, 
and hundi-eds of bulbs were destroyed before we over- 
came this difficulty ; and it is the simplest thing in 
the world after aU, merely placing the pots in deep 
saucers, and two inches wider aU round than the pot, 
then filling tliem biim-fuU of sand, and by only keep- 
ing this sand moist, the bottoms of the pots are kept 
unifoiTuly damp ; and thus the best pait of the roots 
ai'e kept fi-om ch-ying too much, whUe the bulbs ai'e 
as dry as om' climate can make them, and the ti'eat- 
ment is so neai- to their natm-al condition, that they 
flower regularly under it. In 18J4, 1845, and 184:6, 
I received a lai-ge assortment of these dii-ect fi-om the 
Cape, some of them not in the best condition. After 
establishing them in pots, I planted them in a border 
in the open air, fi-om which fi'ost can be kept, and 
now most of them have so far recovered as to begin 
to flower. Tins rainy season seems to have suited 
them; and yet in di'y seasons they do not like to be 
watered aU over their leaves, only at the roots. 

There are many kinds of bulbs fi'om the Cape 
colony, near relations to amaiyUis, wliich wUl all do 
under the above ti'eatment ; and one peculiarity be- 
longhig to them is then- dislike to close confinement, 
and yet they are fond of heat. They also reqiui'e 
then- roots to be three years old before they wiU 
flower; so that when once they are disrooted, no 
matter how old the bulbs may be, it will take three 
years to establish them again. We often see large 
imported biUbs of them flower a few months after theu- 
ai-rival ; but such flowers were formed before they 
were disturbed in Africa, and of coiu'se had nothing 
to do with our kind of cultivation ; but I beHeve no 
one has ever seen them in flower the next two years, 
or hardly in the thii'd season, owing to their roots 
having been destroyed when they were taken up. 
Now this is the whole secret of tlie supposed difficiUty 
in flowering Cape amaiyllises. They are not allowed 
a unU'orm mode of treatment to enable them to esta- 
blish themselves, before it is possible for tliem to 
flower ; no, aU kinds of experunents are tried to induce 
them to flower sooner, and when hot-beds, or house- 
cultiu'e, form part of such experiments, the remedy is 
worse than the disease. The only way that I can 
conceive artificial heat likely to be usefiU in such 
cases, is to plunge the pots in bottom heat of 85 or 
no degi'ees, without any close covering over them ; but 
as all the true amaryllises gi'ow oiUy in -winter, that 
treatment woiUd only suit the allied sorts, which gi'ow 
in summer, and have persistent leaves, that is, re- 
taining their leaves aU the year- round. In the whole 
range of gardening, I do not know where there is a 
greater opening for improvement to an amateiu, than 
in the tribe of half-hai'dy bulbs from different parts 
of the world. A good gi'eenhouse, one pit for such 
biUbs as gi'ow in ■winter, and another pit for those 
V('hicli make theii' gi'owtli in summer, good peat-eartli, 
strong loam, and sand, fi'om which different degrees 
of compost could be made, and a good stock of pa- 
tience and perseverance, are the necessary requisites 
for the undertaking. D. Beaiox. 



\n 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 

DvsT AS A Protector. — If iVost does, oi- is likely 
to prevail, do not omit to follow our directions for 
protecting peas, beiius, autumn-sowu ouious, yoimg 
Ifttuce plants, cauliflower plants, late pricked-out 
cabbage plants, or any article that may require it, by 
shaking dry dust about tliem. It is really a vabiablc 
ai'ticle for winter protection, for it is at the surface of 
the soil the most serious miscliief is always done to 
vegetation in the winter months, either by wet or 
frosts. 

Endi-^-e. — Successions of this should be taken in 
;is previously directed, and tlio successional crops 
pi-otected against sevei-e fiost. 

Radishes. &c. — If the weatlier continues open, a 
waiTU border should be chosen for sowing radishes 
and early hom carrots. 

CuciMBERS. — Succession of cucumbers shorUd be 
sown : and the plants ah-eady up in the seed bed must 
be well protected. If in frames, or pits, depending 
on heat from fermenting materials, they should be 
kept ])retty close to the glass, lightly plunged in 
charcoal dust, or haU'-decayed leaves, and a space left 
all roimd inside next the frame, or brick-work, to 
allow the heat a free and kindly circulation ; for, to 
insure success, the heat must be applied at the upper 
part by keeping the linings in heat and well topped 
up, protecting them with cb-y mould, refuse, hay, feni. 
or any dry rubbish, to absorb the moisture and 
maintain one regular uniform beat. If the linings 
are above ground, their outsides shovdd be also pro- 
tected with fiuv.e-fagots, or long thin fagots made up 
of any kind of rulibisb, jirunings, Scotch fir, spruce, 
or any kind of evergi-eeu boughs, or heath, and a tliin 
i'eather-cdged lioard nm along the top next the fi-ame, 
and close inside the lights, to convey away the super- 
fluous water. These precautions are to keep the lin- 
ings fi-om being chilled. Those cucimiber plants 
ab'eady tmjied out and making growth must be care- 
fidly attended to. by gentle application of tepid (luke- 
warm) water, and the inside of the ti-ame, or pit, next 
the lining, shoidd eveiy aftenioon, at shutting-down 
time, be sprinkled too with tepid water, if the weather 
wiU permit its being done ; that is, if not excessively 
cold. This will maintain a healthy moisture witliin 
the frame, keeping off those obnoxious insects, wood- 
lice, tluips. and red spider, &c. ; for these obnoxious 
vermin revel in a dry husky atmosphere, which does 
not either sidt or maintain a healthy vegetation. 

Melons also slioidd be sown. The early gi-een 
Persian is an excellent variety to commence with, 
coming into Tieariug (juicker than the Beechwood, 
wliich. however, shoidd be sown in succession, and 
then Fleming's Hybrid. 

Seed List (contmiial). — Carkots. — Every one is 
well aware tliat the Eai'ly Horn is the best early 
carrot for all purposes of sowing, either upon heat or 
warm borders, and is a very good-colom-ed and 
flavoiu'ed root through the summer and auttmm 
months. The Green Top and \Viiite Belgian are the 
most prolific to cidtivate to an extent required by 
the amatem' or cottager for his cow, for which they 
are a most valuable winter root. Indeed, we have 
this season grown quite as great a weight of the 
Green Top, on a piece of ground equally prepared, 
as we have of the Belgian Wiite. The Long Grange 
and Sun-ey CaiTot are well known — long, tapering, 
h»ndsome varieties, of superior coloiu-, for table, and 
should be grown, if tbo land is of kindly quality for 
theii- growth ; \-iz., a good open, sandy loam, well 



trenched and pulverized. In sowing caiTots, they 
sliould be drilled in rows, one foot apart, which shovdd 
be the distance for all kinds of caiTOts, and they 
should not be sown until a real healthy tilth is pro- 
cured. For sowing, choose a calm sunny day. mix- 
ing and parting the seed in good, dry. fresh wood- 
ashes, and ajijilyiug, also, in the drills, a goodly 
sprinkling of fresh air-slaked lime. 300 cwt. of fresh, 
or newly-biu-nt lime, procured and laid in a shed or 
covered jilace, to be slaked by the atmosphere, instead 
of applying water, or slaking it out of doors, is what 
we mean by being air-slaked. 300 cwt. vdW be suffi- 
cient for 100 rods or poles of gi'ouud, if applied pro- 
perly in the drdls, when formed at one foot apart. I 
know of no produce more useful or profitable to those 
who keep a cow or horse than a good cairot crop ; 
and it only requii-es to be methodically attended to, to 
inswe one. CaiTots do not requu'e a quantity of fresh 
maniUT. On the contrary, it is more likely to be an 
injury in producing a fungus, known as the scab, or 
it at times produces nimierous insects injmious to the 
root. Fresh soO. well winter-trenched or subsoUed, 
imlvcrized, and well worked in drying March windy 
weather, is the best i)reparation for caiTots. They 
sliould not be sown too early or too late ; if sown too 
early, many stait for seed the same summer and 
autumn, particidai'ly if those seasons are iby. If 
sown late, they do not reach then' projier size ; conse- 
quently there is a deficiency either way in the pro- 
duce. For a main crop of caiTOts, after preparing as 
above described, a suitable day shotild be watched 
for committing the seed to the soil, between the 21st 
of ilarch and the l-lth of April. The last week in 
March, or the first week in .4piil, is our chosen time. 
if everything is in that kind of order one could wish, 
and the weather, of com'se. qiutc suitable, ^^'e sowed 
about equal quantities of Surrey, Green Top, and 
White Belgian carrots, in the first week of Apiil last, 
on ninty-nine rods of giomid exactly, and the produce 
of roots was veiy even and fine, cleai', of good colom, 
and not a blemish to be found on them. The weight 
of the produce was nearly seventeen tons, which, at 
if'.' per ton, makes them worth something consider- 
able. My readers may depend upon it that the earth, 
witli a little methodical management, is capable of, 
and woidd produce, crops that would ]irevent any 
need of corn importation, or of agricultural pi'oduce 
of any kind, into this coiurtry. 1 am quite certain that 
if the culture of the soil were better understood, allow- 
ing even the increase of pojndatiou to proceed at the 
rate it is still doing, the earth woidd be fertile in pro- 
portion, were improvements to keep peace in the ratio 
of wliicli they are capable. .I.imes Barnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTpORilATION. 



COTTAGE FARMING FOE JANUARY. 

It so happens that, amongst our cottier popidation, 
many possess, or hold, an amount of laud which makes 
them something more than mere cottage gardeners. 
In fact, they keep a cow, or it may be a couple ; and 
this, of course, increases generally the number of pigs. 
Many also, engaged in commercial pm'suits. in the 
subiu'bs of our busy towns hold a few acns of land, 
and keep a cow or two likewise. In these cases it 
becomes essential so to modiiy the usual routine of 
gai'den cropping as to meet the consequent demands. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



133 



We h ave paid mucli attention to sueli matters d^uing 
the last twenty yeai-s, and feel persuaded tliat there is 
much room I'or improvement in the course of oultm'e 
piu'sued hy such holders. Amongst many other items 
of great importance, the rotation of crops is very far 
from being judicious in a majority of cases. " 2iixed 
cropping," too. about wliich little was heard until the 
imfortimate potato disease eommeuced, has since that 
period assumed much importance, as indeed it might 
justly do. 

The cidtivation of our vahiahle keeping-roots, as 
mangold, Swedes, caiTots, and parsnips, has advanced 
in notice as the potato lost its original gi'ouud : and 
such, with the introduction of some very useful things 
of the cabbage or brassica tribes, have already begiui 
to form, as it were, a fi'esh era in cottage economy. 

Before proceeding to offer advice on such matters, 
we would beg to be miderstood as making no sugges- 
tions but what liave residted from, and luive been tested 
by, experience. Theoretical knowledge is out of place 
here ; whatever results may foUow from some of our 
more modern speculative improvements, such, we 
tliink, must be tested by other hands, again and 
again, before we shall venture to recommend them to 
tlie cottager. 

Mixed Cropping. — We have often conversed with 
farmers, who, being from the first accustomed to a 
com-se of culture which was supposed to require a lay 
or rest state imder gi'ass, every three om' four years, 
have at onci; pronounced it impossible to continue 
cropping a piece of ground without this periodical rest. 
And, indeed, with the moderate amount of manures 
they can afford, as compared with the quantity ne- 
cessaiy for laud always " up," or under culture, it 
would be next to impossible. We have, however, 
ourselves gTo\vn mangold wmtzel on the same piece of 
ground for at least fom'teen years successively, as a 
part of a system of mixed cropping ; viz., alternate 
rows of mangold and potatoes, at thirty inches between 
row and row; the only change being tliis — that tlje 
potato rows this year would be mangold rows next, 
and so on, changing about. 

So that it is manifest that a plot of gi'ound, imder 
judicious rotations, may not only be Icept under culture 
for very many years with much success, Init that even 
one kind of crop alone, with the trifling alteration 
above mentioned, may be cultivated. Indeed, our 
ma.ngold has astonished the neighbouring farmei-s, 
being generally roots of fi-om ten to sixteen pounds 
weight. The manvn-e has been principally that of the 
pig, to which we have latterly added salt and soot. 

As arguments for a course of mixed cropping in 
small allotments, we would m-ge the following : — In 
the eai-ly sprmg months, the cottier's overtime hours 
are very limited in character. In the month of March, 
for instance, when the cottager is obliged to perform 
many of the operations connected with the rising year, 
lie can, on the average, not be employed more than two 
horn's in a day, overtime, in his own garden. Now 
this is a very short period in which to attempt to dig 
two-thii'ds of his garden over. The consequence is, 
that he is obliged to withdraw himself fi'om his daily 
l.abom' at intervals ; and this at the vei-j- period when 
his services are most required by his employer. Now, 
by a com-se of mixed cropping, he will be enabled to 
accomplish aU these matters without abstraction from 
his daily labour ; at least, on quarter-acre allotments 
this will be easily accomplished. This, we conceive, 
is a strong argmnent in itself: numerous and galling 
are the quarrels between the farmer and his labom'er in 
some jmrts of the kingdom, on account of the latter's 
absence when wanted on the farm ; it is a wound 



which always rankles, on account of the anticipated 
recm'rence of it, especially where the cottier holds an 
acre or two of land, and keeps a cow. We have had 
experience enough in such matters ; for the cottier is 
naturally a weather-wise subj ect, and generally in such 
cases can detennine which shall be a fair day, mth 
much accuracy, betimes in the morning. On foul 
days, however, he may regularly be found at his 
ordinaiy labom-. 

Economy of Space. — This is oui' second argument 
on behalf of a system of mixed cropping. It is evi- 
dent, that if a succession crop can be inti-oduced. and 
one-third gi'own before the principal crop is off the 
groimd, that both space and time are gained. For 
instance, we will suppose, simply, eai-ly potatoes in 
rows two feet apart, planted in February, and the 
thousand-headed cabbage, or green kale, introduced 
betTveen the rows after the last earthing-up. This 
woidd be in the middle of May, when the cabbage, or 
other crop introduced, would be um'sed, and one-thii-d 
gi'own by the middle of Jidy, by which time the 
potatoes woidd be off the gi'ound. 

BRE,u'nixG-Ti3!E. — This wiU appear at first sight 
an odd title : but we do not, however, know of another 
which would better express the idea we woidd wish 
to convey. Such keeping, or store roots, as the car- 
rot, the mangold, the parsnip, or Swede tm-nip, 
require aU the sun-hght our climate affords during 
August and September, in order to make them solid 
and give them nutritive, and, of course, keeping pro- 
2)erties. Therefore, where mixed cropping is adopted 
as a system, tilings should be so managed, if possible, 
as to combine sucli crops «itli their cultme as might 
either be removed by this jieriod, or so reduced in 
bulk, or used up, as to throw all the influences of 
the .autumn sky upon them. Keeping-roots thus be- 
come what the countryman calls " well fed." and, as 
before observed, more nutritious: they will also be 
more readily preserved than such as have been much 
shaded mth other crops. 

Enough, we think, has been said in favour of 
mixed cropping to induce the cottager to tiy a portion 
of his allotment under this course of cidture. As, 
however, it is a matter which requires much forecast, 
and ii, correct knowledge of the habits of the respec- 
tive crops, we shall, in the course of our labours, point 
out various modes of combining these things, and 
hope tliereby to assist in paving the way to an im- 
proved course of cidtui'e. by inducing the cottager to 
give to them hereafter a gi'eater amount of considera- 
tion. 

We wUl conclude this month's labours by offering 
a few general maxims, which in the main will be 
found of use : — 

1st. Endeavom- to cidtivate the allotment or gar- 
don in di^nsious ; either tljree or foui- will be neces- 
sary. This, however, hi future years will in part 
depend on the success of tlie potato crop. 

■2nd. Endeavour to kee)) one of these divisions 
entu-ely free every season of all tlie cabbage and gi'een 
tribes. The cropjiing incessantly with these is one 
fruitful som-ce of the plants becoming club-rooted. 

ord. Do not plant any of the cabbage or gi-een 
crops as a principal ; they are better adapted than 
anjtliing else to introduce at any given time between 
or amongst other crops. 

4th. Whatever mixed cropjiing be resorted to, let 
the " stolen crop" be of a different height, if possible ; 
and in the case of the keeping-roots, endeavour to 
have the intermediate crop entnely off the gi'ound 
diu-ing August and September. 

5th. If manure is used for the carrot-crop, let it 



]U 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



be as old as possible, find dig it down very deei). 
None sliould be nearer tbe suvl'ace than nine inches. 

Ctli. Do not, under jn-osent circumstances, use any 
manure for the keeping oi- winter potatoes. 

7th. Manm-e very ft-eely at all times for mangold, 
Swedes, oahl>ages, lettuces, and spiiiach. 

8th. Do not manure tor the onions, unless the 
gi'ound is very poor. !Moderate-sized oiuons keen 
far better than larger ones : they are also earlier off 
the ground. The gi'eat point is to get an early har- 
vest of this root : they keep better, and the gi-ound 
they are removed from may be manui'ed and planted 
witli cabbages in September. 

9th. Always sow peas in single rows- — ^each row by 
itself. One row of peas, standing alone, will produce 
nearlj' as much as two sown near together. 

] 0th. Let all crops in rows, if possible, rim north 
and south : they thus get more light. 

nth. Do not plant or sow any crops on the fiidt- 
tree borders, but what may be introduced with a hoe. 
We have gi'own good turnips of the Dutch kind on 
Buch borders by hoe culture alone, no digging being 
allowed. 

12th. Always keep a seed-bed for cabliago and the 
various gi'eens, and exercise forecast in sowing, to 
provide for known rotations. 

13th. Let all gi-ound open in November, and which 
is not to be cropped ruitil spring, be dug deep and 
tlu-own into ridges. 

14. Let all hedge dubbings aud coarse weeds of 
every kind be collected to one spot, and bm'ued or 
rather charred. October is the most eligible month 
for this process. The charred material nuist be put 
in an outhouse, or piled up, and cased with tm'ves to 
keep it qiute dry. Tliese are some of the main points 
to which we would cUreot attention. We wOl soon 
deal with some of these matters in detail, or as fonn- 
iug part of a rotation of crops. 

We would now advise the cottager to plant a liberi J 
breadth of early beans as soon as Christmas is turned. 
A good chance wUl offer on gi-otnid intended for beet 
or mangold, for they wiU be otf in time to pursue 
liigh cultivation with that crop. The same coui'se 
may be pursued with regard to laud for Swedes, 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 10.) 

I H.WF, never been able to decide whether flower- 
beds should be ])laced upon gi'ass or gi'avel. In the 
summer tlie coolness of a lawn is delightful to the eye 
and to the foot, but in whiter the wet and sponginess 
of the gi-ass frequently prevents a lady venturing 
among lier borders, and thereby she loses much plea- 
sure and employment as the year advances. Then, 
again, gi'avel ispleasaut and dry in wet weather, but is 
Rcorohing aud imrefreshing in the heat of summer, so 
that twice in the year my opinions alter, and I recom- i 
mend evei-y lady to leave her garden as she finds it, ' 
ibr much may be said on both sides of this question, i 
Where beds are placed upon gi-avel, or bounded by ! 
gravel walks, box edgings ai'e by far the prettiest, i 
Tliey ai'e so sweet and ai'omatic after rain, and so 
neat and gi-een if kept properly cUpped, that I prefer 
it to any other edging. This is the season for planting 
Viox. Small rooted slips should be selected for this 
]im'pose, placed against the upright side of a small 
trench along the border, or round the bed they are 
intended to bound. The box should be clipped in 
.June, in sliowcry weather; never allowed to grow 



thick and bushy, because it becomes a harbour for 
slugs, aud the roots should be kept free from weeds, 
dead leaves, &o. It is most refreshing to inhale the 
smell of this rich, pretty plant, after summer showers. 
As shrubs, the variegated as well as the common 
kind are very ornamental, either standing alone, or 
grouped in shrubberies with other trees. When form- 
ing a large roimd shmb, with the lower boughs 
resting on the gi'ouud, it is very handsome, and 
should stand in a gi-ass-plot or in a circle of its own. 

Among the many sweet flowers that adorn om- gar- 
dens, the heliotrope might be more generally culti- 
vated ; and a prettier or sweeter one alady can scarcely 
possess. Its spicy odom' attracts us to the border the 
moment we enter the garden ; and when placed in 
single beds, the eft'eet as well as the scent is very 
rich. I speak of them now, because cuttings may be 
taken as late as Christmas, and we cannot have too 
many in readiness for planting out. Place the cut- 
tings in rich moidd, three or four in each pot, accord- 
ing to its size, and keep them in a warm sitting-room, 
unless the garden shoidd possess a cucimiber-fi'ame, 
which woidd do better. Pot them oti' into single pots 
when stnick, and carefully remove aU dead leaves 
aud mouhhuess wliich may ajipear, as these gi'eatly 
injure tbe plants. When severe weather is over in 
the spring, tiu'U them into the open border, in the 
warmest situation you can find. If cold nights occur, 
shelter them with hoops and mats. After flowering, 
cut them domi to within a few inches of the soU, 
which keeps them handsome ; those cut down in.Iune 
wiU bloom again in August. We cannot adorn om- 
gardens with more deUcious flowers ; and ladies do not 
encoiuage them much more than they do, jirobably 
supposing them to be gi'eenhouse plants, and therefore 
too tender for common use. They bloom freely and 
unweariedly, and are invaluable as border-plants. I 
have seen them in tbe open gi'ound, spreading them- 
selves around quite wilcUy, and tlu'owing their spicy 
shoots across the walk in rich exuberance. They 
are too fragrant for a room. No lughly-scented 
flowers should be permitted there, as they ai'e injurious 
to health, and afieet some persons painfully ; but in 
the open air we can enjoy the strongest perfiunes 
safely, and the heliotrope may tridy be said to scent 
the gale. 

The pale, sickly blossoms of the monthly rose ai'e 
still trying to cheer our winter gai'den, but they ai'e 
so Ian quid, and bufleted by wmd and rain, that they 
do not gi'eatly add to its beauty. We are most in- 
debted now to that lovely plant, the Cluistmas-rose, 
hardiest of the hardy too, which blooms boldly and 
richly at this season. The large, white, rose-like 
flower stands amid the evergreen leaves, vying with 
many summer beauties, although frosts, and snows, 
and rains idone gi'eet its appearance. I wonder that 
this flower is not more generally cidtivated, given us, 
as it is, to enliven the dark and stormy days of deepest 
winter : but it shoidd never be admitted among winter 
nosegays, for the perfume is unwholesome. Among 
the heathen of former days these flowers were con- 
sidered as a chai'm against evil spuits, aud were scat- 
tered over theu- floors, with songs of praise to the 
dumb idols they made and worshipped. It seems a 
singulai' and beautiful proridence that tlus flower 
shoidd bloom at Christmas, as if specially sent to 
remind our thoughtless hearts of that deep debt of 
gi-atitude we owe to Him who has called us out of 
heathen dai'kness into the light of the glorious Gos- 
pel ; and by bringing the rehgious customs of savage 
ignorance into striking contact with those of Christian 
light, to point out to us the amazing change wi'ought 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



133 



in the miiitls of men, from wild idolatiy to pure and 
vmdeiiled religion ; and ti'om the unhallowed rites of 
blind superstition to the reasonable service of the 
living God. 

Woman has much in her power. Wives and 
mothers have gi'eat duties to perform ; they are the 
mamspriugs of the moral world: and even among 
tlieir fragi'ant flowers they may cidl instruction a,nd 
impart lessons of wisdom, — for iiatiu'e has many 
tongues. The holly and the Christmas-rose, belonging 
as they do to former times and customs, teach us to 
keep the great festival now jJassing more in the Chris- 
tian than the Pagan manner, — for the idle mirth and 
revehy of Clu'istmas festi-s-itj' 01 accord mth the song 
that angels sung, or with the " good tidings of gi-eat 
joy" they brought to man. Let this biilliant flower 
and glossy shrub repay our care by m-giug us to 
value more deeply, and commemorate moi'e smtahly, 
the gi'eat deliverance wi'oiight by Him wdio came to 
" save his people fi-om their sins ;" and then we may 
with conlidence expect a blessing upon om' " basket 
and oiu' store," upon our " fields and the fi'iut of oxu' 
gi'ound," and " upon all we set om' hand unto." Let 
woman ponder these things ; for wHle shai'ing in the 
laboiu'S and pleasures of her husband and her sons, 
she may sow " good seed," that shall " spring up and 
bring forth fruit an hundred-fold." 



TANKS. 



There is no greater improvement that can be in- 
troduced into cottage gardening than that of making 
use of tanks to receive the sewage, as you propose. 
The expense of construction is the greatest hindrance 
against then' adoption; but if I can shew that very 
substantial tanks may be put up by a handy labom'er, 
and at less than one-half the usual cost, it may in- 
duce many of yom- readers to give my plan a fair trial. 
To make more certam of my aim, and gruirantee to 
vom'self that I am not a novice in these matters, I 
send you my name and address in confidence. 

I may remark, as a general rule, that it is never 
ad'visable to make liquid-manure tanks deep — as when 
a tank is to be cleaned out, the slush at the bottom 
is easier tlu-own out the nearer it is to the sm'faoe. 
The depth should not exceed fom- feet, and, unless a 
division he in the middle, to make a double tank of 
it, six feet may he wide enough — capacity may easily 
he given in the length. The sides and bottom I 
make of concrete, and a brick arch to cover them, 
thus : mark out the size you mean the tank to be on 
the gi'ound, running a line down each side and across 
both ends, and vrith a spade make a mark along the 
Ime — outside this mark, dig out a ti-ench four feet 
deep all round, and as nai'row as your man can work 
it ; from fifteen to eighteen inches will he about the 
width he wUl require to reach down four feet; let 
him form the sides of the trench quite even, and 
slope inwards tlu-ee inches fi'om the perpendicidar. 
In tills trench concrete is pom'ed in to form the walls 
of the tank, the same way as melted lead is thrown 
into a mould ; the reason for departing fi'om the per- 
pendicidai' will now be apparent ; the concrete will 
lean as if it were against the outside of the trench 
when di'y. Concrete is made ■with one pai't imslacked 
lime and six pai'ts rough gravel, such as would do to 
mend roads with ; and, to save labom', the mixture 
shoidd he made close to the trench; thus, put down 
six barrowfuls of gi'avel in a flat heap, and one har- 
rowfid of Ikiie over it, then pom' water on the lime, 
and it will soon crmnble down; mix it with the 



gi'avel, thoroughly adding as much water as will 
make it so soft that it wdl run off the spade, tlieu 
throw it right and left into the trench till it comes up 
to within three inches of the top of it. The four 
walls of tlie tanlc are now finished, and must remain to 
dn-, one mouth in summer and five weeks in autumn 
or spring ; by that time the concrete will set as hard 
as a solid piece of stone. You vnll now say, the next 
job will be to throw out the soil inclosed by the con- 
crete, and make a bottom for the tank ; not so fast, 
however. I gi'aut that woidd be the easiest way ; 
but then j'ou would have to get a wooden frame to 
form the arch over, and that frame would he exiien- 
sive. My plan is to heap soil over the middle, when 
the ti'encli is being made ; pack it close, and round it 
off in the shape of the arch; it will thus make the 
best possible centre, as a brieldayer would call the 
wooden fi'ame, to fonn the arch on ; and any inteUi- 
gent labourer coidd smely buUd an arch on such a 
centre. The arch being finished, the inclosed soil 
must be tlu'o\^^l out at both ends or gables, and three 
inches of concrete made over the bottom ; this wiU 
di'y in a week. Now, if the lime and gi'avel were 
suitable, such a tank should hold water for genera- 
tions to come ; hut having never ti'ied a tanlv that 
way, I cannot be jiositive on the point. I always 
plaster them over with a thin coat of cement, first 
notching the surface of the concrete, so that the 
cement wiU take a better hold of it. I use common 
Roman cement one part, and two parts rough sand; 
but sea sand ■svill not answer so well as pit or river 
sand. The di'ain or pipe conveying the sewage to 
the tank must enter it at one of the ends and the flow 
or discharge pipe ; if any pass out at the other end, 
Tioth ends may then he closed up to the arch, with a 
few bricks without mortar. The soil tlu'own out may 
then be retm-ned over the top of the tank, or levelled 
about, and planted over with shi-ubs as at Mr. John- 
son's. (See page 7.) Senilis. 

[The wi'iter of this is one of the best practical and 
scientific gai'deners of England. — Ed. C. G.] 



POTATOES. 

Thkovgh the medium of the "Cottage Gar- 
dener," I beg to be allowed to say a few words in 
reference to what Mr. Saul advances in the Fourth 
Number, page 37 ; I have waved my observation, 
hoping some one better quaUfied would have taken up 
the matter. I planted a plot of gi'oimd with " Cups" 
on the lOtli of April, manm'ed with cow and pig- 
dung, upon a light open soil; I kept the ground clear 
of weeds and well forked and hoed. They looked 
healtliier than any of my ueighbom's' tiU the 20th of 
July, when, in the course of two or three days, they 
were completely knocked Aovm with the " disease," 
as I thought; I'was advised to take them up, as it was 
thought they would all rot. I dug about half of 
them on the 7th of September, and the other half on 
the 2nd of October. I stored them in bobbin-turnings, 
to keep them one fi'om another : I looked both lots 
over on the 4th of November. The first lot was 
nearly liaU' rotten, and the remainder were poor soft 
waxy tilings, fit for nothing. The second lot are as 
hard and as sound as need be ; there might he about 
on-sixth bad. I have trenched the gi'ound the last 
week, and the few potatoes I found have convinced 
me that they would have been all the better in the 
ground awhile longer. — Pro bono jMblico. 



136 



THE COTTAaE GAEDENER. 



BEE-FEEDINa. 

In your reply to a coiTespondent aliout feeding 
bees, you recommeud feediug them at the bottom of 
the liive I fiud it a much better plan to do it at the 
top, by simply pulling out the bung at tlie crown of 
the hive, and placing it over the -svoodeu feeding- 
trough — of which I send you a vei-y rough sketch. 
'I'he trough is made of wood, an inch and a half tliiek 
— auy hai'd wood would do. I obtained the pattern 
from a bee-keeping fiiend in Nottinghamshire. But in 
Taylor's " Bee-keeper's ^Manual" a somewhat similar 
one is mentioned. This book, by the way, is so excel- 
leiit. that it almost supersedes the ueeessit}' of any fur- 
ther instructions being given to a would-be bee-keeper. 
When the feediug-ti'ough is placed on the top of the 
hive, I turn another hive over it, whicli covers the 
ti-ough and the glass that is upon it. A glass, of the 
si:!e required, may be purchased for about 7d. 

Eev. John Btron, Vicar of KiUinghohne. 




A. Circular aperture fitting over the hole in the crown of the hive. 

Through this the bees ascend into the feedinp-trough. 

B. The trough cut out as deep as the wood will allow. The liquor 

on which the bees are fed is put in by the hole D, which is cut 
in a sloping direction, from the upper surface of the outer rim 
of the piece of wood to the bottom of the trough B. 

C. A narrow groove, sunk about one-eighth of an inch, into which a 

bee-glass tits, which prevents the bees escaping, or any cold .lir 

getting to them. 
V. The hole leading into the trough, as mentioned above. The top 

of this should either be corked up or covered over in some way ; 

and at the bottom, where it enters the trough, two or three bits 

of wire should go across it, as bars, to prevent the bees from 

creeping up this passage. 
A piece ot wood, one-eighth of an inch in thickness, pierced full of 

small holes, floats in the trough B, rising and failing with the 

liquid : through these holes tlie bees suck the liquor. 



SHEFFIELD CELERY CULTURE. 

From a former communication, you are already 
aware that a very gi'eat improvement is being iii:ul.' 
in the gi-owth of celeiy in this neighbourhood (Shef- 
field) ; and as I have been the most successful cultiva- 
tor in this neighboiu-hood, it perhaps may be the best 
plan, in describing that cultivation, to give my own 
method of gi-owing it, making a few remarks as I 
proceed. 



In the first place, " good seed is evei-j-thing : " 
when I say good seed, I mean good seed of a good 
kind. I have been a cultivator of celery for fifteen 
years, and I have found that so much thtterenee exists 
in the kind of seed you sow, that one wOl bear no 
comparison witli the other, so much so, that I have 
put two kinds (both red) under the same treatment; 
the one I could only gi-ow to .'i lbs. weight, and the 
otlier 1 1 lbs. 7 ozs., when divested of all tlie lateral 
shoots, &o. 

Having obtained seed of the right kind, it should 
be sown in a seed pan, in a good compost, or good 
soO, sUghtly covering the seed over with the same : it 
sltould then be jihiced in a frame or greenhouse, the 
heat to be about 7 or 7 5 degrees ; when the seed is 
up, and got into " rough leaf, " as it is generally 
tenned, the seedlings should be taken up. and those 
intended for the first planting sliould be transplanted 
in pots, five inches across at top. and one plant in 
each pot, using a compost of old " spent " manure, 
and a little earth of light quality. They should then 
be put in the frame or gi-eenhouse again, still keep- 
ing them as warm as betbre for about a week ; after 
this, air should be given them by degrees, a little more 
every day. to harden them ready for final planting out. 

Those iuteuded for the second jdanting, may bi^ 
planted in a frame on a compost as before-named, at a 
distance of four inches apjrt ; after these have taken 
root they may be exposed to the air by degrees, till 
the glass is left altogether. 

Ha^'ing got the plants ibur or live inches high and 
very " stiti', " they are ready for final planting in the 
trenches in the o]ien air, which I reeoinmcntT to be as 
follows : 

The trench should be seven inches deep (not more) 
and two feet wide. I am fully aware that many jier- 
soas will differ in opinion with me on this point; they 
wOl say, dig the trenches twelve inches deep and 
twelve inches wide. I have tried both, ami expe- 
rience teaches me the fonner is the best. I had long 
been of opinion that celery made more side roots 
than tap roots ; and if such was the case, all nmuure 
placed below where the roots extended was of no use 
whatever. To the tnith of this opinion I arrived at 
in the following manner this year ; I dug my trench 
seven inclies deep and fifteen inches wide, and 
when the celery had attained the height of twenty 
or twenty-four niches, I took the earth from the 
edges of tlie ti-ench, and found the roots had got to 
the sides of the trench. I then made my ti'ench 
wider and placed more manure, so that my ti-ench 
was more than twenty-four inches wide. The result 
was (with the way I treated it hereafter named), I liad 
the finest celei-y this locality ever produced. 

Having dug the trench as before stated, it should 
be filled up to the top with good stable manure (in 
such a state that it may be cut with a spade) ; cover 
the manure with soil to tlie deptli of one and a half 
inch. If the plants ai'e in jiots take them out ol' the 
pots with all the compost adlicring to them; plant 
them twelve or fifteen inches sijiart. This sliould lie 
done about the beginuing of May ; those intended for 
the second planting (the plants that have been trans- 
planted in the frame), should be planted trom nine to 
twelve inclies apart. I prefer the latter. Tf the wea- 
ther should be very dry and hot, the plants ought to 
be protected in the day from the scorching sun ; watiT 
should be given freely aft<-r sunset, from a rosi'- 
waterpan. After the plants have got " hold, " or 
commenced growing, they will need no protection 
from the sun ; but take care to water pretty freely with 
clean water if the weather is hot and dry. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



137 



After the plants hare attained the height of twelve 
inclies they will reqiiii's to be tied round with 
a little bast matting, or anything of a softish tex- 
ture, but care must be taken uot to tie them too 
tight, taking off all the lateral shoots as the plants 
gi'ow. After having been tied up for some time, it 
will be necessary to imtie them, and tie them again 
a little higher, taking off all the lateral slioots and 
superfluous stems before tying them again. They 
may then be suffered to gi'ow till they have attaiued 
the height of fi-om twenty to twenty-two inches. Care 
should be taken that they do not suffer for want of 
water. Ai'ter liaving attained the above height, and 
are well cleared of lateral shoots, they should then bo 
earthed about three inches high, and tied a Uttle 
higher witli mattiug (the tieing is only done to pre- 
vent the wind and wet fi-om brealdng the outer stems). 
After havhig earthed them about twice, three inches 
at a time, I would water them once a week with the 
ammonia fixediu licpiid manm-e, but stUl keep watering 
with clear water if dry weather, (I have tried ammonia 
fi.'ied in liquid manme for prize goosebenies, and it 
luis answered well). As the plants grow they may be 
e.irthed up a little at a time, taking care not to earth 
tliera over the centre of the heart, or they wUl be 
very lil;ely to rot at the core. 

In conclusion, I must remark that nearly all de- 
pends on the kind of celery yon would grow. I have 
grown white of two or three lands, iurlucUng Scy- 
moiu's. Lion's Paw, &c. I have gi'owu red m greater 
varieties, bnt tlie best khid I have been able to meet 
with is " Nutt's Champion." I have found this supe- 
rior to any I have grown for size, Jiavour, and rapidity 
qfgroirth: and I am of opinion, that were it more 
extensively grown, it would prove itself, if not the 
^first sort, second to none. Celery ought to be planted 
where it can get plenty of air ; it never does well 
if grown near peas, beans, &c., as they have a ten- 
dency to draw it. I would also say, hi using am- 
monia fixetl in liquid manure, it nuist not be used 
too frequently, once in six or eight days is sufficient. 
1 use it extensively for many tlungs, and fielieve it 
might be used with great advantage if properly 
" fixed " and properly applied, and was it more 
e.'itensively used it woidd be more ajiprecialed. 

Neepscnd, Sheflicld. Jxo. Turxek. 

[We I'ecommend the foregoing to the attention of 
our readers, for Mr. Turner is not only the gi-ower of 
tlie best celery at Sheffield, but is admitted by the 
growers there to be an excellent judge of its merits. 
He is a cultivator of first-rate gooseberries, and is 
i,iow busy sentUng out young plants. By fixing 
ammonia in liquid manure, we suppose Mr. Turner 
means, adding a httle oil of vitriol (sulphiu'ic acid) to 
tlie liquor obtained by chssohing sheep's or deer's 
dung in water. — Ed. C. G.] 



SELECT LIST OF HARDY ANNUALS. 

Flowers that may be sown in the open ground, from 
February to May. 

Adonis Autumnalis — Autumn-flowered pheasant's- 

eye ; 18 in. high, crimson. 
Bajtonia Aui'ea — Golden bartonia ; 2 to 3 ft., orange. 
Campanula Lorei — Lorey's bell-flower ; 1 ft., white 

and blue. 
Silene Lobelii — Lobel's catchlly ; 1 ft, pink. 
Calendula Hybrida — Cape marigold ; in., brown 

and wlute. 



Clarkia Pidohella — Pretty Claikia: 1 ft., rose pink. 
,, alba „ white, 1 ft. 

Elegans Rosea — Elegant rosy Clarkia ; 2 ft., 
light pink. 
Collinsia Bicolor — Two-coloiu-ed collinsia; 18 in., 

white and lilac. 
Convolvidus Ma,jor — Greater bindweed ; creeper ; 
various colour's. 

„ Minor — Lesser ditto ; trailer. 

Delpliinium Ajacis Flore Pleno — Dwarf-rocket lark- 
spm ; 1 ft., various. 

Consolida — Branching ditto ; 2 ft., blue. 
Erysimum Peroff'skeanum — Peroft'skey's hedge-mus- 
tard ; 18 in., yellow. 
EschscholtziaCalifornica — Californian eschsckoltzia; 
18 in., orange. 

„ Crocea — Golden ditto ; lemon and 

orange. 
Eutoca Viscida — Clammy eutoca ; 18 in., bright blue. 
,, WrangUana — Wrangle's eutoca; 1 ft., pale 
blue. 
Godetia Rubicunda — -Ruddy godetia ; 18 in., light 
rose. 

Venosa — Veiny ditto : light rose, white eye. 
Helichrysum Macranthum — Lai-ge-flowered everlast- 
ing ; yellow, 2 ft. 
Helianthus Annus — Annual sunflower ; 5 ft., yellow. 
Ilieris Coronaria — Crowned candy-tul't ; white, 1 ft. 

" Umbellata — Umbelled ditto ; purple, 1 ft. 
Kaulfussia AmeUioides — AnieUus-like kaulfussia ; 

6 in., dark blue. 
Lathyiiis Odoratus — Sweet-pea; various-coloured; 

climbing. 
Leptosiphou Androsaceus — Not Englished ; rosy 
lUac, 6 in. 

Deusiflora— Ditto, dittb ; 1 ft. 
lAipinus Nanus — Dwarf lupine. 
„ Luteus — Yellow (Utto ; 2 ft. 
" Rosens — Rose ditto ; 2 ft. 
Nemophila Insignis — Showy Nemophila; 1 ft., sky- 
blue. 

Atomaria — Black spotted ditto ; white 
and black, 1 ft. 
Malopo Grandiflora — Great-flowered mallow ; dark 

crimson, 2 to 3 ft. 
(Enothera Rosea Alba — Rosy-white evening prim- 
rose; 1 ft. 
Mathiola Annua — Stock, ten weeks. 
„ „ scaidet ; 1 ft. 

„ „ white ; ditto. 

„ „ pm-jile ; dittto. 

„ German ; various. 
Papaver Rhoeas — Common poppy; 1 to 2 ft., vaiious 
colours. 

Very select Annuals that require to be sown on a. gentle 
hotbed in March, and transplanted into the open, 
border in May or June. 

AnagalUs Grandifloms — Large-flowered anagalUs ; 

blue, 1 ft. 
Aster Sinensis — Chinese star-flower ; 1 to 2 ft., vari- 
ous colom's. 
Brachycome Iberidifolia — Candy-tuft-leaved brachy- 

come ; blue, 1 to 2 ft. 

„ Alba— Wliite ditto, ditto, ditto. 

Calendrinia Umbellata — Umbelled Calendrinia; rosy 

pui-ple ; 1 ft. 

,, Discolor — Discoloured ditto ; dai'k 

puiqile, 1 ft. 
Chrysanthemum Tricolor — Three-oolom-ed clu-ysan- 

themum; 2 ft. 



138 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



Clintonia Elegaus— Elegant Cliutonia ; blue, 6 in. 
„ _ Piiloliella — Pretty ditto : blue and yellow, 
8 in. (reiiuu-es particular attention when in the 
seed-leaf.) 

Coehlearia Acaulis — Stemless scm-vy-grass; pale blue, 

2 in. 

Coreopsis Tinctoria — Dyer's coreopsis; yellow and 
brown, 3 ft. 

„ Picta — Painted ditto ; yellow, 1 to 2 ft. 
Atrosauguiuea ; dark bloody ditto: 2 to 

3 ft. 

Dianthus Cliinensis — Indian pink ; various colour's, 

I ft. 
Gilia Tenuifolia — Slender-leaved gilia; 1 to 2 ft., 
rose-colour. 
„ Tricolor— Tbree-colom'ed gilia ; 1 to 2 ft. 
Lobelia Heterophylla — Various-leaved lobelia; beau- 
tiful blue. 1 ft. 
Lupinus Cruiksbankii— Cndksbank's lupine ; blue 
and wliite, 3 ft., branching. 
„ Marsballii — Marshall's ditto ; various 
shades of blue, white, and primrose, 2 ft. 
Martyuia Fragi'ans— Fragi-ant maitynia; blush- 
spotted, 1 to 2 ft. 
Mesembryanthemum Tricolor — Tricoloured fig- 
marigold; 4 in. 

Glabnim — Yellow ditto, 4 in. 
Nolana Atriplicifoba— Spinach-leaved nolana ; blue, 

with wliite centre, 8 in. 
Phlox Drummondii — Di-ummond's phlox; crimson 

and rose, 1 ft. 
Portulacca Splendens— Splendid portulacoa; rosy- 
purple, 9 in. 

„ TheUusonii — Thelluson's ditto: orange 

crimson, 9 in. 
Bhodantbe Manglesii — Mangles's Khodanthe ; bright 

pink : 1 ft. 
Schizanthus Retusus — Depressed schizantlms ; deep 
pink and yellow. 2 ft. 

Priestii— Priest's ditto ; wliite, 1 ft. 
Sniithii — Smith's ditto ; lilac and white, 
1 to 3 ft. 
Seupcio Elegaus— Elegant Senecio ; pui-ple, 2 ft. 
S])henogyne Speciosa — Showy spheuogvne ; birff- 

yellow, 1 ft. 
Tropaeolum Peregiinum — Yellow Indian cress : 

climbing. 
Viscaria Oculata— Eyed viscaria; pink, with dark 

eye, 18 in. 
Xeriiuthemum Lucidum — ShiuinK everlastuff; yel- 
low, 3 ft. ° J 
Zinnia Elegans — Elegant zinnia; 18 in., various 
shades of cruuson, scarlet, and rose. 



OXIDE OF IRON IN SOIL FOR ROSES. 

On perusing No. 2 of The Cottage Gardexeii, a 
biglily desirable periodical, we find at page 14, " If 
there is the least appearance of much oxide of iron in 
it (loam), be nuist avoid it as the plague." Surely 
Mr. Applebv has no acquaintance with the soil of a 
great part of this county (Gloucester), wliere vegeta- 
tion thrives in a soil whicli, from the large quantities 
of oxide of iron contained in it, is literally in many 
places a bright red. 

Not only do o>u- roses exhibit a healthiness rarely 
surpassed, but all other plants grown in the ueigli- 
bourliood, annual, perennial, bidbous, kc, grow 
equal to any we have ever seen. 

Henry Ciirtis and Co., 
West of England Boseries, Moorend, near Bristol. 



CULTURE OF WATER-CRESSES. 
Observing you have given a detailed account to 
gi'ow water-cresses, I give you a very simple plan, 
which I have practised for several years. Choose a 
moist situation, if near a pond, or the pump, the better, 
with a light rich soD; ])rocm-e either seeds, or jilants, 
or cuttings, in the spring; if plants, set them about 
six inches distant ; they will soon gi-ow, and the pro- 
duce will amply repay the trouble ; keeping them 
moderately moist, they will continue many years, 
growing good crops. 

G. Howard, Florist, Spnugfiekl, Essex. 



SCARLET-RUNNER BEANS. 

A GOOD method of gi'owing scaiiet-rxmner beans, is 
to plant eight or nine seeds in a circle of eighteen 
inches diameter, and put a good larch pole, nine or 
ten feet long, in the centre, and train the beans up 
to it. They produce more fi-uit, shade less, and re- 
quire less gi'ound, and are very ornamental. 

'Where the occupiers of gardens have the means, 
I would strongly recommend this method, having 
proved it myself. 

Joseph Bale, Loucjton Farms. 



GOOSEBERRY PLANTING. 
Now is a good time for planting, and I am now 
sending out the following selection : Red — London, 
Comjianiou, and Slaughterman. Yelluw — Leader, 
Catherine, and DrDl. Orcen — Tbiunper, Queen 
Victoria, and General. Wldte — Freedom, Queen of 
Tnmips, and Lady Stanley. If planted as hereafter 
named, I feel assured they will " smqirise the natives" 
of the south of England ; they ai-e all able to bear fi-uit 
next season, with the exception of Freedom ; it is the 
best I have at present, but the sort is there: plant 
them in the natural gi'oimd, about tlu'ee feet six inches 
apart ; take out the soil, wiiere they are to be planted, 
tln-ee inches deep ; make the bottom of the trench quite 
level witli the back of the spade, then jiut down a 
stake, or stick, say two feet long, about three-quarters 
of an inch tldck; do not leave the stake above six or 
seven inches above the level of the trench : tie the 
"bole," or "stem,"- of the tree to the stake with a 
little matting (this is done to prevent the wind blow- 
ing them about) ; when you have done this, take aU 
the roots and straighten them, placing a little soil 
upon them as you proceed : let the roots be placed as 
uniformly as you can round the trench, taking care 
one root does not lie over another; then cover the root 
one and a half incli deep, including the litttle youhave 
put on in laying the root straight; then lay over this 
a little spent mauiue, about one inch thick, cover this 
with soil, and they will do without any fiu-ther trouble 
till spring, and before that time I shall have sent you 
fm'ther information. Do not be afraid of making tlic 
trench a little wider than the roots extend, as it gives 
you a little room to extend the roots. I think I have 
said what I need say, at present. I have oft v> ished 
they could get some good sorts in the South, as my 
impression is they could be grown a gi'eat deal larger 
than we can do. London has been grown this year, 
31 dwts. 19 gi-s. ; Thumper, above 30 dwts ; Catherine, 
30 dwts. 1.5 gi's. ; Freedom, 28 dwts. odd. We weigh 
them 24 grains to a pennyweight. 

John Turner, Xeejisend, Sheffield. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



139 



POTATO DISEASE. 

I HAVE been very much pleased with a letter on this 
subject, by one of yovu- contributors, in the Gabden- 
ek's Almanack for 1819. It is cheering to read such 
a letter, after suoli a mass of nonsense has been pub- 
lished on so plain a subject. Mr. Eriington takes a 
sensible view of the whole case, and points out the 
cause of all the mischief For more than twenty 
years I have, by wiituig in dift'erent publications, and 
travelling hundreds of mUes amongst the gi-owers of 
the potato, tried to convince them of the foUy of pm- 
suing their present mode of cultivation, and keeping 
their seed, and that nothing but a total deterioration 
could be the result. If yom- readers will refer to Pas- 
ton's HortkuUuml Register, the Cottage magazine 
and newspaper, they will find my letters, giving an 
account of the usual plans adopted with this valuable 
root, and at the same time gi\Tng them my own plans. 
Fermentation is the grand destroyer. Why, the seed 
is never at rest, ±i-om the time it comes out of the 
ground until the time it goes in again ; the seed is 
constantly expending the sti-ength winch ought to go 
to produce the next year's crop. Treat any other tuber 
in the same way, and the same residts will follow. 
I have never yet had a diseased potato fi'om my seed; 
winch I always make a point of saving, and exchang- 
ing, every tlu-ee or four years, with a fiiend who adopts 
the same system. I have examined a gi-eat number 
of tubers with the microscope, and I find it the most 
delicately -consti'ucted tuber I ever saw, and the 
soonest liable to injmy, if not properly treated. In- 
dependently of the fermentation constantly going 
on, the potato has been too much forced in the soU, 
by a great surplus of manure. It is impossible we 
can grow from twenty-five to sixty tons weight per 
statute acre, and keep it in health. Growers seem to 
think they can make the potato gi'ow without taking 
any cai'e of the seed, or studying the natiu-e of its 
cultivation. 

In the spiing of 1846, 1 pubKshed afuU account of 
the (hsease in the Economist newspaper, but it con- 
tained little more than what I had wi-itten and pub- 
lished many years before ; few people in England 
have, I tlunk, paid mucli attention to the subject 
until the last three or four years. There is a I'emedy 
to be foimd, if cultivators wiU be at the ti'ouble to 
adopt it ; but if they are determined to go on as they 
have done, the disease will certainly progi'ess. 

G. J. Dale, LoiigsiglU, near Manchester. 

Another correspondent, the Rev. Walter Sheppaxd, 
Hermitage, Newhury, says : — " I hope ere long to give 
you a tew facts with regard to the potato-disease, and 
a remedy which has proved effectual as a preventive. 
You are quite right as regards autumn or winter 
planting. I have pmsued it with success for three 
years, and without the application of maniu'e, plant- 
ing after cabbage, for which I manure highly. My 
potatoes are American Whites, with a very tlun skin; 
my soil a light sitnd. Pounded unpurified sulphate 
of magnesia, the residmmi of sea-salt, or ahun works, 
applied to the ridges in spi-ing is the remedy. I will 
get the particidai's, and write to you." 



PULLING UP POTATO STEMS. 

As all information is just now valuable about the 
cultivation of potatoes, when any success has been 
experienced in their growth, and disease has been 



warded off, I shall not, perhaps, be wasting your time 
by a few words about mine, since I have had good 
crop of them, while those of my neighbours have 
failed. 

Mine were grown in the soil I have imperfectly 
endeavoured to describe. Some were planted in De- 
cember last, some about Febiniaiy. Disease appeared 
in the tops of both crops about August, when I pulled 
up the haulm clean away. The potatoes I left in the 
ground, and I had good crops in size, though not very 
lai'ge in quantity. Scarcely any were diseased when 
I took up the greater piart of the potatoes in Novem- 
ber, and the sound ones were more mealy than when 
I pulled the haulm off in August. They had im- 
proved, and therefore had suffered no deti'iment from 
that operation. The common opinion in my neigh- 
bom'hood in August was, that the sooner the potatoes 
were taken up the better ; that the longer they re- 
mained in the ground, the more diseased they would 
become. I have proved the conti'aiy. Those taken up 
by my friends were scarcely eatable aU the autumn, 
whUe mine improved in the ground : so did those of 
the person who I induced to try the same plan as I 
did. My plan proceeded, I may say, equally well 
with both my autumn and spiing-sown crops. I saw 
scarcely any difference in the produce of the two. 

I had a few rows of potatoes, which were the best 
I ever ate ; they were as mealy and ihy as flower. 
What I did was''this. Having treated them as above 
described, I took up, as they were required for daily 
consumption, every other row, and planted in the 
place of them some brocoh. Tliis was in August. 
Whether the digging up one row acted as a drain to 
the other, and the brocoh tinther drained them, by 
sucldng up more moistm'e, which I imagine to be the 
case, or how it was, I know not ; but, as I said before, 
I never ate any potatoes so good in my life, as those 
left in tlie alternate rows, and I shall certainly adopt 
the same plan another yeai". I left them in the gi'ound 
as long its they lasted, and dug them up every day as 
they were wanted ; and tliat plan 1 am sure added to 
their goodness, and should be generally adopted by 
persons fond of good potatoes. I have a crop still in 
the ground, which I dig for daily use. 

If T had a wet clay sod, I think I should plant a 
row of cabbages and a row of potatoes alternately, at 
two or three feet apai-t, in the fu'st instance, instead 
of wailing to take up a row of potatoes to sidistitute 
the cabbages in tlieir place. It would be worth the 
experiment. Rev. P. W. 



ROSE-PRtWING. 

I sow \viitc (Dec. 8) with a large vase of garden- 
flowers before me, composed of six dift'erent sorts of 
chrysanthenmms, anemonies, laurustinuses. and roses, 
of which latter 1 am, hke all florists, a great admirer : 
and on reading over your last week's Number, I piu'- 
ticularly noticed the mode o.f priming it you recom- 
mended, which I think good, but capable of improve- 
ment ; and venture to sug;|;est a mode which, after 
some years of experience, I have thought best. You 
very correctly say, let the Firenoh and climbing-roses 
stand over mitil spring, whicli I have found advisable 
for all. Some j-ears ago I p runed close in every sort 
in my garden," (without reg-ard to hardy or tender- 
ness.) in October and Novemiber. The coming \rinter 
proved a very severe one, an d almost, without excep- 
tion, every shoot was cut d( iwn by the fr'ost below 
the flowering bud, and I hakd scarcely a rose in my 
garden. This was also the c ase with my jessamines. 



140 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Since that time I liave adopted a different method, 
wliioli I find to answer so well, that I am induced to 
thus suhmit it to your readers. In the autumn, both 
with regard to the rising sap during the winter, as 
well as a suitable degi'ee of neatness in my rose- 
bushes (and .jessamines in particular-), I pnme off all 
straggling, useless slioots, as well as the ends of all 
those intended for next year's flowers, to within two 
or three buds left for that purjiose ; and as soon as 
the spring shews a settled appearance of safe weatlier, 
I then go carefully over the whole for a final pruning, 
cuttmg-in some to the very lowest bud, and leaving 
others with three or foirr buds, which buds, having be- 
come more turgid fi-om the rising of sap dining the win- 
ter, flower sooner than the others ; and by this means 
my rose-bushes, as well as piUars and climbers, keep 
longer in bloom. My conviction is so strong that 
the sap of abnost all friut-trees, as well as others, 
never wholly slumber or sleep, that I certainly think 
an autumn better than a spring-pruning for most 
sorts that are sutficieutly hardy to bear, without in- 
jury, a severe frost ; for this obvious reason, that all 
the fnut-bearing buds become more bold, and readier 
to break forth when genial weather arrives; whereas, 
if useless shoots are left to imbibe the rising sap be- 
tween autumn and spring, (wliich, by the universal 
law of nature, always jnishes to the e.xtremity of every 
healthy shoot,) to the impoverishment of aU the lower 
buds, when the knife takes away the upper part of 
tlie shoot, it leaves the rest poor indeed. Q. 



INFLUENCE OF WET SOIL ON POTATOES. 

Thinking that eveiy atom of experience respecting 
the potato may be useful, I beg to inform you that I 
planted some second early kidney potatoes this spring 
iir my gai-den, which seemed to come on favom-ably 
for acousiderable time, but suddenlythe disease seized 
them, and they rapidly decayed. On taking them up, 
I observed that the roots which were next to the 
hedge, and not so much exposed to the sun, aii', and 
wet, were very good, prolific, and free from disease, 
producing fine ripe fruit ; and" the roots that were 
})artially screened by several raspberry clumps yielded 
the same healthy friut. Again, I have found that 
potatoes bought in the market on the Saturday are 
good at first, and become bad by keeping five or six 
days ; proving, in my opinion, in both cases, that the 
cause is in the atmosjiliere. 

I also planted in the spring a few rows of a very 
fine mealy potato, roimd, and blue and wldte ui 
colour. I am at a loss for its uame.=!= I forbid the 
use of any more after I saw tlie first thsh come to 
the table, keeping every one for seed in a cold store- 
room, vnitil I saw your recommendation to bury them 
in sand or soU, in layers, which I have done, and 
should plant them now, but I fear the weather wiU 
not permit me, having such coutmued wet weather 
here. Josh. Ball. 

Loufjton Farms, Staffordshire. 



THE BEE. 
[Wc have been obligingly permitted by the Rev. 
C. A. A. Lloyd to publish portions of his Lectin-e on 
this insect, delivered before the Natural History 
Society of Slu-oj)shu-e, and we tliis day commence 
the subject.] 

Whkn wo take up auy old book upon the subject 
of bees, we must see at once the vei-y little that was 

• Perhaps the Forty-fold.— Ed. C, G. 



imderstood concerning the natural history of tliis 
most industi'ious of all of God's creatures. 

This ignorance is the more extraordiuaiy when we 
consider how many scientific persons have written 
about the honey-bee, and that the attention of man- 
kind lias been drawn to the subject by bees submit- 
ting themselves to be liived, and placed in oiu' gardens 
imder our immediate inspection. The first writer who 
speaks of the natural history of the bee is the famous 
historian, Xenophon. He states that there is a mo- 
narch in each hive. Aristomachus, a native of Asia 
Minor, spent sixty years in the study of bees ; and 
PhiUssus of Tlu'ace passed his life in the woods for 
tlie same pm'pose. Mehssus, king of Crete, is said to 
have invented and taught the use of bee-hives. Aris- 
totle and PUny devoted some of their thoughts and 
writings to enlighten manldnd on the natural histoiy 
of the bee. The great Mantuan poet embodied in 
his Foiu'th Georgie the knowledge of bees in his time : 
but it would be as absurd to learn such knowledge of 
bees from his poems, as it woidd be to learn political 
economy (as many do) fi-om " Goldsmith's Deserted 
Milage." 

Dr. Charles Butler, who hved in the time of 
Charles I., was the first person who began to dispel 
past ignorance on this subject. He first taught that 
the sovereign of the hive is a female : that bees prior 
to swarming send out scouts to find a new habitation : 
that in each journey from the hives, bees attend to 
only one species of Bowers in collecting farina: that 
the farina is collected only to feed the larvte (gi'ubs), 
and that it is not wax, for that when bees make most 
wax they gather no farina : that old stalls which are 
fidl of combs carry more of this matter than swarms, 
and yet have no more wax at the end of tlie year than 
at the beginning : that real wax is to be found in 
white scales at the bottom of the hive, the scales 
fallmg from the bees in workmg the combs, and that 
when melted together, no one could doubt about its 
being wax. He also taught that the Lycoperdon 
bovista would stupify bees without desti'oying them. 

John Thoiiey, who hved in the time of Queen Ann, 
made a further discoveiy as to wax, which he relates 
in the following words : — " Viewing a hive of bees 
busy at labom', I observed one liee among the rest 
of an mrusual appearance, upon which I seized her 
directly ; and with a very sensible pleasure I found 
withm the plaits of this bee no less than six pieces of 
soUd wax, perfectly transparent, tlu'ce upon one side 
and three upon the other, appearing to the eye equal 
in bidk and gravity." Thoiiey introduced side-hives, 
and the manner of taking honey described in the 
"Conservative Bee-keeper." He held that bees would 
die if they had only access to farina, and that tliey do 
not eat it under any circmnstances. 

It is curious to remark, that about 200 years after 
the discovery of Butler, and 100 years after Thor- 
ley's, that an author, in the year 1821, (Arthur 
Aikin) should be so ignorant, or so obstuiate, as to 
state in his book, that " wax is made by bees from 
the dust within the anther of flowers," and "that 
larviE are fed with the purest honey ;" when Thoiiey 
had proved that wax is concreted under the scales of 
the working bees, and Butler that the farina is only 
used to feed larvae. Birttbn was in the same mistake 
to his death. 

Joseph Warder, a physician, hi the early part of 
last century, taught that chones were males, and the 
workers females. He recommended ventilating hives 
when you are dcsh'ous that bees should not swarm. 
The following are the names of other persons who 
studied the subject last century : — Reaumer, Blcm, 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



Ul 



Schivacli, Hunter, Kniglit, and Bonner, but, with two 
exceptions, theii- investigations, were not attended with 
any great success, though they were strictly men of 
science. The two first examined tlie ovary of the 
queen with microscouj^^lasses, and found an im- 
mense uumbei- of eggs. Schhach discovered tluit bees 
liad the power to convert a young grab of a working- 
bee kind into a queen. Mr. Dabraw, of Cambridge, 
lays claim to this discovery in the " Plulosophical 
Transactions of 1777." lieim discovered prolific 
workers. Hunter estabhshed the fact that bees con- 
sume more honey iu frosty than in opeu weather. 
Arthur- Dobbs anclKuight, in the work just mentioned, 
claim as discoveries, what Butler had established 
many years before. The same may be said of Bonner. 

Having now summed up all that was done by a host 
of learned men in investigating the natural history of 
the bee, amounting in the whole to a few facts, I now 
come to speak of Huber, a native of Geneva, who has 
done more to elucidate our subject than all his gi'eat 
predecessors had done before him. 

If Butler first pointed out that wax and farina were 
quite distinct substances, and Thorley found wax 
under the scales of working bees, it was left to Huber 
to give a full explanation. U Schiraoh and Debraw 
discovered that bees have the power to make a work- 
ing-bee maggot into a queen, they thought that it was 
the only way the God of Nature had provided for the 
formation of a queen : it was left to Huber to render 
the experiment complete. If Eiem discovered fertile 
workers, Huber shewed the cause of them, namely, 
their having been nm-sednear royal cells, and having 
been fed upon royal jelly. If uaturahsts knew that 
drones were destroyed, or di-iven away in the autumn, 
it was Huber who discovered that they were stung to 
death by the working-bees at the bottom of the liive, 
and there only. 

Francis Huber was born at Geneva, on the 2nd of 
July, 1750, and inherited a taste for natural history 
from his father. By the writings of Bonner, and by 
an intimacy with him, his attention was turned to 
the subject of bees. Most unfortunately, he lost his 
sight, but had an assistant in Francis Berens, quite 
quahfied for the task of carrying into effect the sug- 
gestions of his employer; and in Peter Huber, his sou, 
he had a coadjutor in every way worthy of such a 
father, and who afterwards became the discoverer of 
the natural history of the ant. The elder Huber had 
married Maria Aimee LuUen, the daughter of a Swiss 
magistrate, who warmly entered into all his views, and 
assisted in his experiments, as did also Iris daughter 
Jurine, by her slciU in anatomy : she has for ever set 
at rest all disputes as to the sex of the working bee. 
She died very young, or she would probably have 
added more facts to our knowledge of bees. 

The discoveries of Huber are most splendid, and his 
little work ought to be in the hands of every lover of 
natural history. Huber lived to a good aid age, and 
died on the 22ndday of December, \H-M, aged eighty- 
one ; but his niime will exist for ever in the minds of 
aU who love to study the works of the great Creator. 
After all Huber's discoveries, there are still some facts 
wluch want ehioidation. The age to which bees live 
is stLQ unknown ; and whether the honey which bees 
collect fi-oui flowers undergoes change hi the honey- 
bag of the bee, or is deposited in the exact state in 
which it is found, is also involved in mysteiy. 

(To be continued. J 



KAIN-WATEE.=;= 

BY OUTHBEHI W. JOHXSOX, ESQ., r.R.S., ETC. 

If Floretta requires the rain-water merely for the 
purpose of washing, the requisite degree of pmity 
wrU be readily attainable by allowing the water to 
pass through a stratum of sand, placed near the top 
of the water-cask, according to the following plan : 




A. Overflow-pipe. 

B. Koof-pipe. 

C. Filter. 



In arranging this, it will be well to have the false 
bottom, B, made of wood, and pierced with holes ; 
on the top of this put about an inch deep of small 
pebbles or sand, of such a size that it cannot pass 
through the holes. Upon tliese pebbles lay about two 
inches of fine wlute sand ; tlris will remove all the 
soot and most of the other mechanically suspended 
matters. 

If Floretta wishes for a greater degree of purity in 
the rain-water, some little'cai-e is needed to reject the 
first portions of the rain-water Avhich flow from the 
roof after any little interval of dry weather. This I 
have accomphshed by the httle apparatus (wluch is 
regulated in-doors) represented in the foUowiug out- 
line : — 



* This has been written, at our request, in answer to a correspond- 
ent, signing her query "Floretta;" but wc thought the subject de- 
aen'ed general attention.— Ed. C. G. 



142 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 




A. Pipe from roof. 

B. Trat-cock. 

C. Cock regulating the passage of the water in the strainer. 
]1. Strainer. 

E. Pipe which conveys the water, after passing through the strainer, 

to the store-tank. 
J. Wall of the house. 

By this arrangement, the rain-water wliich falls on 
tlie roof is received into the wooden box, F (about 
nine inches cube lined with lead I, and escapes over a 
ledge, H, down the water-pipe, G, into a drain ; and 
this is allowed to thus run away, until by drawing ofl' 
a glassftd at the test-cook, B, (wliich is inside the 
bouse), we find the water is of sufficient piu'ity. Till 
this is ascertained, the cock, C, is kept closed. As 
soon as the water is sufiiciently bright and tasteless, 
tbe cock, C, is o]iened, and tlie water then passes 
into tbe strainer, D, tbrougba stratum of white sand, 
resting on a false bottom, in tbe wa,y I have already 
described, and then by the pipe, E,into a stone tank. 
Some little period will elapse after any interval of 
dry weatlier belbre the rain-water escapes from the 
roof m a state fit for thinking. I found, at Lee, in 
Keut, that at least two hours of steady rain were 
required, on a slated roof, before it became bright : 
at lii'st it was very sooty, looked as if soap was mixed 
with it, and tasted very nauseous. At AValdronfield, 
near Croydon. ( find it escapes from tbe ronf (which 
is of slate), sufficiently pure, in less tbau hirlf lliat time. 
[ may add. that tlie little metal strainer in the box, 

F, is added to prevent the leaves, feathers, large 
beetles, &c., fiiiding theii- way into the sand-filter. 



SCRAPS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 

School Gabdens were established about a century 
ago liy the Quakers, at their school at Ackwortb, in 
Yorkshu-e, and tbe jilan is carried on to the ])resent 
time. Eacli boy has a certain portion of seed allotted 
to him for his gi-ound, tbe cultivation of which is 
foimd highly beneficial to his health, and interesting 
to the youthful mind. A similar plan has been 
adopted for ages at the convents, for flower-growing, 
aud continues to the present time. The friends of 
tbe pupils are allowed to send them new seeds, &c. — 
M. Saul, Oarstamj. 

EABTHixG-ur Celery. — In No. of The Cottage 
G-\nnENER I see a statement relative to the manage- 
ment of celery, which I also am able to i-ecommend. 
For the last two years we have tried the system of 
eartliing-up celery at twice, wlrich answers far better 
than the old practice. We have at the present time 
some very good celery, weighing on an average from 
5 to 7 lb. per stick, quite fi'ee from decay. We have 
no doubt, nad we adopted the old plan of earthing-up 
when the heart of the plants were two or three inches 
high, and so on progressively until the plants bad 
done growing, we should not have had it so good and 
fine as we have at the present time ; for by eajfthuig-u]! 
celery at so many difterent times, it is almost next to 
an impossibility to keep bits of soil out of the heart of 
the plants, and consequently, in wet seasons, like the 
present has been, by the time it is wanted for tbe 
table many of the sticks are decaying, if not altogether 
unfit for use. — T. Elliot, Gardctier to R. Baxter, 
Esq., iJnncaster. 

SiLKwosjis. — Havingnoticed tha tyou intend giving 
a series of Essays on the Management of Bees, )nis 
induced me to think that a few remarks upon that 
interesting insect, the silkworm, whoso laliours are 
equally wouderfid and valuable, would not lie unin- 
teresting to yoiu' readers. The niulber.ry leaves are 
considered to be the mine worked by the silkworm; 
and the white mulberry plant is preferred, as coming 
earlier in leaf tluui the black, and enabling tbe cater- 
pillars to produce much finer silk. It -would require 
some capital to make the cidtivation of sOk a matter 
of extensive specidation ; but now that tbe spinning- 
wheel is banished fi'om om' homes, why should not oiu' 
young spinsters be engaged in tbe ciiltivation of silk, 
an article indispensable in tlie fabrice.tion of articles 
for female attire ? In our more refine pd age, too, the 
liusband may equally admne, in the tasi ■efid adornment 
of bis bride, her patience and industry, as in former 
days her more substantial coutributioi isofhome-spim 
linen. It was long considered that the white nnil- 
berry-tree, being a native of Persia, could not be 
reared with success m England, but it might have 
been remembered tliat the walnut is from tbe same 
country. 

The gi'owing interest for this vab jaMe branch of 
agriculture will remove all iirejudii :e, as it is now 
jn'oved. not only that tbe white mulb erry-]ihints may 
easily be propagated in tlus comitv y, but that the 
silk produced is etptal in quality am I weight to any 
silk imjioi-ted. In each gaiden a small piece of groiuid 
shoiddbe appropriated to the cultivarion of this valu- 
able jilant, and we have even seen !-.iuall plants in 
pots, !ind tbe silk-worm, after ha\rjng nrrived at 
matvnity, ]ibu-ed on it, where it will spm its cocoon, 
]iroducing a novel and interesting a; )pearajice to see 

tbe silk-ball enveloped in its leaves. Vktra Chiddin- 

fold. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



U3 



NEW GEEENHOUSE AND HAEDY PLANTS 
WORTH CULTIVATING. 

Gummy Chihon [Cldronia ylntinosa). — This green- 
house shrub, of bushy habit, was found among some 
rubbish throvs-n aside at the Hull Botanic Garden. 
It is believed to be a native of Australia. Its blos- 
soms are very numerous, purjiUsh red, and con- 
tinuing for several months. It is easily propagated 
by cuttings, planted in sand, and a gentle bottom- 
heat given them. The rooted plants require to be 
grown in a soil of equal parts loam, peat, and leaf- 
mould ; to be kept gently moist during the growing 
season, but rather dry in winter. It likes plenty of 
an- and light. — Paxtons Mafjazine. 

Menzies' CiNQnErotL [Potentilla Menziesii). — This 
is a garden variety lately raised by Mr. Menzies. gar- 
dener to H. Edwards, Esq., of Hope Hall, near Hali- 
fax. It is a hardy border-plant, grows bushy, about 
three feet high, and bears many large rich crimson 
flowers. It is best propagated by dividing the roots 
in autumn, but this may be done in earJy spring. 
The soil should be a moderately rich loam, well 
di-ained. — Paxtons Magazine. 

DouGL.4.s's AscLEPiAS (Asclejjius Douglasii) was 
found on the west side of the Eocky Mountains of 
North America, by Mr. Biu-ke, in 1846, where it had 
been previously discovered by Mr. Douglas. It is a 
handsome hardy herbaceous border-plant, gi'owing to 
the height of a foot and a half. Flowers wliite and 
red, continuing a long tune. — {Botanical Magazine, 
tab. 4413.) Lilje others of the hardy herbaceous 
Asclepiases, it wOl grow well in any very light soil, 
but it is benefited by the addition of a little peat. 
It is readily propagated by seed, to be sown early in 
the spring, or by dividing the roots late in the 
autumn. 

Gkey's Swainsona {Sirainsona Grei/ana).— This is 
probably a half-hardy shrubby plant, but certainly 
would thrive in our borders during the summer, and 
would requh'e no more than the shelter of a cool 
greenhouse dm-iug the winter. It is a native of Port 
Adelaide, in South Australia. Its flowers are shaped 
like those of the sweet-pea, and are purjile and white, 
blooming fi'om June to August. It is the most beau- 
tiful of this elegant family of plants. — (Botanical Ma- 
gazine, tab. 4416.) The soil best suited to it is a 
mixture of two parts sandy loam and one part peat. 
It may be propagated by seed sown in the spring, or 
by cuttings of the yoimg shoots in autumn. 



HINTS FEOM OUR CONTEMPOEAEIES. 

The Kitohe.m-garden at Trentham Hall. — 
Trentham Hall is the seat of the Marquis of Statibrd, 
near Newcastle-imder-Lyne. Its gardens are under 
the care of Mr. Flemmg, one of the best of modern 
horticultiuists. The kitchen-garden occupies five 
acres, and is thus noticed by a recent visitor: — " Al- 
though in every sense of the word a kitchen-garden, 
it may nevertheless be traversed by ladies in any wea- 
ther — so perfectly hard and impervious are the walks. 
The alleys inside the borders, fi'om the principal 
walks, ai-e all edged and gi-avelled, which adds much 
to the general appearance, and enables the worlouan 
to pass to and fro in a cleanly manner ; scrapers are 
also placed at every opening. These things, however 
trifling they may appear, are perfectly necessary to 
good gardening. One of the many expedients which 
Mr. Fleming has adopted with the view of economising 



room, and which has an excellent efiect, is that of 
throwing an arched iron trellis over the principal 
walks, upon which ai'e trained all the best kinds of 
pears, which, when we saw them, were literally loaded 
with fi-iut. Independently of the saving of room, 
these arched walks afford a most delightful retreat in 
hot and scorching sunshine. Some of the walks that 
are not arched over, have the pears in the borders 
trained to bell-shaped u'on trellises, which look very 
handsome. Many of the largest and best kinds of 
pears require some such support ; for when planted 
o>rt simply as standards, a heavy gale of wind fi-e- 
quently shakes off the fniit long before it is ripe for 
gatheiing. The best sorts of apples ai-e also trained 
to trellises in the form of a cylinder, four feet wide 
and foiu- feet high, and such is the natm-e of the soil 
at Trentham, that these trees scarcely ever produced 
half a crop until they were taken up bodily, and the 
whole of the borders concreted ; and the few fiaut 
that were produced previously were generally hard 
and gi'itty, and destitute of flavour : now such is not 
the case ; eveiy tree, whether apple, peai-, or goose- 
beny, is as much under control at Trentham as a 
pine apple or a pumpkin ; and were such not the 
case, vexation, disappointment, and labour wasted, 
would be the resiflt The wetness of the subsoil, and 
the proverbial moistm-e of the locality, have com 
pelled Mr. Fleming to adopt eveiy means that could 
possibly be suggested to keep all the ti'ees of a fi-uit- 
bearing kind as limited in their gi-owth as possible, 
consistently with the production of a crop. They 
never sufl'er from di-ought. As soon as the peaches 
and apricots against'the walls have tbeii-fruit gathered, 
they immecUately have their roots examined and 
shortened back : this checks then- gi-owth annd facili- 
tates the ripening of the wood. Were this not done 
every autumn, they woidd continue growing until the 
frost checked them; the latter generally destroyed 
half the young wood. The gi-eat enemy to contend 
with in gardening here, as has been previously stated, 
is the superabundance of moistm-e, both in the atmo- 
sphere and in the soil : to cure the latter, a main 
chain is placed vmder every walk and aUey ; tliis 
receives the innumerable tributaries which intersect 
the garden in all du-ections. 

" The goosebeny-bushes, as well as the red, white, 
and black currants, are trained as standards— some 
having stems foiu- feet high, with round bushy heads. 
This allows the sim and an- to get to the soil, and also 
much more readOy to the fruit — by which means its 
flavom- is much improved ; besides, it keeps the fi-uit 
from being splashed with du-t and sand jji heav)' rains. 
No digging is ever sirfiered on the friut-ti-ee border, 
or among raspberries or strawbenies ; the soil is 
merely loosened with a three-pronged fork — but then 
this is repeated frequently, to admit of free atmo- 
speric action. Easpberries and sti'awberries are all 
dressed in winter with a decomposed compost of rotten 
dung, tree-leaves, &c., which improves the size and 
quality of the frait very much. Some years ago, the 
asparagus in this gai'den was never fit for use. It 
was better calcidated for flower-stakes than for the 
table. Mr. Fleming has recoin-se to salt, wlrich he 
applies in spring, when the beds are dressed. The 
quantity used is two pounds to the square yard ; and 
also, during the season of growth, salt is used in a 
diluted liquid state : tliis has produced such a difi'er- 
ence, both in gi-owtb and quality, that the asparagus 
is now all that could be desii-ed. Mr. Fleming is a 
gi-eat advocate for the use of salt,wluch he applies all 
over the vegetable ground in fine weather, when the 
soU will admit of being trod on."— Gardener's Chron. 



U4 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Garden Allotments. — It was announced at a 
meeting of the Diu-hara Sanitary Association the 
other day, that the Dean and Chapter of Diu'ham 
liad given directions to their agent, j\Ir. Rowlandson, 
to jirovide garden allotments, at the earliest possible 
period, for tlie Members of the Diu'ham WorlcLng- 
raen's Association. 

Chinese Gardening. — We are informed by a very 
intelligent captain of the Royal Navj', among other 
anecdotes Olustrative of the sedidous and ever- 
watoliful cai-e of the Chinese to save every particle 
of fertilizing matter, that our consul at Ningpo found 
himself e.\.tremely incommoded by the smeUs from 
two jars in the vicinity of the residence assigned to 
him by the mandarin of the disti-ict. Upon ex- 
pressing liis desire to have them removed, he found 
that it coidd only be done at the expense of many 
dollars, for that certain parties, through several gene- 
rations, had purchased the riglit of having all the 
house-slops, &c., emptied into those jars, for use 
upon their pfi-ounds. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Autu:mn-pl ANTED POTATOES (Cfencus Demnensis). — No wonder 
that the stems of your ash-leaved kidneys, planted in your southern 
district so early as the IQth of October, have appeared above ground ; 
the igth of November A\ould have been a better planting time. You 
had better leave them alone, the frosts will cut them down, and fresh 
stems will appear in the spring. 

Pears on Quince-Stocks (Ibid). — You are quite right in discre- 
diting those who assert that these are not suited fur De\'0nshire. 
It is one of the wet counties, and the quince, we know, delights in 
moisture. I\lr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, we believe, delivers them 
free from carriage in London. 

Bees (T. Murcer).~\Ve believe that Wr. Neighbour, Holborn, 
1-ondon, will procure you a swarm, 

Melon Culture (E. Pitt, Birmingham). — We shall treat of melon 
culture in our weekly calendar. Ulills " On the Culture of the Cu- 
cumber and Melon " will give you full information. 

Shallow Soil ON a Gravelly Subsoil (Rev. P. IV.) — Although 
your subsoil is a gravel, we recommend you to trench it two or three 
feet deep. The staple of the soil resting upon it would be greatly 
improved by adding chalk, as you propose : but a still better appli- 
cation for the purpose would be a mixture, in equal parts, of clay 
and chalk. A heavy coating of mere brick earth, which probably 
may be found in your neighbourhood, would be found beneticial. 
After any of these additions, you would find your manures not so 
soon exhausted. Thanks for your communication about potatoes. 

Dissolved Bones (W. Parn/).— The sulphuric acid is only suffi- 
cient to take part of the lime from the phosphate. The phosphoric 
rtfid set free, combines with the remaining phosphate of lime, and 
rtrnders it a super-phosphate. Your communication is too theoretical 
for our cottage readers. 

Clericus. — Mr. Barnes informs us that he inadvertently wrote 
KVJ i/(irils square, at pac;e 103, instead of \6-^feet square. A pole, or 
rod, Mr. Barnes adds, is termed, in the west of England, a land yard. 

Orange and Lemon-trees (A. Harvey). — Young orange-trees 
lilie yours, in a room without artificial heat, should be allowed to rest 
till the return of warm weather in spring. Your plants, being so 
small, must not be alh>wcd to go without a little water now and then, 
just sufficient to keej) the soil from becoming too drj* and powdery. 
Old plants in large pots, under similar circumstances, would be 
better without any water for the next two months. Cut otf a few 
inches from the points of all the shoots, and few leaves will then be 
Irft, and the bcad;^ of your trees will become more bushy next season. 
Keep frost and frosty air from them as much as possible, but in mild 
weather open the windows daily. 

Cost of a Two-light Frame (L. B.) — The woodwork of a two- 
Iii;ht frame may be purchased ready-made for 26s. ; the glazing can 
be done very well for less than 20b. more. 

Names or Roses (P'er^Kmnu*).— Thanks for the corrections. 

The Pine-Stove (X). — Wc are sorry that we cannot oblige you. 
If we admit the pinc-«tove, how can wc refuse similar applications 
for other hothouse departments? 

Autumn-vlanted Potatoks [D. V. Brampton). — This mode of 
planting answers equally well for the late as for the early varieties. 
Either keep your seed-potatoes stored in alternate layers, with earth, 
or plant them at once duriug dry weather. 



Sawdust (Ibid). — If decayed, it is a good manure for yoiu- garden. 
See more on this subject at p. 52. 

Oleander Scale (J. N. B., Halstead). — Try dipping one of 
your plants into water heated to 140'' ; it is said to destroy the scale 
without hurting the plant. We have found brushing over the scale 
with spirits of turpentine two or three times, at intervals of two days, 
a satisfactorj' remedy. 

Sprouting Potatoes (S.O., Sal/ord). — Do not rub off the sprouts, 
but keep them in as cold a place as you can, in alternate layers with 
earth, until your land is ready. Charred moss is a good manure for 
tlie raw moss-land. Bone-dust dissolved in sulphuric acid does not 
last so long as bone-dust by itself, but is more speedily beneficial. 

Alpine Strawberry-seeds (C. Goode). — You can get these of 
any first-rate London seedsman. 

SuPER-PUOSPHATE OF Lime for Roses (Amateuy, Tavistock). — 
Sprinkle it over the surface of the bed either in a solid or liquid 
state, and point it in slightly. Half a pint will be an abundance for 
each rose-tree. Apply it in the spring annually. 

Spent Tanners' Bark (J. H., Wilts).— This is of little value as 
a manure until decayed; and then it might be advantageously mixed 
with gas-lime, as you propose. It would make very good manure if 
charred, and we can give no better directions for domg this than you 
Mill find at page 83. 

Gas-lime as a Manure (W. J. N.) — This is a good manure. 
You have probably, since writng your note, seen the editorial on the 
suljject in our tenth Number. 

Potato-planting in an old Pasture {/?. D., Kerrff).— Do 
not, on any accomit, add any manure ; your soil is fresh and excel- 
lent for the crop. Almost the only point on which all agree relative 
to the potato disease is, that it appears worst on ground recently 
manured. 

Hardy Evergreens in Pots to place in Beds in Winter. 
—Arbor Vitie, Arbutus, Aucuba Japonica, Box-tree, Cotoneaster, 
Trailing Daphne.* Hardy Heaths,* GaultlieriaProcumbens,* Hollies, 
of sorts, Swedish Juniper, Sweet Bay, Ledum buxifolium,* common 
Lavender, Laurustinus. Mahonia Aquifolia (holly-leaved Barberry), 
Evergreen Oak, Hemlock Spruce Fir, Cedrus Deodara, Common 
Rhododendron,* Rusty and Hairj' Rhododendron,* Vacciniura 
Ameenum* (pleasing Bilberry), Yew, Yucca Filementosa (Thready 
Adam's NcedleJ, Yucca Recurva (Recur\'ed ditto). Those marked * 
require to be potted in sandy peat. They should be put in pots 
suitable to their size at the time, and will do very well in the same 
pots for two years. The number required will of course depend 
on the size of the beds. The situation for them in summer should 
be an open one. They should be plunged in the earth ut this 
season also. At the time of removal from the winter beds, they 
nmstbe pruned pretty freely, to keep them bushy and dwarf. After 
tlie two years, in the spring shake off the greater part of the earth, 
and re-pot them in the same pots, in which they will flourish again 
for two years more ; after that, either renew them entirely, or give 
tUem larger pots. They need not be very thickly placed in the beds, 
as they arc merely used to prevent the naked appearance of the beds 
during winter. 

Sowing Pansy-Seed (Ren. G. Griffith).— The best time to sow 
pansy-seed is as soon as it is ripe. The plants Mill be sufficiently 
strong to plant out in a bed of a size suitable to the number of 
plants. Four inches apart will be sufficient for seedlings. They will 
flower the following spring. Select such as are of good form, clear 
distinct colours, and large size. Take tliem carefully up with ^ 
trowel; keep their balls entire, and plant them in a bed by them- 
selves. Give them descriptive names, and jiropagatc as described in 
a preceding number (the 5th). 

Pruning Roses {R. .i.) — Wc presume our correspondent means 
by "joints," the wood between the buds. If he Mill turn to No. 6. 
pages 56 and 57, he will find an accurate description of pruning 
roses. The number of eyes to be left, meaning the number of 
"joints" from the juncture of branch. The mode of pruning 
referred to is applicable to standards as well as dwaii roses. 

Varnish for Fences (Inquirer). — We arc trying to get the 
information you require, and as soon as wc can obtain it satisfactorily 
we shall insert it. 

Cauliflowers and Brocoi.i (Peter).— U taken up carefully, 
these are not at all checked if planted in trenches, as we directed. 
Those hung up in sheds will remain good for some time, but should 
he first used. They keep better there than when exposed out of 
doors to the frosts and wet of the season. 

Table of Contents {J. Stanlei/). — You will have seen by the 
address to our subscribers in the I2th Number, how m'c purpose to 
comply with the wish which you entertain, in common with many of 
our other friends. 

Cucumber (W. M.) — If you want a prolific variety' for January 
and February, you cannot cultivate a better than the Long Prickly. 
If you want fruit of superior beauty, Latter's Victory of England, 
Sion House, and Victory of Bath, are three of the best. 



London: Printed by Harry Wooldbidge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar ; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— December 28th, 1848. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



145 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Th. 
F. 

R. 
Sun. 

M. 
Td. 

W. 



JAlSrUARY -L— 10, 18-1!). 



Rosemary Flowers. [sings. 

Botanical Society's Jleetiug. Wren 
Ei>iPH.\xY. Twelfth Day. 

1 SUXD.W .\FTEr, El'IPH-iNY. 

Lucian. Plough Monday. 
Redbreast eommences singing. 
Honeysuckle-leaf opening. 



plants dedicated to 
each day.^ 



Hazel. [foot. 

Stinking Bear's - 
Rigid Screw iloss. 
Portugal Lam-el. 
Yellow Tremella. 
Common Laurel. 
Fiu'ze, or Gorse. 



Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon's 


Clock- 


Day of 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


aft. Sun. 


Year. 


8aS 


3a4 


•2 18 


10 


5 21 


4 


8 


4 


•■i 35 


11 


48 


5 


7 





4 00 


12 


U 15 





1 





{) 1 


13 


41 


7 


7 


8 


rises. 


(v) 


7 


8 





9 


5 a 23 


15 


7 31 


!) 





11 


6 36 


IB 


7 55 


10 



Epipuany. — This festival, instituted in commemoration of the 
shewing of Christ to the Gentiles, or magi, as recorded in the second 
chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, is now more popularly known as 
Twelfth Day, and by its seasonable cakes. On this day — the 
twelfth after Christmas— the festivities of the season were concluded 
in " the good old times : " and though the origin of many of its cus- 
toms is obscure, yet it is observed in :some mode in all Christian 
countries. "Drawing King and Queen" is a game as old as the 
time of the ancient Greeks and Romans. 

LuciAN lived in the middle of the fourth century. He was pres- 
byter of the church at Antioeh, and deserves praise — though not a 
festival — for the care he took in preserving the text of the Hebrew 
Scriptures. The first Monday after Twelfth Day was named Plough 
Monday by our forefathers, because on it they returned to tilling 
their soil . 

PnENOMEXA OF THE SEASON. — Hoar frost — that white feathery 

Insects. — At this season of the year, 
and especially during frosty weather. 



clothing: which fairy fingers seems to have scattered, so silently and 
lightly, over even the minutest blade of grass — now prevails, and is 
so beautiful, that we incline to wish it more permanent. Vet it is 
no more than the frozen vapour of the air, dissolved by the sun's 
earliest beams, and rarely occurring more than three or four days 
successively. So short is their succession, that it is a common saying 
in some country districts, *' Hoar-frosts and gipsies never stay nine 
days in a place." It has been well said, that at such times sOence 
and purity, as a mantle, are thrown over the earth — and this simile 
was suggested by the colour of the frozen particles, and the entire 
absence of wind when they are formed. Hoarfrost is nothing but 
frozen dew. M'arm air holds, dissolved, more moisture than cold 
air will hold ; consequently, when cooled at night, the air deposits 
some of its moisture : the moisture so deposited is dew, — but if the 
cold is low enough, the moisture freezes as it is deposited, and then 
is called a hoar or rime frost. 






1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


1843. 


4 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Highest 


















& lowest 

temp. 

5 


35°— 29° 


37°— 23° 


43°— 29° 


51°— 34° 


45°— 36° 


43°— 22° 


43°— 39° 


49°— 27° 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Showen'. 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 




33°— 22° 


3C°— 30° 


41°— 31° 


54°— 44° 


53°— 12° 


39°— 21° 


46°— 33° 


46°— 24° 


6 


Frost. 


Snow. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Shower\'. 


Fine. 




30°— 12° 


37°— 23° 


41°— 34° 


52°— 36° 


54°— 43° 


47°— 14° 


43°— 40*= 


40°— 26° 


J- 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 
46°-36° 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 




2/-°— 6° 


35°— 28° 


48°— 25° 


54°— 32° 


48°— 4'3° 


42°— 37° 


40°— 27° 1 


8 


Frost. 


Snow. 


Showery. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 




20°-6° 


34°— 28° 


42°— 30° 


44°— 35° 


35°— 31° 


50°— 11° 


39°— 34° 


3S°— 29° 


9 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 




33°— 2;° 


30°— 27° 


47°— 32° 


40°— 33° 


35°— 28° 


49°-47° 


36°— 22° 


33°— 28° 


10 


Showery. 


Frost. 


Rain. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 




39°— 31° 


31°— 25° 


42°— 30° 


48°— 30° 


49°— 30° 


42°— 37° 


33°— 24° 


32° —29° 



the rough bark of apple and pear-tree stems should be scraped oif, for the purpose of destroying the Apple-Wceyil (Anthonymvs Pomontm), 
It shelters itself beneath the scurfy hark during the winter, awaiting the return of spring to renew its attacks upon the blossom-buds. " This 
insect," says J\lr. Curtis, "connnits great dev.istation in apple-orchards, by destroying the stamens, pistil, and receptacle of the flower.* As 
soon as the blossora-buds swell, the female beetle begins to deposit her eggs. In calm weather she selects a good bud, and makes a hole in 
it \yith her rostrum (long beak); she fi-xes herself at the hole, lays one i^^^. and goes on till she has deposited a considerable number of eggs 
in separate buds. The bud continues to swell, and the petals (flower-leayes) nearly expand, when suddenly the growth ceases, and the 
petals wither and assume a shriyelled appearance. If one of these flower-buds be e-xamined \yhen nearly expanded, a small white grub, with 
a black head, will be found in the centre, which begins to assume a yellowish colour ; a few days later, the grub will be found either wholly 
or partially changed to a beetle — and should there be a small hole on the side of the receptacle, the beetle will haye escaped : the transforma- 
tion from the egg to the perfect state not haying oecu})ied more than a month. MHien this beetle, or weeyil, leaves the receptacle, it feeds 
during the smunier on the leayes of the trees, and is seldom to be seen. In the autumn, the weeyils leaye the trees, and search for conyenicnt 
hiding-places under stones about the trees, or under the rough bark, in which they pass the \yintcr. Consequently, as they commence their 
operations early in the spring, care should be taken to remove all stones, dead leayes, and other litter, from under the trees, as well as to 
scrape off the rough dead bark from them in the winter season. The apple-weevil is also very injurious to pear-trees." This beetle, or 
weevil, is scarcely one line and a half long; its wing-cases are dark bro\yn, with whitish-grey stripes ; its autennie (horns or feelers) spring 
from the middle of its beak, and all these parts, as well as its eyes and the under part of the body, are black. 

* Stamens — the male part of the flower ; pisUl — the female part. Receptacle — that part at the end of the flower-stalk into which all 
the other parts of the flower are inserted. The pistil is in the centre, and the stamens round it. 



We have had upon onr table, for some weeks, a little 
volnme, entitled " Gardening for Children" edited by 
the ReT. C. A. Johns ; and, though it does not 
possess all the excellence attainable in a work on 
such a subject, yet there is much in it that is good ; 
and though, like all first steps, it may be but a small 
advance towards the end of the jouruey, yet we must 
remember that, without such first steps, that end 
could never be reached. 



The theme, the object, of the volume is of far more 
importance than may strike upon the mind of those 
who ai'e too content with gliding over the sm-face of 
tilings, and aa'C satisfied with waiting for others to sug- 
gest a thought wliicli tliey wUl take up and circulate. 

"Gardening for Children," like "The Rm'al Spell- 
ing Book," is wisely associating useful as well as 
amusing inibnnation with the eai'Uest efforts of the 
mind in its search after knowledge. '• Seeds are best 



Xo. XrV., Vol.. I. 



uo 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



sown in rows, for tiae sun and air can then get to tlie 
plants, whicl) come up from those seeds, and the hoe 
can with ease cut down the weeds," would be a lesson 
which might be remembered with advantage through 
life, and quite as easy to learn as those crudities of 
ilavor or Vyse — " He is a good boy. but she is a bad 

" Gardeuing for Cliildren," we repeat, is a step in 
the right direction ; it is teaching not merely words 
but things — it points the same way that tiie new regu- 
lations of Cambridge point, by which a man of science 
may now take honours as well as a man of letters. 
This we think a measure of imalloyed good, for al- 
though we honour as highly as any can honour those 
who excel in classical and mathematical attainments, 
yet we do not, therefore, honoiu- the less such men as 
Davy, Faraday, Wedgewood, Watts, Miller, Aber- 
crombie, Paxton, Beaton, and En'ington. These are 
the men who apply science to the business of life ; 
and we know of no reason why we shoidd not, or 
rather we kuow of eveiy reason why we should, pro- 
mote a system of education which cannot fail of facili- 
tating the callmg up of such men from among the 
educating childi'en of England. On this point we 
quite agree with the vei-y able " Report of the Eeigatc 
Coltiiye GarJeiiei's Societi/." We think, as itsautlior 
thinks, that, 

■■ To a proper knowledge of every business, and 
every kind of work, education or training may be 
considered to be absolutely essential ; but the farm 
labourer has, properly speakiug, no training at all — 
he is left to pick up viliatever knowledge of farming- 
work lie can attain just as lie may. In rural districts 
tliere might be acombination of manual labour in field 
or garden work with scliolastic instniction. after the 
pupil leaves the elementary school, in subjects to be 
understood by older boys, including a knowledge of 
the nature and structure not only of the ' jihints of the 
farm,' as the subjects of agi-icultural and liorticidtural 
growth, but also tlie forms and properties of other 
obvious natural ]iroductions of the vegetable world, 
and be made to know wliether they are salutary or 
noxious to man or other animals. 

■' From want of some of tbismental discipline, vei-y 
easily administered, tlie intellectual faculties of the 
ploughboy remain unawakeiied; and evcij his senses 
are insusceptible of impressions. 

" The beautiful productions wliich spring up beueatli 
Ids feet excite no attention or observation. He sees 
not, and heeds not, the birds of the air, their songs 
and plumage. 'I'he gay colours and graceful forms of 
animated nature excite no thought nor contemplation 
ill his mind, which remains a blank, so far as respects 
the healthful and the beautiful ; into which, therefore, 
intrude inferior thoughts and considerations, leading 
to habits too often uijurious, if not fatal to purity and 
integrity of mind and conduct. 

" A knowledge of tlie structure and habits of ani- 
mals, and tlio nature and care of the live stock on the 
farm, to be subjected to the care of the farmer's boy, 
should be imparted to h nil with the habit, on principle, 
of treating tlieni with gentleness and humanity. 

'■ As also should be all kinds of farming and gar- 
dening work ; and something of an a]iprenticesliip, 
however short, should be served under those working 



men who have superior skill and ability, and excel in 
particular departments of agricidturar labour. For 
their use also, wbenever jiracticable. there will be a 
great utility in the establishment of evening schools. 

'■ In advocating the cause of education and training, 
it may be with perfect ti-uth athrmed, that the lowliest 
of mankind have minds to be cultivated, and souls to 
be saved, as well as bodies to be maintained in health 
and vigour, equally with those higher in the scale of 
society : and with those to wliom tlie argument of the 
purse outweighs every other consideration, any small 
additional expense wliicb may be inemred will be 
amply eomiiensated by having a sober, industrious 
population, who depend for theii- maintenance on the 
i'niits of their own exertions ; and we may be assured 
that it is cheaper and more economical to educate the 
working classes into good, and useful, and valuable 
members of society, rather than to inciu' heavy poor- 
rates : and, in many cases, the exjiense of iirosecuting 
them as criminals. 

" Many boj's and youths whom we see attending 
the plough, or tnidging beside the cart, liave nowhere 
to sit down after tlieir day's work is finished, and 
often scarcely where to lay their head. The village 
youth know not where to go. The public-house or 
beer-shop alone is open to tliem. Its fire and caudle, 
its company, its other attractions, constitute the only 
form of welcome within their reach. It is as the clul) 
or other place of resort to the homeless man of the 
world : yet that all-receiving home is the hospitality 
of their ruin — the conversation, the examples, the 
counsels of such ]ilaces are fatal to them. Hence 
ensue degradation of mind and low morals : thought- 
less, premature, and improvident mamages are too 
often contracted, witii the probable consequences of 
domestic discord, continued resort to the beer-house, 
with subsequent reliance on parochial assistance 
rather than on the results of a well-regulated economy 
and industry, and all the evils of poverty, self-repi-oach. 
bad heidtli, and their accompaniments, complete tlie 
unhappy state. 

'• Very recently, with the view to diminish the gi'eat 
and deplorable evils attending the jioor lads who are 
left to their own guidance, and to the evU influences 
wbicli siuTOuud and beset them, Mr. Baston, of 
Kynaston Coiut, has provided accommodation for 
twenty boys on his premises, where tliey are fed on 
plaui aud wholesome food, and are taught luid em- 
]jloyed in all kbids of fann-labom'. under a superiu- 
tcndent. who also during the evenings, after the work 
of the day is over, instruets them in reading, writing, 
and arithmetic, and in a knowledge of their religious 
and moral duties, in all which, moreover. Mr. Baston 
lumxflf pcraiinidJji assists. 

" ilr. Baston gives a detailed statement of expenses 
and profits, proving that even in a pecuniary light 
the plan is advantageous to the employer as well as 
to the boys, besides taking into account the elevating 
and hapijy influence ol' this eom-se of life on the pre- 
sent and future character of the boys who are so 
fortunate as to be under the whig of this benevolent 
man." 



•' The riiilantlu-ojiic Society" have entered upon 
the same hopeful course on a still larger scale. Its 
managers are disposuig of its present collegiate-looking 
premises near Loudon, and are proposing to found a 
kind of colony at Potter's Bar, near Baniet. Tliis 
Society has for its object tho refonuation of cruniual 
aud other cliildi'eu who. indeed, " have none to help 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



147 



them ;" for tbe parents and relatives of such unfortu- 
nates are calculated to aid them on to ruin, and to 
ruin only. At that colony the boys are to be asso- 
ciated in families of sixty, and here the industrial 
training, instead of being confined to mechanical 
trades, is now to embrace full instruction in the arts 
of gardening and farming. This is all as we wish, 
and we know of no reason why similar establishments 
should not be founded in every county in England. 
When this is done, — when the rm'al popiilation have 
been duly educated, — when the fifteen millions of 
acres at present waste land in Great Britain and L-e- 
land are duly allotted and cultivated, — we shall see 
the necessity for emigration cease. Emigi'ation is an 
evil ; for, however it may be disguised, it is an evil for 
a country to have to part with its industrial inhabi- 
tants, and it is an evil, a heart-breaking sorrow, for 
these to leave then- homes and to depart into e>dle. 

We have touched upon so many subjects which 
have rushed upon our thoughts as we addressed our- 
selves to the consideration of " Gardening for chil- 
dren," that we have but a brief space to allot to a 
consideration of the work itself The first forty 
pages are uselessly occupied with descriptions and 
pictures of every-day flowers, — -descriptions, too, in 
many instances, falsely exaggerated. For instance, 
who ever saw a tree-lai'kspm' with flowers so vividly 
blue and bright " that the eye cannot rest on it with- 
out inconvenience?" The best part of the book 
begins at p. (i'2, and continues passably good through- 
out ''the Kitchen-garden," though there is some bad 
gardening in it, and no small ignoi-ance of natiual 
history. What is meant by " every ^lair of wasps 
kUlod in spring saves the trouble of a swarm in 
autumn '?" The wiiter of tliis evidently is ignorant of 
the fact, that every wasp seen in spring, if not de- 
stroyed, will be the foundi-ess of a nest. The " Maxims ' 
at the end of the book fomi the best portion of its con- 
tents ; and it would have been well if the author had 
thus written one of these maxims, and kept it upon 
liis desk whilst preparing this little volume for the 
jiress : — " Do nothing carelessly ; whatever is worth 
doing at all, is worth doing well." There is much 
that is good in its pages, but moi'e that might be 
amended, and a larger portion stUl that might be 
omitted, to make room for more useful infoi'matiou. 



THE mUIT-GAEDEN. 

Having now fairly turned cm- backs on the year 
1848, with all its anxieties, it may not be amiss, with 
the rising year, to take a retrospective glance at the 
position of gardening affairs, as far as relates to the 
amateur and cottage gardener. The spring is at 
hand, and a corresponding amount of increased ani- 
mation will soon begin to be felt by all parties con- 
cerned in the cultm-e of the soil ; and we do trust 
that our imassuming periodical, during the year 1849, 



will not only prove of essential service to the classes 
above named, but that the farmer also, who possesses 
much interest in a well-cultivated garden. wiU derive 
benefit from our labom's, for there is much room for 
improvement. 

Amateur gai'dening has, indeed, made very rapid 
advances within the last seven years. Most of the 
possessors of gardens of this class are gi-eat readers ; 
and it must be confessed, wp think, that much of the 
hortiwdtural literature dm-ing that period has pretty 
well kept pace with the spirit of the times; and not 
only recorded the solid impi-ovements already made, 
but paved the way to increased success by sugges- 
tions based on soimd principles. The hyjjothetical 
and prescriptive character for the gardening of bygone 
days has been severely tested by hundreds of practi- 
tioners, who at once combine liigh scientific attain- 
ments with great experience ; and the residtlias been 
a gi-eater amoimt. as well as certainty, of success in 
the various departments of gardening, as fdso a surer 
footing as to future progress. 

Whilst on the subject of amateur gai'dening, there 
is a point or two to Mdiicli we woidd dii'ect tlxe special 
attention of persons of this class. We all know that 
within the last few yeai'S much attention has been 
paid to the question of the food of plants, both in a 
general and a special sense. This has, of course, led 
to much scientific investigation as to the relative 
merits of vaiious manures ; and much good has, be- 
yond doubt, resulted from it. T^his is all as it shoiUd 
be. Still, however, a \"ital point, connected more 
immediately with the permanent improvement of the 
soil, lies somewhat in tlie back-grormd. We here 
allude to the improvement of the mechanical texture 
of soils; in other words, the improvement of theu- 
staple. This is, indeed, the gi-aud basis of all ti'ue 
improvement, without which the maniu-e-question 
must merely " creep where it ought to soar." 

Everybody knows that open sandy soils ai'e Inmgiy 
soils ; everybody also knows tliat it is of little use 
midtiplying the amoimt of manures in stagnant clays 
or boggy soils, unless di'ained. Hei'e, then, we come 
to the matter of mechanical texture, wliich indeed is 
one of vast importance. Thorough drainage must, 
of course, precede all attempts at improving the tex- 
tm-e in the case of adhesive soils, whilst the sandy 
ones before alluded to requu'e a solidifying or reten- 
tive principle to be added to them ; and all this in- 
dependent of the question of manvd'es. As the spring 
advances, we do hope to shew how these thinge may 
be done ; they ai'e simple in principle, and more or 
less witlun the reach of most of our readers at one 
period or another. 

We woidd now offer a few words of advice to that 
usefid class in societ)', the industrious cottagers. 
" Take Time by the forelock," is an old saying, and 
the maxim holds good in all gardening allah's, and 
more es]iecially so at the commencement of a new 
year. Let it be home in mind, that one hom-'s 
labour omitted at a necessary jieriod wiU generally 
lead to the loss of half a dozen in the end. Let 
every cottager feel persuaded within himself, that 
every hour's well-directed laboiu-. whether in cleaning 
liis crops, extu'pating inveterate weeds, digging his 
soil deep, or in secm-ing everything at all times in the 
shape of manure, will amply repay liim. ■' Cast thy 
bread on the water," says the ■wise Solomon, '" and it 
shall be seen after many days." Indeed, in the 
inspii-ed -iTOtings may be found abundance of maxims, 
as applicable and suggestive now as in the days 
which produced them. 

To the cottager especially we would point to more 



348 



THE COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



caie in the collecting of manures diuing the ensuing 
year. Guano and other liighly concentrated manm-es 
may he out of the reach of most of this class, hut it 
lies in the power of all to husband well those witliiu 
theii' reach; and, moreover, much to increase the hulk 
of their middens, or manme-heaps, against another 
yeai', hy a provident forecast and a due attention to 
the piinciples which will lie pointed out weeldy in 
The Cottage Gaudener. Having offered these sug- 
gestions, which apjily as well to successful fniit- 
culture as to vegetables, we must proceed with some 
details. 

Planting Feuit-tkees in Poor Shallow Soil. — 
Cm' attention has been directed to this subject in 
consequence of a letter from a correspondent, who, it 
appears, is about planting an orchard, and wliose soil 
is described as a hungi'y sand, of about a foot deep. 
Cm' correspondent proposes to dig holes t\vo feet or 
more in depth, and to fill a gi'eat portion of the exca- 
vation with weeds and refuse vegetable matter. This 
case is so mnch in ))oint, as an illustration of a had 
course of culture, that wc seize it to warn our readers, 
as well as om- corresjioudent, against such a course 
of practice. We must protest, at the very outset, 
against maldng holes any deeper than the orthnary 
dejith of the suvface-soU, whether in the case of fniit- 
trees or shrubs. We have laiown many ti-ees thus 
planted, and have invariably foimd them a failme, 
after being planted a few years. Indeed, how coidd 
it be otherwise ? It is cmlent that the fibres will be 
induced to go do\vn below the level of the ordinary 
soil, and iu that event must either peneti'ate ungenial 
subsoils, or be liable to prematm-e decay. As to the 
peneti-atiou of a bad subsoil, he must be a bold culti- 
vator who would consider such as a trifling matter. 
All subsoils, of coiu'se, are not precisely ahke, and we 
have loiown the roots of trees descend into some 
without any apparent ill effects. It is well, however, 
not to trust to this chance, for deep roots are at all 
times inimical to the ripening of the wood, and this 
is a necessary point even with ordinary ti-mt-ti'ees. 
Besides, om' correspondent's weeds and decajTng ve- 
getables would so rapidly sink in volume by means 
of decay, that if planted on the level at the first, they 
would within a twelvemonth be sunk nearly a foot 
below the surface level ; and in that event two-thmls 
of the bidk of the roots woidd be surroimded by a 
mass of bad subsoil, which in tins case is a himgiy 
sand; and we need scarcely observe, that premature 
decay must of necessity ensue. The ti-ee would be 
in a similar condition to a plant in a deep garden- 
pot, with little soil beneath, yet plenty above out of its 
reach, and starvmg, although suiTomided by plenty. 

In all cases, therefore, wc say, never let prepared 
soil descend into the level of the subsoil ; the bricks 
or stones necessary for the bottoms of the holes may 
indeed be in part a little below, but care must lie 
taken that their surlace liscs a little above the subsoil 
surface. In clay or cold soils it is absolutely neces- 
sary to plant on the ordinary gi-ound-level ; tliat is to 
say, after the necessaiy preparations have been made 
in forming a station, in which event the tree will 
appear to stand on a mound when the planting is 
completed. Where soils are of a shallow, chy, and 
hungry character, it is advisable, in all cases, to form 
the bottom with clay ; this we have rei)eatedly prac- 
tised, beating the clay into a mound, rising iu tlie 
centre. We have removed trees which had been thus 
planted after a lapse of eleven years, and have gene- , 
rally found a gi-eat body of useful fibres, like a net- 1 
worlf, over the siuface oi' the clay. In addition to this I 



we would tlu-ow lumps of clay amongst the vohune of 
the soil as we filled it in the holes, especiaUv if lor 
apple-trees : this would prove a reservou- of moistm-e 
dm-iug periods of drought. Marl may be used in- 
stead of the clay, if to be had; in such eases we 
shoidd give tlie marl the preference. 

PiiuNiNG. — As weeldy ealendarial matter we may 
beg to remind our friends of pmning and training 
matters. Another week or two and we shall fancy 
we perceive the bud sweUiug, as indeed it does all 
through the winter, although imperceptibly at first. 
We have more advice to offer about the jil'anting of 
fruit-trees, as well as the selection of kinds, and we 
shall deal with such subjects during the next six 
weeks, iu order to assist om- readers in then- spring- 
planting. Let us, therefore, advise tliose who feel 
at a loss iu such matters to defer their fniit planting 
imtil Febniary. We wiU in the meanthue otter some 
advice winch may be relied on. At present, stations 
for then- reception can he duly prepai'ed. 

R. EimiNGiox. 



THE FLOWER-GAEDEN. 

Shrubs for a Wall. — As some of om- fiiends have 
made the inqiuiy, what kind of shnibs, climbing or 
otherwise, will do for a wall, we shall with jileasme 
devote a few lines to the subject for tlieu- benefit. 
Much will depend upon the aspect of the wall as to 
the kinds proper to plant. 

The Border, — The first thmg to attend to is to 
prepare the border. The soil should not he rich, as 
the object is not so much to gi-ow them rajiidly or 
strong as to have a variety of moderately gi-own and 
freely flowered plants. The border need not be wide ; 
if it be four feet it will be qmte suificient. Even two 
feet will do, and it will be more convenient, as it will 
allow the ojieratious of nailiug and iirotecting the 
shrubs to be more conveniently performed. A good 
compost for them is formed of one-half loam and one- 
half sandy peat, well mixed, but not made too fine. 
If the situation is low and wet it must be drained, 
and a quantity of hi-ick ends, or broken stones, or 
chnkers, put at the bottom about foiu- or five inches 
tliick. The depth of tlie compost need not be more than 
sixteen inches. Shoidd awallc he next to the border, 
the (h-ain can be luider the walk, and an edging of 
box planted. The compost shoidd be put in two or 
three inches higher than it is intended to be, to allow 
for settling. 

Planting. — WHien all this is properly executed the 
shrubs may lie planted. As it is desirable to cover 
the wall as soon as possible, there ought to he some 
tliiugs planted for immechate cfii^ct. Such as are in- 
tended to be permanent, ought to be legiblj' named 
with such a laliel as ma}' be easily read. Each may 
be conveniently hung up, or nailed to the wall, close 
to tlie plant it belongs to. It would be well if the 
natural order, as well as the botiuiic and English 
names, were written on each label. This would be a 
great help tow-ards leai-niug botany, a. science so de- 
hghtful and jilcasaut that every one from tlie highest 
to the lowest ought to know something of it. Indeed 
every plantin the Hower-garden ought to be so named, 
whether the garden belougs to the nobleman, the 
amateiu-, or the cottager. If tlus was generally done, 
what a grand amount of knowledge would be opened 
to the rising generation, both rich and poor. We 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE- 



149 



shall retiu-n to the subject of naming plants in some 
future nmnher more fully. 

Training. — The border being made, and tlic shrubs 
planted, the next operation will be to fasten them to 
the wall. Even tliis simple operation may be done 
several ways. TJie most common method practised 
is with sln-eds of cloth and nails. The slu-eds are 
generally made of the list, or outer edging, of woollen 
cloth, dipt into suitable lengths; longer for the thick 
branches, and shorter for the small ones. Tliis list 
can be procured from the tailors. Cast iron nails, on 
account of first chea2mess, are mostly used, but ham- 
mered nails are the best, and cheapest too. in the end. 
Another method of fastening shrubs to the wall is by 
having a treUis of wooden laths previously to planting 
set up against and nailed to the wall, so as to allow 
matting or twine to pass under each lath to tie the 
shrubs to. This plan, when the trellis is neatly made, 
and painted green, has a very ornamental appeai'ance. 
but there is an objection or two to it: it is rather 
expensive ; is hable to decay, and harbours dead 
leaves and bisects. The next plan we shall notice is 
that of having cast h-on nails with an eye to each. 
These can be driven into the wall, at certain distances, 
between every otlier row of bricks, where the wall is 
of that material. The plants can be tit)d to those 
eye-headed nails, 'and tliis wHl answer pretty well. 
In our opinion, however, the best plan to adopt for 
this purpose, is that of using long lengths of copper 
(iron or zinc) wire stretched horizontally along the 
wall, at about nine inches apart. It can be fastened 
to the wall with such eyed nails as we have just men- 
tioned, or with ii-on staples. Now the using of copper 
wu-e for tliis pin-pose has several advantages : one it 
has, in common with the two last, that wlien onoe 
fastened to the wall, there will be no more need of 
injming the mortar by cbiAong in or di-awing out nails, 
as is done by the nail and shred system. 'Ihe round- 
ness of the wire wiU not be so liable to injure the 
branches as the wooden square trellis, or the sharp 
edges of the eye-headed nails. The shoots, as they 
advance, can be tied to each succeeding wire in a 
straight direction quite as well, if not better, than by 
the shreds. Neither dead leaves nor insects will har- 
bour so much under the wires as they would under 
the trelhs ; and, lastly, that it is less liable to decay, 
or get out of order, than any other method. 

The following is a select list of shrubs suitable for 
this purpose: — Those marked with an asterisk maybe 
used where the extent of wall is moderate. The 
whole are well worth cultivating where there is room 
for them. 



Deciduous. 

*Amj/gdaluspcrsicafloreplcno, 
Double-flowering: peach. 

Berbcris dulcis. Sweet ber- 
berry. 

, , fascicularis. Bun- 

dle-flowered ditto. 

* , , trifoliatus. Three- 
leaved ditto. 

Ccfcis siliquastntm. Long- 
podded Judas-tree. 

*Chbnonanthus fnigrans. 
Sweet Chimoiianthus. 

*Cydo7iiajapomca ulha. White 
Japan cydonia, or flowery pear. 

* ,, rubra, lied ditto. 
Hydrangea quircifolia. Oak- 
leaved hydrangea. 

*MagnQUa conspicua. Showy 
magnolijj. 

* ,,. Soalangcana. Sou- 
lange's ditto. 

*Putucagrnii.ata. Pomegranate. 
Eibca xpt'fivsu. Showy goose- 
berry. 



Robinia hi& 
acacia. 



nda. Hairy rose 



Evergreen. 

*Ceonathits cmruleus. Blue 
ceonathus. 

Cistus ludamferiis. Gum cis- 
tus. 

*Cotoneaster microphylla. 
Small-leaved cotoneaster. 

Escallonia Montevidensis. 

Blonte Video Escallonia. 

Jnsrnimcm fruticans. Shrubby 
jasmine. 

Laurics nobilis. Sweet Bay. 

Ligitstritm sineuse, Chineae 
privet. 

MugnoUn grandijlora. Large- 
flowered magnolia. 

* ,, E.nnfjathii. 

Lord Ksmouth's ditto. 

Pbotininacrrtdala. Saw-Ie.ived 
pIiGtin ia. 



Climbers. 

Ampelopsis hederacea. Ivy- 
lenved Virginian creeper. 

Atragene Austriaca. Austrian 
atragene. 

J, Siberica. Siberian 
ditto. 

*Bign07iia radica7is major. 
Larger-rooting bignonia. 

*Clemati.s azurea grandijlora. 
Large blue clematis. 

,, florida. Florida ditto. 
,, „ pleno. Double 

ditto ditto. 

,, flammitla. Sweet do. 
,, Hendersonii. Hen- 
derson's clematis. 

* „ Sieboldii. Siebold's 
ditto. 

,, montana. Mountain 
ditto. 

Corchorus jnpotiicus flore ple- 
no. Double Japan corchorus. 

*Crategus pyracantha. Ever- 
green thorn. 



Eceremocarpus scaber. Rough 
eccrcmocarpus. 

*Hedera Helix. Ivy (several 
varieties). 

*Jasminum officinale. Com- 
mon jessamine. 

„ revolutum. Revolutc- 
flowered ditto. 

*Lonicera Italica. Italian ho- 
neysuckle. 

,, coccinea. Scarlet do, 

* „ fleiVaosa. '^Twining 
ditto. 

,, grata. Evergreen do.- 

* ,, sempervirens. Trum- 
pet ditto. 

*Pass>Jfora cmiilea. Blue 
passion-flower (rather tender). 

,, Muyana. May's do. 
,, palmata. Hand- 

leaved ditto. 

Viiis riparia. Sweet vine. 

* Wistaria sinensis. Chinese 
Wistaria.* 



In addition to the above, the following climbing 
roses would make a very agi'eeable variety : 



Amadis. Crimson. 
La Biche. Creamy-white. 
Laure Davoust. Pink. 
Ayrshire queen. Dark crimson. 
Boursault elegans. Crimson 
purple. 



Felicite perpetuelle. White. 
Gracilis. Deep blush. 
Madame d'Arblay. White. 
Miller's climber. Purple. 
. Yellow Banksinn. 



To fill up the wall until the permanent shrubs 
cover it, annual creepers should be planted, such as 
tropeolum canariense (canary nastm'timn), mamandya 
Barclayana (Barclay's mam-andya), lophospermum 
Hendersonii (Henderson's lophospermum), rhodochi- 
ton volubile, or lophospermum rhodocliiton, (Twining 
rbodochiton), cobjfia scandens (climbing cobaea). 

Should these not be sufficient to cover the wall en- 
tirely, fuchsias, scarlet geraniums, some strong grow- 
ing verbenas of different colours, heliotropes, phlox 
Dnimmondii, mimulus glutinosus, and jM. puniceus 
may be planted dining the first summer. 

AVe liave seen all the above used mth very good 
effect. Where expense is no object, more tender things 
might be planted, such as myi-tles, oleanders, camellias, 
aloysia citriodora (the lemon plant), azalea indica, alba 
buddlea globosa (globe-tiowered buddlea), clethra 
arborea (tree clethra), chanthus puniceus (scarlet ch- 
anthus),coronillaglauca(glaucouscoronilla), daphnes, 
several species. Erythiina cristagalli (coral tree), 
metrosideros floribundus (bundle-fiowered metrosi- 
deros), pittosporum tobira, veronica speciosa (showy 
speedwell), V. sahcifolia (willow-leaved ditto). Should 
any or all of these last-named be planted, they will 
requii-e protection fi'om fi-ost. The best and most 
efle(!tual is, to have thick straw mats, fastened to a 
frame of wood, and when fi-ost is hkely to occin, to 
set them up against tbe plants requiring protection, 
taking care that they fit close ; over these, in extra 
severe weather, put a double thickness of Russia mats ; 
over the roots place di'ied fern, or diied stable litter. 

Flued Wall. — Should the wall intended for tliose 
ornamental plants have to be built, it would be very 
advantageous to rim flues in it, so that it could be 
gently heated to keep off the fi'ost. This would save 
a great deal of the trouble of i:)rotection. Now the 
question may be asked, is it worth wliile to be at all 
this trouble and expense ? We answer, just visit Chats- 
worth, and see the conservative wall there; and that 
wall, we think, would convince the most doubting. 
The beauty of the plants, ui perfect health and luxuri- 
ance, must please every visitor. W^e mentioned, at the 
beginning of tliis subject, that muck would depend 

* Cidled at flrst Glycine tiiiicubis— Chinese Glycine, 



150 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



upon the aspect. Now, the best aspect for all the 
above plants is south-east or south-west. The south 
itself we consider too hot ; it would render the plants 
too tender to withstand the cold nights of early spring 
or autumn. 



FLORISTS" FLOWERS. 

The Carnation and Picotee. — (Continved.) — At 
this season of the year, these plants only require pro- 
tecting from very severe frost, and keeping moderately 
dry ; about once a month stir the sm-face of the soil, 
and keep a good look out for snails and slugs. Should 
any of the leaves appear yellow, j^ou may be sure the 
wire-womis are at work ; seareli in the soil for them 
instantly, by moving the earth from the stem. Should 
you not find them, lay a ti'ap for them. A small po- 
tato out in three pieces, and laid close to each stem, 
find covered slightly with soil, is the best of all decoys. 
The worm will feed upon the potato, and if looked 
for about every otlier day, you will soon be rid of 
these destructive pests. For the information of new 
beginners, we have made a selection of a few good 
kinds, arranged in then* colours, with the price of 
Hach. We have not selected the newest and dearest 
sorts, for these are not always the best because of 
their dearuess or scaixeness. 



CARNATIONS. 

Scarlet Bizarres.* 
Xames. Rais&rs. PerPr. 



s.d. 
3 6 



Don John Twitchett. . 

Dultc of Welling- 
ton Smith 

Gay Lad HoUiday . . 

Leader Hepworth . 

Lndy Peel Puxley 

Crimson Bizarres. 

DukeofBedford.Ely 

^Tcorgiana Jaques . . . . 

I*iiul Pry Wakefield . 

Rainbow Elliott 

Shakspcre Manslcy . . 



Pinlc and Purple Bizarres. 

Kpaminondas . . Hogg 2 

Iris Jaques 2 6 

Queen Victoria. . Smith .... 26 
Woodcock's 
Seedling ....Woodcock. 2 6 

Purple Flakcs.f 
Colonel of the 

Blues Hogg 

John Wright . . Ely 



a 

5 

2 I 

3 6 



Names. Raisers. PerPr. 
s.d. 

Lady Ely Ely 2 6 

Lovely Ann Ely 3 6 

Village fliaid . . . Greasley ..26 

J PICOTEES.t 



Red Edged. 

H Duchess of 

Cambridge Brooks 2 6 

H Duke of Wel- 
lington Sharp .... 26 

L Gem Sharp .... 40 

Mrs. Bevan ..Burroughcs 3 o 

H Sir R. Peel . . Giddcn 2 6 



3 
2 6 

Lady Howe Hale 2 6 

Mary Anne Malpas .... '2 Q 

Princess Char- 
lotte Turner 2 

Scarlet Flakes. 

Brilliant Chadwick. . 2 6 

Earl of Leicester . Wigg 2 6 

Firebrand Hardwick. . 5 

Mary Anne Grcasley ..3 6 

William IV Wilson 2 



Rose Flakes. 

Flora Chadwick. . 2 o 

Harriet Wilson 3 



Purple Edged. 

L Duke of New- 
castle Burroughes 3 

H Favourite .... Ely 26 

L L'Elegant Sharp 3 

H Marchioness of 

Douro Burroughcs 2 6 

L Prince Albert . Crask 2 6 

H President .... Burroughes 4 

Rose and Scarlet Edged. 

Bride Dicksons ..30 

FairRosamondTwitchett . 3 

Ivanhoe Crouch 3 6 

H Miss Osborne . Burroughes 2 6 

Prince Albert .Johns .... 36 

H Miss Fanny 

Irby .Wilson 2 



YELLOW GROUND PICO- 
TEES. 



Malay Chief . . 
Pride of Pout 
Parsee Bride . . 
Topaz 



. May . . 
. Cooke 
. May . . 
. Hojle 



3 6 

5 

5 

7 6 



Those kinds marked H are heavy-edged; that is, 
have a deep border of the colour round each petal. 
Those marked 1, are light-edged. Those not marked 
are intermediate. T. ArrLEBV. 

• Bizarre—Oi carnation, marked with two colours on a white 
ground. 

t Flake — a carnation marked with one colour on a white ground. 

X Picotees differ from carnations only in their colour -being con- 
fined to the edges of the petals or flower-leaves. 



GREENHOUSE AJVD WINDOW 
GARDENING. 

Geraniums. — You ask me how it is that yoin- aimt 
Harriet's geraniums are never killed by tiie fi'ost. 
although she has only a common wnidow to keep them 
in? Whether there are some geraniums more hardy 
than others, and if it be true that geraniums ought to 
he cut down every year? Allow me, before I answer 
you, to express a hope that you have not lost yom' own 
geraniums last winter, as you did the whiter before, 
and to ask whether you have consulted your a\int as 
to her mode of management? As I should rather 
prefer to explain to you, first, any points in her ma- 
nagement, which yoii may not have understood pro- 
perly, before I enter on the subject in my o\vn way. 
Vo>i admit, then, that she did give you a "whole his- 
tory" of her proceedings, but that she so mixed up her 
details ■with anecdotes of her losses, anticipations, fail- 
ures, success, and you know not what else besides, that 
ynu could only recollect that part of her story which 
related to some cuttings she gave you at the time, from 
those old plants of her's. which you believe wOl never 
die as long as she can attend to them herself Now, I 
tliink, you have given me a clue to the liistory of yom- 
own gardening attempts. You have been admiring 
those beautiful geraniums, in which deai' aunt Harriet 
takes so much delight; and, indeed, who could sec 
them without being struck with her good manage- 
ment ! she told you how to strike the cuttings, and 
gave you full directions how to manage the plants 
aftenvai'ds ; but in yom hiu'i-y to be a gardener all at 
once, you forget the most useful part of her instruc- 
tions ; yon soon rooted the cuttings, but that is nothing 
to do with growing the plants well ; they blossomed, 
no doubt, and you let the fi'ost kill them the first win- 
tor ; and now you hear that every one in the parish 
will have window plants next j'car, owing to this 
'• CoTTAoE Gahdener," which is hi "every body's 
mouth," and you come to me with a sti'ing of queries, 
ratlier than let amit Harriet know how slightly you 
valued her instructions — of more value, too, as being 
the residt of many years' attentive observation. Now 
that we understand each other so far, I h ave no doubt 
T shall be able to refresh yom- memory about many of 
the main features in aunt Harriet's account of her 
present practice wdtli her geraniiuns. In the tirst place, 
she told yon it was many years before she knew how 
to prune them right ; they used to get so long in the 
branches, and so naked below, for want of leaves, that 
she often resolved to break off the points of the shoots, 
to see what etfect that •would have ; but she always 
discovered another set of blossom-buds just formed, 
and she thought it would be a pity to lose such trea- 
sures ; for she was always fond of flowers. At last, 
the geraniiuns became so tall and imsightly, that she 
had some thoughts of throwing them away altogether, 
and to buy a fresh lot of young ones. Before slie had 
made up her mind, however, for this extremity, an 
unusual hard winter set in; and notwithstanding her 
previous misgivings, she took the best possible means 
within her reach to preserve them from the frost She 
even went so far as to lay them down lengthwise, under 
her sofa, during two or three of the hardest nights; 
for they were so long-legged, that they could not stand 
under the table opjiosite the fire-place, as they did on 
former occasions. She also was aware that no water 
should be given them dm'ing such a hard fl-ost ; yet, 
after all, they (Ud not pass through this ordeal without 
considerable damage ; indeed, she thought at flrst they 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



lol 



were killed outright, till she found the bark on the 
bottom of the stems, near the pots, was stiU fresh ; 
but, as the leaves and gTeen parts were all frosted, she 
gave them up for lost : or, at least, she thought she 
did ; but it was difficult to get rid of the idea that, 
" as long as there is life there is hope." Time passed 
on, and flue sprhig weather opened at last, and one 
day she thought she could see a bud swelhug out on 
the dry stem of one of the plants. She coidd hardly 
believe her own eyes ; she then cut off the remains of 
the frosted parts down to the live stumps, and gave 
the pots a little water — the first drop they had since the 
commencement of the frost two months before — and 
in less tiran ten days all the plants gave evident signs 
of life. In a short time the whole were m full leaf 
agam; some of the plants having shoots as close toge- 
ther as they could stand. When she thought upon 
them after this, she could breathe fi'eely. 

The next point to settle was, how so many yoimg 
shoots were to be disposed of? She got over tliis Ijy 
rubbing off one here, and another there, till at last 
there were only from six to eight shoots on each gera- 
nium ; and as these kept crowding on each other, 
owing to their strong gi-owth, and larger than usual 
leaves, she ti-ained them to sticks placed all round 
each pot, in such a way as that aU the shoots were at 
equal distances from each other. Wlren she got them 
in this trim order, she thought she never saw plants 
look so beautiful before ; and by the time they came 
into blossom, they were such big plants, theh' blossoms 
larger than they used to be, and such quantities of 
them, and the leaves were so glossy, so large, and 
hanging over the pots so boldly in all directions, that 
she was obliged to remove some of them to other win- 
dows than those of her sitting-room ; and in the distri- 
bution, Susan, the maid, got one of them for " her 
own self," as she used to say. Aunt Han-iet says, to 
tins day, that Susan was the best girl she ever had for 
looking aftei' the geraniums : that she never knew 
her to dust the parlour «ithout first setting the jilauts 
outside the window, or into the next room, if the wea- 
ther was cold, to preserve them from the dust. Susan 
has been married now some years ; her children are 
the tidiest in the village ; her cottage is always orderly 
and scrupulously clean, and everytliing Susan puts 
her hands on seems to prosper and do well. You may 
be sure there are no waut of oonrmon flowers about 
her door, and a well-kept geranium m the wmdow ; 
and all this, and much more besides, may be dated 
from the happy day on which Susan got the geranium 
for her " own self " from auut Han-iet. 

Anything we learn by actual experience is less 
likely to be forgotten than such things as we learn 
fi'om conversations or books. The effects of that hard 
winter taught yom- aimt many tilings with respect to 
her plants; indeed, it may be said to have laid the 
foundation of her success in after years. In the first 
place, she saw the gi'eat improvement caused by the 
accidental death of the tops of her geraniums; the 
beautiful bushy plants they made in consequence, 
paved the way to her piresent system of cutting them 
in so close every autmmi ; and tliisis a dii-eot answer 
to one of your questions. Then, as to the hardiness of 
one sort over another, aunt Harriet perceived at once, 
that if her plants were young, with gi'een stems all 
down to tire pot, she must liave lost them that very 
hard winter ; whereas those parts that were ripe, hard, 
and dry, resisted all that long frost, so that the sup- 
posed difference of hardUiood in window geraniums 
turns out to be owing to their various ages and degi-ees 
of ripeness m then- shoots. The younger plants are, 
therefore, the more Uable to be frost-bitten, and this 



is one inducement, among others, to try to keep plants 
over the winter. 

Did aimt Harriet ever tell yoir tliat she pruned the 
roots of her genaniums as well as their branches'.' 
Probably you never thought to ask so sti'ange a ques- 
tion, otherwise she would have readily told you what 
an excellent plan it is, seeing she is so kind as never 
to make a secret of any plan she finds useful for her 
geraniums ; nor has she ever been kno«Ti to refuse a 
cutting when she coidd spare one. There is no doubt 
but she woidd have told j'ou about cutting the roots 
had you not been so thoughtless as to say to her that 
you thought it ridiculous in any one to cut down a 
geranium while it looked " green and healthy." It is 
thus with us all : we never learn to do tlungs in tlie 
right way wlule we hold sti-ong opinions of om- own. 
You say you cannot vmderstand how it is that aunt 
Harriet's geraniums are re-potted or sliifted twice 
every year', (as she says they always are,) and yet 
they look as if they were in tlie same pots ever since 
you knew them. I can easily conceive how she ma- 
nages that; and it is a fru-tber proof, if such were 
needful, of her excellent management. But I .see how 
it is : rmder this modest disguise of assmning ignorance 
as to your aunt's management, you want me to say 
how the gardeners manage then geraniums; but hav- 
ing led me thus far, I had better go on with what 
I conceive to be the main featm-e in your aiuit's pro- 
ceedings, and if I miss any essential point, please to 
let me know after you consult her, and I shall let you 
hear in a future letter how the gardeners succeed best. 
Well, then, to make the story more clear, I shall follow 
the fate of those geraniums that were frosted, pre- 
suming that they had been treated according to her 
present experience. You recollect these did not come 
into leaf tUl early in ilarch, owing to the accident, 
therefore they did not come into blossom tiU six weeks 
after their usual time, and this taught her to pnme 
some plants in the spring, on piu-pose to make them 
fiower later than those which were prmied in the 
autumn, at the usual time ; and that is the secret of 
her having plants in blossom most part of the sinnmer. 
Of coiu-se she does not cut her spring shoots quite 
down, as she was obliged to do with the frosted ones; 
she merely breaks off an inch or so fr'om their points. 
From the middle to the end of this month (January) 
is her usual time to "stop" the shoots of a couple of 
beautiftd plants she always gets into bloom about Mid- 
simrmer-day. She outs two more plants at the end of 
February, to succeed the ^tidsmumer ones. Some 
people, when they hear that soapsuds and other liquid 
mauru'es are good for geranirmis, give them lai'go 
doses of these as soon as they begin to grow in the 
spring. Yom' aunt has given up that plan long suico. 
She found that with the rich niordd they were potted 
iu, the use of stimulants in the spring tended rather to 
lengthening the shoots than increasing the size or 
brQliancy of the flowers ; and short stout branches are 
one of her e\'idences of good management. As soon, 
however, as she can perceive the blossom-buds formed 
in little clusters, she begins to water them with soap- 
suds and other sti'ong water, which I need not mention 
further than that Susan first found it out, and by adding 
one-half rain-water with it, and giving it alternately 
with clean water, it had a sm-piising effect on her 
plant. This rich watering causes the geraniums to 
gTow on and flower much longer than is usually the 
case, especially those plants that are encom'aged with 
soapsuds to make all then- growth fii-st. 

After the plants have done flowering in the summer, 
aunt Han'iet is never in a huiTy to prune them, or cut 
them down ; she merely turns them out of doors to 



1 :>-i 



TIIF. COTTAfiK GARDENER. 



iv(!ovpr tliemselvns after tlic liavd labour of pi'oilncirjs 
so many flowers in succession, hihe lias learned by 
experience, that it' cut down when in tliis exbausted 
condition, tlie next shoots come np very iiregidarly, 
so that some are very sti'ong, while the greatei' part 
are weak puny things, which flower %\'eakly. and pre- 
vent the possibility of forming a regidar bushy head to 
the plant. As soon as the geraniums are tnrncd ont, 
all strong water is \vithbeld, and no more rain-water 
is given than will keejj the leaves from drooping, so 
that the plants get over their exhaustion in a natm'nl 
way \rithout any stimulus. After a while they arc 
ijuite recovered, and even under this scanty nourish- 
ment they begin to gi'ow away freely at the top. Now 
this is the precise moment to cut them down ; their 
blood or sa]) being now in active motion all over the 
plant, when they are cut at this stage, all the young 
slioots come up vigorously, and issue forth almost at 
the same moment. Another advantage results fi'om 
this practice : — by leaving her plants uupnuied till 
they renew then' strength, the gi'owing season is so far 
spent that the young shoots come up slowly and short- 
jointed, so that they are not more than a few inches 
long by the end of October, which is the time she 
begins to keep them drier for the winter. In this 
state they are easier to keep through the winter than 
if they were long lanky plants, as we often see in win- 
dows. As soon as the plants are ready to cut down, 
she first lets them get diy enough to cause the leaves 
to cb'oop, that prevents them from "bleeding," as we 
say when a plant loses the sap when cut ; and she also 
withholds water from the cut plants for two or three 
days, to enable the wounds to dry more readily. 
There is no one in the parish, I believe, who cuts down 
geraniums so closely as your aunt, and that is one 
main cause why her plants always look so bushy. She 
cuts all the branches down to within three inches of 
where they began growing from the older wood, and 
if she meets with a weak or very small branch, which, 
however, is seldom the case, she cuts that down to the 
last bud, so that it can only produce one shoot for 
next season; that causes it to gi'ow as strong as the 
others, as generally there are three or four branches 
allowed to gTow from the stronger shoots. 

Now, after the jilants are thus cut, they arc slightly 
watered for ten days or a fortnight, or till the young 
shoots have three or four leaves each, or, say, are 
about an inch long, and then comes the great annual 
revolution of shaking away the whole of the soil from 
the roots. If you bad called at her cottage just at 
that time, and found her at this employment, without 
being aware that this process was ever resorted to by 
any one before, you might well feci alarmed about the 
state of her mind. But there she is, taking one pot 
after another, shaking out the sod, and even cutting 
all the larger roots to from four, five, or six inches 
from where they first issued, as coolly as I am writing 
about it. When the roots of geraniums are thus cut, 
the stumps that are left will push out many young 
roots fi'om then- sides, and instead of one old large 
root, she will get half a dozen young healthy ones, 
that wdl suck up a much gi-eater share of nourish- 
ment; and so they would need, seeing that next year 
there will be so nnuiy more branches to be sii]iplied 
with food. The large roots being thus shortened, and 
the small ones trimmed in a little, the plant is imme- 
diately rc-potted; but the branches being cut so close 
in, you may be siu'c it docs not require so nnich feed- 
ing as when in full beauty ; so to accommodate the 
lilant in this respect, it is put.iirto a very small pot, 
just large enough to hold the roots without being 
doubled or cramjied iu any way. Allhougli auut 



Haniet uses richer mould than any of her neighbours 
for her geraniums at this potting, she mixes a portion 
of sand with it, to make it more loose, which will 
enable the young-tbrmed roots to pass through and 
among it more freely. The proportion of sand may 
be about one-eighth, sometimes more and sometimes 
less, according to the texture of the mould. 

No one is more jiarticular aboiit the drainage of 
pots than yoiu' aunt. She learned tlie proper use 
of drainage many years since by sad experience, 
having then lost a beautiful young plant by the soil 
getting soddened, — the oyster-shell having got choked 
up round the edges witli the loose mould. Potting- 
day was a busy day with Susan ; she had to carry 
the pots, nnx the mould, break the crocks, and aiTauge 
them very regulai-ly iu the bottom of the jiots ; and 
she always contrived to liave some fresh moss at hand 
on potting-days, to place a thin layer of it over the 
crocks. She also carried the new potted plants oiu- 
side, to some level spot, where they got a good 
watering with a rose watering-pot, to settle the new 
mould about the roots, and wash the leaves and 
branches. In the evening, when the pots got dry, 
and all the superfluous water drained away from them, 
the Jilants were taken in-doors and placed in the win- 
dow, where they made but a sorry appearance for 
some time in the eyes of strangers ; yet aunt Harriet 
was well satisfied with their condition, and for the first 
week or ten days after potting, she woidd order the 
window to be kept shut, to keep the room close and 
warm, in order to assist the plants to make new roots, 
and on very bright days the blind would be di-awn 
down to keep the sun from them in the middle of the 
day; that is, for the first fortnight after the potting, 
by which time they were pretty well established in 
the fresh soil. 

Now, with all this care, and with such small pots, 
the gerauiiuns usually wanted another shift into larger 
pots iu about six weeks, or say late in September. 
Then pots, crocks, oyster-sbcUs, moss, and rich moiUd, 
were all iu requisition again ; and for tins final potting 
for the season, Susan contrived to have at hand some 
di-y rotten dung, of which she placed a layer over the 
moss above the drainage. How this rotten dung was 
procured is one of tliose mysteries peculiar to the old 
saying. " where there is a will there is a way." This 
potting was more easy to perform than the fonuer oue, 
as nothing was required but to turn the bidl of earth, 
in which the plant was growing, into the new pot, 
with as much soil under it as raised it nearly level 
with the rim of the new pot ; yet every ball turned 
out of the pot was criticised as to the extent of the 
roots — their healthiness, and general appearance : if 
these were thought favourable, then the plant was put 
hito its floweiing-pot at once ; if otbei-wise, a smaller 
pot was used, with the view of giving the plant another 
and the final shift in the spring; so that, in fact, the 
plants were always flowering in the same pots as you 
said you thought they were. After this potting, the 
room was again kept more close, to encoin-age the 
gi-owth of roots; but by this time the sun was not 
strong enough to require the blinds to be taken dowii ; 
and if it was, the plants did not requii-e this time to 
lie screened, as they had plenty of roots. Strong plants 
like these, being thus early put into the pots they are 
to flower in, coidd not fail to give a largo crop of 
flowers, if they are kept veiy slowly growing, from 
November to tlie end of February. 

People who have greenhouses (miu hardly be so in- 
dulgent, for want of room, as, if they have a large stock 
of plants to ju'cserve through the winter, such large 
)iots would take uji too nuich room; they therefore 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



153 



put them in secoud-sized pots late in the autumn, and 
give them the final shift as soon in the spring as they 
can make room for them, by tm-ning some of the more 
hardy plants out of the gi-eenhouse iuto temporary 
pits, or sheltered corners, where tliey can be covered 
at night. I intended to di-aw up, iu one small para- 
graph, the chief points in this account of aunt Hai-riet's 
management; but, on reconsideration, I think it 
wovdd be much better if you were to do tliat for yom'- 
self — it woidd lielp you to recollect it ; indeed, any of 
my letters, in which you see hints suited to yoirr own 
case, might be sifted iu the same way ; as once you see 
the reasons I give for such and such things, all you 
want to remember are the chief points, or names of 
plants, dates, &c. D. BE.iTON. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 

Rhubarb. — The cultivation of this useful and veiy 
wholesome vegetable was not much understood or at- 
tended to until within these last thii-ty year's. It is true 
that two or three very poor varieties were to be found in 
most old mansion gardens, but placed in some corner 
whence they were never again to be removed until 
worn out by old age and decayed by piecemeal. In 
those days it was a rare sight to observe a leaf-stalk 
of rhubarb larger than one's thumb, and they were 
too tough to be nuich sought for. Wlieu the lament- 
ably long war M-hich had involved all Europe was 
brought to a close, enterprising men sprung up who 
not only oonmienoed uiprovements in the cidture of 
the son, but who also began to observe how needful it 
was to improve the varieties of our fi'uits and vege- 
tables. Rhubarb was one of the first to be decidedly 
improved, both in its varieties and cidtm-e, so that 
now it is not at all uncommon to observe leaf-stalks 
of rhubarb as large as an arm, of many poimds weight, 
delicious in flavour, and beautifid iu colour. 

Varieties. — Amongst the earliest improved varie- 
ties were Buck's Early Red, Elford's Early Red, and 
Radford's Early Red. The Giant speckled-stalked 
was the best late vai-iety. Now several stiU further 
improved varieties have made their appearance ; of 
those are Myiit's Victoria ; it is speckled, or more in- 
clined to be green stalked ; and if not the best variety 
down to the present time, yet, considering all its good 
(salifications, we do not know of any one more excel- 
lent. Tobolsk is a very good early vaiiety, but takes 
more after the above first improved varieties. Alyat's 
LiuuEeus and jNIitchell's Royal Albert are also first-rate 
modern varieties. 

PflOPAG-vrioN. — To propagate from roots to get a 
large stock, the best mode is to take up the old stools 
eaily in spring ; to pull of all the roots which are 
found to be free from canker, to jilace them thickly 
together, say nine inches or one foot fi-om each other, 
iu a drill, covering them witli earth three inches deep. 
But if only a few select stools or strong roots are 
requu-ed, as for a private family, the stools should be 
carefully parted with a crown to each. In this man- 
ner good rhubarb stalks would be produced the second 
year after planting, if a good preparation has been 
made of the soil. If raised fi'om seed, the above 
would take longer to produce good stalks, for the 
seedlings woidd have to be transplanted from the 
seed bed. The seed of rhubarb should be sowai in 
April, on well prepared pulverized soil. Sow it in 
drills eighteen inches apart. Great pains should be 
taken throughout the first season, wlule observations 



can be made in selecting and mai-king the most supe- 
rior-looking plants to be taken up the following sea- 
son for making the plantation. 

Soil and Plan'tixg, — Although rhubarb wDl grow 
on almost any kind of soil, yet it delights most iu a 
good stapled sandy loam, with abundance of strong 
manure. Pig, cow, or horse-dung, night-soil, or the 
sediment of a cesspool or sewer, are not too rich for 
it, if well incorporated with the soil. The soil should 
be well trenched and pulverized previously to plant- 
ing, and each stool or root placed foiu- feet apart 
each way. The plants must be supphed iu the 
gi'owing season with abundance of strong liquid ma- 
nure brewed fi-om the piggeries, cow-house, sheep, or 
deer droppings, butchers' slaughter-house, cesspool, 
or strong sewer liquid. By this treatment the amount 
of ju'oduoe which may be obtained from a few plants 
is very large. Six plants of an early red, and six of 
Myat's Victoria, or any other approved variety, ai-e 
enough to supjily a tolerably large family from March 
to July ; and if a few roots are commenced forcing 
the end of November, and a succession kept up, 
abundance of stalks will be produced fi'om Christmas 
unto the roots in the open gi-ouud are productive. 

Preparation of Soil. — To commence a rhubarb 
plantation, if for the early kinds, select a border or 
other warm situation, and if the soil is not in staple 
or depth good, it should now be made so, as this is 
the season to perform it. If it is a stiff tenacious 
clay, thoroughly di'ain it ; add to it abundance of old 
brick rubble, or broken rough stones, charcoal nibble, 
and refuse vegetable matters, sweepings of walks, 
gi'ass edgings, or rough open turfy soil. To a rod or 
pole of gi-ound, a one-horse cart-load of good strong 
manure, of any of the above described which are 
easiest comeatable, will not be too much. Incorpo- 
rate it well together, by first well trenching it to the 
depth of two or three feet, if the subsoO will permit ; 
and then, in suitably frosty or other dry weather, 
turning back the soil once or twice at least ; for rhu- 
barb is a plant that does not suffer much from trans- 
planting, wlien a good preparation of the soil is made, 
and all is in good condition. In suitable weather it 
may be successfully planted at any time from Octo- 
ber to the end of March. Februai'y and March is 
our favourite time of planting, provided the soil is 
then in good condition. 

If the sod is of a light sandy or gi-avelly nature, 
add a good portion of turfy loam, maiden-loam, marl, 
or even clay. 

If healthy strong roots are obtained, good stallcs 
will he produced the second season from planting, 
and will be fomrd in their prime the third and fourtli 
seasons. The plan we have adopted for years is to 
make a fresh preparation for planting a small quan- 
tity every year ; grubbing up the oldest every winter 
for forcing : after which they are pulled to pieces 
to make young plants for successional plantations. 
Strong prepared liquid manure should be applied in 
the months of April and May. when the weather is 
showery. 

Routine Work. — Continue previous directions as 
respects treuchmg, wheeling or carting out mauu;-e, 
forkmg over the already ridged ground during frosty 
mornings. Attend to the protection of endive, let- 
tuce, pai'sley, and brocoli coming in, as well as peas 
and beans which are above ground. Prepare a warm 
border for radishes ; and, if the weather and sod will 
permit, sow another sowing of early peas and beans. 
Also secure a few more roots of an early variety of 
rhubai'b for forcing. Asparagus already in cut should 
be well attended to, admitting air on sidtable occa- 



ira 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



sious, and supplj'iiig it with tepid weak manure water, 
witli a small ])oi-tion of salt dissolved in it. Carrots 
and radishes already up under protection should lie 
duly thinned, clioosing a fine day for sifting among 
them dry earthy dust, applying tepid water of a hue 
day, ami sliutting up early. Cucumbers and melons 
should be sown in succession, and fermeiitingmaterials 
got together and well wrought, for a succession of 
beds, where depending ou such materials. 

Jajies Baenes. 



HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. 

Flower Borders. — Wheel manure on to the bor- 
ders dm'ing frosty weather. The best of all composts 
for this purpose is a mixture of charred rubbish, de- 
cayed leaves, and the bottom of old wood-stacks; for 
fertQizers containing much ammonia, such as stable- 
dung, are too stimrdating for plants required to be of 
compact growtli, and more productive of flowers than 
leaves. 

Our N.iTivE Flowers. — ^Perhaps no one of our 
readers would dissent from the proposition, that 
beauty, not rarity, is tlie first quality to be desu-ed in 
the tenants of our parteires : and for om'selves. we have 
no hesitation in saying, that that gardener should not 
have the direction of om' flower-borders who rejected 
tire beautiful, because it was common, to make room 
for the more insignificant, merely because it was 
scarce. No, we prefer, before all other considerations, 
beauty of coloiu, beauty of ibiiu, and excellence of 
fragi'ance. Moreover, we are not of those who ad- 
mire most that which costs most ; but, on the con- 
trary, we shoidd be best delighted to save every giunea 
we could from being expended upon the tenants of 
our outdoor departments, in order that we might have 
that guinea to spare upon our stove and gi'eeuhouse, 
the denizens in which must, beyond escape, be excel- 
lent, in proportion to their costlmess. We make these 
observations, because we happen to know thatefl'ects 
the most beautifid may be obtained by the aid of our 
native plants ; we have seen rustic seats looldng gay, 
yet refreshing, from their profuse clothing of our vlnca 
minur and major, and we will ventiue to wager a Per- 
sian melon against a pompion, that half the amateur 
gardeners of E ngland would not recognise th ese flowers 
in theii' cidtivated dwelling-place. Again, if any one 
wishes to have the soil beneath his shrubberies glad- 
some in early spring, let him introduce that pretty 
page-lilce flower, the wood-anemone, to wave and 
flom-ish over the prum-oses and \'iolets. Let him h ave 
there, also, and in Ins borders too, the blue and the 
wliite forget-me-not, Myosotis jjalustrin and jSI. alha. 
We will venture the same wager, that not a tithe of 
om- readers ever saw that last-named gay little native. 
Mr. Paxton's observation applies to them both when 
he says, as a border flower it has very high chai'ac- 
teristics ; it only requires ]jlanting in a moist soil, 
slightly sheltered and shaded, to become a truly bril- 
liant object; it is equally good for forcing, very va- 
luable for bouquets, and alU<e fit for windows, green- 
houses, borders, and beds. Under favourable cidti- 
vation its blossoms increase in size nearly one half 
The ])lants only require to be divided annually, and 
to have the flower-spikes cut otf asthe lower fiowrets 
decay. By thus preventing their seeding, a very 
protracted display of bloom is obtained. T'hcse are 
not a hundredth part of the native flowers which 
might be inti'oduced with happiest eft'ect into oin' gar- 
dens. We have seen the broom, the honeysuckle, and 
the liolly, blended with rarer shrubs, and aithng the 



best conceptions of the landscape gardener ; and we 
have seen garlands of flowers, in which not one 
exotic was interwoven, so beautil'ul, that none culled 
from our choicest stove plants could have much ex 
celled them. — Oanlcners Ahiimuic!:. 

PoT.^To Dise.^se. — Tb e general failm-e of the potato 
crop in the neighbourhood of Kenchester and Bishops- 
stone, in this county (Hereford), is jiretty well known; 
but there is one most remarkable exception, which is 
worthy of record. Amidst the most universal wi-eck, 
the crop on the Bunshill estate has been gathered en- 
tirely in a somid state. The same was the case last 
year. It does not appear that any peculiar culture 
was resorted to to obtain tlus result, the usual method 
being adopted. An instance of the same Icind has 
been commmiicated to us by Mr. Saimders, nursery- 
man, of Abergavenny, as having occmred at Nectou 
Hall, Norfolk. Lieut. Col. Mason, in a letter to Mr. 
Saunders, says, " Amidst all the wr-eck of potato 
grounds, I am happy to say, as an amatem cultivator 
in farming, I have secured in winter heaps sixteen 
acres of soiuid j^otatoes. I \\isb I coidd add that it 
was the result of some particular cirlture or soil ; but 
the seed was ploughed in just the same as a gi'eat 
breadth elsewhere, and it is a solitary instance of suc- 
cess in the same quality of land in which the scom'ge 
had made ravages in other places." — Hereford Times. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Pl.\nts for Tiii: ]M.\EGiN OF A Po?.D (T. T.). — Your pond might 
be elegantly concealed by procuring a quantity of peat, and forming 
a bank all round it. This soil will be proper to j)lant M-ith rhodo- 
dendrons, the taller-growing kinds, such as R. Ponticuni, R. Cataw- 
biense, R. Nobleanum, and R. Alta Clerense, at the back ; and 
R. Ferrugineum, R. Hirsutum, and R. Hybriduni, in front. You 
might, for variety, plant also Berberis Aquifolium and a few dwarf 
roses ; or, if you like it better, the pond might very conveniently be 
hid with rock-work, — ample directions to form which you will find 
in the fifth Number of this work. 

Seeds of An>u.\ls (Subscriber, Lnughton). — If you %vill send a 
list of your seeds, we will give you the desired information. There is 
no hurry, as at this season very few seeds can be prudently sown in 
the open air, or even in pots. Perhaps the list in our last Number 
may have given you the information you require. 

Climbers fob .\ Soutu-kast Wall [H. Mortlock). — The fol- 
lowing hardy climbers will suit you to plant against your house with 
a south-eastern aspect : — Bignonia Radicans Major (Orange Trumpet- 
flower), Jasniinum Officinalis (Common White Jessamine), Cratcegus 
Pyracantha (Evergreen Thorn), white flower, scarlet berries, Loni- 
cera Flexuosa (Twining Honeysuckle), nearly evergreen, orange 
flowers, Wistaria Sinensis (Chinese Wistaria), purple. Magnolia 
Grandiflora var. E.\mouthii (Lord Exmouth's Magnolia), cream- 
coloured. The above are suflicient to cover a pretty large house. A 
few climi)ing-roses might be added to run in among them. See also 
" The Flower-Garden," at p. WQ of this Number. 

Glass foe Vixery {W. B,). — We do not think that the pale 
green glass, employed for glazing the new palm-house at Kew, can 
lie obtained unless specially ordered. It is manufactured by Blessrs. 
Chance, whose office, we believe, is at Birmingham. We should not 
employ this if we were about to glaze a new house, but should use 
rough glass, which is stronger, does not intercept any of the ravs of 
light, prevents scorching, and is cheaper. It may be obtained o{ any 
of the dealers in horticultural glass. 

Raspberries \A. Atkinson), — The directions for pruning rasp- 
berries, given at p. 8 of No. 1, are apjilieablc to any of the varieties. 
Sawdust, when decayed, is a good manure for raspberries, or for any 
other garden plant. We will inquire of our gardening friends as to 
the differences of times for sowing iu the south and north of England. 

Filberts and Cob-nuts {A Subscriber). — \\'e will give some 
directions for their culture. The space you allude to was not suffi- 
cient, and will by degrees be occupied with other subjects. 

Canker in Apple and Pear-trees (.V. R.). — The causes of 
this disease appear to be various. Old age. unripencd wood, and un- 
favourable sod, each give rise to canker. If you will inform us what 
are the varieties affected, and the nature of the soil and subsoil on 
which they grovV, we will enter more fully upon the question. 



London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 14", Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and M'incliester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. lilary Kalendar; and Published by William 
SOMERVILLE Orr, at thc Office, 1-17, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— January 4th, Ibjg. 



THE COTTAGE GAPiDENEK. 



in 5 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 





W 
D 


JANUARY 11—17, 1849. 


Plants dedicated to 
each day. 


Sun 
Rises. 


Sun 
Sets. 


Moon K. 
and Sets. 


Moon's 
Age. 


Clock 
bef. Sun. 


Day of 
Year. 


u 


Th 


Hilary 'T. begins. Common Bunting sings. 


jTliis-year's ^loss 


5 a 8 


12 a 4 


7 49 


17 


8 


19 


11 


u 


F 


Honevsuckle Leaves open. 


Hygrometiical Moss 


4 


13 


8 59 


IS 


8 


42 


12 


18 


S 


HilaiT- Camb. Term beg. Furze flowers. 


Yew Tree 


■.\ 


lb 


10 7 


19 


9 


5 


13 


14 


Sn.x 


2 Son. a. Epip. Long-tailed Pocher goes. 


:BaiTeu Strawbeny 


3 


lU 


11 15 


20 


9 


27 


14 


15 


]\r 


Oxford T. begins. Marsh Titmouse sings. 


Ivy 


2 


18 


morn. 


21 


9 


48 


15 


16 


Tn 


Horticultural & Linn. Societies' Meetings. 


Common Dead Nettle 


] 


20 


20 


H^ 


10 


9 


IG 


17 


W 


Hedge Accentor sings. 


Garden Anemone 


7 


21 


1 23 


23 


10 


29 


17 



Hilary was a native of Poictiers, in France, and eventually became 
Bishop of that place. He lived distinguished for his learning and 
piety, and died on the 13th of this month, in the year 368. 

Phenomena of the Season. — During this month usually occurs 
the lowest degrees of cold that we have to endure during the year. 
The " Great Frosts " of England have always cither begun or ex- 
tended over a part of this month ; nor does this prevail in England 
only, but throughout the northern hemisphere. From the North 
Pole, and over the whole of this portion of the globe, the old proverb 
is illustrated, which tells us that " January will freeze the pot upon 
the tire." The great frosts of 1/83, 1/96, and 1814, all began, or 
were at their greatest intensity, during this month ; freezing over the 
Thames and other rivers, so that fairs were actually held upon them. 
During these frosts, which lasted four or more weeks each, the ther- 
mometer was fretjucntly as low as 7° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, 
being 25° below that at which water freezes. It was on the llth of 
tliis month, in 1820, that Captain Parry observed the greatest degree 
of cold during his voyage to the North Pole. It was, on that day, 
ft/rti/-niue degrees below zero; that is, it was eighty-nn^ degrees 
bcluuD the freezing point uf water! Every one has suffered by 
having bottles and pitchers cracked by their contents freezing, but 
very few persons are aware of the cause, — viz., that water, unlike any 



other liquid, swells in becoming solid. This is a wise and kind pro- 
vision of God ; for if, in freezing, water became more compact and 
heavier, the ice would sink to the bottom of our ponds and rivers, — 
and there, never thawing, the whole of the northern and temperate 
parts of the globe would become, in the course of a few years, as cold, 
and even more dreary, than the snow tricts inhahited by the Esqui- 
maux. The force with which water expands, or swells, in freezing, 
has been shewn by filling with it hollow balls or shells of iron, and 
then freezing them. The shells were split. 

Insects. — We have this week to offer a warning in defence and on 
behalf of another insect, and we do so with more alacrity, because 
we have in most of our past comments, and shall have still more 
frequently in those that are in prospect, to condemn and direct war 
against our insect foes. Now being the time when vacant ground is 
trenched, and as during nest month ground will again have to be 
levelled and dug, the garden Centipede {Cryptops hortensis—Scolo- 
pendru of some Entomologists) wQl be frequently observed, and 
actively endeavouring to twist again into an underground conceal- 
ment. Never kill one intentionally ; for. as their jaws plainly shew, 
they are carnivorous (flesh-eating), living upon worms and other 
insects they find in the soil. Mr. Sheppard once saw a centipede 
attack a worm ten times its own size, round which it twisted like a 




i Jan. 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


1848. 


11 

Highest 

& lowest 

temp. 

12 


Fine. 


Frost)'. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


39°— 33° 


34° — 30° 


40°— 31° 


46°— 30° 


51°— 44° 


42°— 32° 


34°— 21° 


37°— 24° 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 




39°— 22° 


36°— 24° 


43°— 23° 


44°— 35° 


47°— 32° 


36°— 31° 


36°— 27° 


44°— 29° 


13 


Showery. 


Snow. 


Stormy. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 




38°— 32° 


33°— 29° 


46°— 37° 


44°— 35° 


51°— 30° 


48°— 35° 


38°— 21° 


42°— 39° 


H 


Snow. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Showery. 




36°— 32° 


36°— 22° 


39°— 28° 


40°— 26° 


50°— 35° 


50°— 37° 


35°— 19° 


45°— 36° 


15 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 




39°— 31° 


390—20° 


40°— 26° 


40°— 20° 


50°— 39° 


49°— 36° 


36°— 21° 


42°— 20° 


16 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy, 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 




52°— 40° 


42°— 31° 


41°— 30° 


39° — 32° 


48°— 32° 


51°— 40° 


36°— 27° 


38°— 28° 


17 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 




62°— 45° 


43°— 22° 


42°— 37° 


45°— 39° 


42°— 37° 


51°— 36° 


31°— 28° 


44°— 29° 



Serpent, finally conquering and eating it. This species (C horteivils) is found in Devonshire, and other southern counties of England. 
Colour, rusty brick red ; antcnnje (horns) hairy, and seycnteen jointed ; eyes indistinct ; legs hairy, and twenty-one on each side. There are 
scycral species, ycry like this, and all of them are friendly rather than injurious to the gardener. They are provided, says Dr. Carpenter, in his 
*' Zoology," not merely ^yith a pair of horny jaws, but with a pair of strong sharp claws, formed by an enlargement of the second pair of legs, 
and having at the top a small hole, through which a venomous fluid is probably poured into the wounds made by them. Small insects seized 
in these claws are seen to die very speedily. 



The most neglected of all the valuable manm-es 
available to every liouseliolder, is Soot. In most 
cases the cliimney-sweeper is allowed to cany it 
away, rather than that he shall have a few more 
pence given to him for leaving the black treasure 
behiud — for treasm'e it is, and its value is she%vn by 
the fact that the sweep has to be paid for leaving it, 
instead of for taking upon himself the ti-ouble of re- 
moving it. The reason for this is, ^hat the farmer 
knows well the value of soot as a top-di'essing, even 
for liis wheat ; though applying it on the surface is 
the most wasteful of all modes of adding it to the 
soU. The value of soot, as a manm-e, principally 
arises from the salts of ammonia which it contains ; 
and a large portion of these are lost by exposing it 



to the sun and wind. The best time for appljing 
soot as a top-dressiug is during rainy weather, for 
the rain washes the ammoniacal salts into tlie soil 
before the sun and wind can drive them off. 

Soot is that part of common coal which is driven 
off by the heat of the fire without being burnt; and, 
as the ail' which bears it along is cooled, it is depo- 
sited on the sides of the clumney. Soot is composed, 
therefore, of the most volatile parts of the coal, and 
of some of its most solid parts in a state of veiy fine 
division. It has been analysed, and 1000 pormds 
foimd to be composed as follows : — 

Charcoal (very fine) 371 tbs. 

Salts of Ammonia 426 „ 

„ Potash and Soda 24 „ 



Ko. XV., Tor.. I. 



156 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Oxide (or i-ust) of Iron 50 tbs. 

Silica (flinty sand veiy fine) 65 „ 

Alumina (pure clay very flue) 31 „ 

Sulijliate of Lime (Gypsum or 

plaister of Paris) 31 „ 

Magnesia (Carbonate of) 2 „ 



1000 „ 

Now eveiy one of the above constituents of soot 
are constituents also of our garden plants. The 
cliarcoal buiied in the soil is gradually converted 
into carbonic acid gas, and in that form is sucked in 
both by the roots and leaves of plants ; and all tlie 
other constituents are more or less soluble in rain- 
water, and, consequently, are also taken in by the 
roots as food for their ])arent plants. 

Having tlms shewn that soot might be recom- 
mended confidently as a valuable manure, even fi-om 
a mere knowledge of the substances it contains, let 
us now see what practical men say, who have tried it 
in their gardens. 

Strawberries. — Mr. Cuthill, of Denmai-k-hill, Cam- 
benveU, who grows this fruit extensively in pots, 
puts a lai'ge handful of soot over the crock at the 
bottom of every pot. The roots of the plants, he says, 
delight in it, and it keeps out worms. He entertains 
a very liigli opinion of soot as a manure for all 
))lants, thinking it both beneficial to them as a food, 
and as a protection against insects. He uses it largely 
as a manm-e for Tulips, Carnations, Potatoes, and, 
indeed, to till his crojjs, with the most mai'ked success. 

Potatoes — So beneficial has soot been found, when 
dug into the gi-ormd at the time of planting, by Mr. 
Barnes, Mr. Morton, and others, that some persons 
have been so sanguine as so think it a preventive of 
the potato murrain. Although we do not entertain 
this opinion, yet we know it to be a capital maniu-e 
for the potato. On a light soil, witliout any manme, 
the late Rev. E. Caitwriglit gi-ew 157 busliels of po- 
tatoes per acre ; but an acre of the same soil, manured 
at the time of planting with .30 bushels of soot, pro- 
duced 102 bushels of potatoes ; and another acre, 
similarly manured with 30 bushels of soot and eight 
bushels of common salt, produced 240 bushels. 

The gi-ass of lawns dressed in April, by sowing over 
them in rainy weather one bushel of soot to eveiy 
seven square rods, we have seen increased in close- 
ness and fineness of gi-owtb. But we think soot too 
valuable to be employed for that pm'pose. 

Liquid manure made of soot and water has been 
found by Mr. Barnes, and other gardeners, an excel- 
lent mode of employing it. One writer says, " My 
manure is soot mixed \\'ith water, in the proportion 
of one table-spoonful of soot to a quai't of water, for 
plants in pmts : but, for asparagus, peaii, &c., I use 
six quarts of soot to a hogshead of water. It nuist 
never be applied to plants while they are in a state 
of rest. It succeeds admirably with bulbs, and has 
benefitted every ]ilant to which I have applied it." 

Pine apples, tliough not witliin our province, we 
may notice are manured with soot, and most benefi- 
cially, by Mr. Fleming, atTrentham Hall ; Mr. Barnes, 
at Bicton ; and Mr. Alexander, at Cailton-gardens. 

Oarrots are nnich benefitted by soot ; for, if well 
mixed with the soil, it not only increases then- size, 
but protects them fi-om the caiTot grub. The late 
Mr. G. Sinclair, gardener to the Duke of Bedford, 
found that an unnumured soil, which produced only 
23 tons of caiTOts per acre, produced 40 tons when 
manured with Oi bushels of soot, mixed with dV 
busliels of salt 



Onions are benefitted by the application of soot, 
more, perhaps, than by any other mamu'e. At the 
time of sowing, sprinlde soot thickly along the bot- 
tom of the di-ill. and stir it gently in with tlie corner 
of the hoe before putting in the seed. It will improve 
the growth of the onions, and save them from the 
gi-ub of the onion fly. After losing the plants of 
three sowings fi'om the attacks of this pest, Mr. 
Mosely, of RoUeston Hall, at length put it to flight 
by watering the bed with the following mixture : — 
twenty gallons of rain water, one jieck of lime in 
lumps, half a peck of soot, two gallons of lu'ine, one 
pound of soft-soap, and one pound of flowers of sul- 
phur. This mixture was poured upon the bed, so 
soon as it had settled sufficiently to pass tbj'ough the 
rose of a watering-pot. 

Oarlic and Sliallols, when planted, should have 
only the root ends of their bulbs just buried in the 
soO ; and, at the spot where each is thus put in, 
about a dessert spoonful of soot should be spiinkled 
previously. Tins saves them from the attack of the 
gi-ub, as well as fiom the decay to which they are 
subject. 

Quantity per acre. — Twenty bushels per acre is the 
smallest quantity that can be applied alone with 
much benefit, and twice that quantity is still more 
advantageous. The best time for applying it is at 
the time of sowuig or planting a crop ; or by point- 
ing it in about the roots of plants in tlie spring, 
when they begin to gi-ow. 



THE FEUIT-GARDEN. 

Planting. — The arrival of the new year- will re- 
mind those of our readers who contemplate fresh 
arrangements in then- fruit-gai'den, that delays are 
dangerous ; and that whatever business of the kind 
has become necessaiy, must be proceeded with im- 
mediately. Planting operations may be safely per- 
formed up to the middle of March, at which period 
let all be completed. We sliaU, therefore, be only 
perfonning a duty in endeavouring, in the intervening 
period, to tlu'ow out a few brief hints connected with 
the cidture of fnut-trees in general, as a basis on 
which to found future operations; feeling anxious to 
give as many usefid hints previously as possible, to 
guide the inexperienced in making a selection. 

One tiring must be premised — and that is, that the 
space and period allotted will not pennit us to go so 
fidly into the matter as coiJd be desned. We sliall, 
therefore, treat of indimentary matters chiefly ; the 
rest of the ground can be gone over as occasions ofler. 

Plusis. — We will now proceed to take a glance at 
the various phuns in cultivation. It is evident that 
some of them, like apples and pears, or, indeed, like 
most other ft'iiits, ai-e so gi'oss in theii- ordinaiy 
gi"owth as to render tliem unmanageable on waUs or 
trellises, unless some pecidiar root-control be exercised. 
Again, some are natmally of slender gi'owtli, and al- 
most unfit to bear theii- own weight. Some shew a 
strong disposition to bear on the last yeai-'s wood ; 
others produce chiefly on the old spurs. Now the 
veiy first thing in fi-uit cidtm-e is so to classify tlicm 
in the mind's*ye, as to see at once that systems of 
cultirre must vary as their habits vaiy. This, indeed, 
is one of the chief secrets of success. 

Soil.. — A good sound yet mellow loam will suit the 
majority of plums. Nevertheless, there must be some- 
thing more than the mere matter of soil which afl'eots 
them, for we find the damson thriving in our north- 
western counties on clayey sods, on sandy loams, and 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



157 



even on peats, jirovided such aj'e properly drained. 
From such facts, we have long since been persuaded 
that the amount of moistiu'e in the atmosphere has 
sometliiug to do with the question. However, he 
that as it may, some pains must be taken where the 
soil is of a very inferior character. 

As before observed, with regard to pears, peaches, 
&c., in regai'd of the pi-opriety of so prepaiing the 
soil as that they may be brought into early bearing, 
and not make a superfluity of young shoots, it is 
indeed expedient to make what we have termed 
" stations " for them. 

Stocks. — On the above head we need say no more 
at present than that the same kind of soil wliioh suits 
the peach will siut the plum ; for the question neces- 
sarily resolves itself into one of stocks. Our peaches 
in the main are budded on the ordinaa'y Muscle Plum 
stock: so are many of our plums. However, the 
"Brussels stock" is much used, we believe, in nur- 
series, for the plum ; and, for a dwai'fing system, we 
tliink that it is assuredly too gi-oss. 

We will now proceed to give a select list of plums 
adajited to the amateur and the cottager ; merely ob- 
serving tliat we are not hunting for novelty, but 
merely endeavouring to point to really good and pro- 
fitable kinds, whether new or old. We wUl place 
them in the order of then ripening. 

1. Preooce de Tours. (T. K.*) — July. An oval pui'- 
pie plum, of medium size and very good flavour. 
We have a tree of this kind on an eastern aspect, 
which has borne a fuU crop for the last twelve 
years. The fruit is veiy handsome, and will con- 
tinue in succession for neai-ly three weeks. 

2. Morocco. (T.) — Beginning of August. A small 
round purple fruit, of great merit. This is also 
one of the surest beai'ers in the whole list ; we 
have it on an east aspect. 

.'i. Orleans. (K. and T.) — August. Roimd and pm- 
ple ; middle-sized. Tliis is one of the greatest 
bearers in the list, and is much gi-own by market- 
gardeners as an ordinary standard. 

i. Drop d'Or. (T.) — August. A fine rich fruit of 
the gi-eengage flavour. Fruit rather small, roimd, 
and yellowish. Should have a wall. 

5. Greengage. — August and September. Too weU 
known to need description. No collection is com- 
plete without this kind, wliich is best on the wall. 

6. Botja.le Ilative. (T.) — September. Round and of 
a piu^ile colour ; fiiiit middle-sized. Very rich ; 
should have a wall. 

7. Reiiie Claude Violettc. (T.) — September. A round 
pmple plum, of gi-eat excellence ; middle-sized. A 
very liigh fiavom-ed fruit, deser\'ing of extensive 
cultivation. Would succeed as a standard in most 
of our counties. 

8. Goes Golden Drop. (T. K.) — September. A large 
oval fruit, of a golden colour, frequently mottled 
with brown spots. This is a most valuable fruit, 
its only fault being its attractive character. This 
plum is so rich, that like the Bigorreau cheiTy, 
it is preserved fr'om the wasps and flies with great 
difficulty. A good bearer, and succeeds well as a 
standard. 

0. St. Martin's Quetsche. (T.) — End of September. 
A yellowish fridt, not at present much known. A 
very valuable variety on accoimt of its flavour, its 
bearing jiroperties, and also its power of remaining 
long on the tree. Wm answer as a standard. 

10. Washington. (T.) — September. Of American 

* The following abbreviations are used :— K, for kitchen use ; T, 
table ; and P, preserving. 



origin. Very large, oval, and of a yellowish cast. 

Flavour good, but not remarkable. Will answer 

well as an ordinary standard. 
11. Jefferson. (T.) — September. Another American 

plum, very large indeed. It is highly spoken of, 

but for very limited gardens had better receive 

farther proof. 
13. Wine Sour. (P.) — September. Roimdish and of 

a purple colour; a great beai'er as an ordmary 

standard. WeU known as a good pre serraig plum. 

13. Magnum Bomim. (K.) — September. There are 
two varieties, the red and yeUow. WeU known as 
lai-ge fi-uit for kitchen use. They make a very 
exceUent jam. Do best as standards. 

14. Saint Gatherim. (K. and P.) — September. Whit- • 
ish and of a small size. A well known preserving 
fruit ; also a good bearer. 

] b. Ickworth Tmperatrice. (K. and P.) — October. A 
good-sized flattened pmple fruit. Vei-y valuable 
for its long keeping, if cai'efuUy gathered, and kept 
in a dry room. 

We much fear we have now gone too far with the 
hst to be useful to the generality of our readers 
We wUl, however, give a classification of them, in 
order to guide the inexperienced. 

As ordinai'y standards adapted to very small gar- 
dens, and as being great bearers, we would point to 
Nos. 2. 3, 7, 8, n, 12. 

As first-rate wall-fruit for table, adapted to very 
smaU gardeus^Nos. ], 3, 5, (5, 7, 15. 

It may be here remai'ked that Nos. 10, 11, 13, 
lieing of the class termed " egg plums," are very 
gross in habit. For a dwai'fing system, therefore, 
then- soil should by no means be rich. Root-pruning 
should, also, occasionally be practised. 

We have much, very much, more to say about the 
phun; and for the sake of hastening to other matters 
which press, we must defer farther observations for a 
whUe. In the meantime, enough has been said to 
guide both the amateur and the cottager as to the 
nucleus of a selection. There are, as we are aware, 
many new plums in the market, and some, doubtless, 
wUl prove good ; but, as we before observed, we dare 
not rest on novelty alone. It is far better, ^vith re- 
gard to those for whom om- labours are intended, 
to be very particular in selection ; and rather to seek 
improved modes of cultivation than more extensive 
collections. 

Peaches, Dressixo for. — We promised to give a 
recipe for di-essing the wood of peaches, and are now 
proud to do so. There are other mixtiu'es in \ise, 
and, perhaps, they are exceUent. Our pm-pose is, 
however, to give what we have jjroved to be one per- 
fectly successful, for at least the last fifteen year's. 
During that period, we liave found three distinct 
di-essings to be all that is reqiured dui'ing the year, 
in order to secure (as far as applications of this kind 
go) the health of the trees. One dressing is applied 
immediately after priming, and before the trees are 
naUed. A second is used immediately the trees are 
out of blossom ; this is a sulphm- mixtm-e, to guard 
through the summer against the ravages of the red 
spider. A thfrd is to destroy the apliides (plant lice), 
and is applied when the yoimg shoots are rmfolding 
themselves. Of the latter two we shall speak at 
the proper period : we have now to describe the first. 

Beat up foiu' ounces of soft-soap in a gallon of 
warm water ; add one pound of flowers of sulphur ; 
beat up some good clay into a complete mud, and 
thicken the whole to the consistence of a stout paint 
with the latter; finally, add two quai-ts of fresh slaked 



158 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



lime. Let the whole be well mixed, aud daub every 
imrtiole of tlie shoots with it. The best thing to 
apply it with is au ordiuary painter's brush. When 
the mixture is thoroughly chy, the raihug may be 
proceeded with. 

Fruit-tree Stocks. — It is well for the amateur and 
cottager to gi-aft and bud many of their choice fi-uits. 
To the amateiu- it is interesting; to the cottager it is 
a matter of economy as well. Besides, as we before 
observed, in regai'd of apples, every opportimity 
should be taken of gi-afting kinds from the immediate 
neighbom-hood, wluch liave been long proved aw 
suitable to the character of the soil as well as the 
situation. Tlds is a safer proceeding, on the whole, 
than tiiisting to the nursery kinds, many of wliicli, 
although, perhaps, excellent in some situations, will 
not thrive in all. We have known abundance of 
baking apples — seedlings, probably, which originated 
in the veiy neighbourhood, and which had never 
been cultivated a score of miles beyond tlie spot 
where they were raised — quite equal to anything in 
the nm'seryman's catalogue. These have, frequently, 
names indicative of their origin; as, the pigcot 
apple, the piunp apple, &c. &c. Let the amateur, 
therefore, as well as the cottager, set apart a small 
portion of groiuid for fniit stocks, and, as it is time 
to think about procming them, we wUl give a list. 
We will suppose enough to begin a system of the 
kind on about three-quailers of au acre of ground. 
20 Crab Stocks ; for apples of delicate gi-owth, and 

veiy fine bearers. 
20 Paradise Stocks ; for strong sorts of a]}ples, and 

especially for a dwarfing ^ilan. 
30 Muscle Stocks ; for plums, peaches, and nectarines. 
1 Commoner Stocks ; for apricots. 
12 Pear Stocks ; for gi-eat beai-ers, and where size is 

reqiui'ed. 
12 Quince Stocks ; for a dwai'fing plan. 

These things may be obtained e-X-ceedingly cheap ; 
a couple of shiUiugs would purchase the whole, with 
the exception of the quince, which is the most ex- 
pensive. The cottager may leave out the peach, the 
nectarine, and the apricot stocks; and, indeed, the 
quantities of each may be altered according to the 
extent of the garden. 

Let a plot be prepai-ed for them on a sound piece 
of gi-ound, free from water lodgments ; let it be well 
maum-ed, the manure by no means dug in deep ; 
keep it near the sm-face in order to encourage fibrous 
roots. They may be placed in rows two feet apart, 
and one foot between plant aud plant. Let aU roots 
of a desceuduig character be primed away before 
planting, aud let every precaution be taken to keep 
the small fibres damp, from the moment they are 
removed until finally planted. 

RocTiNE-WoHK. — Let all bush-fi-uit prumng lie 
completed soon. Proceed idso with apple pruning, 
and indeed pears and phuus, where the futm-e blos- 
soms cau be well distinguished. Cottagers, if thrown 
out of work for a week or two, may collect turty mat- 
ters, and trench as much gi-oimd as possible. Every 
cottager should learn to make baskets ; nothing can 
be easier. It assuredly is a great benefit. We ^vill 
speak of willow cultivation shortly. 

R. Erbinoiox. 



THE FLOWEE-GARDEN. 

The New Year has now opened upon us, with its 
cheering influences of hope and pleasant anticijia- 
tions. AVe look fonvard to enjoying the fruits of our 
forethought, preparations, aud conservative cares. 



We can look back with pleasm-e also, provided no- 
tlung in our power to do, or witliin the reach of our 
means, has been neglected or omitted. Circmn- 
stances, however, may have occiuTed to cause us im- 
avoidably to have left imdone some things that ought 
to have been done, therefore we will very briefly 
look back upon what we proposed doing in the 
flower-garden, and so make a fan- start to begui the 
year, with a firm resolution to bring up the work to 
the present time. 

Retboscectiox. — Soils. — Provide different sorts 
of soils : these are absolutely necessary. Lose no 
time in procin-iiig them, if not ab-eady done. (See 
No. 1.) 

Pebenxials. — In procm-ing these, no time must 
now be lost, or they will not flower finely nest 
season. 

Bulbs. — Some few bulbs may yet be planted, such 
as Japan aud other lilies, .\nemones, aud Gladiolus 
or CoiTi-flag. (No. 2.) 

Forcing Violets may still be done, also Lily of 
the Valley. Roses may also yet be planted. (No. 3.) 

Evergreens in Pots. — Place in vacant flower- 
beds. It is not by any means too late for tliis ope- 
ration. 

FoBciNG Roses may yet be commenced. Indeed, 
this is a work of succession : the first lot ought now 
to be in bud, and should have every attention paid 
to them. (No. 4.) 

The Alpixery, or artificial rock-work, if not begim 
or finished, should be foi^warded by all means now, 
to have time to settle previously to planting in early 
spring. Cottagers to make Turf-pits, and foi-m an 
arched trellis. (No. b.) 

Shrubberies may yet be planted or renovated ; 
and, for American Shrubs, the beds may be made 
with sandy jieat, veiy conveniently, during fi-osty 
weather. Boards or straw should be laid upon the 
gi'ass, to save it from injiuy by the barrow-wheel. — 
Roses may be planted yet, and now is the best time 
for piiming them. (No. 6.) 

PRop.\G.iTioN OF Roses. — In iniining roses, there 
wUl be a good supply of cuttings. (No. 7.) 

Protective Fences. — The gi'oimd where these ai'c 
to be planted may j'et be trenched, ditches formed, 
and the thorns or hollies planted, either entirely 
separate or mixed. (No. S.) 

Orn.\jient.\l Fences. — Should the weather con- 
tinue mild, these fences may be planted dming tliis 
month and the next. Alpine Plants may lie put 
into then- blooming-pots, either now or later. (No. 0.) 

Fernery. — A rocky, boggy, aud shady jilace, to 
cidtivate hardy ferns. The mateiials for this pm'pose, 
and the putting them into form, may be done any 
time between this and March ; but the sooner it is 
done the better, for the same reason as given for the 
Alpinery — that it may have time to settle. 

RosKS may yet be put in jiots, but wUI scarcely 
bear forcing at all this year. (No. 10.) 

Ferns in Pots. — Where you have not a convenient 
place to form rock-work, you may gi-ow these ele- 
gantly-pretty plants in pots. 

Pruning Siir.rBnERiEs should now be finished 
without delay. (No. 11.) 

Variegated Plants are mentioned, and a list 
given, togedier with a Compost fob Carnations ; to 
hotli of which we now dh-ect yotu' attention. (No. 
12.) 

And, lastly, in the 13th Number, we have descrilied 
Waruian Cases, their culture, and a list of plants 
suitable for them. AVe tnist these retrospective 
hints will he useful, and spur on our amateur and 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



150 



cotter Meuds to use evei-y exertion to make tlieii' 
flower-garden or flower-border liighly ornamental and 
delightful to themselves, their fainilies, and their- 
fiiends. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

Anemones. — The bed intended for the finest 
double ones ought to be now in a forward state. It 
should be turned over for the last time any favom'- 
able day during the early part of the month. The 
commoner kinds, jilanted in November, should have 
the surface of the beds or clumps stin-ed gently -ivith 
a short three-pronged fork, on suoli fine days as we 
have been favoured with lately. 

Acriculas must have the care and attention ne- 
cessary for keeping them iir health and vigour. Air, 
cleanliness, and water must be given in suitable 
liroportions and quantity. (See page 2.5). 

C.^BNATTONs AND PicoTEES. — At this soasou of the 
year these plants require very little care. They may 
be watered occasionally in mild weather, and have 
abundance of air on all fine days. As they are per- 
fectly hardy, very httle protection beyond the glass 
covers for the frames is reqiusite : they are more 
likely to sufler fi-om damp and mildew than ii-om 
fi-ost; but in very severe frost let them be covered 
with double mats, well fastened down, to prevent the 
sharp winds blowing them oif. 

Dahlias. — Look over your stores of these fine 
autumnal flowers. Remove all decaying stems or 
rotten roots from them. Damp, wet, and fi-ost, are 
the gi-eat enemies to guard against. A little care 
now may prevent much loss and disaiipointmeut in 
the spring. Should any of tlie roots be found wet or 
damp, expose them for a few days to a di-y, warm 
atmosphere, to di-y them. Late struck ones,"in pots, 
must be kept dry, and secure fi-om fi-ost. 

Pinks. — Ofalltlie flowers usually named _/Zom<«', 
this family is the most suitable for an amatem- or 
cottager. Then- beauty is quite equal to any, theii- 
fragranoe is very superior, and they are more hardv 
and more easily propagated than most others. All 
these considerations recommend them to our especial 
notice. We propose, in an early munber, to devote 
a considerable space to then- cid'tiu-e, and to a Ust of 
the best sorts at present in eidtivation. At this 
season they are planted out in the bed or beds for 
blooming, excepting, perhaps, a few of the very 
choicest, which may, from precaution more than ne- 
cessity, be kept in pots in the same fi-ame or pit as the 
carnations. Those in beds, after heavy rains, should 
have the surface stirred; and, after fi-osts, the soil 
pressed fii-mly with the hand close to the stems. 
This work should be done when the soil is rather di-y. 

The Pansy is also a desii-able flower for those 
persons for whose especial benefit tliis work is in- 
tended. We cannot press too strongly upon om- 
readers the merits of this and the preceding lovely 
embelUslunents of the flower-garden or border. The 
pansy, or heaxtsease, for it is known by both names, 
and some other old fashioned ones, is quite as hardy 
as the pink, and has, perhaps, more beautiful coloru-s, 
but is deficient of the rich perfume possessed by the 
pink : not that it is entu-ely scentless, for some varie- 
ties have a very agreeable though faint smell. We 
Iiave already bestowed some instiiictions on the cul- 
tivation of tliis favourite, to wluch, for the present, 
we refer the reader. (See pages 47 and 77.) 

Polyanthus. — This is also a lovely family of 
flowers, not half so much cultivated as they deserve. 
There is very little cbificulty in growing "them, as 
they are perfectly hardy. The only drawback upon I 



success is, that they are veiy subject to be attacked 
by the red spider. The recipe we have given for the 
destiiictiou of this vermin is a cei-tain one (see pao-e 
25). At this season the polyanthus requii-es to be 
kept quiet, by being as cool and dry as is iust sufii- 
cient to keep it alive. With respect to aii-'and shel- 
ter, the same treatment as we have dii-eeted for the 
auricula -wQl be proper for the polyantlms. 

Ranltxculus.— The roots of tliis fine flower will 
yet be in the bag or drawers. The bed to plant them 
hi shoiild be in a state of readiness. It is a good 
plan to cast all the soil out on a ridge on each side 
of the bed ; then, upon the di-ainage, place tlu-ee or 
four inches of cow-dung about half rotten : spread 
this evenly over the bottom, and then throw upon it 
the son, leaving it five or six inches above the general 
level. Let the bed be edged with wood or slate, and 
hooped over in the same manner as the tulip-bed. 

Verbenas. — These may now be considered as flo- 
rist's flowers. Numbers of them have been hybrid- 
ized^hat is, the pollen of one variety has been 
apiihed to the stigma of another, for the pui-pose of 
improving either the size, the fomi, or the coloiu- of 
the succeeduig generations.* Many beautiful kinds 
ai-e now in cultivation, and the number increases 
annually ; so much so, indeed, that it is somewhat 
diflicnlt to make a selection in moderate numbers. 
Verbenas are very suitable flowers for small gardens. 
"^Tiere they are gi-own in borders amongst other 
flowers, they should be tied up to sticks about eighteen 
inches high, set in a cii-cle round each plant. By 
tlus method the flowers show better, and are not lia- 
ble to be splashed -with soU dming heavy showers. 
The gi-eat use of these flowers is to plant in beds in 
masses of one colour ; one kind in each bed. When 
planted so, they ought to be pegged down with small 
hooks, tin the bed is completely and thicldy covered. 
The Soil sliould be moderately rich and light. If 
the situation is low and damp, the beds ought to 
be th-ained. The best time for plautmg out is the 
begiuning or middle of :May. By the middle of July, 
should the season have been favourable, they will be 
in a blaze of floral beauty, wluch wiU last till the cold 
wet niglits of autumn spoil then- flowers. 

Propagation by Seed. — The seed should be sown 
in shallow pots, plunged in a gentle hot-bed, early 
in March. When the seedlings are three inches 
high, transplant them, thi-ee or four together, into 
pots foiu- inches wide. Nip off the tops to make 
them bushy. When the planting season anives, the 
seedlings may be planted out also in a bed, in some 
retii-ed part of the garden. Select the best as they 
flower, and take cuttings of such as appeal- good. 
Number and describe them in a small book, so tiiat 
you may know how to arrange them the following 
year. 

PnopAGATiNG BY CuTTiNGs -wiU be Considered in a 
futiu-e number. 

Select List of Verbenas. 



BLUE. 

Duchesse d'Auraale. 
Imperatrice Josephine. 
Valentine de Sacoi. 
Imperial Blue^ 

CRIMSON. 

Atrosanguinca. 
Due de Nemours. 
Emperor of China. 
Mcny Monarch. 
Sir E. Buxton. 

PUEPLE. 

Conqueror. 
Heloise. 
Henry 4th. 
Pourpre Superb, 



PINK. 

Enchantress. 

Gem. 

Lady of the Lake. 

Madonna. 

Vixen. 

WHITE. 

Mount Blanc. 
Mountain of Snow. 
Princess Helena. 
\\Tiite Perfection. 

SCARLET. 

Barkerii. 

Defiance (extra fine). 
Emperor of Scarlets fn\'id). 
Diana (very bright). 



Siigma, the top of a pistil, or female part of a flo^ver. Sec p. 



I(i0 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Boulc de feu. 
Wonder of Scarlets. 

COLOURS, VARIOUS. 

Captivation, bright rose, scarlet 

spot. 
Corapte de Paris, rose and blue. 
Diisirable (Barker's), purple lake. 
Kxcelsa (Superb), large, deep rose. 
Lady uf the Lake, bright rose 

pink, 
ni adouna, rosy pink, primrose 

eye. 



miss Sarah, white, pink centre. ' 

Queen of Beauties, pink, red cen- 
tre. 

Reine des Francais, pink, with 
rich crimson centre. 

Rose d'Amour (Dufay's) purple, 
shaded with bronze. 

Saint Margaret, scarlet-crimson, 
light violet eye, large, and fine 
form. 

Tricolour, pale rose, deep carmine 
centre. 



Any or all ot'tlie above are beautiftil varieties^ well 
wortliy of cultivation. They are not expensive; any 
dealer will I'urnisli them at Us. to 12s. the dozen. 

T. Appleby. 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 

Cold Pits. — The sti'eiigtli and diu'ability of pits 
and gi-eenhouses, and, indeed, of any kind of Iniild- 
ing, depend much on the season of the year when 
they are erected — on the timber being well seasoned, 
and on the kind and age of the bricks used — the lime 
being the only part of the materials which should 
be used in a ft-esh state. The strength of the mortar 
depends much on the lime being slacked, and made 
into mortar immediately afterwards. Late in the 
.sjiring is the best time of the year to build plant 
erections of any kind, and particularly so for a cold 
pit, as then the whole siuiuner season is before it, to 
dry up and consolidate the work, so as to be in the 
best possible condition to resist the effects of a long 
and changeable winter, and to ensure the safety of 
tlio plants witliiu it. Stability, light, and ventilation, 
are the tliree gi-eat essential points in all plant sti-uc- 
tures ; but perfect exemption from damp arising fi-om 
natural causes, such as low situation, or damp clay 
foundation, may be said to be no less necessaiy ; for 
we can always keep a pit or house damp artificially 
when the plants requu'c it, but to contend against 
the effects of natmal damp in a cold pit is indeed a 
misfoitime. I hope, tbeiviore, to be excused if I 
speak out fi'eely, and write even too fully on such, 
seemingly, small matters. Small matters, indeed! 
They are of the very first importance to those who 
have to do with them. The timbers should be well 
sea-soued anddi'ied.andbethe produce of slow gi'owth, 
such as the English oak, or the red or true liigbland 
pine of Scotland. The latter you caimot procure at 
present, but that from Norway or Sweden will do as 
well, provided it is not so gi-een as to exude moistm-e 
at the extreme ties, after the weight of tlie glass is put 
on them ; as I have seen more than once, when a log 
was taken from the cargo of a Norway trader, sawed 
and fixed all in the space of a few weeks ; or, if it was 
so diy on the outside as to take on the paint, pre- 
mature decay and the dry-rot were the sm'e conse- 
(piences of tliis careless way of builduig — to call it by 
no harder name. Fresh burnt bricks from the kiln 
are every whit as bad in then- way asgi-een logs from 
the forest ; their heat and powers of absorbing mois- 
ture will reduce tlie best mortar to a diy powder, so 
that the strength which ought to be acquired from 
the composition of proper materials is altogether 
wanting, and the consequence is soon told. In a 
season or two. t)io mortar between the joints %vill 
have cnunblcd and given way, so that recourse must 
be had to the tedious process of " pointing" tlie joints, 
wliich, after all, is a mere bUnd or makesliift for a 
few seasons longer. There is a cheap and inferior 
kind of soft lialf-burnt brick, called in the trade 
" place bricks." These spongy bricks arc totally un- 



lit for our pi-esent piuiiose, or for any building wliich 
it is desu-able to keep dry. K you intercept the 
natural dampness of the foundation from them, tliey 
will absorb sufficient wet from the atmosphere to 
defeat om' purpose ; evei-y beating rain wiU peneti-ato 
into them, and the frost will shatter them to pieces 
in a few seasons; yet 1 have seen pits budt with this 
kind of brick because they were sold cheap. The 
kind of brick called ■' stocks ' are the proper sort for 
all plant erections; these are well biunit, luu-d, and 
sound, and therefore best calculated to resist the 
weather and keep the inside of the house or pit di-y. 
Fresh burnt stone lime is far- superior to that fi-om 
common chalk ; but chalk lime will do very well, if 
used quite fresh from the kiln, and the joints made 
with it be as thin as the safe bedding of the bricks 
will allow. Indeed, tlie joints in all brickwork ought 
to be made as thin as possible. Some bricklayers 
have an awkward way of making large tliick seams 
or joints between the bricks, which, unless the lime 
is of the very best quality, wiU cnimble away more 
or less in a few years. 

Pits for half hardy plants are best if built on the 
siufaco of the gi'ouud, not sunk in tlie gi'ound like 
cucumber pits. In frosty weather they may be 
guarded with any kind of litter, and dm-ing fine open 
weather the ventOation is more perfect, and the 
jilants wQl be less liable to damp ofl' than those in 
sunk pits. Where small stones or rough gi-avel can 
be had, the foundation for pits and greenhouses 
might easily be made of concrete, which is better 
and cheaper than brick foundation. Concrete is 
made with frcsli uuslackcd lime and rough gravel ; 
say, one baiTow-load of Ume and six baiTow-loads of 
the gi'avel. mixed up with water much thinner than 
brick mortar. FiU the foundation trench with this 
as soon as it is weU mixed, and in two or three days, 
unless the depth of the ti-ench is considerable, the 
whole \vill have set as hard and as solid as a rock, 
and you might build a castle over it. Indeed, castles 
and all large buildings are now-a-days built on con- 
crete foundations. After getting up the foundation 
to the siu-face of the gi'ound, of whatever material it 
is made, the next proceeding is — or ought to be — to 
intercept any damji that may rise from the bottom. 
Plants cannot be kept well if the walls of the pit ai-e 
naturally damji, as they are sure to bo unless the 
situation is veiy dry. The usual way of rendering 
the brickwork dj-y, is by laying the first comse or two 
above the foimdation in cement : if the cement is 
fi'om a newly opened cask, it will answer the purjiose 
pe riectly well ; but it often happens that cement for 
such small jobs is taken from a cask that has been 
opened some time, some of the contents having been 
used long since ; in which case it is not much better 
than common Ume mortar. The aii- is well known 
to destroy the adhesive power of the best cement. 
Rather than run any risk on so material a point, I 
would prefer making the walls damp-proof by a layer 
of fthin slate over the foundation, and building the 
brick-work on that. Common roofing slate is thick 
enough for the pm-pose, provided it is bedded solidly 
on the foimdation. I have never seen a copy of the 
" Biulding Act," but, unless there is a clause in it to 
prevent builders erecting houses mtliout a thorough 
provision against damp rising ft'om the foundations, it 
does not say much in favour of the sanatory wisdom 
of oin- legislators. At any rate, let us have dry 
structures for our plants, and we can iilways dam]i 
them to our own liking where they require it ; and i 
am certain the easiest and most efl'cctual way of 
arresting the progi-ess of damp is as 1 have stated. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



161 



AU of us have Iniilt " castles in the air," but none of 
them with drier foundations than may thus be made. 
I would not give bread and cheese to a country la- 
bom'er who could not make concrete, and flU in the 
fi )midatiou fi'om the foregoing dii-ections, if he could 
read them. 

Then, there is no gi'eat art requii-ed for common 
painting and glazing — many an amateur might do 
that part of the work. Buy a few poimds of the 
best white lead, and a few quarts of boiled linseed 
oU, and to every quai-t of oil add half a pint of 
" tm'ps," (that is, spuit of tm'pentiue) and you may 
soon make as good paint as ever was bought; and as 
to the mere mechanical process of laying it on your 
fi'ames, it is as simple as sweeping the hearth-stone. 
Glass also is now made so stout, and cut so ti-ue on 
the edges, that one can put in a hundi-ed squares 
without using a diamond (that is, the Uttle instni- 
ment with which glass is cut). It is rather dear to 
buy a new one, but I have seen second-hand ones, as 
good as new, bought at the pawnbroker's under ten 
shillings, and it is a useful tool for any one ha^^ng 
glass to fit or repair-. Recollect what I said about 
two coats of paint before glazing (see p. 120) ; the 
first coat they call pmning, and is made with red 
lead and spirits of tiu-jientine — not always, however, 
but it ought to be : it should be thinner than common 
paint. Red lead is much stronger than wliite lead, 
and putting on this strong coat at flr-st prevents the 
wood imbibing too much of the oil out of the other 
coats of paint, and also out of the putty. When the 
putty is dry enough, after glazing, the best way to 
jjaint a light is to place it sideways before you, not 
flat or standing on one end ; then paint the upper 
sides of the bars first, and if there is any flaw or 
crack either in the putty or between the putty and 
the glass, it will be more eflfectually stopped, for the 
paint win flU it up by its own weight. When the 
upper sides ai'e finished, pass on to the next light ; 
or, at any rate, do not turn the first light upside down 
till the jjaint is a little dry — for if you do, tlie oU, or 
thinnest portion of the paint, may i-un out of these 
cracks. If I intended to build a pit or a greenliouse 
next March or April, I woidd get the woodwork and 
the glazing finished between that time and the pre- 
sent, and also bargain for autumn-bm-nt bricks, as it 
is sometimes difficult to pm-chase well-seasoned bricks 
in tlie spring, when building becomes general ; and 
if you use them hot from the kUn, you may bui-n 
your fingers two ways. 

The best size for a cold pit is sis feet wide ; the 
back wall to be three feet high, and the fi-ont wall 
about two feet. The last com-se of bricks all rormd 
to be set with cement. The extra expense for the 
cement ^vill be well repaid by the superior sti-ength 
thus given to the bricrw'ork, which will also be ren- 
dered drier and rain-proof. The wall plates should 
be of red deal, and cut on a bevel to suit the slope of 
the glass — say, from one and a half to three inches 
thick on one side, and two inches on the other, — the 
thick side to be outwai-ds along the back of the pit, 
and inside in front — to be flush, or even, with the 
briclcwork inside, and to project an inch beyond the 
brickwork roimd the outsides to tlu-ow ofT the drip. 
The lights, or sashes, should slide easily between the 
rafters ; and the simplest contrivance for fixing the 
lights fiimly between the rafters, to prevent the ^vind 
blowing them ofi', is a small stick with a wedge end, to 
push in between the sides of the sash and rafter; 
tliis will keep it as firm as if nailed down. Small 
u-on handles should be fixed to all pit sashes behind, 
to push them up and down with ; indeed, it would be 



vei-y convenient to have a handle at each end, as in 
that case the sash could be moved fi-om either side 
with equal facihtj'. It is a good plan in winter, 
whenever a fine di-y day oocm-s, to turn the sashes of 
all kinds of pits inside out, in order to get the damp 
on the inside dried up before night, and this is also 
a simple way of giving an, as the lights, thus tm-ned, 
do not rest closely on either back or ft'ont plate, the 
projection of the sash bai-s keeping the sash a little 
clear' ofl' the plates, and allowing a di'aft of air to 
pass fi'om ft-ontlto back. During cold di-ying winds, 
it is not desu-able to create a draft over plants that 
have been rendered tender by a long confinemeut, 
either in a gi-eenhouse or pit ; but whenever the air 
is mUd, di-aft ventilation is better for the health of 
indoor plants. This difference in the wa}' of gi\'iug 
ail- is far more essential than many jieople suppose, 
and more so after tliis time, when plants, by being 
shut up under glass, have been a long time deprived 
of part of the scanty light which our northern 
climate affords in winter. 

Calendar. — The management of greenliouse and 
window plants, being so unifonn for thi'ee or four 
months during winter, I did not consider it necessary 
to give a weekly calendai' of operations ; but have 
thought the more useftd eom'se to be, to give a few 
essays on the subject in hand. However, we must 
soon begin to detail what is most necessary to be 
done in the way of weekly operations. 

D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. 

Potato Forcing is practised from the close of De- 
cember to the middle of February, in a hotbed ; and 
at the close of this last month on a warm border, 
with the temporary shelter of a fi-ame. The hotbed 
is only requu'ed to produce a moderate heat. The 
earth should be six inches deep, and the sets planted 
iu rows six or eight inches apart, as the tubers or 
roots are not reqiured to be large. The temperature 
ought never to sink below 05 degi'ees at night, nor 
rise above 80 degi-ees in the day. 

The rank steam arising from feimenting dung 
is undoubtedly injmious to the roots of potatoes ; 
and to obviate tliis, they may be planted in naiTow 
beds, and the dung applied in ti-enches on eacli 
side ; or aU the eai-th ft-om an old cucumber or other 
hotbed being removed, and an inch in deptli of 
fi-esh being added, put on the sets, and cover them 
with fom' inches of mould. At the end of five days 
the sides of the old dung may be cut away m an 
inwai'd slanting dfrection, about fifteen inches fi'om 
the pei-pendicular, and strong Unings of hot dung 
applied. 

K the tubere'ai'e desired to be brought to matu- 
rity as speedily as possible, instead of being planted 
in the earth of the bed, each set should be placed 
in a pot about six inches in diameter, for tliis 
checks the gi-owth of the root ; but the produce in 
pots is smaller. 

Preparation of Sets for Forcing. — They should 
be of the Walnut-leaved Kidney variety. To assist 
tlieu- foiTvai'd vegetation, plant a single potato in each 
of the pots intended for forcing, dui'ing the present 
month. Place the pots in the gi-ound, and protect 
them with litter fi-om the frost. This renders the 
potatoes very excitable by heat ; and, consequently, 
when plunged in a hotbed, they vegetate rapidly and 
generate tubers. The seed potatoes ai-e equally as- 
sisted, and with less ti'ouble, if placed iu a cellar just 



ICi-i 



THE COT'I'AGK GAliDENKR. 



ill contact witli each othev, and as sonn as the slioots 
ai'i' four inches long, are removed to the hotbed. 

Mtinagement. — ^lore than one stem to each stool 
should never be allowed, othenvise the tubers are 
small, and not more uuuierons. Water must be 
given whenever the soil appears dry, and in quan- 
tities proportionate to the temperature of the air. 
Linings must be applied to the hotbed as the tem- 
perature declines ; and air admitted as treely as the 
temperature of the atmosphere will allow. Cover- 
ings must be afforded with the same regard to tem- 
peratm-e. from six to seven weeks usually elapse 
l.ietweeu the time of planting and the fitness of tlie 
tubers for use. The average produce fi'om a single 
light is about five pounds. 

Routine Work. — As a most interesting part of the 
season is now ajjproachiug, every available oppor- 
tunity must be taken for trenching, ridging, and 
forking about the soil, to procm-e a healthy, crumbly 
state, or tilth, ready for spring sowing and planting, 
on which so much depends the health of our future 
crops, and the abundance of their produce. Take 
advantage of favourable, mild, dry weather, for plant- 
ing Broad and Long-podded beans, and for sowing 
the principal crops of early varieties of peas. 

Seed List continued. Pe.\s. — Among the best 
early are the Prince Albert, Warners Emperor, and 
the Earltj Warwick. None of these vai-ieties grow 
taller than from four to five feet, and if they are kept 
topped, that is, if the points of then- shoots "are picked 
out when they commence blooming, their average 
height on good soil will be about four feet. The ad- 
vantage from toj)ping or stopping their main shoots is, 
that the jjods take the lead, and consequently the ga- 
thering of peas is advanced several days. It also causes 
the stems to throw out branches or side shoots. For 
those who have room to gi'ow a succession of peas, 
the Early Charlton is good for a second crop, and is 
much finer and more productive than either of the 
above early varieties; but, for a cottager, or those 
who have gi'ound to spare only for one row of peas, 
tlie Scimetar Blue is the best, both as to the cjuantity 
and quality of its produce. Its height on good soil 
is five feet. Knhjht's Tall Marrow is a pea of the 
first quality for yielding an abundant crop of fine 
pods. It requires a rich, deep, mouldy soU ; and on 
such a soil, the quantity of peas of good quality it 
will produce throughout the heat of summer, from 
the middle of July till September, is very large, more 
particularly if over the roots the ground is mulched 
with half-decayed mulch or leaves, and the roots are 
occasionally well soaked with liquid manure. It is 
a pea that requires to be sown thin, one pint being 
abundance of seed for a row lUO feet long. Whilst 
gi'owing, the plants should have their tops picked out 
when about two feet high ; and again on several 
occasions afterwards, if their sti-ength and luxmiance 
wUl admit of it, for they wUl continue to branch in 
succession, and produce pods, if kept clean gathered 
as soon as ready, for six or eight weeks, being a 
longer period than any other variety of pea that we 
are acquainted with. The Woodford Green Marrow 
and the New Green Marrow are both excellent varie- 
ties, to be sown in succession, for coining into bear- 
ing tlu'ough July, August, and September. Indeed, 
the New Green ilarrow we have liad in fidl bearing 
tlu-oughout October, by stopjiing, miUching, and ap- 
plying mauiux'-water, as above mentioned. Its aver- 
age height is seven feet. There are several other 
good varieties of peas, but those we have named, if 
sown in succession, woidd amply furnish an exten- 



sive demand of good peas from the end of May until 
October. 

G. W. J., & J.\MES B.\KNES. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 11.) 

Every winter bud and blossom has now come forth; 
and there is nothing more to be done, till the voice 
of the Almightly shall awaken sleeping vegetation, 
and call it up fi-om the deep of the earth again. The 
light gossamer flowers of the clematis I occasionally 
see, wreathing the ban-en boughs like snow-flakes — 
a sort of memorial of the past ; and the winter furze, 
with its golden blossoms, decks the liedges, and gives 
them a cheerful aspect. This is sweet, but not so 
richly fragrant as its summer sister ; and the stalks 
and prickles are bro\vner and less handsome. Still, 
at tliis season, we are channed to see and smeU a 
flower, and are little inclined to quarrel \vith its more 
dusky hue. Furze would be a lovely addition to a gar- 
den, where it coidd fill up spaces imder trees, or form 
small patches on the lawn. In wild healthy situa- 
tions it would be exti'emely suitable ; and in such 
soil, the pretty white and amethyst-coloured heaths 
would form a rich and glowing under-gi-owth, more 
beautiful than grass, and useful too — for when gi'owii 
high enough to cut and tie up into bimdles, heath 
makes excellent tliatcbing for bowers and sheds, and 
looks far jirettier than straw. I have a bower 
thatched all over -with heath, or hng, as it is some- 
times called: and, with an occasional patch or two, 
where the wind has forced its way tlu'ough it, it has 
lasted for twelve or thuteen j'ears, and is sound and 
serviceable still. Furze and heath may be consi- 
dered very common plants, and so indeed they are ; 
but they are beautiful and sweet, and would, I think, 
be much admii-ed, if placed judiciously among trees 
and shrubs. The simple-minded florist — to whom 
alone I venture to address myself — might add much 
to the beauty of her " pleasaunce " by thus adopting 
some of the wild plants and shiiibs that pass almost 
unnoticed in the fields and woods, but would make 
grateful retm-ns for her fostering care, and become 
richer and finer from improved cultivation. Fm'ze 
wiU not root well if transijlanted. I know that it has 
perpetually failed when moved fi-om its place; it 
must be raised fi-om seed. It is a beautiful hedge 
plant, on the summit of banks, when properly clipped, 
so as to be always thick and rich ; but it is not a 
sufficient protection against cattle, unless the bank 
and ditch are deep and lugh. Fui-ze is cut down 
every thh-d year, and this causes either a glow of 
bloom, or none at all. Where good effect is wanted, 
this might be obtained by cutting a portion only of 
each plant ; and where it forms a hedge, by cutting 
one side down every year, and leaving the other to 
stand and bloom — for, as a hedge, it shoidd be broad 
enough to admit of this. Thus, there woidd be a 
constant sheet of blossom ; and if winter furze is 
planted with it, both seasons woidd be enlivened by 
its brilliant flowers. In the island of Guernsey, 
where the cattle are always tethered, the banks ai-o 
frequently clothed with fiu-ze, which, in that genial, 
deliglitful spot, flourishes ricldy; and it is hnpossible 
to describe the beauty and sweetness of the walks 
and views during the flowering season. I know not 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



163 



any scene of simple nature more charming to the eye 
than commons or heathy brows gUttering with this 
dazzhug flower, so truly golden, and so very sweet. 
If cottagers encouraged these plants on hanks, they 
would he useful to feed their fire or oven ; and, when 
cut, should be carefully tied up in bundles for that 
pmijose. I know my humbler fiiends are sometimes 
sadly neglectful of many things that might he turned 
to profit ; and even their hedges would be made ex- 
tremely useful, instead of falling to pieces, and being 
stuffed with sticks and briers. Evei-y spot and inch 
of gi'ound should be tiu-ned to account, especially by 
cottager's, whose gai'dens too often present a wofiil 
scene of neglect and ruin, when by diligence and 
activity they might largely contiibute to the famOy 
support, and fill up many idle wasted hom'S with 
wholesome employment. 

And now, while the forest trees shiver in the blast, 
we tm-n gladly to the fir, whose rich clothing now 
is doubly useful — pleasing tlie eye,«ud screening the 
poor dripping bu'ds from wet and cold. The spiaice 
seems to revel in her graceful beauty, waving her 
spreading boughs as if in tiiumph ; and the stern, 
sturdy Scotch fir, with its dark cumbrous foliage, en- 
riches, though it scarcely enlivens, the winter scene. 
When dotted among larch plantations, the Scotch 
takes somewhat from then' lifeless appearance, and 
conti'asts agi-eeably \vith theh' pale brown hue. 

But the monarch of the evergi'een world is the 
noble, interesting cedar — a ti'ee we should strive to 
place in evei'y garden, not only for its beauty, but 
for the many recollections that hang, as it were, on 
evei'y bough. It may tridy he called the Tree of the 
Bible, so often is it spoken of in Holy Writ. Such 
was its beauty and gi-andeur in the east, that the 
cedai' is used in all tlie sublime prophetical descrip- 
tions of whatever was beautilul, or stately, or flou- 
rishing, among the kmgdoms of the earth, — liut 
chiefly as applied to the people " beloved for their 
fathers' sake ;" and it was even employed by Solomon 
famtly to shadow forth the beauty of Him who is 
Lord over His Chui'oh, and whose gloi-y the most 
fervent imagery can but darkly poi-ti'ay. These 
majestic trees should stand singly on a lawn. Some- 
times their branches inchne to the earth, spi-eading 
widely around the ti-unk, and forming a natural 
canopy, under which it is delightful to sit in summer ; 
for even in this chilling climate there is a kind of 
spiciuess about them, and they speak of other times 
and other lands, full of interest to a Christian's heart ; 
and we know that although the cedar is the glory of 
Lebanon, yet even it, in its pride and strength, shall 
be broken by " the voice of the Lord." 

Let us listen to that voice. The closed and open- 
ing year is " a time to keep silence," and also "a time 
to speak." Deep stillness has settled upon tlie earth. 
Natui'e is at rest, and a solemn pause takes place. 
Well would it be for us if we paused too, and thought 
of all the past year is burdened with ; for every 
thought, and word, and work of man is stereotyped, 
and there is but one hand that can ever blot them 
out. 

In om' youthful days we love to dance the old year 
out, and a joyous dance it seems to be; hut things 
would go better with us if we welcomed the coming 
year in a different way; for too often "the end of 
that mirth is heaviness." I do not know a more 
affecting sound than the ciume that bursts from the 
village church, when the unconscious clock has tolled 
the knell of the departed year, and ushers in the new. 
It is most solemn — most impressive ; and, coining 
from the house sacred to prayer and praise, it seems 



like the people's thankful acknowledgment for some 
added mercy. I wish their hearts and voices were 
mixing with the joyful peal. I wish, too, that my 
cottage readers would take a fi'iendly warning at this 
special time, and strive to separate the work of ring- 
ing from that of di-niking, for they are apt to travel 
hand-in-hand, and that which is intended as a mark 
of joy and gi'atitude becomes a means of intemper- 
ance and sin. This should not he. Even om' harm- 
less amusements and useful employments may thus 
bring down a cm'se, and not a blessing, on oirr heads. 
We cannot expect om' fi'uits and flowers to flourish ; 
we cannot expect " to receive the early and the latter 
rain ;" or to see our children gi'ow up as the yoimg 
plants, if we regard not the honour of God in all we 
do and say. We may dig and sow, and water our 
crops, hut the blight will come; the worm will des- 
troy ; the hand of God will mar our labours, unless 
His name is feared and honoured, and His word 
written " on the door-posts of our houses and on om 
gates." 

Let us, as we step into another year, remember 
this : it is of deep importance to our peace and our 
prosperity. It equally aftects the high and low, the 
rich and poor. None can thrive lomj, without a 
blessing. It gladdens the palace, and gilds the cot- 
tage walls ; it brightens the path of ]ieer and peasant : 
it sweetens and sanctifies the joys of home, and gives 
the sm'est increase to the useful labours of " The 
Cottage Gardener." 



SCEAPS. 



Naked-flowered Jasmine, on Jessamine. A 

plant of Mr. Fortune's Jasmiuum nudiflorum is in 
blossom on the conservative wall of the Hoiticiiltiu'al 
Society's Garden, as are dso the specimens of Chimo- 
nanthus there. The latter never fail to ju'oduee their 
sweet flowers at this season, and thtit with little 
trouble. The chief point to attend to in their manage- 
ment is priming. This should never be done ^^-ith a 
knife ; where they require it, the points of the roots 
only should be nipped ofl" with the finger and thumb. 
A plant of Jasminum nudiflorum was also coming 
finely into flower in the open border. It otters fair 
to become one of our most ornamental hardy winter 
flowering slu-ubs. — Oardener's Chronicle. 

Experiments in Potato -growing. — Mr. John 
Walker, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, says, " Last 
spring I procm'ed samples of dtflferent varieties fi'oin 
Yorkshu'e, Lancashire, Northampton, and other 
places. The ground allotted for experiment was 
about a hundred and forty-four square yards, and a 
good dark hazel loam, on a stronger subsoil, or what 
is usually termed 'limestone land' with us. On this 
I grew about eighteen varieties, and treated them in 
the following manner : — 

Cash-in-liand — (We think this a good name to heyin 

with) — I had out of Yorkshire. Planted four 

inches in depth, and covered about two inches 

thick with a vegetable soil, composed of decayed 

pea haulm and spent lime ; they were quite free 

from disease. 

Thoreshy's Seedlings I tried several ways. — 1st Row. 

On the old-fashioned system, with fresh manure, 

covering with soil. This row was decidedly had. 

'2nd Row. With strong soil, inclining to red clay. 

This, too, was very had. 



IGi 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



3rd Row. With road scrapings and wood ashes. 

These were much better than the above. 
4th Row. These were treated with the refuse of 
my winter greens, cliopijed into lengths of abont 
two inches, spread in the drill, and the potatoes 
planted on it, covering with light soil. These 
were entirelji free from disease, though the tubers 
were smaller than 1 and 2. Tlie qualitj-, how- 
ever, was e.\cellent. 
The remamder of this variety (Thoresby's Seedling) 
were planted in decayed vegetable soil, to which 
was added a small quantity of crushed bones 
and other animal matter. Of these about one- 
tliu'd were diseased. 
Early Strawberry. — 1st Row. Dressed and planted 
in wood ashes, chan-ed vegetables, and spent 
lime. Quite free, with the exception of some 
tluree or four tubers. 
2nd Row. Planted with fresh manure. Very bad 

uideed. 
3rd Row. With old manme. One-half diseased. 
4th Row. Old manme, with soot strewed over, when 
covered up \vith soil. Only one-fllth bad. 
Eilott's Flour Ball. — The first row in decayed vege- 
tables, in which a good portion of salt had been 
mi.xed when gi'eeu, were not more than one-tenth 
diseased: whilst the very next row, planted in a 
similar manner, (only that bones, &c., had been 
mixed with it instead of salt,) were one-half bad. 
Engineers, planted in similar soil to the first row of 
liour Rahs, were entnely free, with tlie exception 
of tlu'ee tubers in the two rows. 
Winter Pink Eyes and Radicals, from Lancashii-e, 
planted in a similar compost to the Engineers and 
Flour Ball, No. 1, with the addition of a few wood 
ashes, were perfectly sound. 
Soden's Early 0.iford and Tinley's Early. — Wood 
ashes, leaf moidd, peat, and a little lime. A most 
beautiful clear sample. 
Fortyfold. — Planted in decayed vegetables, mixed 
with salt. Nearly free, not more than one in 
twenty, and these but slightly. Another row, with 
old manure, about one-twelfth. 
Farmers Olory. — With manure, very had ; with de- 
cayed vegetables and bones, one-half bad. This 
appears to be a variety veiy subject to disease. 
Hague's Seedling. — With mamne, a very heavy crop, 
but sadly diseased ; and with equal parts manure 
and vegetable soil, half were affected. This is a 
very fine-flavoured sort, but with me the tops were 
too long, and the tubers lay far from the stem ; 
qualities which I by no means admii'e. 
Regents. — One row, planted with vegetable mould 
and salt, was neaiiy fi'ee ; whilst two rows, planted 
with night soil (privy manm'e), wood ashes, and 
leaf mould, were nearly all bad, and exlubited symp- 
toms of cUsease very early in the season. The same 
results were produced with two other vaiieties, 
planted in a similar maimer. 
Repealers, with manme, very bad. And I may here 
observe, that a few Early Strawberries, planted 
where a small heap of manm'e had lain last win- 
ter, and covered with peat that had been dried in 
the sun, %oere a very heavy crop, and entirely fi'ee 
fi'om disease." — Midland Florist. 

[We extract the preceding because they are facts. 
Among other intuuatious for our guidance, they con- 
firm what the experience of others had previously 
indicated, — viz., that fresh stimidating dimgs pro- 
mote the potato muii'ain. To shew how soil and 
locality influence this disease, it deserves to be re- 



marked, that the editor of the Midland Florist planted 
atNottuigham three of the foregoing varieties, (Early 
ytrawberries, Tinley's Earlies, and Engineers,) on 
soil uumauured with anything but old decayed turf, 
and had not a sound potato among their iiroduce. — 
Ed. C. G.l 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Oleander Shedding its Flower-buds (H — n, Bristol). — The 
three shoots of your oleander ought to flower next July. Keep the 
plant as cool as possible till the middle or end of March, and only 
water it sufficiently to keep the soil a little damp. Early in May 
place it so that its leaves nearly touch the glass ; water it freely after 
that, till you see the blossom-buds appear, and then place the pot in 
a saucer of water till the flowers are all gone. Do not turn it out of 
doors till after flowering. 

Charring Refuse {Rev. J. Pnrton).~\i this, which you truly 
call " a most valuable manure," is apt to burn to ashes, you do not 
exclude the air sufficiently. Though covered over closely with turves 
or earth, sufficient air will get in to keep up the desired slow burning. 
If you follow the direcAns given by Mr. Barnes, at p. 83, you cannot 
fail of success. 

Draining (O. S.). — The only soil that would not be benefitted by 
draining is a very light one, resting upon a very deep open subsoil. 
Clay soils are always improved by draining. The cost varies accord- 
ing to the nature of the soil, the depth of the drains, and accordingly 
as pipes or other drainage materials are used. On a clay soil, with 
the drains 18 feet apart and 3 feet deep, if pipes are used, the highest 
cost should be £S per acre ; and if stones, instead of pipes, about 
£%. On a light soil, with the drains 24 feet apart, the cost should 
be ^6, or.* 3. 

Espalier Rails {Jbid). — The best arc made in the form of iron 
hurdles. 'Wires may be stretched from post to post, and the branches 
will not be injured if proper care be taken in fastening them to the 
wires. We hope to endure as long as does taste for gardening among 
our countrymen. 

GoosEDERRY CuTTiNGS {Ihid).—YoM will find full directions for 
planting these at p. 55. The same directions are applicable to cur- 
rant cuttings. 

Peach and Pear-tree Pruning (.4 Subscriber). — The peach 
described by you is what gardeners term a " strong maiden." It has 
three shoots, you say, a yard each in length ; shorten, therefore, one 
shoot on each side at least half its length, and from the other at least 
three-fourths must be pruned away. Train one right, one left, and 
the very short one perpendicular. We have no space here to give 
reasons, hut such will appear in the proper place for every process 
connected with fruit-tree culture, as opjiortunity occurs. Similar 
principles apply to the Jargonelle. The wall must be covered, and 
an active root-pruning will effect it. 

Apple-Grafting on Siberian Ceabs {Ibid). — You may graft 
shy bearing apples, or kinds too gross, on your Siberian crabs, by all 
means. This was a crotchet oJ the late celebrated Rlr. Knight. We 
do not think it the best plan, but no doubt may answer. 

Miscelleneous, — S. K., Ipswich, will be inserted. — W. Fook 
must remember we have more tastes than that for flowers to cater for, 
but he shall have his share of attention. — M. Saui, thanks, but the 
drawing is scarcely intelligible.— Jn Oiwje?" of Cottage Allotments 
shall have full explanations relative to tank-making. — Rev, L, D. will 
be answered in our next. — R. Ferriss will find full particulars relative 
to gooseberr)' cuttings at p. 55, and the same are applicable to currant 
cuttings in every respect. 

CoAL-AsHE8 C^' it/aJ'«/and).— These are very good, mixed with 
night-soil, if the staple of your soil is too heavy ; but they are injuri- 
ous if your soil is light. Rendle's Treatise is priced five shillings : 
you can get it through any bookseller. Your two other queries shall 
be answered in our next. 

Age op the Bee {Querist). — Dr. Bevan is somewhat surprised 
that Mr. Lloyd should state that the age of the bee is unknown, as 
the experiments detailed in chap. 29 of the " Honey-Bee" are gene- 
rally admitted to be conclusive on that subject, and they have never 
been controverted. 

Industrial Self-supporting Schools (Clericus, J. H.). — We 
cannot hear of any reason why those at Eastbourne were abandoned, 
except that, on the death of Mrs. Gilbert, no patron succeeded to take 
the lead, so essential for the prosperity of sucn institutions. 



London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Marj'-le-Strand ; and ^\''i^cheste^ High-street, in 
the Pariah of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
SoMEBViLLE Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le- Strand, London.— January Uth, 1849. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 



lOJ 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M 
I) 

1« 


w 


JANUARY 18— 2i, 1840. 


Plants dedicated to | 
each day. 


Sun 
Kises. 


Sun 

Sets. 


Jloon E. 
and Sets. 


Moon's 
Age. 


Clock 1 Day of 
bef. Sun.i Year. 


Prisca. Tufted Poclier goes. 


SilveiT Moss (Bryum) 


VII 


23 a 4 


2 25 


24 


10 


48 


18 


U) 


V. 


Cole Titmouse lieanl. inffs. 


White Dead Nettle 


08 


34 


3 2G 


20 


11 


6 


19 


■>i) 


s. 


Fabiau. Starlings resort to buOd- 


Large Dead Nettle 


07 


2G 


4 23 


20 


11 


24 


20 


■.u 


StTV. 


2 Son. a. Epip. Agnes. Grosbeak goes. 


Cliristmas Rose , 


au 


28 


5 18 


27 


11 


41 


21 


■n 


M. 


Vincent. Menereou flowers. 


Early Witlow Grass i 


00 


30 


9 


28 


11 


58 


00 


■>i^ 


Tn. 


Sun's dec. 19° 24' s. Skvlark sings. 


'Sauoer-like Peziza 


53 


31 


53 


29 


12 


13 


23 


■H 


W. 


Great Titmouse beai'd. 


.Pointless Moss (Phasurn) 


5> 


33 


sets 


® 


12 


28 


24 



Prisca was a Roman virD;m, martyred by command of the Em- 
peror Claudius, about the year 4", for refusing to desert Christianity. 

Fabian, nineteenth Bishop of Rome, was martyred on this day in 
the year 214. during the Decian persecution. 

Agnes, another Roman and Christian virgin, was martjTed on 
account of her religion, by order of the Emperor Diocletian, about 
the year 304. She was only thirteen at the time she was beheaded. 
Formerly om* country maidens were accustomed to go to bed supper- 
less on the night of the 20th, which they called '■ fasting St. Agnes* 
fast," with the belief that their future husbands woidd appear to 
them in their dreams. 

Vincent was a Spanish Christian, burnt during the same persecu- 
tion, by the Emperor Diocletian, in the year 304. 

Phenomena of the Season. — Whilst we are writing this (Jan- 
uary 6th), the face of the earth is covered with snow which fell the 
preceding night ; but a thaw has commenced, and as one of our ob- 
jects in publishing these notes is to awaken a spirit of inquiry among 
our readers, let us examine a little into " the why and because " of 
what this thaw is doing. We see that a spade was carelessly left upon 
one of the borders yesterday, and the snow has melted from off the 
iron part, whilst it remains unaltered upon the handle. Why is this? 
Because metal becomes warmed much faster than wood. Thawing is 
the return of ice or snow to the state of water, and this thawing is 
oorasioned by their being exposed to a temperature higher than 32°, 



at which water freezes. That higher temperature is occasioned eitter 
by the direct rays of the sun, or by a warm current of air, and from 
these the iron of the spade receives, or absorbs, beat faster than does 
the wood of tlie handle. As the iron receives heat faster, so does it 
part with it faster than wood does ; or, as the chemists say, it is a 
better conductor of heat. Therefore, the iron of the spade gives out 
the heat to the snow more quickly, and melts it more rapidly than is 
done by the wooden handle. The thermometer shews that, now it 
is thawing, the air is warmer than yesterday when it was freezing, 
yet we feel the cold more, — to use a common phrase, " it is a raw 
penetrating cold." Why is this? Because the air is damper during 
a thaw than during a frost, and damp air absorbs, or conducts heat 
from our bodies, and from all other bodies, faster than dry air does. 
Plants in a greenhouse, or elsewhere, will endure without hurt a 
degree of cold, if the air within it is dry, that would kill them if that 
air was damp. 

Insects. — In the present month, a few years since, when grubbing 
up the roots of some old lime, or linden trees, we found many of the 
pupie or chrysales of the Lime Hawk Bloth [Smeririt/ms tilim).* We 
believe that during the present month, and until the end of March, is 
the best time for taking them from their resting places about the 
roots of the lime and elm. They are dark brown, and found about 
two or three inches below the surface of the earth. In I\lay the 
perfect insect, or moth, comes forth from the pupa. Its thorax, or 




Jan. 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1644. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


1848. 


18 


Rain. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Kain. 


Showery. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Higbcst 


















& lowest 


47°— 33° 


33°— 31° 


49°— 33° 


44°— 38° 


46°— 33° 


53»— 35° 


32°— 28° 


38°— 27° 


tcln]). 


















19 


Sbowery. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Sho\yerv. 


Rain. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 




36°— 28° 


33°— 27° 


44°— 34° 


4S°— 37° 


45°— 32° 


54°— J 1° 


33°— 26° 


35°— 29° 


20 


Fine, 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 




34°— 22° 


33°— 32° 


39°— 29° 


48°— 28° 


45°— 24° 


51°— 40° 


36°— 25° 


35°— 3'o° 


21 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


Showery. 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 




38°— 25° 


35°— 30° 


41°— 34° 


47°— 34° 


45°— 21° 


55°— 50° 


36°— 30° 


32°— 30° 


22 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Itain. 


Fine. 


Uain. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 




44°— 32° 


38°— 29° 


44°— 34° 


49°— 26° 


4S°— 38° 


56^—11° 


36°— 30° 


33°— 26° 


23 


Fine. 


Sleet. 


Sliowerv. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 




43°— 32° 


38°— 18° 


48° — 13° 


45°— 35° 


48°— 39° 


51°— 42° 


44°— 34° 


35°— 29° 


24 


Snow. 


Frosty. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 




38°— 26° 


36°— 23° 


48°— 39° 


43°— 23° 


46°— 25° 


53°— 11° 


48°— 38° 


37°— 29° 



bicast, is ash-coloured, with three oliye green bands; body ash-eoloured ; upper wings pale brick-red, blotched with olive green near the 
middle and upper edge ; the outer edge has a broad border of olive green ; lower wings rather darker, but muted with the same colour ; feelers, 
or horns {antennm) and feet, ash-coloured. Each female lays about fifty eggs, from which the caterpdiars are hatched in July and August, and 
are then found feeding upon the leaves of the lime and elm. They are rough ; green, with reddish yellow stripes along their whole length ; 
thinner before than beliind ; and have tails. They are usually found alone, being very liable to attack and wound each other. They change to 
the pupa state in October, first burnng themselves in the ground, and becoming of a bright purple colour just before that change. It is curious 
that the moth invariably comes forth from the pupa precisely at noon. 

♦ Pupa or Chrysalis is the form assumed by the grub or caterpillar, and in which it remains at rest, until the time arrives for its final change 

into a perfect insect. 



Another of the most excellent of our Britisli gar- 
deners bas been gathered by death ; but, to mitigate 
OUT regret, we have the knowledge tliat he was ready 
for the harvest, and has left behind him a remem- 
brance, a character, which all may benefit by imitating. 
.Mr. William M'Nab, Cm-ator of the Eoyal Botanic 
Gai'den at Edinbtu'gh, died a few weeks since, at 
near the allotted age of three-score yeai-s and ten. 

" He first saw the light," says Dr. Neill, in a com- 
munication with wliich he has favoured us, " in 
1780, in the parish of Dailly, in Ayi'shire, where liis 
fatlier was a farmer. His early years were devoted 



to the duties of a shepherd on the hills of bis native 
countiy. Amid those scenes his genius was early 
directed to the beautiful forms and vai-iety exhibited 
by vegetable hfe; and om stripling shepherd was 
inspired with a strong predilection for the occupation 
of a gai-dener. His father, yielding to liis wishes, 
had him apprenticed to the gardener of Mr. Ken- 
nedy, of Dalquharran, at the age of 16. After serv- 
ing three years in that place, he was recommended 
by Mr. Kennedy to the late Mr. Walter Dickson, of 
Edinburgh, who procm'ed him a situation in the 
gai-dens of Lord Haddington, at Tyniugham. There 
he remained about a year, when, being anxious to 
improve still farther in his profession, he went to 



No. XVr., VoT.. I. 



16G 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



London, where lie had the good foitune to he recom- 
mended to Mr. Alton. Su]ieriutendent of the Boyal 
Garden at Kew. and to obtain eraploynient in that 
magnificent establishment ; after three yeai-s' service 
in the difiei-ent departments, he was appointed to the 
responsible situation of foreman. There he remained 
for several yeai'S, acquii'ing knowledge and exjierience ; 
and his conduct and intelligence recommended him 
to the favom'ahle notice of his Majesty George III., 
then a fi'equent visitor at Kew, and brought him in 
contact with Su- Joseph Banks, the ready patron and 
judicious fi-iend of modest merit. On the death of 
the Ciu-ator of the Royal Botanical Garden at Edin- 
burgh, the late Professor Rutherford considted his 
friend Sir Joseph on the choice of a successor, and 
Sir Joseph strongly recommended Mr. M'Nab, who 
immediately received the ajipointmeut, and entered 
on the duties of his new office in May, 181 0. It is 
therefore nearly forty years since Mr. M'Nab was 
called to Edinburgh. 

" After his appointment, he exerted himself with 
indomitable industry in the old Botanic Garden of 
Edinbm-gh, and when it became necessary to ti-aus- 
fer the Garden to its present locahty, Mr. M'Nab 
displayed remai-kable skill in his an-aiigements for 
that purjiose : partieulai-ly in the successfid removal 
of trees, shrabs, and plants, to their new situation; 
some of them of large .size, and probably 100 
years old. Dm-ing his whole career, Mr. M'Nab 
pursued a steady and imobtrtisive course of observa- 
tion and experiment with regard to the rearing of 
exotics fi-om all quarters of the globe ; and that he 
has been pre-eminently successfiil in this depart- 
ment, the Botanic Garden in its present state fur- 
nishes ample proof. He has also, by useful publi- 
cations, made known to others both the natme and 
results of his practice : and his numerous pupils have 
not failed to disseminate widely the lessons they 
were taught. Indeed, by the strict order and un- 
deviating regularity which he has ever both dis- 
played and enforced, Jlr. M'Nab may be said to have 
organised a new school of practical gardeners ; while 
liis kindly encom-agement of merit, wherever it ap- 
peared among his assistants, and his unwearied 
attention to eveiy request for advice or aid, whether 
from operative or amatevu' horticulturists, has made 
him as universally esteemed as he was extensively 
known. 

" Mr. M'Nab's happy combination of sornid theo- 
retical views with roles of practice, has never been 
exceeded by any horticultural writer. His papers on 
the management of Heaths and the transplantation 
of Evergi-eens are guides which wOl never mislead the 
inquirer. But he taught by personal example more 
than by written preoe))t ; and those only, who have 
now lost the former, can judge correctly of the value 
wMch woidd have been contained in the latter." 

Thus, by Iris own persevering and luiwearied efforts, 
and by his obUgiug manners, did the shepherd's boy 
win his way tlu^ough the paths of science and of life, 
until he deserved and obtained one of the best ap- 
pointments attainable in that particular department 
of the arts and sciences to wliich he devoted his 
mind. The knowledge to which he attained was deep 
and accurate, and the courtesy which adorned him 
was the joint offspring of a sound sense and a kind 
lieart. 

" No man," says Dr. Balfour, the Edinburgh Pro- 



fessor of Botany, " possessed a more thorough know- 
ledge of Ids profession in all its departments ; and 
yet, combined with his extensive information, there 
was an innate retiring modesty and unobti-usiveness 
of deportment, which endeai'ed huu to every one. 
His advice and counsel were readily given when 
asked, and they were always tendered in such a wav 
as to secm-e imiversal respect. Few men ever had a 
greater number of fi'iends, in all ranks of society, 
during his lil'etime ; and none evei' died more gene- 
rally legi'etted. His death was a loss to the city, and 
will be deeply felt by aU the inaclieal gardeners of 
the coimtiy." 

Yet, with all these high and acknowledged attain- 
ments, Mr. M'Nab was never presuming ; but, on the 
conti'aiy, like a ti-ue son of genius, always modest and 
unpretenduig. " He was respectfid to his superiors 
in rank," says Dr. NeiU, " yet without being in the 
slightest degree obsequious. No man knew better 
liis position in society, and he conducted liimself 
accordingly." Thus loved and honoured, Mr. M'Nab 
lived and died ; and it must have been a comfort in 
his dying hour to know that he had trained up a son 
so well, that he is not only worthy to be, but who 
probably will be, liis successor in the C'uratorship.* 



THE FEUIT-GARDEN. 

Ndts. — As some of the con-espondents of The 
CoTT.\GE G.\EDKNKK have inquired about nut culture, 
we win endeavoiu' to supply them with the inlbrnia- 
tion for which they are seeking. The cultiue of 
nuts is seldom pursued by the cottager as a profitable 
article, unless it be in the county of Kent, so long 
famed for its filberts. We do not see, however, why 
its cultiu-e may not be attempted by the cottier — 
especially in the vicinity of large towns, and where 
the soil is of a fr-ee loamy texture. 

VABtETiEs. — There are several varieties of this 
interesting shiidj ; but. amongst them all, the filbert 
has for many years claimed the pre-eminence in the 
dessert. Nevertheless, some of the other kinds are 
well worthy of cidtivation — some for their size, and 
some for the individual cliaracter stamped on them, 
although maiidy affecting the beai'd or luisk, from 
whence it woidd appear- the name of " full beai'd" or 
filbert is derived. These, like all om- other ft-uils, 
liave had their varieties multiplied by seedhngs, some 
jiartaldng more of the chai'acter of then- male pai-ent, 
otliers of the female. The kinds worthy of cidtivation 
may he classed under two heads — 1, filberts ; ;i, nuts ; 
the remaining portion being for the most part seed- 
lings, not far removed from the wild nut. Some of 
these kinds are pi-opagated by gj-alting on the com- 
mon hazel, others are reared by suckers. The Spanish 
Cob is prefen'ed by some, as a stock, on account of 
its strength, &c. ; but we feel pretty well assured 
that the wliole would answer better (as part of a 
dwarfing system) for small gardens, 2)ropagated by 
cuttings, and trained accordingly. 

As special kinds, we would cultivate the foUow- 
mg:— 
Tlie White filbert ; first rate. 

* This son, Blr. James M'Nab, is at present, we believe, Superin- 
tendent of the Caledonian Horticultural Society's Garden, at Edin- 
burgh. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



167 



The Red filbert ; interesting on acconut of the pink 
coating inside, and scai'cely inferior to the former. 
The Erizzled filbert ; rery ornamental. 
The Cpsford ; large, a good bearer, and thin shelled. 
The Cobs ; rei-y large, upright in growth. 
The Downton ; proljably a variety of the former. 

The above are all that will be needed by the 
readers of The Cottage Gabden'er. The next 
matter is how to cultivate tliem properly. 

Culture. — Nuts, like most other fruits, may lie over 
excited ; or, as tlie gardeners term it, " run too much 
to wood." This is to be seen in the ordinai-y liedge, 
where hazels may be found wliich seldom bear ; 
whilst the uncultivated, uupruned hazel of the wood 
is notorious, when in a situation exposed to the Uglit, 
and possessing some age, for abundant crops. 

The cultivation, therefore, of nuts is by no means 
difficidt ; indeed, they are more likely to be injui-ed 
by over-cultivation than otherwise. They should, in 
all cases, be ti-ained to a single stem ; for the pro- 
duction of suckers,* or rather the pei-mittiug them 
to remain, is most injurious to theu' future success. 
Suckers \vill spring up, and they must everj' year be 
removed. 

The stems shoiild be from half a yard to two feet 
in height, and the head should be formed after the 
manner of dwarf apple ti-ees. As we cannot describe 
all the minutiae in this paper, we will recur to the 
subject in due time. 

.It must be remembered that tlic fruit is mostly 
produced from the extremities of the shoots ; for the 
nut loves light as well as most other friuts. After 
carrying up a clear stem, therefore, the next point is 
to form a proper head, and this must be accomplished 
in the same way as the ordinary red currant bush — 
by selecting four or five shoots which are well placed. 
Such shoots must, of course, he obtained by heading 
back — that is, cutting them off near to the stem ; and 
in order to obtain a sufficient number, the operation 
may requned to be repeated. The middle of the 
bush must be kept rather open, for the sake of ad- 
mitting light to all parts of the ti-ee, or rather bush, 
for it should not be permitted to gi-ow above tlie 
height of five or six feet in small gardens. The keep- 
ing them thus dwarf involves some consideration 
connected with soU, root-pi-uning, &g., about which 
we will presently offer advice. The trees having 
fonned suflicient heads, annual pruning, more or less, 
must be resorted to : for no fmit-tree answers better 
to judicious pruning than the nut. This operation 
must not be pei-formed uutU February. 

The nut is what Botanists teitn an amentaceous 
slu-ub,f of the Linnaean class Monsecia ; all of which 
class produce blossoms of both male and female 
separately, but on the same bush. The male blossoms 
are well known by then- gay danghng appearance, 
and by the yellow dust they shed on being handled ; 
this dust is the fertilizing pollen. The female blos- 
soms, on the conti'arj% are so obsom-e as to require a 
close examination in order to find them. When in 
full blossom, they are of a lively pink colour, and 
appear like little brushes at the tips of the side 
shoots produced by mature wood. The female blos- 
soms do not appear until a few days after the males 
have ojjened. 

Now it so happens, that trees at a certaui age, or 
imder certain conditions of culture, will sometimes 
produce either almost entii'ely male blossoms, or 

• Suckers — Shoots from the roots, 
t Producing catkins as male blossoms. 



otheiTvise female. Those with the males alone 
must, of necessity, be barren for that year : but if 
only female blossoms appear, branches should be 
cut, bearing catkins of male blossoms, and suspended 
or tied amongst those possessing female blossoms. 
Occasionally, too, on a sunny day, a branch of the 
dusty catkins may be carried in the hand like a rod, 
and brushed lightly over the tips of the female-bear- 
ing bushes. . 

-Many good crops of nuts have been lost for want 
of tills precaution : it is vain to think of the female 
blossom yielding fiiiit, without the catkins have been 
near- them in Februaiy ; then the blossoms may be 
readily distinguished, and then it is that pruning 
may be successfully earned out. 

The fruit is produced, principally, on the former 
yeai-'s wood, and generally form compact side shoots, 
the produce of leaders of a short-jointed and mature 
appearance. Such lateral fruit-bearing branches 
may be induced in greater abundance by shorten- 
ing back strong shoots of this character. Thinning 
out, however, is one of the principal matters ; for. 
unless this be duly attended to, the bush will 
become crowded vdtk spray worse than useless. 
— it will also obstruct the light fi-om the bearing 
portions, as well as hinder the circulation of air. 
A gi'eal deal of small spray will be produced on the 
inner portions of the branches; and these, although 
of the character of bearing-wood, are generally un- 
fruitful ; most of these must be pi'uned away. Anj' 
one who observes the habit of the nut closely, will 
soon perceive that the shrubs are most disposed to 
bear at the exli-emities of the branches ; thus evinc- 
iug their partiality to plenty of light and air. 
These, then, are the portions of the tree where the 
eye must be directed, as to fruit-bearing properties. 
Such leaders, however, must not be encouraged so 
thickly as to cross each other ; and. in order to pre- 
vent the lower portion of the head from becoming 
naked, a good strong well-placed shoot may be occa- 
sionally encoin-aged, heading it back in due time, in 
order to keep it producing side branches, &c. .After 
duly thinning away superfluous shoots, tlie principal 
leaders shoidd be all shortened. Asa general rule, we 
would say, remove about a quarter of the length ; 
this, as before observed, will cause the tree to pro- 
duce abundance of side spray, from which, in the 
i'utm'e spring, the fruiting shoots may be selected. 

Soil. — Almost any light loamy soil will answer ; 
it should, however, more incline to sand than clay. 
There is no occasion to use any mamn-e for nuts 
when first planted, but merely to dig or trench deep 
for them ; and if the soil is turfy, so much the better : 
the turf may be trenched down nearly half a yard. 
The main thing in the majority of soils, is to guard 
against over luxuriance ; for such will, in some 
kinds, produce only catkins or male blossoms. Theu 
it will be found that nuts bear most surely when 
tamed by a little age. When, however, the trees get 
old, or become very weak, wliich is sometimes the 
case, top ch-essings should be applied occasionally, 
the same as to other fruit-trees. 

Planting. — -Nuts are not always planted in a con- 
tinuous way in small gai'dens. When such is the 
case, if in a single row, about eight feet apart wiU 
suffice ; if, however, there are more rows than one, 
and they are side by side, we shoidd place the rows 
ten feet apai't, and the plants eight feet apart in the 
row. We have known them succeed to admu-ation 
on the marginal borders, alternating with apples 
and other fruits. A row of nut and goosoberiy 



ICS 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



buslies would anwer well, if the nuts were ti'ained 
with a stem a yard high. They would then assist iu 
protecting the gooseben-ies from late sjn'ing frosts. 

Root-pruning. — We may here observe, that root- 
jiruning may be practised when the ti'ees are too 
gross. We have performed the operation ourselves, 
more than twenty years ago, on a whole line of 
bushes, .wliich gi'ew in a clayey soil, and produced 
veiy powerful rods. This operation was severe, and 
it brought them into capital beai'ing in the covrrse of 
a year : it was accompanied by a severe pruning and 
shortening. 

Composts. — We hope all parties will have seized 
an occasion, during the past frost, of turning their 
compost heaps, whether for the fruit or the vegetable 
garden. No pains should be spared, at any period, 
by the cottager, to preserve and store away turf par- 
ings of any kind; such may always be obtained 
from the vicinity of unenclosed lands, lane-sides, &c. 
Ditch-scouiings too : what an excellent material to 
dress onions or caiTOt beds with, when mellowed 
down ! They are, also, capital material for fruit-ti'ee 
holes. 

General Planting. — In another week or two, 
planting may be resumed, and tlie making of tlie 
uecessaiy stations may be accomphshed m frosty 
weather, if necessary. Everj'thing should he in 
readiness, for such extra operations ar'e sure to im- 
pede the ordinary spring business. 

Hedges. — We need scarcely remind om readers, 
that this is a very good time in which to perform all 
hedge operations; whetlier plashing, cutting iu, 
cutting down, or the making new hedge lines. In 
the latter case, means should at all times be taken to 
break up the ground thoroughly; and in the case of 
intervening portions of a very ban'en character, 
some better material should occasionally be intro- 
duced ; for of what use is the mere formality of hedge 
planting, iniless means are taken to ensme a good 
fence in all its parts ? When we have brought up 
some arrears of matter, incidental to the season, we 
win say a good deal more about hedges. 

E. Ebbington. 



THE FLOWEE-GARDEN. 

Water. — Of all the ornaments used to embellish a 
garden, there is none that has so pleasmg an efl'ect, 
especially in the warm days of simuner, as water. 
On a large scale — when we can have so much of it as 
to afford space for islands, planted with weeping 
willows and other suitable trees, together with water- 
falls, rooks, and secluded and open walks, laistio 
bridges, boat-houses, and rustic seats — we have then 
a power to please the eye and delight the senses to the 
Irighest degi'ee. In happy England there are many 
such scenes, hut with such gi-and specimens of the 
power of water to embelhsh scenery, these pages have 
notliing to do. Yet in the gardens of our amatem, 
if not of our cottage gai-dcns, small pieces of water 
may be iised with very good cfiect ; tliat is, whenever 
there is a supply of that beautifid and usefid element. 
The size of the collected water ought to be propor- 
tioned to the garden; tliat is, of that portion of the 
garden devoted to the lawn, flower-garden, and 
slu-uhbeiy. Its form may cither be ornamental or 
naturid. By ornamental, we mean formed with ma- 
sonry, either round or oval, surrounded by a gravel 



walk or the lawn. A natm-al piece of water is of an 
irregidar form, the points of winch may have a few 
rough stones so placed as partly to hide the hollows, 
with a weeping willow or two planted amongst them. 
If a walk is carried en one side of it, a shrub or two 
should be planted to hide the extent of tlie water ; 
and on the opposite side a slielving pebbly walk, 
will) a small bed of shnibs here and tlierc, woulil 
make pretty small views and shadows ui the water. 
To preserve the water fi-om wasting away, or making 
the gi-oimd wet about it, the bottom and sides ought 
to be well puddled either with well \vTought cliiy or 
fine sifted earth ; we have used both for large reser- 
vofrs with equal success. If the ornamental form is 
adopted, the stones sliould be well built with Roman 
cement, and the bottom flagged and covered with the 
same. This water being exposed to the air will im- 
bibe portions of it, and will, iu consequence, be 
greatly improved for the jnu'pose of watering the 
gai'den, plants in pots, syringing, &c. This water 
will also afford an opportmiity and a good situation 
for gi'owing aquatic plants, a considerable number 
of which are exceedingly handsome. We possess iu 
tliis coimtry one plant, au aquatic, of wbicli the 
foliage and flowers ai'e surpassed by scarcely any 
exotic water plant.-: "^'e allude to om' own lovely 
water-lily, a plant whose beauty atti-acts the admfra- 
tion of every one. 

Gold and silver fish may also be kept in tlie water. 
the only thing to attend to iu keeping them being 
to have a corner of the water protected from ii-ost, to 
allow tlie fish a breatluug place. Tliis may easily 
be accomplished by having a few pieces of wood laid 
across one end of the pond, and place upon them 
some twigs of fir-trees, or a thick straw or nish mat. 

SELECT AQUATIC PLANTS. 



AlismaPlantago — WaterPlantain, 
pink and white. 

— Ranuculioides — Ranuncu- 
lus-like do. purple. 

♦Butomus Umbeilatus — Umbel- 
flowered Flowering Ruah, pink. 

*Calla Palustris — Marsh Calla, 
white. 

Caltha Palustris fiore pleno — 
Double-flowering Mareh Mary- 
gold, yellow. 

Asarifolia — Aaarum-leaved 

ditto, yellow. 

* Hottonia palustris — Marsh 
Water-iiolet, flesh coloured. 

Lobelia Uortmanna — Dortman's 
Lobelia, blue. 

Menyanthes Trifoliata — Three- 
leaved Buck-bean, white. 

Myriophylluni Spicatum — Spiked 
\\'ater-milfoil, red. 

Verticillatum — 

MTiorlcd ditto, green. 



Nuphar Lutea — Yellow Water- 
lily, yellow. 

Nuphar advena — Strange ditto, 
yellow and red. 

•Nvmphcea Alba — \\Tiite Water- 
lily. 

Polygonum aniphibium — Amphi- 
bious Polygonum, pink. 

Potamogeton fluitans^Floating 
pond-weed, red. 

Sagittaria sagittifolia — Arrow- 
leaved Arrow-head, white. 

latlfolia — liroad-lcaved 



ditto, white. 

Teucrium scordium — Water Ger- 
mander, purple. 

Trapa natans — Floating Water- 
caltrop, white. 

quadrispinosa — Four-spined 

ditto, white. 

Villarsia nymphoidea — nymphcea- 
like Villarsia, yellow. 

cordata — Heart-shaped 



leafed ditto, white. 



Where the extent of the water is small, tliose 
marked with an asterisk (*) are the best. Most of 
them are natives of this country. The double marsh 
marygold is a fine species, and should be planted 
close to the bank. 



ELOEISTS' FLOWERS. 

Verbenas (continued).— At this season the ver- 
benas will be imder glass, either in frames or iu a 
pit, or on a shelf in a gi-eenhouse, as it may sidt tlie 
convenience or means of tlie cidtivator. The gi'aud 
enemy to contend with now is damp, and the pre- 
ventives are, keeping a dry atmosphere, picking off 
all decaying or mouldy leaves as they occm, givmg no 
more water than is just necessary to keep tliem from 

* E.votic, a plant from a foreign country. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



160 



flagging, and giving abmidance of air on all favour- 
able days. The lights may be drawn oiF in sunny 
mild weather, which will invigorate and strengthen 
them much. A dry atmosphere may be promoted by 
sprinkling between the pots some very iine dry coal- 
ashes. When they become wet, remove a thin coat- 
ing of them, and replace it with some that is dry. 
This will require doing about once every three weeks 
or a month. Should the weather prove warm, the 
verbenas will be pushing young slioots, and when- 
ever this is the case, nip off the tops, which will 
cause the plants to grow stocky and bushy. 

Propagation. — Bij Cuttings in Spring. — To strike 
cuttings of verbenas in the quickest and best manner, 
the following things are necessary :— A gentle hotbed 
covered with a frame of one or two lights, according 
to the number wanted. Upon tliis bed lay a coating 
of coarse river sand, about one or two inches thick. 
Then take some pots, five inches across, fill them to 
within one inch of the top with light compost, made 
of one-half loam, one-quarter leaf-mould, and one- 
quarter sandy lieath-mould (peat). JMix tlie whole 
thoroughly, and if not sandy enough, add as much 
sand as will make it so. When a sufficient number 
of pots are filled to the above depth, then have the 
other inch filled with as pure sand as you can pro- 
cure. Then give a gentle watering, and the plants 
are ready for the cuttings Take these from off the 
tops of the plants, about IJ- inch long, and with a 
shai-p knife cut off the bottom leaves close to the 
stem, and finish with a clean cut across the bottom 
of the cutting. Make as many at once as will fiU 
one pot. Place the cuttings round the edge of the 
jjot, about an inch apart. As each pot is filled, re- 
peat the watering, and iDlace them in the frame, 
shading them for a few days fi'om the light, and 
afterwards only when the sun shines. la a month 
they will be rooted, and should then be potted ofl' 
into pots, 2-^ inches across, one plant in each. Again 
give a gentle watering, and replace them in the 
fi'ame for a week or ten days to estabhsh them, when 
they may be gradually hardened by giving air freely, 
and exposing them to the full light and open air on 
cloudy days, or dui-ing showery weather. All this 
ought to be done in early sjiring, about the end of 
March, or early in April, so as to have the stock 
ready for planting out in the beds at the latter end 
of May or beginning of June. 

Planting Cuttings in Antumn. — Then, again, cut- 
tings shoiild be struck towards the end of Sepitember, 
to be stored away in frames or pits through the 
winter. They will afford cuttings from their tops, 
and make strong early plants, either to cultivate in 
pots for the greenhouse, or to plant out in the beds 
or borders. 

Bg Layers. — Good plants of vei'benas may be jn'o- 
cured by simply pegging down some shoots, and 
laying a small stone upon a joint, and as soon as 
they are rooted, cutting them off and potting them 
in smaU pots, placing them in a frame or under 
hand-glasses. These make nice plants, but are more 
trouble and not such perfect plants as those ii'om the 
cuttings. Yet, where there is not convenience for 
cuttings, the layering is a very usefid and efficient 
mode of increasing these lovely flowers. 

Il.\NUNouLDs. — In the last week's number we made 
a few remarks on this favomite tribe of flowers. We 
shall, now give a select list of good kinds that are 
moderately cheap, arranged in classes of colours. 
This list will be useful to most of om' flower-loving 
friends. We woidd caution them, however, against 



attempting to grow choice-named kinds in conunon 
borders, or in a bed not properly prepared, in the 
manner before described. The best kinds for borders 
are the Turban Ranunculus. 

SELECT LIST OF EANUNCULUSES. 



White-edged — Abella, Bellerius. 

White — Parisian, Pausaniaa. 

AVhite-spotted — Agrippina, Fa- 
ther niathew, Jewess, Juliet. 

White, rose-striped — Beaute des 
Dames, Ord's Fancy,Temeraire. 

\VTiite mottled — Belle Agreable, 
Cicero, Endon, Father Mathew, 
Lucinda. 

%\'Tiite, purple-edged — Burns, Es- 
ther, Venus, Reine desflcurs. 

White, rose-edged — Nonpareil. 

Rose — Alexander, Apollo, Atlas, 
Bertie, Jupiter, Pindar, Tar- 
quin. 

Mottled rose — Clarissa, Erskine. 

Rose, spotted — Evelina. 

Rose, yellow-striped — Assemblage 
des Beautes, Favourite, Mig- 
' nonne. General Hoche. 

Rose, yellow-spotted — Soleil. 

Dark rose — Surpasse tout. 

Buff-edged — Basilicus, Triton. 

Buff-shaded — Blanche superb, 
Maurice. 

Buif rose-mottled — Candacc. 

Buff-spotted — Harriet. 



Orange rose — Arlequin, Gomar. 

Orange — Cedo nuUi. 

Orange-mottled — Earl of Coven- 
try, Lord Eldon. 

Yellow-Bpotted — Adrianus, Gor- 
don. 

Yellow — Earl of Chester, Helen, 
La Purite, Roi des Ranoneulcs. 

Yellow-mottled — Competitor, 
Duke of Clarence, Demetrius. 

Yellow-edged — Dazzle, Fulvius. 

Light yellow — Eliza, Voltaire. 

Striped — Cameus, Flora. 

Dark — Condorcet, Dolphin, Her- 
cules, Lamin, Naxarie, Negre, 
Oel noir, Mantua noir, Tippoo 
Saib. 

Crimson — Duke of Bedford, Hen- 
rietta, Grand Romana. 

Crimson-striped — Earl of Hard- 
wick. 

Cream, crimson-striped — Duchess 
of Leeds. 

Scarlet — Rubens, Sylvia. 

Purple — Terpsichore. 

Dark olive — Bouquet sanspareil, 
Lesbos, Olive superb. 



The prices of the above list are not the most ex- 
pensive, being from Is, Is 6d, to 2s (id each, accord- 
ing to Messrs. Tyso and Sons' Catalogue. 

T. Appleby. 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 

How TO Send Bulbs, &e., from Hot Climates to 
England. — In all likelihood some of our readers 
may have a relative, friend, or old soliool-feUow, at 
one or other of the Missionaiy Stations in South 
Africa, far away in those parched and inhospitable 
regions where the Ixia, the Amarylhs, and a thousand 
other fine plants dehght to flower. After writing 
so strongly against the usual way of receiving bulbs 
from the stores m Cape Town, it occurred to me that 
I was in duty bound to offer some observations on 
a better mode of proceeding; and that by giving some 
practical liints about gatheiing, packing, and trans- 
mitting seeds and bulbs, in and fi-om the Cape, it 
would pave the way for a better system of receiving 
and exchanging bulbs and seeds with friends, resi- 
dents in our Cape Colony, than tliat about wliich we 
hear so many complaints at present. There is no- 
tliing new or requu-ing any very extraordinaiy exer- 
tions about this system. I have acted on the same 
plan for many years, to get hold of novelties from 
different parts of the world, as well as fi'om the Cape ; 
and it was only the other day that I received notice 
from tins very colony that a large assortment of seeds, 
which I sent ofl' last February, aU aiTived safe, and 
vegetated freely. Not one failure was repoited out 
of one hundred kinds of flower-seeds, and about 
forty sorts of om' best vegetable seeds. I had them 
all thoroughly well dried, and they were packed in 
coarse brown jiaper, which was also di-ied, and then 
jiut into a strong deal box. The address was wi-itten 
on a piece of zinc with indelible ink, so that rats or 
accidents could not deface it on the journey. I also 
pounded some camphor, and strewed it among the 
}iackages, in packing the box, to prevent weevils or 
other insects from destroying the seeds, as they often 
do, especially those coming home from foreign parts. 



no 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



The bos was addressed to a London ship agent, who 
]Hit it safe on boai-d, at Falmouth, for a triSing com- 
mission. This is always the best and safest way to 
send off or receive jiarcels from any port on the coast, 
unless you are neai' the port, and can do it in person. 
Captains of oiu' navy ai'e proverbial for then' libe- 
rality, in allowing room for small boxes of seeds. 
Sec., and taking them home fi'ee of charge ; but they 
are the worst hotanists in the world, and it is not of 
the least use to ask them to procure good seeds for 
you. Hundreds of these joUy good fellows lay out 
tlieir money in foreign ports every year, to procure 
a collection of seeds for some friend at home, not 
one out of a thousand of which is wortli two-pence. 
There ai'e harpies, or rather dewnright rascals, in all 
foreign ports, who will sell you anything, from a 
scarlet crocus to a blue dahha, or any other unknown 
monster of a flower ; and such are the parties who 
often make up parcels of seeds for the masters of 
vessels, and passing travellers, to make home presents 
with ; or, I should rather say, for home nuisances ; 
for I hardly ever receive such presents without gi'um- 
bliug, if the presenter does not send me at the same 
time a cheque on his banker to remunerate me for 
the trouble of proving his seeds to have been worth- 
less. Even if the seeds are labelled, "From the 
Botanic Gardens a* Floribunda," it does not often 
mend the matter ; and from long experience I can 
safely assert, that there is not a Captain in Her 
Majesty's Eoyal Navy who can calculate the latitude 
or hngitude of a seed warehouse beyond the Une. 
But there is a kind of tT'eemasoni-j' amongst these 
naval officers, by which, if you get a promise from 
any one of them, he can enlist the good service of a 
brother officer to bring you home a box of seeds or 
roots from any part of the world, and often without 
any chai-ge whatever. Therefore, the best advice that 
I can offer, with respect to Afi-ican seeds and bvdbs, 
is to repeat instructions which I sent out in 1848 to 
a young inteUigent officer, then stationed at the Cape 
of Good Hope, who, under these directions, sent 
home the best collection of bulbs that I ever saw 
imported at one tinie, although he hardly knew one 
plant from another. Some of the bulbs were not 
larger than the common garden pea, yet every one of 
them aiTived quite safe ; and a beautiful lot they were, 
numbering in all forty-six different sorts. The in- 
structions were simple enough, and here they are. 

Look about you diu-ing the rainy season, for that 
is the time when all the bulbous plants within your 
beat are most likely to be in flower. Fix on those 
which attract your own attention as being the most 
beautiful, mai-k their locality, and when the rains 
are over, and the vegetation is parched up, your 
mai'ked plants will be ready to remove. Take some 
sharp-pointed instrument to tui'u them up with, and 
do not pull them up by main force, if you can help 
it. When you meet with masses of dry brown netted 
sort of vegetable matter xmderground, be not deceived 
in supposing them dead things ; they are the enve- 
lopes of some bulb belonging to the Ixia or Iris 
tribe, and you will liud a whole family nestled in 
the middle of them. Separate the bulbs from their 
envelopes, for they are of no more use, being only 
a pro-insion of natiu-e to ward off the superabun- 
dant rams fi-om the little family they inclose. 
When you meet with large bulbs like the Spanish 
onion, be sure to get as many of their long roots 
saved as you can. One of them, called there the 
Candelabra plant (Brunsvigia grandifloral. I want 
particularly to gel a dry specimen of, taking the 
whole stalk and fiowor-head when in full blossom, 



and dried in the shade. You will, probably, be much 
struck with the beauty of the sDver trees (Leticoden- 
droit argenteiim) ; the seed cones will put you in mind 
of the Scotch fir at home, but we have plenty of them 
already; however, as the cones will do for chimney 
ornaments, or to be given away for museums, let us 
have a few of them also. There ai'e tln-ee or four 
sorts of tlie honey plant ( Protea) ; one of them, P. 
Mellifera, will supply you with honey all the time it 
is in Hower. Send a few seeds of them, as they take 
up little room for some years, and they may be useful 
for exchanging with the nurseryman for other things ; 
but, in a general way, we do not want large trees or 
bushes, and none of the mimosas, for we have dwaifer 
sorts of them from Australia. Indeed, I am not 
aware of any seeds, within your reach, that we want 
particularly ; unless you could hear of the yellow- 
flowering gerauiums, of which the seeds would be a 
golden harvest to us ; but. unfortwiately, I cannot 
tell you of their locality. You must inquire dihgently 
about them, however, from the buUock-drivei's who 
may arrive from the interior; pai-ticularly any one 
fi-om the north-eastern parts, where the Caffre fi'ontier 
was considered to be, thirty years' since. Perhaps 
Baron Ludwic (a merchant at Cape Town) can tell 
you of their whereabouts. The Baron then possessed 
the best garden in Capie Town ; he died last year. 
Let all things be well dried, and packed in coarse 
brown paper, in separate articles, and jiut into a 
strong box ; and if you put in some pounded camphor 
or any strong tm'pentine-smelling powder, it may 
keep away cockroaches, weevils, or any other insects, 
which often destroy seeds on long voyages. See, 
also, to a proper address ; cards and parchment are 
sure to be gnawed by the rats, and if you can get 
Captain B. to put the box in the "locker," it will be 
the safest place about the ship for them ; and when 
he arrives at Falmouth, let him hand over the box at 
once to any respectable ship-broker, who will foi-ward 
it there through his London agent. 

Now, some such directions as the foregohig, sent out 
to any of the missionary stations in south Afiica, 
could hardly fail of procuring fine l)idbs and seeds. 
There was an apothecary of the name of .T. C. Lacy, 
in Port EUzabeth, Algoa Bay, who took orders for 
such things three or four years since, and. if he is 
there still, he could manage to see things from the 
eastern parts of the colouj' sliipped from Algoa Bay, 
or forward them to Cape Town. He would be the 
most likely person to hunt out the yellow geraniums, 
if they are to be fouiul in the eastern parts of the co- 
lony, which I much doubt. The north-western parts 
are more likely to furnish them ; and those pasture 
lands along the banks of the OUphant's Eiver, and of 
the banks of the streams which run into it, seem to be 
more suited for such vegetation than the desolate 
plains and vallies to the eastward ; but this is a mere 
conjecture. Those who have friends at any of the 
stations between Cape Town and the Orange Eiver. 
are the most likely to prociu-e them; and many 
people believe there are some handsome plants 
never yet introduced from that large portion of the 
colony washed by the Atlantic ; and this, probably, is 
true enough, seeing that ahnost aD Eiu'opcan ti'avel- 
lors visiting the Cape, after a stroll up Table Moun- 
tain, direct their steps castwai'd to the Caffre frontiers. 
At any rate, we are qtute certain that there are two 
or three kinds of geraniums, or, to call them by their 
more proper names, pelargoniums, gi-owing some- 
where in the Cape colony, with flowers as yellow as 
our buttercups — for we once jiosscsscd them, btit 
they were lost soon after their ai'rival; and now 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



171 



that oiu- industrious florists have done suoli wonders 
in improviag tlie breed of these beautiful plants, we 
are most anxious to reintroduce those yellow ones, 
to enable them to vary the colours by crossing them 
■ivith then improved breeds, and I have no doubt 
but many of om' readers will be able and willing to 
help us to prooui'e such rare treasures ; not to hoard 
them up, however, for the gi'oss pm-poses of peouui- 
ary gain, but to give them away ft'eeh' to those who 
are the most likely to make the best use of them. 
For my own part, were I to receive a packet of their 
seeds to-mon-ow, I would only keep two or three. 
and send the rest to difterent florists eminent in 
then- calHug ; and if one or two lost them in the rear- 
ing, some one woidd be siu-e to succeed, and thus 
save them to the country, and for me to recommend 
the new breed fi-om them for cottage windows — after 
a while. 

C-\NDELABR.\ Plan't. — With respect to the candela- 
bra plant, the oHioer alluded to managed to dry a 
very good specimen for me. I have it now ; it looks 
much like a huge agapauthus, or blue Afi-ioan lily, 
mth forty-two flowers in one head, and the outside 
ones bending round on long foot-stalks, just lilce the 
branches of a chandelier, so that the name is very 
appropriate, and it would be a good thing if the 
names of all plants were so. Now this beautifid 
plant, with a vei^y large bulb, in shape like a Spanish 
onion, but much larger when full gi-own, will gi-ow 
in England in a cold pit, even without a flue, — but it 
must be planted in the soil without a pot, and the 
bed for it ought to be two feet deep. If the bottom 
is of clay, a di'ain to the lowest end must be made ; 
but with any other kind of bottom, no drain will be 
wanted. The top of the bulb sliould stand just one 
inch below the surface, and to have six inches of 
sand all round the bulb, as that will be lighter than 
mould to press on the bulb. In summer, when the 
bulb is at rest, the glass light ought to stand on 
night and day, without giving air — the hotter it is 
inside, the better : and if the sand round the bulb 
is hot enough to burn one's fingers, it will come 
pretty near to the natm'al condition of this amai'yllis 
— for a real true amai'yllis it is after aU — and therefore 
it must be handsome. A one-light box would hold 
nine or ten of them. They gi-ow fi'om September to 
the middle or end of April, and are very thu'sty, but 
must not be watered over the leaves, for fear of its 
getting down between them, and rotting the bulb. 
They delight in fresh air whenever the weather is 
mild, just like English ladies. No amaiyllis was 
ever kiiown to live long in a confined atmosphere, 
and all the sisterhood should be got up in j^fi-ica 
with as many of their old roots preserved as possible, 
and if they are well dried, they wiU keep safe for six 
months or more. 

Routine Wokk. — Nothing is to be potted or sown 
yet for the window or the greenhouse. It is ti-ue, 
gardeners begin to sow seeds, especially foreign seeds, 
about this tune, but then they have so many con- 
veniences to aid them ; they also put in roots of the 
beautiful Achimenes now, and set them in a cucumber 
frame, to get them to flower early in May, and so go 
on in succession to October. Any one who has 
gi'own tins most useful tribe before, and has a cu- 
cumber frame at woi'k, or in preparation to begin 
soon, may tiy this bold experiment with a few roots. 
They will do anyhow for a wlule, till they sprout, 
even lying on the top of the soil, or in a saucer of 
either sand or earth, but they need not be potted 
till they grow out an inch or two. About the end 



of January is the half-way house between autumn 
and spring, and many of the old gardeners used to 
look over all their- plants at this time, and some 
of the old rules ai'e just as good as the new ones. 
A dampish pit, in a low situation, is a bad place 
for plants; they ought to be taken out on a tine 
day, and some dry ashes put in the__bottom, and in 
fi-osty weather have the covering taken off for a 
few hours every day when the sun shines. A few 
patches of crocuses and snowdrops might very easily 
be taken up now, with a lot of soil round the roots, 
if the ft-ost will allow it. They would flower in a 
room just as well as if potted last October, and. in 
many cases, a good deal better, for tliey are ticklish 
things if not well managed, but now they are so for- 
wai'd that they cannot help flowering. 

D.' Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 

Asparagus Forcing. — In a previous number (p. 
92) we gave directions for planting this in a hotbed, 
with other particular's. In addition, we have to ob- 
seiwe, that the more rapidly plants are forced, the 
smaller in size wiU be the produce. A two-hgbt 
frame will hold enough plants to yield 300 or 400 
shoots in the course of about tlnee weeks, duiing 
which they wUl continue iu production. The best 
temperature dming tlie day is 03 degs., and at night 
not lower than 50 degs. 

Cucumbers. — Keep the temperatm'e of the fruiting 
beds to 80 degs. during the day, and to 6.5 degs. at 
night. 

Seakaxe. — -Tills excellent and usetid winter vege- 
table is not cultivated to the extent it should be by 
amatems and cottagers, for it will p)roduce an abmi- 
dance of blanched shoots throughout the autinnn, 
whiter, and spring months, when fresh vegetables 
are scarce. 

The soil should be good, well manui'ed, ti'enched, 
and pulverized. If intended to be raised from seed, 
lay the gi-ound down level iu the month of Apiil, after 
the winter's ti'enching, choosing suitable weather for 
the operation; di'aw drills (if the kale is to stand 
on the same gi'ouud permauently to be forced, or 
otlienvays blanched) three feet apart, '"and finally 
thin the plants to two feet apart in the rows. This 
wOl allow room to get between them, in the gi'owing 
season, to apply soakings of liquid manure, which 
seakale delights iu. Liquid manure ft'om the piggeiy, 
cow-house, stable, sheep-shed, or brewed from the 
excrements of animals, or fi-om guano, with a good 
portion of salt at all times dissolved in it, is what the 
gi-owth of seakale may wonderfully be improved by. 
The sti-eugth and the frequency of such liquid manure 
being applied, must be regulated by the strength of 
the jjlants, and the season of its application. For 
instance, at the commencement of the gi-owing sea- 
son, the Uquid mamn-e should be of moderate 
strength ; as the plants gain strength with the ad- 
vancement of the season, so shoidd sb-onger soakings 
of liquid inanm-e be appUed. The same i-ule holds 
good with all applications of Kquid maniu-e, either 
in the open field, garden, hot-house, greenhouse, or 
fi-ame, and it should always be apphed in as clear a 
state as possible ; for we have oliserved much mis- 
chief and stagnation caused to vegetation, both in 
fi-uit and plant eidtm-e, by sudden strong muddy ap- 
plications of liquid manure ; and so we have by ap- 
jjlioations of too strong Uqiu'd maniu-e to such vege- 



173 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



tiitioii. Emits and plants wlueli have only had a 
uiengi-o or jioor preparation made tor them, and to 
sneli as are diseased or in a weak state, stroncf appli- 
cations of liquid manm'e is a ready way to still more 
weaken or to destroy them. 

Phtntiixj. — If tlie gTouud is to be planted with 
seakale to stand permanently, choose one-year old 
])lants fi-oni a poor piece of gi'omid, no matter how 
small they are, so that they are clean ft'om canker 
and the distorted, ci'ooked swellings caused in them 
liy wounds from a variety of the cauliflower gi'uh. 
Plant them in rows tliree feet apart, and the plants in 
tlio row two feet apart. Insert the plants singly, and 
not as formerly practised — two or three plants in a 
liunch, for they then exhaust and starve each other. 

There are so many waj's of producing good sea- 
kale, and some of them so easy and simple, that we 
imagine .almost any amateur or cottager who can 
spare a small corner to grow a few plants may have 
the pleasure of enjoying good seakale in those winter 
and spring months wlien good vegetables are scarce. 
A cellar, or the bottom of a dark cupboard, or any 
dark curuer, are excellent places for producing early 
shoots of it ; if planted in sand, old tan, leaf, or other 
light vegetable soil, or even in common garden earth. 
'I'he plants should, of course, he kept as much in 
darkness as possible, if intended to be well blanched, 
but for our own eating we do not object to its being 
a little coloured. Strong plants should be taken up 
or secured for such places, and no matter how thick 
they are placed. Water them occasionally with tepid 
water, and two or three crops of excellent seakale 
may be obtained in succession, before the plants are 
exhausted. We are at this time cutting, at Bioton, 
the third crop from plants put in a cellar-like place in 
November last, and a very fab- and good production 
it is. Those who do not choose to )dace the plants 
on the floor of their cellar, cupboard, or such-like 
place, could put them in boxes, filled with any of 
tlie betore-named kinds of materials. Those who 
liave not a cellar or cupboard, and have a dark cor- 
ner in a stalile, cow-house, wood-house, or any otlier 
i'uel-house, could ]n'oduce good seakale from a few 
strong roots placed in a rough-made box, as above 
directed, and have the pleasure of enjoying a luxury 
iu early spring ; but to all those who have cellars 
imderground, as Lu Loudon and otlier large towns, 
nothing could be more easy or simple than produc- 
ing first-rate, well-blanched seakale, and good rhii- 
liarb too, in abundance, all winter and spring. Of 
com'se rhubarb has no objection to the light, although 
it may be produced of excellent quality in darkness. 
Thus any cook, or other servant, by procuring strong 
plants, which may be obtained easily enough, and at 
a reasonable rate too, could produce those articles of 
as good quality as the best gardener. Indeed, any 
one who has the convenience, and will carry out our 
simple dii'ections, may enjoy those vegetables in abun- 
dance, and at a season of year when, if to be pur- 
chased, a high price has to be paid for them. I have 
ofteti wondered why this simple way of producing 
seakale and rhubarb has not, ere this, come more 
into general practice, as, to our knowledge, it has 
been to a limited extent in practice for these last 
twenty-five years; although, perhaps, it has not been 
made known enough for the million to be benefitted 
by its simplicity. Eor our own part, we keep no se- 
crets which would he likely to benefit others, as we 
observe abundant space to extend our humble ideas 
in search of further information in otlier matters, 
having never yet seen anything of man's production 
so )ierfect but could be still further improved. 



Seed List coxttn'ued. Oxioxs. — The Drptford 
and ti-ue Bmiliug Muds are excellent varieties both 
for quality and producing a weighty crop. 'They are, 
also, both good ccdom'ed varieties for kitchen jiur- 
poses. The M'liite Ohihe axiiX Old Bronn OhihcAxe also 
excellent, and both good late keepers, particidarly the 
latter, which is the best of all for late keeping. The 
JVliitf iSjtiiniaJi. and I'no-hhided are the best varieties 
for jiickling purposes, and making use of as small- 
sized, handsome shaped onions, for other table piu-- 
poses. Indeed, for such uses, there is no variety 
equal to the Two-bladed. 15esides, the smidl bidb's 
of this variety, }daced thickly iu drills at this season, 
will form fine, early, round, well-shaped bidbs, to 
succeed the last year's bidbs, earlier tlian the Uiidcr- 
f/round Union can be produced, which is also a good 
variety to cultivate on a small scale in case of a bad 
seed-saving season, or in case of a blighted season, 
as they are ready for early harvesting. 

G. W. J., & James Baekes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 12.) 

Now for the rose. We cannot choose a sweeter 
subject for the opening year; yet I scai'cely know 
how or where to begin on such a finiitful theme. I 
am no scientific gardener, and must leave the names 
of the hundi'eds of varieties to other wiiters ; but I 
wish to ilirect the attention of " my sisters," and 
more particularly of the cottager, to the cultiu'e of 
this queen of flowers, which might be cultivated 
more extensively than it is, and add great sweetness 
and splendour to their gardens, and the general ap- 
pearance of the country, as we pass along. The cot- 
tager is of more importance iu this respect than lie 
is aware of Nothing adds so much to the landscape 
as picturesque, well-ordered cnttaye.f — nothing de- 
li.ghts the feelings more than a neat hamlet of snug, 
cheerful, bowery-looking cottages, with their little 
gardens brimful of cabbages, potatoes, and omons ; 
and their wickets and porches shaded over with 
waving flowers. The residences of gentlemen do not 
please and interest us half so much, unless it is the 
pai'souage, which, to an English heart, is, and must 
ever be, second only to the venerable pile near wliicli 
it stands. But the beauty and interest of every 
parish and every village rests chiefly with the labour- 
ers. Let them remember this, and though they ai'e 
poor, and may think themselves of no account, j'et 
they are of much importance, as well to the beauty 
of their- native land as to its welfare and support. 
There is moral beauty, too, in the cirltivated cottage 
garden. Neatness and attendance bespeak activity, 
diligence, and care; neglect and untidiness tell of 
the heer-hoKse. So that, as a tree is known by its 
fruit, a man may, iu a gi'eat measure, be known by 
Ins garden.* 

There are roses of all kinds and colours, of eveiy taste 
and temper. There are climbers, creepers, bushes; 
hardy, tender, deciduous and evergi'een ; thoruy and 
thornless, double and single, sweet and scentless ; 
iu short, there is scarcely a fi'eak or fancy iu the 
mind of man that tlie rose cannot meet with and 

* We recommend to our readers, in connexion with this suhject, a 
very excellent tnict published by Wcrtheini, entitled "The Cleanest 
Cottage : or. The InHuence of Home." — Kd. C. G, 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



173 



gi-atify. I often lean over cottage wickets, and wisli 
I could see these brilliant Howers more frequently 
mingling with the trees and bushes clustering round 
the windows, and entering the very doors ; and, with 
little trouble, a constant succession of bloom might 
be obtained through the summer months, and much 
of the winter. The China rose is unwearied in its 
bloom, very fi-agrant, and will climb to a consider- 
able height. The crimson Cliina rose is a beautiful 
flower, seldom seen in cottage gardens. Some are 
delicately sweet, and cover a wall beautifully. There 
are many cluster roses which climb rapidly, and 
wave theii' white blossoms in masses of great beauty ; 
and the Moss and Cabbage roses do extremely well 
against a wall or as espaliers, and should be sjjeciaUy 
encom'aged ; for of all varieties they are the sweetest, 
and the former is the most beautiful rose we possess. 

I know how difficult it is for the poorer classes to 
procure any variety of fruit or flowers : their money 
is required for food aud clothing ; tliey cannot buy 
a plant ; but they might frequently obtain a rose or 
other flower from sUps without expense or trouble, 
and thus indulge an innocent fancy without injuring 
themselves or others. I have fomid the easiest way 
of striking slips of roses is by placing three or four 
in a phial half full of water, so that the slips may be 
an inch or two below the surface ; aud, as the water 
lessens, fill up again, for they must never become 
ch'y. In about six weeks you will see tender threads 
appearing at the ends of the slips, whicli rapidly in- 
crease into silvery rootlets. When they are an incli 
or two in length, break tlie phial, lest the roots 
thould be injured by drawing them out, and plant 
each rooted slip carefully in pots. Sometimes only 
one slip will root ; therefore, if possible, procure two 
or three of each kind, to prevent disappointment. 
The bottle should be hung in a hot, sunny window, 
when the slips ai'e placed in it, whi(!h forces them 
into action more surely. I have been so constantly 
disappointed in slips of roses placed in the open 
gi'Ound, wluoh have invariably died, even after pro- 
mising for a time to do well, that I now always adopt 
the " cold water system," and have had much better 
success. It is an interesting little process, and the 
spreading roots are veiy beautiful, and give us some 
insight into the wonders that so silently take place 
beneath the soil. 

All roses are most safely propagated by suckers ; 
and, if they can be procured, this is the proper way. 
The old plants should be removed as seldom as pos- 
sible, — roses do not like bemg disturbed, but tlie 
autumn, or the very early spring, is the time to do 
so, when unavoidable. It is a good plan to take off 
some of tlie long fleshy -looking roots, and cut them 
into pieces three inches long ; plant them, and 
water well in dry weather. This should be done in 
March, and succeeds admirably, even with those 
roses that are the least disposed to succeed by cut- 
tings or slips. Moss roses do extremelj' well this 
way, whiob is a very great advantage, as they aflbrd 
few slips in general, and seldom do well in the hands 
of inexperienced gardeners. They are suoli exqui- 
sitely beautiful flowers, that we shoidd, if possible, 
All our gardens with them ; and it is suiinisiug how 
seldom we meet with moss roses, considering their 
loveliness and fragrance, and the favom' with which 
they are always regarded. Tlie moss roses of our 
childhood were in greater abundance than they are 
now — probably from the introduction of so many 
new varieties ; not one of which is equal to that, our 
old and special favom'ite. They are all charming 
certainly, — but let us not reject the old fashioned 



richly scented flowers for the gayer but less valuable 
productions of the present day. I am certain that 
aU the contents that every greenhouse England pos- 
sesses cannot rival the simple, yet perfect, beauty of 
a half-blown moss rose, — -and eveiy lady, every 
cottager, every person who loves aud possesses flow- 
ers, may thus compete with the rich and scientific 
gardener, and display as fine a specimen as any that 
his more skilfifl labours can command. Let us use 
and enjoy those pleasures we can possess, without 
sighing for those beyond our reach and means. Let 
us delight in those beautiful works of God that we 
can coUeot around us according to our limited pow- 
ers, for if we view them as springing into life and 
beauty at His command, and prize it, because He 
has himself formed and fashioned them, we shall 
gaze on a single buttercup aud daisy with as much 
astonishment and gratefid deUght as on the most 
admired and tender inhabitant of the stove or hot- 
house, and huger among our cottage borders and 
shrubs with necer-ceashu/ wonder aud satisfaction. 
Let us not forget adoration and praise. 

There is so much to say on the subject of the rose, 
that I must continue it in futui-e papers. The prun- 
ing season is at hand, and we shall soon be called to 
work again. We are once more returning to the 
golden beams of the summer sun ; aud, in a few short 
months, aU will be green and bright I The dark 
stoi-my days of winter usher in the mild ami fruitful 
spring. 



PROPAGATION OF HOLLYHOCKS. 

In your twelfth number (p. 118) is a short account 
of the best method of cultivating the hollj-hock, par- 
ticularly recommending the cultiu-e from seed. As 
I have paid some attention to the cultivation, aud 
talien nnich interest (as an amateur) in that flower 
for some years, I beg to otter a few remarks, as I'ar 
as my experience goes, which may not be uninterest- 
ing to some of your readers. 

I have found from seed there is no dependance 
either in the colours or shape of the flower, although 
I have carefully marked the seed and put zinc labels 
with it when sown. More frequently than othei-wise 
the colours have proved quite opposite to what I ex- 
pected, and fi-equently the shape of the flower; there- 
tore the only advantage obtained is the variety, 
which you must generally wait two seasons for. The 
easiest method of cultivation wlrich I have discovered, 
combining certainty of colour aud form, is to select 
and mark such as you wish to propagate ; then, in 
June or early in July (as the season best suits), cut 
a branch of the plant or plants selected into as 
many pieces as there are eyes or shoots, allowing a 
space of two inches on each side of the eye. Cut them 
into such lengths, and slit them down the middle, re- 
moving all the pith from the inside; put them im- 
mediately into some soil or earth in a shady place, 
(say the north side of your garden) about an inch 
deep, keeping the eye above the earth ; water and 
cover with a hand-glass, and if hot weather, water 
well over the glass, but do not disturb it. In six 
weeks there will be nice young plants, which should 
be planted out early in November, in such places as 
reqvdred. They will blossom freely in the June 
following. This plan is the only one which I have 
found to my satisfaction : it may induce others to tiy 
some improvement which may prove even better. 

J. PiOBEBTS. 



174 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



NEW VEGETABLES AND FRUITS.^^ 

Potato. — Jack.wn's Asli-leavi'd Kidnejf. — Saitl by 
its proprietor to be the brst and most prolific Early 
Kithiey. 

Vy.K. — ('hii'hes Llncoln-grecn-jtodded Marroir. — 
Said ti> be as early as its parent, the Early Riiij^-- 
wood, with a gi-eeuer pod. 

Am.::. — ManniiKjUmsPeannain. — This was raised 
at L'rldield, in Sussex. Said to be au excellent des- 
sert apple, and that it will keep to the end of May. 

Cucu^iBKR. — Lord Kemjons Favourite, or Syon 
Free Bearer. — Said to be superior, for winter cultiva- 
tion, to the old Syon House. 

Grape. — llie Queen's Muscat. — Raised by Mr. 
Glendiuning, Chiswiok Niu'sery. Berries middle- 
sized, oval, yellowish, semi-transparent; when ripe, 
linn, yet tender and sugaiy, It is early, and well 
adapted for 2)ot-culture. 

Cauliflowers. — Largest Asiatic. — Raised by 
ilessrs. Schertzer, of Haarlem. Taller and larger 
tluin the common cauliflower. Earhj Leijden is the 
same as the Walchaj*en brocoli. Black SU'wian is 
the pui^ile Cape brocoli. 

Kidney Bkans. — Spanish Hyhrid Runner (Haricot 
D'Espagne Hybridej. — From Messrs. Vilmorin, of 
Paris; blossoms beautiful, scarlet and wliite. Pods 
not superior to those of the Scarlet Runner, and do 
not remain so long good. Shilling's New French 
Bean seems to be a cross between the Scarlet Rimner 
and some dwarf variety. Pods large, and continue 
long good. 

* We may here state, to avoid repetition, that in these announce- 
ments we Qo not recommend any new article, unless ice especUiUy 
say so. Otherwise, we merely inform our readers that there are such 
new things to be had. 



Heating a Greenhouse (P. S., Bow).—Yo\i will find tubes of 
galvanized iron instead of brick flues very objectionable, and not less 
expensive after a time. The tubes will give out a great heat during 
the day, and injure the plants by burning the particles of dust always 
floating in the air — a burning always detected by the peculiar smell 
occasioned. At night, also, you will be unable to keep out the frost, 
for the tubes will become rapidly cold ; whereas the bricks of a flue, 
well heated at the time of making up the fire at night, will continue 
warm until next morning. 

3IUSHROOM Bed {Mrs. Birch).— Tht aspect is not of much conse- 
quence. One end to the south and the other to the north would be 
preferable. Vou will find full directions for making one at p. "0. If 
you wish for further information we shall be pleased to hear from you 
again. Sweetbrier seed may yet be obtained from old bushes in your 
neighbourhood ; but for berberry seed you must wait until next au- 
tumn. It is not usually kept at the seed shops. 

Night Soil (.4. .■!.). — If your garden soil is clayey, mix it with 
your ashes ; but if your soil is light, you had better mix it with some 
of the soil itself; or, which is far better, with some clayey earth before 
applying it. The object of mixing it at all is for the purpose of get- 
ting it more easily on to the beds, and dug in. The fresher it is used 
the better. It is a very strong manure, and far too much so for fruit- 
trees. The reason of your fruit being small and dry more probablv 
arises from bad pruning and want of drainage, than from poverty of 
soil. Vou \\i.\\ find much information on these and the other subjects 
you mention in our pre\ious numbers, and we shall give more direc- 
tions as we proceed. 

Gravel Walks {E. Bonfield).~'Yovx gravel walks becoming 
mossy and discoloured so soon after cleaning tells at once that your 
garden requires to be drained. The stagnant water in the soil fosters 
moss of all kinds. If you cannot drain vour garden, relav your walks, 
giving them a foundation a foot deep of brickbats, clinkers, &c., to 
act as (b-ainage to the gravel above them. You had better be content 
with beautiful tlowers, without caring whether they possess the florists' 
characteristics of perfection, but we shall, as occasions arise, give the 
characters you require. 

TuDEE08E(G.^.,67o/fe-iVeH'mg'/on).— March is the month for pot- 
ting the_tuberose, and before that time full directions will be given 
lor its culture. 

GHEENiioueE Heating {R. Mnrsland.)—\o\x can treat the tank 
in your greenhouse in the way you propose, hut do not allow the 
pipes to sink lower than the bottom of the boiler ; as, if sediments get 
into the pipes, they will settle in the lowest bend, and stop the circu- 



lation of the hot water. If you plunge pots over the tank, you must 
not exceed 90°. V.'ill that be sufficient for the house ? There is no 
advantage gained by having the water in a tank deeper than four or 
live inches. 

Tanks {An Owner of Cottage .'IZ/o^wien^s).—" Senilis" will pre- 
pare answers to your valuable letter shortly, and is gratified that hia 
hurried contribution has called forth such practical remarks. 

pLA^■Tl^G Dw.vKF Standard Pears {R. Blackburn). — Vou may 
safely follow the plan recommended in the fruit department, certainly 
in the event of ground naturally eligible— say half a yard of sound soil 
rt-sting on a bed of dry and clean gravel. There will be no occasion 
for forming a substratum ; such soils, however, are indeed the excep- 
tion. 

Planting Hollies {Ibid), — On another occasion do try the mid- 
dle of October. As to keeping them bushy, your apprehensions about 
edge-tools in pruning them are pretty correct. We have obtained the 
objects you desire by using our finger and thumb — in the summer — 
pinching out successively the terminal shoot, commencing with the 
season after planting. 

Coal-Tar on Fruit-trees {Rev. L. X>.).— We have used coal- 
tar extensively on the rough bark of old timber-trees in a park, to 
keep the horses from barking them, and have not witnessed any ill- 
effects. On the smooth bark of fruit-trees it may act differently. 
We should be afraid of your resin and bees'-wax closing the pore's. 
Vou had better pare away the decayed parts, and apply a mixture of 
cow-dung, lime, and ordinary clay — using by far most of the first. 
This, bound on with old rags, will cause the bark to grow again or to 
become sound. If any are very badly abused, we would plant fresh 
ones. 

WniTETnoRN Hedges {Ibid). — Your object is, wc presume, in 
planting thorns unpruned alternately with younger stuff, to erect a 
temporary hedge and to save the expense of rails. It may answer, 
but we do not hold it the best hedge husbandry. It is usual, in many 
parts, to plant the whitethorn sloping at an angle of about 45°; the 
reasons being, that the plants will develop more shoots in this posi- 
tion. This is, doubtless, true ; for the sap becomes more equalized. 

Hedge on Yellow Clay {Ibid). — A pure yellow clay, if real clay, 
will be found too stubborn to produce any fence in perfecrion. We 
fear even your willows, although the plan is good if they will grow. 
We have seen hollies, forming capital hedges, in a very strong, tena- 
cious, yellow loam ; but in such the whitethorn also would succeed. 
If your clay was thrown out to freeze, and, when mellowed, some road 
scrapings, lime rubbish, or any hungry, sandy soil trimmed in with 
it, you would have abetter chance. 

Pear-Tbee Shedding its Blossom Unset (R. Marslnnd.) — 
Vour pear is a most hopeless subject. As for root-pnming, that will 
do no good in your case. Boot-pruning is to induce flower-buds, and 
you have plenty. We should suspect its tap-roots are in a pernicious 
subsoil, and would take it up and replant it in fresh maiden soil, cut- 
ting away every descending root, or spreading them near the surface. 
If you examine the blossom, we dare say you will find the pistil or 
female nart wanting or crippled. We have kno^vn many cases simi- 
lar, ana must confess they have generally baflBed our efforts. You 
may tr\- pollen, or male dust, from another kind. 

Dyers' Refuse [yeu-ington-green). — This, consisting of wood- 
chips chiefly, would be long in decaying if dug fresh into the soil. 
We should render it more speedily available to our crops, either by 
mLxing it with quick-lime, and frequently turning over the heap, or 
we shoidd char the refuse. Either mode would produce a good ma- 
nure. 

Rough Plate-Glass C.-I Prac/ica/). — We have not seen it tried 
on a large scale, but we have tested it enough to our own satisfaction 
to prove that it interrupts, but does not exclude, the direct heating 
rays of the sun, which are those alone which can scorch. We shall 
be glad if any of our readers can inform us of any greenhouse or stove 
glazed with rough glass. Our correspondent says, "theoretically, 
the glass at Kew was to be perfection ; practically, it is useless for 
the purposes intended." We always expected this ; for, if any of the 
sun*8 rays could be injurious to plants, God would not have mixed 
them with its light. 

Standakd Curbant-Trees {Rev. J. T. C. Cooper).— Wt no not 
know of any nurseryman who keeps them for sale ready trained. 
You could very easily train them yourself, selecting some single 
stemmed young plants to begin upon ; t>ing one shoot to a straight 
stake fixed by the side of the stem, and removing all side shoots until 
the centre one had reached the height you require. 

Damson Prvning (Srookland Gardetis). ^-You. will observe that 
we began the subject of plum-culture at p. 156, and in future papers 
upon the same subject you will find the information you seek. 

Celery Seed (F. Giles). — Mr. Turner, we have no doubt, will 
supply you if you write to him. See advertisement for his address. 
Your other questions shall be answered in our next. 

Tropceolum Tuberosum (J. R. Wood). — This is the tuberous- 
rooted nasturtium, and was brought to England in 1836; a drawing 
of it is given in that excellent and cheap periodical, Mnund's Botanic 
Garden. Its yellow and red flowers are verj' handsome. The tubers 
should be planted beneath a south wall, yet shaded by trees from the 
mid-day sun. Trench the soil two spades deep, and plant in the first- 
week of April. The plants will require a frellis of some kind to climb 
u])on. They bloom at the end of August, and continue in flower 
until cut down by frost. When the stems are dead, take up the tu- 
bers, dry them, and store them until the following April. In Peru, 
the tubers are cooked and eaten. 



London: Printed by Habry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le- Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar ; and Published by William 
SoMERviLLE Orr, at the Office, 14", Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le- Strand, London.— January 18th, I849. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER 



175 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



nr 


w 




Plants dedicated to 


Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon's 


Clock 


Day of 


D 


D 

Th 


JANUARY 25—31, 1849. 


each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


bef. 


Sun. 


Year. 


CoNVERS. ofSt. Paul. Hepatica flowers. 


Winter Aconite. 


51a. 7 


35 a. 4 


6 a. 5 


1 


12 


42 


25 


26 


F. 


Hazel flowers.* 


White Butterbur. 


40 


36 


7 14 


2 


12 


55 


26 


k7 


S, 


Housp-flies in windows.} 


EartliMossfPhascum 


48 


38 


8 25 


3 


13 


7 


27 


28 


SnN. 


•fSoN. A. Epip. stinking Helebore flowers. 


Double Daisy. 


47 


40 


9 38 


4 


13 


19 


28 


20 


M. 


Daisy flowers. 


Royal flowering Fern. 


45 


42 


10 51 


5 


13 


29 


29 


•in 


Tii, 


K.COA. I. MART. 1649- Snowdrop flowers. 


Common ilaidenbair. 


44 


44 


mom. 


6 


13 


39 


30 


31 


W. 


Hilary Term ends. Honey bee flies abroad. 


Hart's Tongue. 


42 


45 


5 


3 


13 


48 


31 



St. Paul. — This festival, commemorating the conversion of the 
Apostle of the Gentiles, was adopted by our church in the year I662, 
and well does the event deserve thus to be impressed upon the Chris- 
tian's mind. Theconveraionof one of the most learned enemies of our 
faith, to being its ardent and unwearied teacher, and even to martyr- 
dom in its cause, is almost the strongest eWdence of the truth of that 
faith. It is curious, that the weather occurring on this day, 25th of 
Januarj', in times and places far remote from each other, has been 
considered to afford an omen, or token, of the character of the year. 
The following lines embody the superstitious opinions entertained on 
this subject by our forefathers. 

If Saint Paul's day be fair and clear, 

It does betide a happy year ; 

But if it chance to snow or rain, 

Then will be dear all kinds of grain ; 

If clouds or mists do dark the sky, 

Great store of birds and beasts shall die ; 

And if the winds do Hy aloft, 

Then wars shall vex the kingdom oft. 
Phenomena or the Season.— Although "March winds" have 

Insects.— At the end of this month, 
and early in February, the Early Moth 
C Geometra primaria) is to be found 



become proverbial, yet it is more on account of their coldness, dry- 
ness, and unhealthiness, than on any other account. Some of the 
most violent gales of wind occur in England during the present 
month, and their fury, at times, is truly terrific. A wiud is scarcely 
felt when it moves at the rate of one or two miles per hour, but it is 
brisk when it moves at the rate of ten miles per hour ; at fifty miles 
per hour, it is a storm; and atone hundred miles per hour, is a hurri- 
cane, carrying away trees and buildings. — Mtlner's Gnlteyy of Nature, 
437. At London, on an average, the different winds blow yearly in 
the following proportions : 



South-West . 


112 days 


South East 


32 da 


North-East . 


58 „ 


East 


26 „ 


West 


53 „ 


South 


13 „ 


North-East . 


50 „ 


North 


IS „ 



At the same place, the soitth-ivest wind blows most frequently in 
every month, though it most prevails in July and August ; the north- 
cfist blows most in January, March, April, May, and June, and most 
seldom in Februarj', July, September, and December ; and the north- 
west blows oftenest from November to fliarch, and least during Sep- 
tember and October. 




Jan. 


1841, 


1842. 


1943. 


1844. 


lUi. 


1846. 


1847. 


1848. 


25 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Highest 


















& lowest 
temp. 


40°— 32° 


46°— 35° 


49°— 14° 


46°— 36° 


51°— 42° 


56°^6° 


47°— 33° 


32°— 25° 


Fine. 


Shower\'. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showcrv. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


26 


49°— 43° 


43°— 21'' 


51°— 45° 


48°— 27° 


52°— 33° 


55°— 11° 


50° — 41° 


27°— 20° 




Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Raiu. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


27 


63°— 30° 


45°— 31° 


53°— 50° 


50°— 39° 


45°— 23° 


54°— 10° 


49°— 40° 


31°— 19° 




Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


28 


44°— 28° 


45°— 23° 


56°— 15° 


54°— 32° 


45°— 19° 


56°— 39° 


47°-25° 


29°— 17° 




Fine. 


Sleet. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


29 


46»-32° 


46°— 36° 


55°— 48° 


54°— 44° 


45°— 20° 


54°— 37° 


41°— 21° 


44°— 28° 




Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


30 


40°— 37° 


43°— 32° 


55°— 36° 


61°— 32° 


34°-27° 


53°— 40° 


46°— 33° 


48°— 36° 




Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


31 


42°— 28° 


47°— 3'o° 


61°— 14° 


41°— 26° 


35°— 22° 


56°— 44° 


41°— 21° 


39»— 28° 



about our hedges. By some writers it is called Cheimatobia rupricapvaria. The male, represented in the accompanying cut, generally 
measures rather less than I5 inch in the cypanse of the fore wings, which are greyish brown, with a broad dark bar across the middle, the 
edges of w hich are darkest and somewhat notched, narrowed behind, and bearing a dark dot in the middle. The hind wings are whitish, with 
the ordinary central dark dot placed before a nearly imperceptible narrow line which crosses each, the edges are marked with brown spots : the 
antenna; (horns) in the males arc bepectinated (have bristles on each side so as to be like a comb). The female has short, rudimental, \vhiti3h- 
ashy wings, haying a dark bar towards the point farthest from her body, and a slender streak across the hind winga. The caterpillar is greenish, 
with whitish lines and margin to the segments ; it is to be found early in spring feeding on the wild plum, but we have seen it also upon 
damsons and bullaees growing in a hedge row. The moths appear in January and February, the males flying about hedge rows. It is rather a 
common insect. 



* This refers to the male flowers, or catkins ; the female flowers 
appear a few days later. 



t This refers to their first appearance in activity, in roomi where 
tliere is no fire. — Jenyns. 



SIany letters having reached us, inquiring whether 
om directions for gardening operations are equally 
suited for Devonshire, the Midland Counties, and 
Scotland? and as the question involves important 
consequences, we have taken some pains to ascertain 
Uie opinions entertained by others before we made 
oiu- reply. In making that reply, we have now no 
hesitation, because we find that we are imanimous. 

The directions given by us weekly for the work to 
be done in the fruit, flower, and kitchen gardens, 
unless otherwise expressly stated, are so timed as to be 
most suitable for the Midland districts of England; 
and Mr. Erriugton and Mr. Apjileby agree with us 



in tliinkmg that, in the extreme northern counties, 
the same operations may be done usually ten days 
or a fortnight earlier ; and that m Devonshu"e, and 
along om south coast, about the same nimiber of 
days later. 

Mr. Ellington says, in a letter now before us, " I 
should say, taking Birmingham as a centre, that 
Kent, or Devon, or Hampshu-e, would be at the veiy 
least ten or twelve days in advance in most matters ; 
and that Northumberland and the adjacent counties 
would be at th« very least 10 or 12 days in the rear 
of Bii-mingham. If a sowing were made in Hamp- 
shire on the 28th of August, then about Birmingham 



No. XVII., Vol, I. 



ire 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



it should 1)C (loue ou t!ie 20th. ,aud in Northumber- 
land ou the 12th of the same uiouth. However, it 
must he remembered what a lone; uedc of laud con- 
stitutes the chief of Northurabria ; and, indeed, all 
those parts uortli of Alnwick may, for practical pur- 
poses, be considered as a portion of Scotlaud. The 
difference, however, is more obvious in some things 
than in others, and perhaps it would be well to 
separate vegetable sowiug from fruit ripening, and 
from flowers blossoming. 

" When I lived on 'Wiinblcdon Heath, some five- 
and-tweuty years since, om- dHhlias used generally 
to bloom a week or two longer in the autumn than 
those mthe Valley of the Thames, only a mile distant, 
owing no doubt to the fi-ee dispersion of moistm-e on 
the hills. 

" Winds, too ! how they aflect the earliiiess of pro- 
duce ! I am within about ten miles of Chester, yet they 
always beat us for early pease, aparagns, &o. by at 
least a week. They are innnured witliin stone walls, 
and possess a fat alluvial soil ; we are on the middle of 
Delamere forest, and every wind has a claim on us; 
besides, a great chasm lies open from us to Liveiijool, 
aud the xVtlantic gales rush up continually. Too httle 
attention by fai' is paid to these things as to seed 
sowing." 

Mr. Applebj', writing on the same subject, says: — 
"If wallflowers are sown at Birmingham on the 1st 
of June, they will make nice bushy plants, likely to 
stand through the winter better than if sown earlier. 
If wallflowers were sown ui Northumberland the same 
day, they would he too small (unless the autiunn was 
mild) to flower well in the foUowiug year. Again, if 
wallflowers were sown on the same day (1st of June) 
in Devonshii'e, they would be too gross and large to 
stand a severe winter. Therefore, to regulate this 
time of sowiug to the three places, the following 
woidd be the proper times : — 

At Bu-miugham, 1st of dune; 

In Northumberland, 14th of ^May ; 

In Devousliii-e, lith of June." 
Altliough we thus state, as our opinion, that gar- 
dening operations necessary to be done in ^Midland 
England at any given time, ought, in general, tn be 
performed ten days or a fortnight earlier in the north, 
and a similar number of days later in the south, let 
it be remembered that we suppose the soil, elevation 
above the sea, and aspect, are in each case similar. 
Mr. Errington's experience at Wimbledon is only one 
instance from the general experience of gardeners, of 
the influence those circumstances have over vegeta- 
tion. So great is that influence, that, we are quite 
convinced, if any seed of a hardy plant were sown 
in an open border of an ordinary garden in Devon- 
shire, on the 1st of June, that some of the same 
seed sowm ou a dark-coloured, light, well-drained 
liorder beneath a south wall in Northimiherland, 
at only a moderate elevation above iha sea, and not 



in a mountain district, might be made to produce 
seedlings quite as early. We therefore quite agree 
with Jlr. Beaton, who says: — " I would take in hand 
to have sowings of, say cauliflowers, to be done on 
the same day in Devonshire, Birmingham, York, 
Edinbm-gh, Perth, and Inverness, aud would lay fifty 
to one that the crop in Inverness would first come to 
table, if I so chose. In 1837, when I was last at 
Inverness, the laburnum and hawthorn were thi'ee 
days in bloom before the same sorts in Kensington 
Gardens, London ; aud I kept journals of this sort 
for six weeks that season. Cm- blacksmith here 
(near Ipswich), who is only a quarter of a mQe from 
us, can sow his early cabbage ten days later than I 
can, and yet be ten days before me at cutting time. 
We have tried it repeatedly. 

"Earliness or lateness in sowing crops, and in 
their coming into jiroduction, depend more on the 
cvij'^ct am! subsoil oi the locaUty than on the latitude: 
that is, in om' island, not taking hiUy districts into 
the account." 

More than one corrosjiondent having asked us what 
is meant by '• Plants dedicated to each day" in our 
" Weekly Calendar," a fuller and more prominent 
explanation seems to be required from us than is 
usually necessary in our customary place for answers. 
In countries where the Roman Catholic religion pre- 
vails, every day of the year is the anniversary of some 
saiut, to each of whom a plant is dedicated, and is 
worn by any one on the anniversary, if he wishes to 
evince especial reverence for the saiut then com- 
memorated. Those saints ai'e wiped fi'om om- Calen- 
dar, but the flowers, we think, may be well retained ; 
because they have been so selected as to be brought to 
our notice at the time of their greatest beauty, or at 
the time when they may be most useful, or when 
some pheuomenou about them may most strildngly 
enforce the comforting query, "If God so clothe the 
gi-ass of the field, wliich to-day is, and to-moiTow is 
cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe 
you, O ye of little faith ?" 

Closely connected with this subject is a little 
volume now before us, entitled " Historical Flowers 
and their Associations," one well-designed, full of 
thought, and dclightfidly wTought out ; aud its author 
only speaks what w-e thought at tlie time we assigned 
a column to them in om' " Weekly Calendar," when 
he says, "Thus are the flowers as an ever-present 
voice, speaking to us out of the ' midst of the garden.' " 
Moreover, the voice utters lessons of no small beauty 
and iitility to those who wiU but attend to and con- 
sider them. In the Calendar to-day we have " the 
Winter Aconite," the yellow blossoms of which are 
now to be found in our borders, of which they have 
been the earhest ornament ever since the plant's 
first inti'oduction from Switzerland in the yeai' 1596. 
Its botanical names are now Eranthis hjemalis, or 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER, 



177 



Winter Flower of Love ; for it tells us, if we will but 
accept the lesson, that though all appears dead and 
dreary, j^et tliat providential care and love are silently 
about our path, and that there can be but one 
answer to this question — 

'* since outward life requires them not. 

Then wherefore had they birth ? 
To minister dehght to man, 

To beautify the earth." 

The daisy, the mosses, and the ferns, which comprise 
the other plants in this day's Calendar, offer the 
same reply, but they tell us much more. At this 
time of the year, when in our chmate the more 
noble plants are at rest, and their functions almost 
suspended, these humbler and more hardy plants 
come forth to supply then place. We before ex- 
plained (p. G3) that jilants supply the atmosphere 
with the vital aii- (oxygen) necessary for ora- breath- 
ing. The aconite, the daisy, the moss, and the fern, 
are now performing this important office ; and if we 
plunge them into water, we shall see the bubbles of 
healthful air wliiuli they ai-e pouring forth. 

Many other notes upon their \ise are before us, 
but our space warns us that we have no remainiug 
room for more than an e.s.pressiou of the hope that 
we have satisfactorily explained why we give the 
"plants dedicated to each day." In October nest 
we shall liave passed over the twelve months, and 
the column these plants have occupied will then be 
devoted to another subject. 



At p. li, ilr. Appleby, when speaking of soil for 
floricultural purposes, says, " that if it contains much 
oxide of u-on, it must be avoided as the plague." 
TMs warning aroused Messrs. Curtis and Co., of the 
West of England Eoseries, near Bristol, for they 
cultivate a soil so red, that to the eye it seems to be 
composed cluefly of the red oxide, or nist, of iron. 
They sent us three well-grown plants of roses, with 
vigorous brauches, and a full healthy amount of 
roots, to show what that soil produced, and at the 
same time they observed tliat Mr. Appleby could not 
know " the soil of a great part of Gloucostershii'e, 
where vegetation thrives in a soil which, from the 
large quantities of oxide of u-on in it, is literally in 
many places a bright red." Now, here is the source 
of the mistake. Messrs. Cui'tis have been imder the 
wrong impression that the red colom- of their soil 
arises from its oxide of iron, but we have ascertained 
that it does not contain more than six per cent.* 
This is a proportion not excessive ; and many dai-k- 
colom-ed fertile soils contain as much. Tlie soil of 
the West of England Eoseries owes its colom', 
probably, to being the alluvium, or in-some-other- 
mode-pulverized portion of the red conglomerate and 

* The average of our analyses gives 5.5, or 5^ parts of oxide of iron 
in every oue-hutidred parts of soil. 



red sandstone, the colour of which does not depend 
upon oxide of iron. Therefore, Mr. Appleby's state- 
ment, that much of tins oxide in a soil is injurious to 
flowers, is not contradicted by the successful practice 
of Jlessrs. Cru'tis. Thehs is a red, but not a ferni- 
ginous (ii'ony) soil. 



THE FEUIT-GAEDEN. 

The CuErEY. — In a few weeks' time we shall be 
comjielled to ofier a good deal of mere caleudarial 
advice ; we must, therefore, rim through the prin- 
cipal fruits whilst time and space offers. We are the 
more anxious to do this, because we find, by the 
applications from querists, that many are waiting 
our hsts, in order to select for ]>lant!ng by tliem. 

We now deal with the cheny. Our cultivated 
kinds are worked (budded or grafted) on the wild 
cheiTv stock, called in some parts the merry-tiee. 
They are gi'afted, or budded, precisely the same as 
apples, pears, &c., and at the same period. I^ess 
preparation is uccesstUT for the cheriy in regard of 
soil, than for any other fruit-tree, as it is not so im- 
jiatient of indifferent subsoils as some of our other 
fruits, neither is it so liable to disease. Gumming — 
generally through accidental woiuids — being the evil 
cheny-trees are most liable to. 

Soil. — A deep sandy loam suits the cherr}' best, 
such, in fact, as woultl be considered a. good carrot 
soO. This should be deeply trenched, and if jioor, 
and no tiu'fy matter in it, any raw vegetable nuitter 
may be trenched down. 

Varieties. — To the cottager, as a matter of proiit. 
we are not aware tliat we dare recommend any other 
kinds than the !May-did;e and the Morello. The 
ilay-duke, however, il' intended to fetch a high price 
at a very early period, shoidd be the true early Huke, 
for the late Duke, which is nuich like it in wood and 
general habit, is nestrly a month later. Any cottier, 
living in the suliurbs of busy commercial towns, 
where there is an active uiarkct. woidd, we thuik, 
find an early Dulie cheny as prohtablc a fruit as the 
jiear, and perhaps more so. foi' it is a very sure 
bearer, and comes sooner to profit than the pear. 
The finest and eailiest Dukes we have ever known, 
were trained on gables facing- the east, and those 
gables continuing a chimney. 

Tlie Morello ^Ye have liefore adverted to, iuid v,'e 
nnist again recommend it as a cottager's i'ruit, 
adapted for the north sides of buikUngs or dwelliug- 
liouses, or, in fact, for any aspect or situation too 
cold for other fnuts. We may as well repeat, also, 
that the Morello will be found to succeed iu a much 
stronger loam than most of the other chen-ies. We 
have known the fruit in such adhesive soils, on 
northern aspects, nearly as large as the Orleans 
jilum ; and we thiuk that it may safely be affirmed, 
that tins valuable fruit does not fail of a crop more 
than once in seven years, on an average. It is well 
known that the Morello is much esteemed for making 
brandy cherries, especially when crJtivated in a su- 
perior manner; and. imder such cncumstances, wDl 
always realise very high prices with the confectioner. 

We come now to cherries for the amateur ; and 
we will give a list of truly good kinds, placed in the 
order of their ripening. 
1. Early Purple Griotte or Guigne. — Tins is not 

equal to the early May-duke in point of quaUty, 

but is much earlier, ripening in the early part of 



178 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



June. It is a cleep-colourecl, heart-shaped fruit, of 
middle size, adapted for either wall or standard 
culture. 

2. Earhj May -Duke. — This is too well known to 
need description. It may lie styled the hest early 
cheny in the kingdom. Wall or standard. Ripe 
towards the end of June. 

3. Black Eagle. — A heart-shaped middle-sized fmit; 
a most prolific hearer, and very hardy as a stand- 
ard, although equally deserving a wall. Ripe in 
the early part of July. 

4. Elton. — A splendid cherry — excelled hy none. 
We consider no collection complete without it. 
Fruit large, pale, heart-shaped, and ripens in July. 
Particularly deserving a wall, but wUl succeed in 
our warmer counties very, well as a standard. 

0. Biijarreau or Oraffion. — A noble fi-uit, which has 
been much esteemed for many yeai's. rruit lai'ge, 
pale-coloru-ed, of a somewhat obtuse character, and 
a good hearer. Perhaps better adajited for a 
standard than the wall, its large leaves being im- 
patient of confinement. Ripe in July. It is veiy 
difficult to preserve from the wasps and flies ; 
this, however, is one gi'eat hinderance in extended 
cherry culture, and suggests the employment of 
some canvass or other material. 

6. Florence. — Much like the BigaiTeau, but rijiens 
nuich later. Wall or standard. 

7. Late Duke. — Of the character of the May-duke ; a 
great bearer, adapted for standards, hut every col- 
lection should have one on a wall, protected fi'om 
birds. Ripens in the eom'se of August. 

8. Morella. — Well known. Ripens in August and 
September, and, if well protected, wiU endure until 
the end of October. 

9'. Bilttner's October Morello. — Later still than the 
Morello ; of similar character. Is liighly recom- 
mended for late purposes by good authorities ; we, 
however, have no experience as to its quality. 
To conclude, we may name the Kentish, so much 
used for drying; this is a veiy useful kind. The 
stone in this may be drawn away attached to the 
stalk. This answers best as a standard. 

We wQl recur to modes of rearing, training, &c„ 
when space occurs : but, for the present, we must 
finish the cherry with a few general remarks. 

We have before said, and we must now repeat, 
that then- ti'ainhig on walls shoidd be based on the 
size and character of then- leaves, as to the distance 
of the branches fi-om each other. Indeed, this is a 
principle which ought to regulate the training of all 
our wall fruits. It ought to be considered that if we 
find one leaf overlaps another leaf on a waU, and is 
fastened do-svn with nails, that the leaf so overlapped 
is not in so good a position to elaborate juices, and 
thereby to form a plump bud, as the leaves on the 
branches of trees dangling at liberty and unattached 
to a wall. 

Again, we may add, that every amateur who aims 
at a long and clever succession of chen-ies through 
the season, should study well the aspects selected, in 
order to estabUsh such in a judicious way. We 
would advise that one early Duke occupy in all 
cases a warm wall ; we would even tiy and get one 
Morello in a warm aspect, for it is astonishing how 
luscious a Morello is after hanging several weeks in 
a wann situation. 

For the rest, east or west, or any combinations of 
such aspects with the north, will answer very well ; 
a south-east or south-west, of course, producing them 
earlier. 

Our catalogue of kinds may appear destitute of 



variety to those who garden high. We do not, how- 
ever, profess to instruct such persons. Oiu' desire is 
not to overshoot our mark ; and, in order to follow 
out such a course in a consistent way, we think it 
far the best to recommend such kuuls" only as have 
established a reputation, and which we have our- 
selves cultivated. The list, therefore, will be found 
to contam at least a regular succession of most of 
the best cherries hitherto proved. To those amateurs 
who feel an interest in prowng new kinds of fruit, 
we would recommend an application to such men as 
Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, who is one of our 
most ingenious fnut cultivators. Mr. Rivers attempts 
the dwarfing system with all fruits ; and, as a funda- 
mental principle, he " begins at the beginning," viz., 
the root, either limiting the amount of the ascending 
sap by means of root pruning, or. what is better still, 
by judiciously adapting the stock to the pm'ijoses 
sought. He has grafted the cherry extensively on 
the Mahaleb stock, with what amoimt of success we 
do not know — the jiractiee is at least ingenious. 

PE.iR Pbunixg. — We here beg to ofler a few brief 
hints about pear pruning, the season being at hand. 
We cannot, however, go fully into a system appli- 
calile to yoimg pears, on the 2Jlatform mode, from the 
moment of their planting ; such must be reserved 
untd the pressure of other affau's has passed. Our 
pvn-pose now is to induce those who have long been 
disappointed in their produce, tlu'ough an eiToneous 
course of practice, to change their course in some 
degree ; this they can at least do in the priming. It 
was the custom in former days to " spur Imck " the 
spray produced all along the line of main shoots ; 
this consisted in cutting back every yoimg shoot to 
within about half an inch of its base. The conse- 
quences were that every watery shoot produced a 
couple or three more shoots of the same character in 
the following summer, and these m tui-n were sub- 
jected to the same operation. It is astonishmg with 
what an amount of pertinacity our old " blue-aprons " 
stuck to this ridiculous mode, dignified with the title 
of the spur si/stem. We do not say that every wall 
is thus treated in these " march of intellect" days; 
we do know, however, that some old practitioners 
find it difficult to escape these old traditionary ti'am- 
mels. 

Now, since the peai' is kuo^vn to bear freely on the 
two years' old shoots, if of a pi'oper character, and 
duly exposed to the hght during the gi'owing season, 
why not reserve a portion of such spray every 
season all over the tree ? We have done so for 
years, and we are not aware that any one can excel 
us in bearing-pears at least. Our plan is this : — at 
the Jidy disbudding, or shortening, we reserve most 
of those annual shoots which are peciiUarhj short- 
jointed; this we consider the first criterion of fniit- 
fuhress : the next point is colour — such shoots will 
be browner than baiTen shoots : and the thu'd point, 
scarcely inferior to the former, is a cessation of 
gi-owth, or at least a tendency, before other portions 
of the tree. At the winter's pruning we examine 
these (which had been tied down to the leading 
shoots iu July), and, reserving a choice sprinkhng, 
we tie them down, pruning all the rest entuely away. 

R. EnniNGTON. 



THE FLOWEE-GAEDEN. 

N.iJiixG Pi,.\NTS. — We alluded to this subject iu 
the fom-teenth number ; and we thought the subject 
so important that we promised to resume it. W'e will 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



17Q 



now fulfil om- pledge. No one that has paid any 
attention to this matter wiU deny its gi'eat use ; we 
need not jjress its imjjortance to our brother gar- 
deners. They are fully aware how necessary it is to 
have, theii' plants correctly named, whether in the 
Idtohen-garden, iiower-garden, pits, frames, green- 
houses or stoves ; in all good gardens, naming the 
plants is fully carried out. We expect and look for 
all plants iu botanic gardens, to be completely and 
accurately named — that is, to find correctly, neatly, 
and legibly written on a lable on or near to each 
plant its natural order, botanical and English names, 
native country, and the j'ear when it was first intro- 
duced into this countiy, — and in all public gardens 
that have any pretensions to utility, this is done. 
Not only are the flowers, such, for instance, as the 
common fox-glove ( Digitalis purpurea. J, but the 
noble trees of the forest, such as the common oak 
(Quereus sessilifloraj, and the ash (Fraxinus excel- 
siorj. These in public gardens are, or ought to be, 
labelled in the manner above mentioned; and we 
may venture to mention, as an example of useful and 
correct naming, the Public Arboretiun* at Derby. 
Many of the trees and shrubs in the Kensington 
Gardens are also named, but the names are now 
nearly obliterated, and consequently not so useful as 
they might be ; we hope the Commissioners of Woods 
and Forests will soon have them repainted, so as to 
bo legible. Having said so much of the usefulness 
of naming plants, we shall now proceed to shew our 
amateur and cottage readers how they may put into 
practice such an amusing and delightful som-ce of 
iiselid instruction. The first thing to prociu-e for 
this end is a good, correct, and general catalogue; we 
know none better for om* pui"pose than Paxtons 
Dictionary of Botany, which contains in a small 
compass a gi'eat mass of information besides the 
mere names of plants; it may be proomed of any 
respectable bookseller — its price is l.os. The next 
article is a sulRcient number of labels. These are 
made of various materials, some of earthenware, 
white and brown, the latter to have the part where 
the name, &c., are to be written painted white, and 
the names put on with black paint ; and if that part, 
after it is written on, has a ^liece of glass affixed so 
as to in-otect the wTiting from the weather, it wiU last 
several years. In this manner, and with such lables, 
are the plants named in the Derby Arboretum, and 
after ten years' exposure are yet very nearl}" as fresh 
and as perfect as they appeared the first day they 
vrere used. Some lables ai'e made of cast iron ; of 
this material ai-o those at Kensmgton Gardens and 
St. James's Park, in London. Some are foimed of 
pieces of Welsh slate, and these are veiy excellent 
and durable ; they may be seen in use in the Eegent's 
Park Botanic Garden ; they are cut in the shape of 
a long triangle, the sharp point to be thi-ust into the 
earth; the broad end is painted black to the depth of 
four or five inches, two coats of paint are given 
them, and when that is well dried, tlie name, &c., are 
written in fab legible letters with white paint ; and 
when this is perfectly dry, the lables ai-e thrust fiimly 
into the ground opposite the tree, or shrub, or flower 
the name belongs to. T'hese lables are very neat 
and dm'able. In the herbaceous gi'ound at Messrs. 
Henderson's nursery, Pine-Apple-place, Edgware- 
road, there is used a good kind of label, easUy made 
and very dm-able. It is fonned of a piece of wood 
about 4^ inches long by 3 inches M-ide ; two holes are 
bored through the piece of wood from side to side, 
about J of an inch trom each end ; these holes are 

* Arhorctum.^^ garden of trees. 



intended to receive two strong pieces of wire 1^ 
inches long, about the thickness ot a common qiull • 
the wu'e is wedged in fast with a nail, and the whole 
has two or thi-ee coats of white jjahit given ; when 



I 



I 



Iris Lurida. 
Lurid Iris. 



this is dry the name is painted 
with black paint. The lable has 
then this appeai-ance, is neat, and 
as the wood is kept from the 
ground, and the wire being iron, it 
is dm-able. We think this label 
veiy good and worthy of adoption, 
as the materials can bs easily 
procured in any part of the 
country. For plants in pots zinc labels are lasting 
and useful, but they requu-e a peouUar ink, and are 
not always at hand. For all common pm-poses wood 
labels are to be recommended, a bundle of common 
building laths will make several hmidreds, and are 
easUy and quickly made with a common sliarp 
pocket knife, a little white lead made thin with 
turpentine and oil, and rubbed on with the finger, 
and then the name written with a softish black lead 
pencil wbUo the paint is wet; this is all that is 
wanted for naming plants in pots, espiecially tliose 
under cover. The cottager can make them very 
conveniently by his fire-side these long evenings ; 
if lie cannot procure laths, any kind ofwood will do. 
Make the labels of different sizes, some for pots, 
about six inches long ; others, to name flowers in the 
borders, rather larger ; and those intended to name 
shrubs or fi-uit-trees should be at least a foot long. 
We have seen very good labels for the latter 
pui'pose made of oak rods well dried and sjjlit in 
two. Each piece will make two labels. Tlie inner 
part has to be cut smooth to receive the name and 
description, and the outer part also to have the 
bark shaved oft' and the knots cut off clean ; the 
ends that are to be put in the gi'ound should be 
charred to prevent their rotting ; indeed, the whole 
label should have two coats of white paint, and 
the name, &c., should be done with black paint. 
Writing the names would be a pleasant exercise for 
the cottager's boys or giiis, and woidd impress the 
name upon their memories. But I think I hoar 
some of om- friends exclaim, " How are we to know 
the natural order, botanical and English name, and 
native countiy ? We cannot afl'ord to buy botanical 
dictionaries and all that sort of tlung." Well, my 
friends, do not despan ; we will put you into a way 
by which you may easily acquire this knowledge. 
Let as many of you as are neighbom-s, and well 
disposed, ]neet at each others' houses in the evening 
at times, say once a fortnight, and pay a trifle each 




180 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



weekly to buy this book of names, then ask some 
gardener or other capable person to meet you ; have 
yovu' flowers and pieces of shnibs there at the time, 
vnth a slip of jiaper attached to each ; your kind 
friend will tlien name them for you, and you can 
take your lot of names home, and having the labels 
ready, write for each its right name, with every other 
particidar. If this method is followed diUgeutly for 
a few months, you will obtain names for all your 
plants, which will be a great pleasure, as well as 
useful, to you, your wife, and your children. 

We have given tlu'ee examples, by wliich our 
fi-iends may see how to name their- trees, shrubs, and 
flowers ; and have pin-posely selected three very 
common tilings, such as we believe every body knows, 
in order to shew every point in naming plants that 
ought to be attended to. Where florists' flowers are 
cultivated to any extent, the best way to distinguish 
each variety is to have them all numbered with 
wooden labels, with con'espouding numbers in a 
memorandum-book kept for that especial piu-pose. 
Where time, however, is of no consequence, and the 
owner is so disposed, the names may be written on 
zinc or wooden labels; but this is a somewhat tedious 
operation, as every one of every variety must have 
its name fully written. Yet this has its advantages, 
for every time the name is read it is deeper im- 
Jiressed upon the memory, and to sti'augers or 
friends \'isitmg your garden it is very pleasant to 
find yom- plants all named : so that, without refen-ing 
to your memorandum-book, each visitor can at once 
read the name, and learn to distingiiish the different 
varieties. Our amateur friends may expect shortly 
to have some fru'ther remarks on this subject, suit- 
able for them, and which we tiiist will be usefid and 
accejitable. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
C.iRN.vTiox Seed S.wjng. — A correspondent, who 
signs himself G. K., having made the inquiry. — how 
are carnations and piootees to be impregnated so as 
to produce seed ? (see a copy of his letter, p. 189) — we 
shall proceed to state how tlus may be done. These 
flowers are. in the eye of tlie florist, in the greatest 
perfection when they are firlly double, a single flower 
being by them accounted of no value. Now, a double 
flower is a monstrosity of nature, in which the jiarts 
of the flower intended for the reproduction of the 
plants by seed are changed by high cultivation into 
mere flower-leaves or petals. In proportion as tins 
inonsti'osity is canied to perfection, so are the powers 
of the plants to produce seed lessened, or desti-oycd 
altogether ; consequently, to save seed, choose such 
as are not quite double. The Clove pruk ( DUtnlluis 
C<iri/ojihiilhisJ are the botanic names of these jilants. 
They are in the Linneau botanical class Decandria 
(or ten males), and belong to the Linneau botanical 
order Digynia (or two females). Now, we wish to 
inform om- friend G. K. what these two tei-ms 
Decandria and Monogynia mean. The first term 
has reference to the 10 threads with a head on each, 
which are the male parts of the carnations ; the head 
is sometlung like a little box, and contains the pollen 
or fertilizing dust. In the centre of the flower is a 
small germ, or infant seed vessel — arising out of, and 
above which, is a thread called tlie filament ; ujion 
this may be seen what G. K. calls fringed " horns." 
These are i\\e female part of tlie flower, and not, as 
supposed by G. Iv., the male. Now, in a fuU doubh^ 
flower all those male and female parts sue cbanged 
into petals or flowers leaves ; and when tliis is the 
case, the germ or seed vessel does not swcU and 



produce seed, and all the management and protection 
to assist it to do so are useless. In order, then, to 
save seed from such kinds as are good in the florist's 
eye, G. K. must examine his flowers when in bloom, 
and such as have some poUen, to convey or apply it 
by a common camel-ban- pencil to the two liorus ; 
and when that is done, then protection from rain or 
storm is necessary and useful . Some named varieties 
ai-e never fully double, although in carnations we 
have not noticed such, but in picotces we can give 
one variety famous not only for producing seed but 
a number of exceflent seedlings — its name is Bar- 
nard's Mm. Barnard ,- we can recommend this sort as 
a good breeder. We trust the above will satisfy 
G. K.'s inqimies. With respect to the other pi-ivate 
inquiry, we wrU answer it as soon as we can learn 
what can be done for him. 'The above is an exceed- 
ingly interestmg subject, and to all om- readers, 
whether rich or poor, we trust will be acceptable. 
The raising of better kinds of florist's flowers is a 
never ending som-ce of pleasure, amusement, and, 
may be, profit to the practitioner. Let not the want 
of success even for years deter yon from trying again 
and again ; success must come at last, to repay you 
for your pleasant toil. The only thing wanting is a 
determination to persevei-e, tning first one plan and 
then another, luitil you hit upon the desired end. 

T. Appleby. 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GAEDENING. 

Cni.TCEE OF THE TuBERosE. — The proper name of 
this, the most fragi'aut of flowers, is PoUanthes tii- 
hcrosa : but we must not confound the first name with 
om- common polyanthus in the borders, idthough the 
one will readily put us in mind of the other. When- 
ever you see aiitkcs or antlius at the end of a name 
of this sort it means a flower, and is t.aken fi-om antJie 
the Greek word for flower; poly is also a Greek w<]rd 
signifyiirg many, so that the two words put together 
will mean — manj-flower. But the first name of the 
tuberose is spelled difierently, and has a widely dif- 
ferent meaning. It is from Polls, the Greek for a city, 
and anthe, that is, " the city flower;" because, as I 
suppose, all the inhabitants of a city ought to gi-ow 
it evei-j' year for their taU wuidows and staircases ! 
And, surely, if they can manage that in the city, we 
ought to be able to do it whore the afr is more pure 
and healthy. 

The first tuTierose that came to Eiu-ope was a 
single flower from some of the more temperate 
regions in India ; and the double one, wliich we now 
grow so extensively, was first raised from seeds in 
HoUaud — tliat land of bulbs ; and to shew you one 
of the great changes which civiUzation brought about, 
I may mention that the heavy Dutchman who first 
raised this double tuberose was so selfish, that he 
wordd not part with any of the roots for many years 
— not eveu after he had jiropagated them in such 
numbers, as to have more than he coidd plant. He 
is said to have destroyed his over-stock of them, that 
he might have the vanity to boast of being the only 
jierson in Europe who was possessed of such treasui-es ! 
I would mention his name, were I not afraid that 
some of his descendants might hear of the sad legacy 
he thus left them. Let us, therefore, tm-n to a more 
pleasant theme. 

The tuberose never flowers but imce from the same 
root, and if it shoots up a flower-stem without produc- 
ing any flowers at all, (as, I am soriy to bear, it has 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



181 



repeatedly done with some of om readers), itis just the 
same as it' it had produced flowers, and it will not even 
shoot up a flower-stem again next year — neither will 
the ofl'sets, bulbs or tubers, which are numerously pro- 
duced round the old i-oot, do any good with us in pots — 
but the whole must be thrown away at the end of the 
season, and a fi'esh lot bought in every spring. A 
person curious for experiments, however, might 
grow the roots in this country, so as to flower theni 
after the second year, as strong as the Italian roots 
— for they are all imported annually from the gardens 
of Italy. The thing has been done successfidly in 
England a hundi-ed years since, but they ar-e now 
so cheap, no more than four sliillings the dozen, 
that we never think of rearing them for ourselves. 
The way they used to nurse them in England was 
by picking off the strongest of the offsets fi-om the 
flowering roots about the time of potting in the 
spring, and planting them five or six inches apart 
every way, on a slight hotbed, in light rich mould. 
Those who had a cucumber light to spare, woidd, of 
course, place it over the yoimg tuberoses till the May 
frosts were over ; and those who had not that con- 
venience, would hoop over the bed with slender rods, 
and cover them at night with mats, and, in addition 
to this, others woidd make little neat hedges round 
the bed with spruce or fm-ze boughs — the hitter an 
excellent barrier against rats and mice. I have no 
doubt that thousands of such beds, for other pm-- 
poses, will be made next spring. AU that the young 
tuberoses needed, after the fi'ost and coverings were 
gone, was to keep them clear from weeds, and to give 
them plenty of water in dry weather; and as the 
frost woidd kill the roots, the bed was didy thatched 
with a foot thick of straw as soon as any danger ap- 
peared in the autumn, all the leaves being first cut 
off, for fear they should get mouldy under the thatch, 
and cany the damp down to the roots and destroy 
them ; for it would not do at all to take up the tubers 
thou, as they had long soft roots that could not be 
dried or cut off without rotting the tubers; but in 
about tlnee months afterwai-ds, these roots, and the 
tuberoses themselves, were ripe enough to be handled 
without any danger, and in February they used 
to take them up, so as not to gi'ow too soon to be 
nipped by the fi-ost, preserving all their long roots, 
and placing them in dry sand, or very dry earth, till 
A])vil — then planting on a slight hotbed, as in tho 
first instance, with sheltering, weeding, watering, 
and thatching as before, and taking them up again 
next February to be planted out for flowering, 
always at the same distances from each other, and 
the top of the tubers not more than one uioh below 
the siu-faco. In this second season, many of them 
woidd push up their slender flower-stems fi-om two 
to four feet long, and produce from eighteen to two 
dozens of their charming, sweet>scen ted flowers ; and 
to have some indoors as well, they woidd take up 
part of the stock carefully with a trowel when tho 
flower-buds were beginning to open, put them into 
pots, and, by carefid watering and shading them for 
a few days, they woidd soon recover this check. 
Those that did not flower tho first year woidd be 
very strong next season; and once the first batch 
came into flower, there would always be a succession 
afterwards every year. Every time they were taken 
up the offsets would be taken off them, except bvo 
or three of the strongest to be grown for stock ; and 
when the tuber once flowered, these stock offsets 
would be planted separately, to undergo the same 
routine as their parent. There is no more trouble 
in all this than there is in rearing a bed of ridge cu- 



cumbers, and he js a poor gardener who cannot do 
that in England after tho middle of Apiil. Half-spent 
dung, from the Imings of a cucumber bed, or any 
refuse of that sort, woiild be good enough to begin the 
young tuberose with. Such a bed shoidd be made 
in an open trench in some warm comer, packing iu 
the dung tightly, so as not to settle much or un- 
equally aftenvards. About two feet deep of dung 
would be thick enough, and carried up to near the 
surface. When the heat became steady and not too 
strong, the bed shoidd be covered a foot tluck with 
light rich sod, and then planted with the ofi'set tubers, 
leaving the crowns, or top part, an inch below the 
surface. The frame and light would then be put 
over it, and a sharji-pointed sticlc thnist down in tho 
bed, to be drawn every other day for a fortnight or 
so, to ascertain that the dung did not heat too 
violently ; for, if it did, it might greatly iujiu-e the 
tuberoses, if it did not roast them altogether. The 
safest way to check such violent heat is, to make 
holes iu the bed here and there, and pour down 
water from the spout of a watering-pot, but not too 
much at a time, for fear of chUling so small a bed. 
The tuberoses would not requne any water till their 
leaves were well up, and not much of it afterwards, 
except in dry weather. There is one point in this 
old way of growing the tuberoses for ourselves, which 
I think a great hnprovgment on the present fashion 
of buying our supply of them from Italy, and that is 
the preservation of their roots. It does not require 
a prophet to foresee that if wo coidd obtain those 
fine long roots, which the tuberose makes in the 
Italian soil, in good preservation, the tubers woidd 
produce much larger flowers than they do at present, 
and in greater numbers. The beautffid old-fashioned 
bidb called T'ujfidia, or Tiger-flower, woidd answer 
remarkably well under tho above treatment, and no 
doubt many other half-hardy bidbs besides. 

Tho only secret in gi-owing the tuberose, which we 
buy at tho seed shops, without tho help of a pit or 
hotbed, is to begin early with them, say the first week 
in Apiil ; to strip oft' all the Uttle oftsets that gi-ow in 
a ring round the bottom, for these must suck their 
noin"islinient from tho parent tuber, and that extra 
food had bettor go to enlarge our flowers ; to plant 
only one in a small pot of not more than four inches 
in diameter, with very good drainage, and, if possi- 
ble, a tliin layer of fresh moss placed over the di'ain- 
age, for the double puqiose of preventing the soil 
getting down among the crocks, and for supplying 
the tips of the roots, which are sm-e to work down as 
far as they can, with uniform moisture. They wUl 
do better with moderate watering m. a steady way, 
than with largo doses at certain intervals. The soil 
must be light and open, and any common sod can 
be made so by adding sand to it ; and a Kttlo leaf 
mould, or the refuse of rotten wood, will both open 
and enrich a stitfish sod. if no better can be had for 
potting. This soil, or compost, should bo neither 
dry nor wet when fii-st used, but just to feel damp to 
the hand, and I am altogether against the bad prac- 
tice of watering dry bulbs or tubers as soon as they 
are potted. So doing is just like bmying a man 
ahvo, and putting plenty of roast beef and strong 
ale in his coflin. A root, or bulb, that will keep safe 
month after month in a drawer or paper bag, will 
surely wait a week or ten days after potting without 
water, or uutfl. it can make some roots or leaves to 
make use of the water. Its own jiuoes, and the 
natural dampness of the sod, wUi be stimulus enough 
for any plant of this kind that ever I heard of, tiU it 
pushes up a few loaves above tlie earth. The tuberose 



182 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



is vpi-y fastidious iu tins respect, and if it is once 
swamped witli water in its early progress, no coaxing 
will induce it to flower tliat season, if grown in a 
pot. When grown over a hotbed, where the roots 
can spread in all directions, it is, of course, less 
susceptible of such injury. 

The window of a warm kitchen is the best place 
for the pots after potting, and even better for getting 
them up than a greenhouse or cold pit. If the heat 
should dry the soil too much before the leaves 
appear, it wiJl require a gentle watering. When the 
leaves advance to four inches high, give smaU quan- 
tities regidarly, and unless you see the leaves turning 
greeuish-white at the bottom, the place is not too hot 
for them. By-and-by the leaves will be long enough 
to arch out round the sides of the pot ; that is their 
natui'al way; and, to guard them froni accidents. ]ilace 
four sticks of the size of a pendiolder round the pot, 
and draw a string, or piece of narrow tape, round 
them, and sutHciently high to support the leaves 
where tbey arch over the pot. Some persons, from 
not knowing better, tie up all the leaves to one stick, 
but they can never flower that way, because the 
upper sides of the leaves cannot get light enough. 
If the leaves look quite gi-eeu, and no signs of being 
drawn up with too much heat or too little air, they 
may remain in the kitchen window, provided it is 
open to the sun, till the flower stalk begins to rise 
from the centre of the leaves, for the plants are no 
beauties till the flowers appear. As soon as the 
flower stem is seen, they must have plenty of air ; 
and close to the glass in a gi-eenhouse, or cold pit, 
woidd be the best place for them, but they will do 
very well in a good window, if the flower stems 
appear before the first of Jidy. Tie up the flower 
stem to a neat green stick, but not too close, as it 
will grow rapidly at first, and might get injured from 
a close tie. They are not thu'sty plants at any time, 
but they must have a Uttle more water than usual 
while the flower stem is fast growing, and a little 
soapsuds would srdt them well at that time and when 
the flowers appear, as I hope they will and in great 
numbers too ; they require only to be kept a little 
moist. Now, after all this long story about tube- 
roses, I shall be disappointed if I hear of a single 
failure among om- readers next season. The only 
thing else that I can think of just now, is, to get 
them in good time before they ai'e picked over by 
the old knowing ones, who can tell at a glance the 
best tubers to flower weU. They choose the plumpest 
ones, with the shortest necks, and they always tiy 
if the bottoms are sound ; they also cut ofl' all the 
little offsets with a sharp knife as soon as tbey come 
home, to give the more time to the wounds to dry 
over before potting time. 

Foreign Seeds.— Without the aid of a hotbed, it 
will be time enough to sow seeds received from 
friends abroad about the beginning of Mm-ch ; and, 
unless they are from temperate cHmates, they will be 
of little use for a greenhouse ; or, if tbey have been 
collected by traveUers, they are hardly worth the 
trouble of sowing. Residents in foreign parts are 
the only persons from Avhom really usefid seeds may 
be expected, as they may have had an opportunity 
of seeing the plants in flower which produced them. 
The best gardener in the world can only guess what 
kind of flowers a plant will bear, if he only sow it in 
seed for the first time. If you meditate on making 
a present of foreign seed to any gi-eat gardener, he 
will take your good wiU for the deed ; but, in all 
probability, he will throw aU your seeds in the tti-c. 



Foreign seeds have become an actual nuisance since 
travelling has become so general. 

Sunr.^cE OF Pots. — This is a. good time to stir the 
top soil in jilant jiots ; and as it will be much ex- 
hausted, some of it should now be thrown away, a,nd 
a little fresh soO jnit in its place. This is a good 
plan even for hyacinths and other bulbs coming into 
flower ; the fresh soil will help to invigorate the plant ; 
and many other plants, if thus treated now. need not 
be fresh potted so soon as usual. 

D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. 

Se.^-Kale. — Besides the direction mentioned in our 
last, respecting the production of this very useful 
vegetable, there is another mode of forcing it early, 
on tlie ground where it is established, by placing 
over the plants, pots, boxes, &c., and covering these 
with fermenting materials, such as stable dung, leaves, 
tan, fera, straw, &c. To get the shoots thus produced, 
stm-dy, of good colour, and substance, the heat applied 
by such means must be regular and moderate. 

There are several modes in which sea-kale may be 
forced, whilst growing in the hotbed where raised. 
Thus, after the plants have been dressed and trimmed 
in tlie autumn, the bed may be covered with a mix- 
ture of moderately sifted light earth and sand or 
coal ashes, two or three inches deep ; each stool must 
be covered with a pot set down close, to keep out the 
steam of the dung ; or, bricks or planks may be 
placed to the height of eight or teti inches on each 
side of the rows of plants to be forced, and covered 
with cross spars, having a space of about an inch be- 
tween eacli two of them. The dung employed must 
be well tempered, and mixed for three weeks before 
it is required, or for four, if mingled with leaves, 
otherwise the heat is violent, but not lasting. When 
thus prepared, each pot is covered ten inches thick 
all round, and eight inches at the top. The heat 
must be constantly observed ; if it sinks below 50 
degrees, more hot dung must be applied ; if above 60 
degrees, some of the covering should be removed. 
Unless the weather is very severe, it is seldom neces- 
sary to renew the heat by fresh linings ; when the 
thermometer indicates the necessity, a part only of 
the exhausted dung sboidd be taken away, and the 
remainder mixed with that newly apphed. In three 
or four weeks from being first covered, the shoots 
will be fit for cutting, and they will continue to pro- 
duce at intervals for two or three mouths, or imtil 
the natural crop comes in. To have a succession, 
some should be coveret' with mulch, or litter that is 
little else than straw ; this, by sheltering the plants 
fi'om cold, will cause them to be forwarder than the 
natm-al gi-ound ones, though not so forward as those 
imder tlie hot dung ; and by this means, it may be 
had in perfection from Christmas to Whitsuntide. 

It also may be Ibrced in a hotbed. When the heat 
moderates, a little light mould being put on, three 
or fom- years old plants, which have been raised with 
as little injury as possible to the roots, are to be in- 
serted close together, and covered with as much 
earth as is used for cucumbers. The glasses must be 
covered close with double matting to exclude the light, 
and additional covering afforded during severe wea- 
ther. Sea-kale, thus forced, will be fit for cutting in 
about three weeks. Instead of frames and glasses, 
any construction of boards and litter that will 
exclude the light answers as well. A common melon 
frame w'ill contain as many as are capable of being 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



183 



produced in two drills of twenty yards each, aud 
with only one-tliu'd the quantity of dung. To keej) 
up a regular succession untU the natural gi-ound crop 
arrives, two three-light frames wUl be sufficient for a 
large family ; the first prepared about the beginning 
of November, and the second about the last week in 
December. Another mode is, on each side of a three- 
foot bed, to dig a trench two feet deep, the side of it 
next the bed being perpendicular, but the outer side 
sloping, so as to make it eighteen inches wide at the 
bottom, but two feet and a half at the top — these 
trenches being filled with fermentuig dung, which of 
course may be renewed if ever found necessary, aud 
frames put over the plants ; the light is to be com- 
pletely excluded by boaids, matting, &c. The ao- 
companyiug sketch represents a section of the con- 
stiiiotion. 




\Trencli 



Frame 

Bed Tranehl 




Those who have but few plants, and have not a 
convenience of either forwarduig it in a cellar or 
cupboard, or the means of forcing it with fermenting 
materials, may produce excellent blanched sea-kale 
in the spring months by covermg the crowns with 
light friable earth, fine cinder ashes, old tan, or leaf 
mould. 

If this mode of merely hlanching (or whiting), and 
not forcing, be adopted, the most simple mode is to 
cover over each stool, sand or ashes to the depth of 
about a foot; the shoots, in their passage through it, 
bemg excluded from the light, are effectually bleached. 
Dry clean straw may be scattered loosely over the 
plants to effect the same pui-pose. But pots are by 
much to be preferred to any of these coverings. 
Butter-firkins, or flower-pots of large dimensions, 
may bo employed, care being taken to stop the hole 
at the bottom with a piece of tile and clay, so as to 
exclude every ray of light ; but these suggested by 




Mr. Maher are generally adopted. They are of 
earthenware, twelve or eighteen inches in diameter, 
and twelve high. Mr. Sabine improved upon them, 
by making the top moveable, whicli prevents the 
trouble arising from the escape of the spreading 
shoots, or the entire removal of the dung at the time 
of forcing. Frames of wicker are sometimes em- 
ployed, being covered with mats, more perfectly to 
exclude the light. Previously to covering the stools 
with the pots, &c., the nianm'e laid on m the winter 
must be removed : aud the operation should com- 
mence at the close of February, or at least a month 
before the shoots usually appear, as the shelter of 
the pots assists nurterially in bringing them forward. 
In four or six weeks after covering, the plants should 
be examined, and as soon as they appear three or 
fom' inches high, they may be cut ; for if none are 
taken until they attain a fuller growth, the crop 
comes in too much at once. The shoots shoidd be 



cut whilst young and crisp, not exceeding five or six 
inches in height; the section to be made just within 
the gi'ound, but not so as to injure the crown of the 
root. Slipping ofi' the stalks is much preferable to 
cutting. The plants may be gathered from until the 
flower begins to form, when all covering must be re- 
moved. If, when an-ived at that state in which bro- 
coU is usually cut, the flower is emploj'ed as that 
vegetable, it will be found an excellent substitute. 

But one thing should never be omitted ; when the 
sea-kale is cut, it shovild at all times be cut down, 
that is to say the crown or stalls, a little under the 
earth's surface ; as any part left above gi-ound, after 
ha%dng been once forced, is almost sure to be affected 
by the weather, which produces canker.and the ensuing 
year the crowns will be weak and unfit for producing 
strong healthy shoots or heads. Another thing most 
essential to be obsei-ved, after sea-kale has made two 
or three inches of its natural summer gTowth, is that 
the shoots should be thmned, all the weak spu- 
rious shoots being entirely removed, the strongest 
only being left, and those thinned according to the 
strength of the plants. Then, if former directions 
are attended to, in respect to applications of liquid 
manure, fine, strong, clear, healthy buds wOl be 
established and matiu'ed in good season for the next 
year's produce. All blooming shoots should be re- 
moved as early as possible after they appear. 

Routine Wobk. — Every available opportunity 
shoidd be taken advantage of, for surface stirring the 
soil about the cabbage, cauliflower, early pea, and 
bean crops. Indeed, also, if possible, it should be 
stirred among winter brocoli, savoys, aud the kale 
crops; for it not only is the means of preventing 
seedling weeds and slugs getting ahead, but it also 
tends to bring the surface soil into a healthy con- 
dition for succeeding crops. All ground that has 
been trenched already for onion and root crops, 
should be well attended to of fi-osty mornings, by 
routing it over with strong forks. A few of the two- 
hladed onion should now be sown in a warm corner 
thickly, for early drawing ; and those who wish to 
produce large onions, and have omitted autiunn- 
sowing for that pm-pose, should now sow in pans, 
placed in a gentle warmth, Spanish, Tripoli, orDept- 
ford onion seed, to produce plants for transi^lauting 
on well prepared gi'ound, when ready. 

Successions of mparagvs should be taken up, and 
placed on slight hotbeds or tanks ; also rhubarb 
and sea-kale should be taken into warmth, and 
assisted moderately with fermenting materials, on 
the gi-ound it is established on. Principal crops of 
radishes, horn-carrots, peas and 6ert«s, should now be 
sown on favourable opportunities. A few early 
cauliflower and lettuce plants could be procured by 
sowing in pans in a Httle warmth ; and if red Dutch 
cabbage were not so^^'n in autumn, or jjlants of other 
vaiieties being now short, there should be a little 
seed sown in the same way, and if assisted along by 
a little care of surface stm-ing, aud pricked out in 
due season in a wann comer, to be sheltered by hoops 
and evergreen boughs, iiu'ze, or hght coveiing of any 
kind that is come-at-able, clear strong plants will be 
furnished for early spring planting. 'Those who have 
cauliflower plants in pots should now prepare for 
jmtting them out under hand-glasses ; as, if allowed 
to stand in pots to a later season, they are more 
liable to start into flower, or " button," as it is 
termed, and become useless. Frame cucumbers and 
melons at this time requhe carefid watching, and to 
be methodically covered at night and ah-ed by day, 
or night either, if the interior heat will allow of it ; 



1S4 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



lor to estal.Jish robust health, is the main point to 
ensure a pkutiful supply of good fniit. 

O. W. J. & JiMEs Barnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS IXF0E:\[ATI0N. 



ALI,OTMENT CROPPING. 
Wf. now proceed to otter some special directions 
ou this head, and, as the spring advances, we will 
attempt to shew the matter in vai-ious successions ; 
for it is astonisliing what a number of combinations 
mav be made, and each good in some point of view. 
I'lie question, however, is, in a gi'eat degi'ee, one 
of manure, for the cottager cannot att'ord in all cases 
to manure the whole of his plot every season : nor, 
indeed, is it necessarj' that he should do so. There 
are some crops wliich ai'C better and safer without it, 
])rovided the preceding crop had a di'essing. Of 
such are onions, can-ots, common hirnijis, &c. ; for, 
although heavier crops of the onion may be gi'o%vn 
by high manuring, yet we have ever foiuid them 
more liable to the grub when thus cultivated. The 
onion, too, is natiu'ally a late harvester, and is thrown 
a foi-tnight later by heavy maniu'ing ; and this is a 
serious affair, for when late and gross they never 
keep so well ; and we hope to induce the cottager to 
make a portion of his rent out of the onion crop. 
^Moreover, we shall shew liim how to steal a crop ofl' 
the onion giound in the same autumn, a plan which 
we have followed for years. 

To proceed with the manure-view of the question. 
!Many cottagers rent a plot of land fi-om their em- 
ployers, or tlie neighbouring fanners, for the sunnuer 
only, m order to gi'ow their potatoes on fresh laud ; 
and a veiT good jilan it would be, for both farmer 
and cottager, if the fanner did not charge quite so 
high a price for it; the competition, however, is so 
gi-eat, that the cottagers take such land (especially 
if it has been hard ploughed) much too dear. Well, 
the cottier has to manure this portion ; for in this 
part of the kingdom (Clieshire), at least, the farmer 
increases the amount of his wheat soil by such 
means. The manui'e necessaiy for this pui-pose 
often compels the cottier to be rather niggardly to 
his own garden ; we. therefore, hope to shew in due 
course, that much manure has been mis-apphed — 
owing, chiefly, to tlie want of well-studied rotations, 
and liow the cottager is, at present, much in the 
dark. In looking over our ordinaiy vegetables, to 
see which can be rendered tnily profitalde to the 
cottager, and which at tlie same time will chime in 
with rotation scemes, we find the following, which 
we throw into classes with titles ; the titles are of 
couse arbitrary, but will serve to point to the rota- 
tion : — 

]st. Coif and Piij-lceping roots. — Parsnips, caiTots, 
mangold-wurt/.cl, Swede turnips, kohl-rabi, &c. 

2nd. Winter ))Otatoes. 

3rd. Bed Culture. — Cluions. born caiTots. dwarf cab- 
bages, sjiinach, lettuces, &c. 

4th. Miscellaneous. — Pease, and various other matters, 
all requiring more or less mamnc. — K.B. Tliis class 
is not obliged to be tutidhj distinct in character 
from the others; it is a sort of reseiwe for odd 
tilings, which would not class well with the other 
rotations, and will enable the cottager to widen 
his spring scheme of cropping, if necessai-y. He 
will want, moreover, seed beds for the various 
gi'cens, for lettuces, &o. 



One invariable rule we would adopt in all cases ; 
and that is, to have one division in eveiy year totally 
free of all the cabbage tribes, or the vai-ious greens. 
These, as before observed, if stuck in indiscriminately 
in aU parts, lead to clubbing, or anbmw. in their roots ; 
and, indeed, in a few years they would cease to be 
prolitable. We, therefore, think tliat the " keeping 
root" diWsion must be the plot that is to be wtbout 
any of the cabb;ige tribe iu each year— this trilju 
including savoys, borecoles, cauliflowers, and brocolis, 
as well as cabbages and tuniips. 

We wUl now subjoin a diagi'am, illustrative of a 
course of four years' cropping, formded on the above 
classification. No scale is necessaiy, as the gai'den 
or allotment is supposed to be divided uito four equal 
parts, whether large or small. 



Miscellaneous, 
manured. 

Beds, 
no manure. 

Hoots, 
manured. 

Winter Potatoes, 
no manure. 


"^6 3 O u ! 

II 1 U li i1 
^A ' 11 ft H 


.a- £ 

-1 So si o 

s b - 1 


Winter Potatoes, 
no manure. 

Roots, 
manured. 

Beds, 

no manure. 

MisccUancous, 
manured. 


followed by 
in 

in 
1851 

in 
1852 



Now, it must not be understood that the kinds 
enumerated occupy the gi'ound for the whole year. 
A^'e hope to shew how other crops of various kinds, 
and in various ways, may be introduced amongst 
them. The above, however, are the main objects, and 
we tl. ought it best to exhibit them in an uufettcrtd 
state, iu order to shew the principles of rotation, and 
bow manruing matters should be carried out. We 
sludl have to refer to the above diagi-am occasionally, 
in order to illustrate the details which wo shall en- 
deavour to work out ; but, in the meantime, we must 
liave an eye to 'mmicdiate business. 

The tirst things which the cottager should look to, 
as cropping in the new year, is how to obtain plenty 
of heatis and 7;c(/sc, without disposscssmg Ids valua- 
ble store roots of their portion of the soil. As for 
pease, we would, in general, sow a row round the 
outer edge of nearly the whole plot. This com-se, 
however, woidd require some change of crop for that 
outer edge ; and why not, iu alternate seasons, make 
the divisions between the foirr compartments or 
quarters'? Pease, then, would make a substantial 
division. If such a plan were adopted — and we can 
see no better at present — there would be three rows 
in succession. One might be so'mi in the end of 
January, a second in the middle of Febniai'v, and a 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



18i 



thii-d in the middle of Mai'cli ; beyond tliis, we do not 
tldnk they would prove profitable to the cottager. 
The outer edges of the compaitnieuts woidd alil;e 
offer thi'ee successive sowings, making it a point to 
sow none on the southern boundary. The bean crop, 
however, we consider to be of far more importance 
than the pea ; foi', in the first place, it is one of the 
best " stolen" crops that we know of. By stolen crop, 
a term in common even amongst fanners, we mean a 
crop of any kind which can be obtained \rithout 
impediment to the usual comse of crops. 

Beans, when ripe, are a veiy excellent material to 
work up as meal with other diet for pig-feeding ; and 
the cottager can hardly grow too many. There is 
one very peculiar merit attached to the cultivation of 
broad beans as a stolen crop, and that is, their free- 
dom fi'om over-shado-ning branches ; provided they 
are firmly soiled (earthed) up, they retain their 
position to the veiy last ; so that cropping, even by the 
bed system, may be earned on to witliin half a yard 
of then- stems. Another good property we must point 
to, and that is, that if sown very early in order to 
stand until ripe, beans will not prove tlie slightest 
impedhnent in the way of autiuun culture of other 
tilings, even almost close to the, stems ; for, towai-ds 
August, their leaves discolour and begin to shrivel up, 
and the amount of shade tliey produce becomes daily 
less as they advance towards ripening. 

We must now proceed to shew how a few of the 
broad beans may at this period be woven into our 
diagram scheme; and we are the more anxious to do 
so, as we should like to hear of a good breadth being 
planted by the middle of January. It will be seen 
by the diagi'am, that the compai'tment No. 1 is winter 
potatoes. We would not introduce beans here unless 
the potatoes were planted in raised beds, two or thi-ee 
rows in a bed, which is much the custom in Lanca- 
sbhe and Cheshhe, and has originated chiefly 
through the cleansing character of this jji-ocess with 
regard to the wheat crop, wliich almost always follows 
jiotatoes in these counties. We have no very forcible 
objection to this, but the potatoes must be planted 
rather further apart than those on farm lands, as the 
cottager's gi-ound will become richer in fertile matters, 
and the potatoes will consequently grow more into 
hauhn. If beans are to be introduced, here the 
gi-oimd should be planted with potatoes in Novem- 
ber, or in the com'se of January. Alleys woidd be 
formed, which would be excavated or dug out, for 
covering the potatoes, which at this early period 
must be covered eight inches in depth ; this, owing 
to the settling of the sod, will soon become only six 
inches. Things being thus, the broad beans may be 
dibbled along the edges or shoiilders of the potato 
beds, about a foot apart ; the long-pod would he best 
for this pui-pose, and the beans may be set iu pairs 
about three inches apart. We would dibble them 
in about the end of December, putting them six 
inches deep. In the end of April the potatoes wdl 
want hoeiug and thoroughly cleaning; and, imme- 
diately on the heels of this operation, some di-um- 
head cabbage, or the thousand-headed cabbage, 
sliould be planted in the alleys, one yard apart. 
Care must he taken in gathering the beans not to 
ti-ead on the cabbage. We shall hereafter shew how 
the potato gi'ound may be made usefid in Septem- 
ber, vmtil sown with the succeeding crop of roots in 
April. In the meantime let us look over the other 
compartments, and see if we can mtroduoe any more 
beans. 

Compartment No. 2, as we before observed, we 
would keep entirely free from the cabbage families 



for one year ; we must, therefore, tiy and gi-ow some 
more beans here. Root crops ai-e generally sown in 
drills at equal distances, say about twenty-two inches 
apart. We much prefer, however, under the allot- 
ment system, to sow all these things in what we term 
double drlUs ; indeed we should cany out this prin- 
cipile extensively in fai'm eidture for several reasons, 
which we must not stay to explain here. 

Well, then, we advise these root crops to be in 
double drills, each pafr sixteen inches apart, with an 
aUey of thfrty inches or so from pair to pafr, and in 
this space we woiild plant a double di-ill of beans 
down the centre. These beans should be planted 
betimes, say in the end of January. In digging the 
gi-ound for them, it woidd be merely necessary to set 
down a hne at eveiy twenty-three inches, and make a 
mai'k with a hoe or spade, and then to dig one spit 
on each side of this line. This being done, the beans 
may be set. The root crops will be thoroughlv 
cleaned and hoed for the season in the beginning of 
June, when the beans would be coming in blossom ; 
care must of course be taken to avoid injuring the 
beans. We would, if possible, leave these beans to 
ripen. 

We now come to compai-tment the tlui-d. As to 
bean culture here, so various ■will the objects be, that 
little can be advised ; all we can suggest is to tiy 
and get a planting of beans for succession either in 
this plot or in No. 4. Tins planting may be made 
in the middle of March, beyond which period beans 
do not produce enough for a cottager's pm-pose. Op- 
jiortvmities will occm' for a row, or a coupile, in these 
compai'tments, and we now dismiss the bean subject 
for the present. 

Quantities of Seed necessary. — It wiU soon be 
time to purchase seeds ; and it is most important to, 
allotment holdei-s, to know exactly the smallest 
amount of seeds that will be necessaiy, for they are 
expensive, and any waste is a serious drawback in 
the httle profits arising. 

Mangold Wmtzel, per acre 5 to 6 tbs. 

Ditto, for a drill of 150 feet ] oz. 
Swedish Tumii), per acre 3 tbs. 

Ditto, jjcrdi-iUof ISOfeet... 1 oz. 
Carrots, large kinds, per acre 4 to 5 lbs. 

Ditto, per di-ill of 120 feet 1 oz. 

Ditto, the horn in beds, 8 sq. yds. 1 oz. 
Pai'snips, per acre ;? to 4 lbs. 

Ditto, per drill of 200 feet 1 oz. 

Common Turnip, per acre 2 to 3 lbs. 

Ditto, per 100 squai'e feet ... i- oz. 

Broad Beans, per row of 90 feet 1 pint 

Peas, the smaller Idnds, per row of 60 feet 1 pint 
Ditto, the larger classes, per row of 80 feet 1 pint 

Onions, per 9 square yards 1 oz. 

Leeks, per 2 square 3"ards ^ oz. 

Lettuce, per 4 square yards ^ oz. 

Radishes, per 4 square yards 1 oz. 

Spinach, per 90 square feet 1 oz. 

Ditto, per chill of 120 feet 1 oz. 

Brocoh, Cabbage, Caidiflower, Kale, Sa- 
voy, Brussels sprouts, and the gi-eeu 
tribes generally, in seed beds, per 4 
square j'ards h oz. 

Mowing Ghass. — Those who desire a decent crop 
of hay, should now withdi-aw stock of aU kinds from 
such land as soon as possible. If manure has not 
been applied for the aftermath, a little should be laid 
on immediately; if to spare, choosing such as is 
rather littery, and reserving the rotten manm'e for the 



180 



THE COTTAGE GABDENER. 



root crops. It is astonisliing what a benefit even 
the protection afibrded by litteiy duug is, merely in 
carrying over tlie cold winds, provided it is applied 
in the autumn. One gi'eat misfortune with some of 
cm- small holders of farms of about a couple or three 
acres, is overstocking ; by which means they never 
get a good crop of hay. Such small holders not only 
keep a cow, but frequently attempt to rear young 
stock ; and we acknowledge, that seven or eight 
pounds for a young lieifer is certainly rather tempt- 
ing. This, however, flings these holders, by degi'eea, 
out of a regular and good system, for they become 
compelled to gi'azo the meadows intended for mowing 
too late; and their cow is, of com'se, not kept as she 
should be, when in milk, during winter. 

Soot fOK ^Manure. — We may remind the cottager 
to bo sure and take care of tliis valuable manure. It 
merely requires to be kept dry until wanted. If there 
is no other use for it, sow it on the mowing gi-ouud 
forthwith. AVe think it better reserved for tillage 
piu'poses, however; and, in such cases, it should not 
be applied too long beforehand. We have foimd it 
excellent for drill cropping, blended with a small 
amoimt of guano and gyjisum. Four bushels of soot, 
half a hundred weight of Penivian guano, and one 
bundi'ed weight of gypsiun, will make an excellent 
drill dressing, and will cause a very small amount of 
manure to go a long way. It is well, however, to mix 
some ordinary sand or soil witli it ; this reduces the 
caustic character of the soot, Viy dividing its particles, 
and make it go farther. Old, mellow, rotten vegetables, 
tan, or leaves, would he capital — too much could 
scarcely be added. As much as thirty or forty bushels 
per acre is commonly applied in farming operations. 
It is of much use applied to growing crops also. 



THE COW AND THE PIG. 

We must now begin to fall in with the design of 
oiir supplementary number — in endeavouring to fur- 
nish some useful information with regard to the cow. 
Such will lead to an economy in the apportionment of 
the soil somewhat different from the quarter or half- 
acre allotment. 

Two prime pomts here offer themselves to our 
view, and these must be allowed to influence the 
whole consideration. The one is — how to secure a 
good winter's fodder in the shape of hay or straw ; and 
the other — to provide a due amomit of keeping roots, 
such as Swedes and mangold, in order to force milk 
after calving time, or to assist in laying in sufficient 
condition diu'ing a long winter, in connexion with 
straw, &c,, whilst the cow is dry. The production 
of these materials will be a question for the next 
month ; in th(! nicautime we may render service to 
the uninfonned, by offering a few observations of a 
general character. 

Economy of Fodder. — ^Muoh fodder is wasted 
cither through slovenly or inattentive management, 
or through using up, at certain periods, materials 
somewhat too good for the puiiiose. Thus, for a cow 
recently calved, and sufficiently out of danger fi'om 
what is termed "milk fever," the food can hardly he 
of too generous a character. But for one near calv- 
ing, or immediately after, the lUmost caution is 
necessai'y, — indeed, many losses occur through mat- 
ters of this khul, of which we have had ample proofs 
in oiu' days. Strange to say, that although the dairy 
farmer has far more fodder of a stimulating cliaracter 
at conmiand than the cottager, yet we know from 
experience that the cottager, at least in our part 



(ChesMre), looses more cows during their calving than 
the farmer. And why? The farmer's stock is fed 
by one simple system — no petting here. But the 
cottager's dame, who is generally a person of thrifty 
habits, thinks she can scarcely do too much for the 
animal, and regardles of calving, or other critical 
periods, treats tlie cow on the same footing, or nearly 
so, as the feeding hogs. Hence the numerous in- 
flammatory attacks wliich attend the calving of 
" petted" cows. These matters we propose to explain 
more at length by and by ; in tlie meantime, we 
recommend uuich caution at such periods. 

The cottager who is short of hay at this time 
should endeavour to purchase a little good oat straw, 
in order to help his hay out; more especially if his 
cow has been some time in nulk, is in calf, and 
approaching the drying period. This, with some 
chopped mangold or Swedes, daOy, will keep the cow 
in good heart, and enable the cottager to preseiwo 
some good hay until she calves. 

Inferior hay, or any of a mouldy or flavoiuless 
character, may be rendei-ed palatable by sprinkling 
it with hot water, in which a handful or two of salt has 
been dissolved. It is astonishing what a quantity of 
inferior fodder may be worked up in this way with a 
little of a better sort, some good old straw, &o. 

If the cow is in full milk, it is absolutely necessary 
that she have a good diet iu-doors at this ])eriod. If 
there be any mangold or Swedes, some should be cut 
up twice a day, and given with some good hay. Our 
j)ractice is, to slice the mangold very thin, and sprinkle 
a handful or two of bran amongst it, shaking the whole 
together. In fact any sweet meal, such as Indian 
corn, will answer the purpose well. Rough carrots or 
parsnips, not worth the preser'sdug, may occasionally 
be sliced with the mangold or Swedes. 

Ptgs. — If tlie cow is either dry, or about becoming 
so, some of the root-crops may be spared for feeding 
swine. ^Mangold, Swedes, parsnips, and carrots, are 
all excellent nuiterials for the pig, more especially if 
boiled, and where a cow is kept, if whey or butter- 
milk is added, together with, of course, some meal. 
We use Indian corn meal, which we obtain from 
Livei-pool for something less than twenty shillings a 
'■ load," which is about foin- bushels in bidk. We do 
not think that anything can be more economical than 
this ; much, however, depends on the situation, and 
sometimes gTeater facilities exist for obtaining barley- 
meal, oatmeal, &c. &c., of which we shall have more 
to say in succeeding supplements. 

In concluding, let us urge upon the cottier — 
remember the old saying, " a-armth is half meat." 
Indeed, a warm bed of diy straw will render less 
food necessary, and general cleanliness will promote 
health in tiie animal, and the increase of the manure 
heap. 

MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 13.) 

The rose thrives best in a rich, strong soil. Moss 
roses prefer a cool soil, and the white rose wfll not do 
well unless it has been budded on a dog-rose. 

Roses form many beautiful objects in a lady's 
garden, and give little trouble. A selection might be 
made which would eualile us to possess tliem from 
the eiu'ly spring to a late period ui the autiunn — and, 
indeed, the China rose so totally dcHes the cold of 
winter, that even in that inclement season wo may 
enliven the work-table with their delicate flowers. 

A piUar of roses has a charming efl'cct, and may 
be made without much expense or difficulty. Three 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



187 



or four tall fir poles placed iii a striking situatiou, 
within a few inches of each other, and united by a 
few cross sticks, to form a sort of ti-ellis, wiU be quite 
suiBcient, as the roses wiU soon cover it, and conceal 
its rough workmanslrip. Three or foiu' rich-coloiu'ed 
roses planted round it — or more, according to the 
size of the fi'ame — and pruned judiciously, produce a 
splendid effect, and are well worth some care in the 
selection. A column covered with some of the follow- 
ing roses would be the most beautiful ornament a 
lady's garden could possess, — viz., Brennus Blaiii, 
Belle Parabere, George the Foiuth, Fulgens, and 
Cocctnea Superba. But where ladies wish to avoid 
ti'ouble, and sometimes expense, in procuring varieties, 
lovely eifect may be produced by planting the dark- 
floweringChinarose, the white cluster, and thecommon 
China, roimd the pillar or column, adding, as oppor- 
tunity offers, any fresh varieties that may fall in our 
way. Roses for pillars requne to be strengthened 
and enriched by manure laid freely over then- roots, 
on the surface of the soil. This should be done in 
winter, and again just before the flowering season ; 
for they requh-e to have the soU moist when in 
flower, and will also bloom for a longer period 
when this is attended to. The unsightliness of this 
plan may be prevented by laying moss thickly over 
the manm'e, and placing flint stones over that again, 
to keep the birds from disturbing it in seeking for 
woi'ms. This will give it a more pleasing appear- 
ance than by covering the roots in any other way, 
and enable you to season the top-dressing without 
any difBculty. 

Another way of placing poles to support roses, is 
by fixing them in the ground at equal distances, two 
or tlu'ee feet asunder, and joining them at the top 
somewhat in the shape of a pyi-amid. Two difterent 
colom'ed roses might be placed at the foot of each 
stake, and tJie efl'ect would be very good, jirovided 
the garden is large enough to admit of these kind 
of objects ; but in small gardens care and judgment 
is required, that they may not be crowded with devices, 
which give, in small spaces, an air of Cockneyism, 
and lose all th eir beauty. Country gardens sometimes 
contain trees, such as the Mountain Ash, Acacia, 
Bii-ch, &c., which might all support climbing roses, 
and enrich the general appearance very much. By 
scooping out the soil at the foot of the tree, and re- 
placing it with rich earth to receive the rose, covering 
the surface with manure, and attendiug to the process 
of pruning, a very short time would sulBee to alter 
the look of a neglected garden, and make it exceed- 
ingly gay- 

In small gardens, where we ai'e obliged to adopt 
strait walks, one of the prettiest contrivances to 
display the rose, is a trellis on each side of a walk, 
about a foot and a half within the borders. It 
should be a lightly-formed trellis, five or six feet in 
height, and the roses should be planted at even 
distances, not very far apart. The treUis I have 
seen was covered with small wliito cluster roses, and 
this I tlunk diminished the efl'ect, for a variety of 
colour would look far prettier, and if possible a 
succession should be arranged, so that the trellis 
should remaiu for some time in a blooming state. 
Yet even as it was, the effect was lovely ; and I shall 
not easily forget how much I was charmed with it. 
In the ^'icinity of towns, where ground is scarce, a 
double trellis ii-om the garden-gate to the door would 
be pretty, and the unavoidable formality overlooked. 
Town gardens might be beautified in tliis way, 
according to theii- size and position; for a trellis will 
not injm-e anything by its shade, or take up un- 



necessary room, and the more we crowd oru- gardens 
with these lovely and delicious flowers, the more 
then- general beauty wiU be increased. Manj; very 
beautiful flowers woidd weaiy us, if we cultivated 
them only ; but I do not tliink that either om- eyes 
or heaa-ts would weaiy of the rose. It reminds us of 
that gloi-ious time when " the desert shall blossom as 
the rose," that gi-aceful image chosen to express the 
beauty and fi-agrance of the Chiu-ch of Chiist — thus 
again leading oiu- minds fi-om caitldy to heavenly 
things. 

•January is the proper time for pnming roses in 
general. I say in general, because there ai-e some 
exceptions. lii bushes the shoots should be annually 
shortened to nine inches ; this produces much wood 
and flowers. If roses are left unpruned tLQ the 
spriug shoots are about an iuch long, and the old 
wood is then cut back to below where the new shoots 
had sprung fi-om, flowers will be produced some 
weeks later than if primed at an earlier season, and 
thereby a succession is secm-ed. Climbing roses 
should not be much shortened in height, but every 
year the stems should be reduced in number, when 
they exceed five or six, as they will then shoot more 
riclily and vigorously. Fom- years' old wood should 
be cut out of every ti-ee and bush. The Yellow 
Banksian rose must on no account be touched with 
the knife at this season, but be pruned immediately 
after the blooming season is over. To retai'd the 
blooming season, prune back when you can just see 
the flower-buds. 

Cultivation is necessary to plants, and so ispruning. 
How few plants and ti-ees there are that do not need 
the knife, that would not run into wild disorder, and 
bear weak flowers and worthless fruit without it. 
While we, in oiu- finite skilfvdness, clip, and head 
back, our- choicest jilants, or cut out vigorous stems 
that seem so promising, knowing that we are thereby 
strengthening, beautifying, and enrichmg them, let 
us learn how good, and wise, and mercifiil, are those 
sharp deep strokes of the heavenly Husbandman, 
that cut down om- hopes, thin out the blessings 
oru- affections cling to, and sever us fi-om so many 
objects that would cause our hearts to run into 
un'profitablo wUdness, instead of dedicating all we 
have and are to the use of Him who has planted and 
nourished us. 

When we fear the knife's keen edge, let us thirik of 
our rose trees, and learn a salutaiy lesson from them. 

The Yellow Banksia rose is one 'of the most elegant 
climbers I know, and is well suited for the waU of a 
mansion, as well as for that of a cottage. The finest 
I ever saw completely covered the fi-ont of a flue old 
moated residence in Essex, and the efl'ect was really 
exquisite. The house seemed as if powdered with 
gold, and the gi-ave and somewhat gloomy style of 
building was enlivened, without our feeling that the 
decoration was not in character with the place. I-sy, 
or evergreen thorn, are sometimes too dark and heavy 
in then- appearance to be desirable in gloomy situ- 
ations, and in this case I can recommend the Yellow 
Banksia rose, for I have seen its beauty and its pro- 
priety in such situations. 

Climbing roses of every colour and shade may be 
selected for training ag'ainst walls or houses, but I 
always prefer the most decided colours, as producing 
the best effect ; deep crimson, bright scarlet, and 
yellow roses mix well, and look strikingly brilliant 
as they interlace eacli other. Perfectly white roses 
contrast well with the deep coloiu;s, but I do not so 
much admire pale pink or blush, the effect is seldom 
rich, which is of tlie greatest consequence in a 



188 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



garden. Iii Natiu'e, strong conti-asts aud glowing 
colours are ever agi-eeable to the eye ; nothing offends 
us there. But in art, how unjjlcasing they are, and 
how essential it is to soften, and blend, and subdue 
them ! This is a striking proof of the perfection 
of God's works. The more we study them in the 
majesty of creation, the more we shall feel the 
poverty and insipidity of man's devices, and shall 
cease to wonder how it is that scarlet, and yellow, 
and gi-een, should be so lovely in the fiower-bed, and 
so offensive to the eye when jumbled together in a 
dress or a drawing-room. The hand of God throws 
together in rich magnificence the most opposing 
colours — yet how harmonious they are, when issuiiig 
from the loom of the Creator I when He has called 
tliem forth, and lighted them up with the beams of a 
summer sun ! Whoever enters a glowing flower- 
garden, must surely feel and acknowledge tliis. 

Climbing roses, like the ivy, form a most beautifid 
undergrowth among trees. They must be planted with 
care, and the earth loosened lor some space round 
them, as in these situations it is generally hard and 
full of roots. Peg down the branches as they advance, 
so that they may root, and throw out their sprays 
thickly around in sportive luxuriance. If trees stand 
very close together, of course the rose will not thrive ; 
but there are many spots where grass gTOws well that 
wiU not admit of flowers in general, and here the rose 
will spread, and flourish, and look lovely. Two or 
three shoidd be planted in difl'erent places, and of 
different colours, aud then tliey would intermingle 
their blossoms, and give a very gay appearance to the 
ground. 

I do not admire standard roses, they are insufi"er- 
alily stift' and dull ; but among shrubs, wliere rose 
bushes would make no appearance, they do well, and 
their ungraceful forms are concealed. In borders or 
on lawns they are, I think, most ungainly ; but I 
luive ofteu thought that if climbing roses were 
budded on standards, instead of looking like liouse- 
maid's brooms, as they now do, the sprays woidd 
wave gracefully down, and fall like a drapery round 
the stem, which would entirely change their sttfl", 
awkward look, and make them highly ornamental. I 
shoidd like to know whether tliis plan has ever been 
adopted. 

Many jiersons object to training roses aud other 
creepers against the walls of their liouses, particularly 
when they are faced with cement or built with stone ; 
the nails injure and deface them. This may be entirely 
prevented by placing a light framework of veiy narrow- 
pieces of wood, not thicker than one's little finger, 
against the wall, as high and as broad as you choose 
the plants to spread. The trellis nuist bo crossed to 
strengthen it, and to enable you to train the branches 
in all du-ections, but the squares may be as wide as 
you like, and, of course, the larger they are tlie less 
wood-work will be necessary. This plan preserves 
tlio waU I'rom much or indeed any damage, and if 
painted green gives a warm and verdant look, even 
before the creepers have reached any height ; and, if 
it is painted the exact colour of the house, wUl scarcelv 
be noticed at all ; but paint must be used, to preserve 
the wood. The branches aud shoots must he tied to 
the trellis witli string or strips of matting, aud this 
is far less unsightly than the shreds usually cm- 
ployed, which disfigm'e light creepers even when in 
leaf, and in ^dntei- have a very frightfid look on the 
bare walls. 

The small, highly-Bcented, Scotch rose, is a very 
lovely member of this numerous family. Its blossoms 
md leaves are bo small, and it has sueh a crumpled 



look, that it does not sb-ike the fancy at first, but its 
il-agrance soon wins regard and makes it a gi-eat 
favourite. I have seen tins rose fonned into large 
round balls, by constant and careftd chipping ; aud, 
although I have an aversion to formality, I admire it 
when thus shaped exceedingly. The little delicate 
blossoms nearly cover the ball, aud it has a pleasing 
as well as novel effect. 

An entire bed of roses has a very rich and gay 
appearance when neatly pruned and clipped, so as to 
give it a dome-like shape, with a standard in the centre 
by way of finish ; but let its head only appear from 
among the surrounding foHage. The rose is so easy 
to manage, so docile, and so ready to adapt itself to 
our wishes, that gardens might be far- more pleasingly 
an-anged than they are, if we would give up striving 
after difficulties, aud improve possibilities. We long 
after delicate, troublesome plants and trees, disregard- 
ing those that cheerfully offer us uimvalled charms, 
because they are common and old-fashioned. This 
is not taste, but it springs from something more than 
want of taste. Ai-e we not in other things too apt to 
overlook those blessings we possess, and those means 
we might so usefidly employ ; and crave, like children, 
for wliat we cannot have, or that would disappoint us 
if we could ? Let us train our I'oses, twine our lioney- 
sucldes, prune our wild straggling creepers, aud enjoy 
their luxuriant sweetness with quiet, thoughtful minds. 
The book of Natme has a chapter for every one of 
us, and by observing how much the simplest and less 
esteemed flowers might add to the enjoyment and 
embellishment of our homes, we may be led to feel 
that " common" daily mercies and means are far more 
wholesome and good for us than all we weary ourselves 
to obtain. Let us always remember this. 



NEW HARDY AND GREENHOUSE PLANTS 
WORTH CULTIVATING. 

BnisTT.Y CncETOGASTKA. (ChcetogastrastHgosa). — ■ 
This greenhouse plant was obtained by Messrs. 
Veitch, of Exeter, from Guadaloupe. Its greatest 
height is eight inches ; and its numerous bright crim- 
son flowers are fully open in August. It is propagated 
by cuttings of the half-ripened wood, planted in light 
soil or sand, under a glass, and with a gentle bottom- 
heat. The best soil for it is made of leaf-mould and 
sandy peat in equal quantities, with a little light 
garden soil added. The pots must be well drained. — 
Pn.vt.on'.i Magazine of Botany, xv. 26^. 

Neumann's Passion-Flower. [Passijiora Neiiman- 
nil). — A hardy hybrid, named in honour of M. Neu- 
mann, of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris. It very 
much resembles the common Passion-flower, bloom- 
ing in August, thriving in a light garden soU, and 
being propagated the same as the plant last men- 
tioned.— /ftf/i. 270. 

Kajitschatkia STONEcnoi'. {Scdum Kamtschathia). 
— This perennial, native of the snowy region of which 
it bears the name, is a hardy ornamental plant, first 
cultivated in England in 1846. Its flower-stems are 
not higher than eight inches, and it blooms during 
■Jmie and Jidy. Like other succuleuts, it will thrive 
best in the cbiest soils ; for, as Mr. Maimd observes, 
'• they have a life-preservoi- wrapped about them — not 
a protector fi'om the sea, but from the sun. This is 
their cuticle (or outer skin), which admits of the pas- 
sage of moisture from within as well as from without, 
but in a due and definite proportion in every plant." — 
Maund't Botanic Garden, No. 1155. [The flowers ar* 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



189 



yellow, tipt with scarlet. It is easily projiagated, 
either by dividing the roots or by cuttings ; aud it 
wUl tbrive on any Ught, well-drained soil, or on rook- 
work.— Ed. G. G.] 



NEW VEGETABLES. 

Be.4n. — Du-arf crimson-seeded. — ^From Messrs, Vil- 
morin. This is probably a cross between' the Dwarf 
Fan aud the A^iolette, mentioned in our list of tbe 
bean varieties, at page 60. Height one foot ; pods 
roundish and 3 inches long ; seeds crimson. It does 
not appear to be in any respect superior to tbe Dwarf 
I'an, but, like it, is excellent for mixed cropping. 

Leek. — Large Rouen. — (Poii'eau tres-gi'os do 
Rouen). — -From Messrs. Vilmorin. Larger and 
greener than either the London flag or the Nether- 
lauds leelcs. Well deserving to be cidtivated. 

Beet. — Barrot's New Crimson. — From Mr, Glen- 
dinnmg. Probably a sub-vaiiety of the Castlenau- 
daiy, than which it is rather larger, and less Uable 
to fork ; but, like it, the leaf-stalks are yellowish. It 
has been gi'own iu the Horticultural Society's Gar- 
den, and there pronounced to be " The best variety 
Imown," — Hort. Soc. Journal, iv. 

Celekv. — Cole's Superb Bed Solid. — Raised by 
Mr. Cole, gardener to H. CoUyer, Esq., Dartford, 
Kent. Usually, each head weighs 6|-1ds. Colour 
good, and said to be excellent. 



OLEANDER SCALE. 
Having lately received a fine oleander as a present, 
which was much infested with the scale, I have suc- 
ceeded in cleansing it and bringing it into a healthy 
state, by merely using a paU filled with luke-warm 
water, and with a fine sponge thoroughly washing 
every leaf on both sides ; regularly watering it eveiy 
day also, when the weather has been sufficiently dry. 
It is about six or eight weeks since the plant was 
washed, and there is not the least appeai'ance of the 
return of these destructive insects, Tliey are, I be- 
lieve, chiefly produced by a dry heat, wiiich, above 
all things, is most distasteful to tliis elegant green- 
house shrub. 



GOOSEBERRIES AND RHUBARB. 

If yoiu' notice of tlie largest gooselieiTies, grown in 
1S48, is correct, the largest Companion was grown 
here by Thomas Rowser, vi/.., 28 dwts. 3 qrs. We 
have hero, also, John Baker, tbe raiser of Turn Out; 
he is an old veteran in the gooseberry growing. I 
have beard of him carrying a bag of deer's dung fom- 
mUes upon his back to make liquid manure witb. 
It is very interesting to see the fruit (gooseberries) 
nn tbe trees just before the exhibition. This neigh- 
bourliood is famous for gooseberry growing, but many 
of the growers are veiy dishonest. 

jSIy partner, W. Bailey, has raised a fine variety 
of rhubarb, " Monarch" from the Earbj Pontic and 
Victoria; he has another very fine one not yet out, 
from the same parents. 

Jos. B.VLL, Longton Farms, Potteries. 



LIQUID MANURE. 
In your editorial remarks, at the end of mine, on 
tbe " Culture of Celery," you say by fixing ammoiua 
ill liquid manine, we suppose Mr. Tm-ner means 
adding a little oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) to the 
liquor obtained by dissolving sheep's or deer's dimg 



in water. I beg to say, I either mean sheep's or 
deer's dimg ; or, in fact, any other dimg or Uquid 
that contains ammonia. 

My conviction is, that we, the " gardeners of 
England," are not alive to the importance and utility 
of many valuable Uquids, which we sihTer to be 
thrown away as useless, or worse than useless, wliich, 
if properly understood and apphed, would be found 
liigbly advantageous in garden cultui'e. 

The Cliinese are, I believe, a centuiy before us in 
these matters. I was much pleased with tbe anec- 
dote that bears on this subject in the " Cottage 
G.iUDEXER," (page 144). I have acted on that, or a 
similar principle, some time — I think with advantage 
to myself. 

I have a large cask, which holds 70 or 80 gallons, 
placed at a respectable distance from the house. 1 
have put into tliis cask all the bed-chamber and 
other slops that are made about the house, including 
the dish-washings, soap-suds, &c. When the cask is 
near full, I take f fb. of sirlphm-ic acid (it costs about 
a penny), and pour this into tbe cask. Efiervesoence 
(great bubbling) wUl take place, and keep up for a 
day or two. When this has ceased, the ammonia is 
'■ fixed," (has united to the sulpbmic acid,) and may 
be thrown on the manure heap, aud covered with a 
little manure, or I tlu'ow it on my heap of vegetable 
refuse, as I think it not only has a tendency to des- 
troy insects, but mal;es the refuse sooner ready to be 
applied to the manuring pm'poses for whicli I want 
it. Either in the spring or summer I make an addi- 
tion, by puttiug a little mauiue to tbe slops before- 
named, then add the sulphuric acid, and when the 
effervescence has ceased, I apply it to anything I 
wish to stimulate, sometimes tUhUing ^vith a little 
water where I tliink it woidd be too strong for the 
purposes wanted. I do not stand alone in this 
matter, — tbe editor of the Midland Florist (in tho 
January number), in answer to a correspondent, who 
asks — '• what is the hcst method to dispose of liquid 
manure during winter?" — says, " we should advise the 
ammonia to be fixed, it may then be thrown over the 
soil, or vegetable refuse, and soil again be thrown on 
the top. We arc fuUy persuaded that every person 
who is at all alive to the importance of fertilization 
of the soil, may gain much by paying attention to 
the subject of liqiud maniu'os. Occasional doses to 
tho roots of fruit-ti'oes would be sorvioable." 

Jno. Turnee, Neepscnd, Sheffield. 



RAISING CARNATIONS FROM SEED. 
] All told that if a flower is properly impregnated, 
it wiU drop its petals m twentj'-four bom-s afterwards, 
and tho pod wUl begin to swell. I am a workiug 
man aud an amateur florist, and have grown the 
carnation and picotee for some years, and have 
always been successhd iu the blooming of them : 
tliat is to say, I have produced flowers that would 
not have disgraced any show in England, but I have 
always failed in obtaining seed. This last season I 
let all my flowers stand for seed ; plaoeil all tlie car- 
nations at one end of the stage, and the piootees at 
the other; felt the pods, some of which were hard 
and seemed to be swelling ; cut off the decayed 
petals ; and let tlie pods remain on until the flower- 
stems were quite dry and withered, but not a single 
seed was iu any oi' tliem, I liavo plenty of bees, 
flies, aud otlier insects, in my garden, aud I should 
liave thought that they would have caused some of 
the flowers to be impregnated. I certainly have 
never taken the trouble to dissect either a carnation, 



190 



THE COTTAGE GABDENER. 



picotee, or pink, not liking to destroy one of my 
lavoiu-ites while in theii- most lieautiful ftate, but tlie 
most common observer must have seen the horns 
gi-owing out of tliosc flowers, wliieh I have always 
considered to be tlie stamens or male organs, but I 
never saw any pollen upon them. 

If Mr. Appleby will go into the detail of this sub- 
ject, and enlighten me upon it, through the medium 
of the CoTT.tGE G.\nDENEU, I shall esteem it a favour, 
and will be gratefully obliged to him for it. — G. K. 

[Om- con-espoudent will see that liis request has 
been complied with. — Ed. C. (?.] 



LANCASHIRE GOOSEBERRIES. 
In consequence of some remarks on this subject in 
page 114 of The Cott.\ge G.^rdenek, many of your 
subscribers have been induced to seudinto Lancashire 
for a supjjly of these excellent fruit-trees, and I advise 
those who have done so, not to jilant them at this 
season of the year in the situation where they are 
intended to remain, but in some sheltered spot, 
reducing their branches to three in number, each of 
them abo\it five inclies long, and arranged so as to 
form a triangle. Plant a few early potatoes amongst 
them, and let the trees remain until September, by 
which time they will liave sent forth some prime 
shoots, but only one shoot must be allowed to grow 
from each side of the three iiramdies. The trees should 
be planted about three inches deep, placing the roots, 
which must be pruned and shortened, free from each 
other ; and near to the ends of the roots, make a small 
ridge of manure around them. Close up the whole 
with fine earth, and put some old cow or horse manure 
on the surface. It the season be drj', water them 
until the last week in September, and then remove 
them to the situation in which they are to remain, 
which may be done with little injury to them, if they 
are re-planted as before dnected, and watered at the 
same time with a little liquid maniuT. By this 
means, some fine fruit may be expected the following 
year. The branches which are cut away at the first 
planting should also lie planted at the same time, 
with a little moss at tlie lower end. and in a rather 
inclined position, as they are found to root lietter thus 
than when placed upright. Keep them well watered 
with liquid manure, in a shaded situation — and, at 
the proper time, I hope to renew my observations on 
the subject. M. Saul, Garstnii'j. 



THE BKE. 
(Continual from p. 141). 

Foil the sake of those who have not made the 
natural history of the bee tlieir study, I would state 
that a colouy of bees contains three kinds: First, the 
(piecn, the mother of the whole liive ; Sndly, the 
working, or female non-breeders; and ."irdJy, the 
drones or males, who do not work, hare no sting, and 
are seldom foimd in hives but in the summer time. 
These tbi'cc sorts ;u'e hatidied in three kinds of cells 
built by the workers. The hone\'-bee is foimd in all 
the five great divisions of the world, and is the only 
ins(^ct that lays by a winter store. 

The Qceen Bee is almost an inch long, her tongue 
shorter than common bees, and her wings propor- 
tionalily less. She does not gather houey, propolis, 
or farina. She is of a deeper ooloiu- above, and rich 
tawny colour underneath : her antcnufe possess an 



exquisite sense of feeling ; her legs ai'o shorter, and 
her proboscis slenderer than the workers ; lier sting 
is bent, and it is probable she never uses it. but 
against a rival queen. She has no baskets on her 
hinder legs for farina; has an ovaiy which contains 
above 5,000 eggs at once, and she lays in the course 
of tlie summer ."JO daily for two months, and may 
lay, it is said, 12, 000. The eggs wliicli arc to produce 
queens, are placed by her in larger round cells made 
for the purpose, and the maggots are fed upon royal 
food adapted only for their use, which appeal's like 
jelly. The royal eggs pass in three days into mag- 
gots or larvfe, and in five days more the bees close 
the cell ; in 24 hours, the embiyo queen spins a coc- 
coon. On the 12th day she becomes a nymph, in 
which state she passes 4^ days. On the IBth day 
the perfect state of queen is attained. It is to be 
observed, that while workers and drones spin com- 
plete coccoons, the royal lan-a; make imperfect ones, 
covering only the liead and fore part of the body, 
and thus leaving themselves exposed to the mortal 
sting of the first hatched queen, who seeks the de- 
struction of those who would become her rivals. 
When she destroys all the larva; in the royal cells, 
the working bees ai'e quiet spectators. If the queen 
is confined to the hive 20 days, and afterwards per- 
mitted to fly abroad, she only lays tlie eggs of cb'ones, 
and no other kind as long as she lives. In this case 
her instinct suifers, and she lays her eggs indiscri- 
minately in various cells. When this is the case, 
her abdomen becomes so large as to incapacitate her 
from flying, and she loses all animosity to her rivals. 
Thus Kirby remarks, " that she seems to own she is 
not equal to the duties of her station, and can tole- 
rate another to discharge them in her room." 

The eggs laid in workers' cells produce small drones, 
by reason of the maggot being compressed and ex- 
pansion prevented. Whenever the queen begins to 
lay male eggs, the bees always construct royal cells. 
When the queen lays drone eggs in royal cells, the 
workers are deceived, and treat the maggot di-ones as 
if they were young queens ; but if fertile workers lay 
their eggs in royal cells, the bees never fail to destroy 
them. The queen always puts to death prolific work- 
ers whenever she finds them out. Slu^ never leaves 
the hive except to meet the drones hi the air, which 
is only once in two years, or to lead out a swarm 
when the hive is too crowded for its inhabitants. 
Forty-six hours after her first expedition she begins 
to lay eggs, and for eleven months only lays workers' 
eggs. In May, an old queen lays a great number of 
male eggs, and never leads out a swarm until she has 
finished all this kind of egg. All swarms after tho 
first are conducted by young virgin queens. On the 
following day, if the weather permits, they take their 
aerial exuiu-sions, and this is usually when five days 
old. Mr. Huber deprived a queen of one of her an- 
tennie, without further apparent injury, but when 
she was deprived of both, she was much deranged, 
and dropped her eggs at random. He put another 
queen into tlie hive, which had been deprived of both 
antenn.-B. He observed that these queens had lost 
all natm-al animosity to each other, and that both 
endeavoured to leave the hive. It is (KfBcrdt to say 
what organs of sense are combmed in the feelers of 
a queen bee. God has inspired queens with suffi- 
cient instinct to know the species of eggs which tliey 
are about to lay, and to deposit them in suitable 
cells — namely, drones in the larger, and workers in 
the small ccUs. A queen will not suffer any rival in 
the hive, but will kill any queen which may be intro- 
duced, or die in the fight ; but working bees npver 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



191 



Tise theii- sting against a queen bee, either theii- own 
or one introduced. 

The queen does not commonly feed herself, but is 
fed by the working bees. AVheu bees have lost then- 
queen, they will not admit a stranger, unless 24 hours 
have elapsed since the loss of then' own queen. The 
old queen always conducts the tii'st swarm, but never 
quits the liive before depositing eggs in royal cells, 
from which other queens will proceed at her depar- 
tiu'e. 

The queen sometimes penetrates the cells of the 
males, and continues very long motionless in them. 
She has power to utter a sound, at which the bees 
become motionless. In the swarming season the 
bees will not let the queen kill royal larvse, and this 
contention is the ultimate cause of swanning. When 
the queen is taken ovit of the hive, for some time it 
is not perceived ; but in about two hom-s the hive 
becomes a scene of tumult. On retm-niug her to tbe 
bees, they become quiet almost immediately. 

If an egg of the working bee kind be placed in a 
royal cell, and the maggot fed on royal food, tlie egg 
will become a queen ; and in this way the bees form 
a queen, when the old one has by some accident lost 
her life. If worker maggots Tmder three days old 
have their cells enlarged, and are fed upon royal food, 
they become queens. If there be no young brood in 
the hive, the production of a new queen cannot take 
place, and the hive will come to an untimely end. 
Thisiransforraation may appear' strange, but changes 
take place according to cu'cumstanees in other ani- 
mals. Thus, when a cow has two calves, and one of 
them is a female, she is generally ban-en, and is 
called a Free-martin. I believe this is also the case 
with Imman beings. Scantiness of space and food 
prevents the development of the ovai-ies. If the 
larvas of the working bee be fed upon royal food with- 
out haA-ing the cell enlarged, the}' become fertUe. but 
only to produce drones. They are not indifferent in 
the choice of cells, but will \ise smaller when larger 
are not to be had. In this case, small drones are the 
consequence. Thus working bees have the genu of 
an ovary, but it does not expand, imless the bee has 
received royal food wliile a wonn. 

In the operation of laying, the queen puts her head 
into a cell for a second or two to see if it be empty, 
and then lays an egg, which is attached to the bottom 
by a glutinous substance. The royal egg attains the 
winged state in sixteen days, the worker in twent)', 
and the drone egg in twentj'-fom- days. The (^gg is 
of a slender oval shape, and, like a bml's egg, it has a 
large and a small end. In a late swarm the queen 
does not lay her eggs in forty-six hom-s as in early 
swarming, but she does not begin until the following 
sprmg. Usually the queen lays only one egg m each 
cell, but for want of cells three or foiu' have been 
found in one. In tliis case, the workers remove aU. 
but one. Huber confined a bee where tliere were 
only cells of drones, but she tried to make her escape, 
and at length di-opped her eggs, which were eaten by 
the workers. 

The Woukisg Bees. — The body of a working bee 
is about hah" an inch long, blackish brown, and 
wholly covered with hair, to assist in collecting fai'iua 
from flowers. The head is of a triangidar shape, 
with two large black oblong immoveable eyes, thicldy 
studded around with hairs, to preserve them trom 
dust. There ai-e also three coronetted eyes on the 
ci'own of the head in the form of a triangle, and aji- 
propriated to upward vision. The bee is furnished 
with two antennas, whose exti-emities are tipped with 
round knobs, very sensible organs of feeling. It has 



four wings, the imder pair- smaller. Their teeth serve 
as tools in working wax. The proboscis with which 
many insects are endowed, in the bee is composed of 
two pieces connected with a joint ; so that, when not 
wanted, it is doubled up and hes secure under a scaly 
pent-house. It is admirably adapted to extract juices 
from flowers. Its abdomen is divided into six scaly 
rmgs, which shorten the body by slipping one over 
the other. It contains two stomachs, the small in- 
testines, the venom bag, and the sting. Paley re- 
marks, " the action of the sting affords an example of 
chenusti-y and mechanics : — of chemisti-y, in respect 
to the venom which can produce such powerful effects ; 
of mechanism, as the sting is not a simple but a com- 
pound instrument. The machinery would have been 
comparatively useless, had it not been for the chemi- 
cal process, bj' which, in the insects body, honey is 
converted into poison — woidd have been ineflectual 
without an instiaiment to wound, and a syringe to 
inject the fluid." The honey-bag is the size of a 
small pea. In this bag the bees fetch water, to mix 
with the fai-ina for feeding the young. 

The sting of a bee ynil pierce a gnat-skin glove. 
It penetrates human sldn more readily than the finest 
point of a needle. The sting consists of two piercers 
conducted in a gi'oove. The piercers are serrated on 
the outward edge, and can be thrust beyond the 
gi-oove. The serrated edges prevent the bees from 
(Usengaging themselves, and tbey generally fall vic- 
tims to tlieir own attack, by leaving behind then- 
sting and part of then- viscera : why they are thus 
sacrificed appears sti-ange, and I have nothing to 
ofier on the subject. 

The bee will not connnonly use her sting but near 
the hive, and the workers do not use it against each 
other, but only their pincers. 

It is stated by "Wndman the elder, that bees labour 
night and day ; part reposing in the night, and part 
in the day. Pidey observes, " the harmless phuidcrer 
rifles the sweets, but leaves the flowers immjiu-ed." 
The labom-ers gi-eatly exceed in number the other 
kinds, and in winter are the only kind, with the ex- 
ception of one queen. These construct the whole 
hive, and are smidler than the queen or males. They 
are all females in construction ; but when they breed, 
which is seldom, their eggs only produce di'oues. 
The queen alone is the mother of the workers. 

The number of labourers varies from tlu-ee to nine 
thousand. 

Eeaumer found that -386 of them weighed an oz., 
and that lOn drones were of the same weight. 

Butlar found 280 of them weighed iin oz. 

WOdman 308 „ „ „ 

Keys 290 „ „ „ 

Tlie writer of this lectm-e 240 dead bees. 

Hunter wet his bees to make them toiqiid, and 
fomul that a pint held 2160 

Keys says, •' a pint wiU only hold 1830." 

Bees bred in old hives are smaller tlian those bred 
in new ; this will explain the difterence in weight 
and measure, in the statements of various writers. 

Many animals have the power of regurgitating 
(chewing the cud), some for the sake of better diges- 
tion, as cows and sheep ; crows and pigeons to feed 
then- young ; but the bee has it to deposit her store in 
the hive. The resei-voir for honey is on the left of 
the stomach, Any one accustomed to bees will ob- 
serve that tbey ai-e cajmble of maldng several 
sounds. "N^liat they make when flying they can vary 
at pleasure. It arises jiartly from the wings, hut rf 
the wings be made to stick together witii any glutin- 
ous substance, it is still found that a bee can make a 



193 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



noise, aud even if the wings be cut quite off. Before 
swarming, it is said tliat there is a sound to be heard, 
the same witli (A), an octave higher tlian lower (A) 
of the treble of a piano-forte. When colonies of bees 
intend to eniisrate, scouts are sent out to find a new 
habitation. Hollow trees obtain their preference, 
when they can be found ; and a staict examination is 
made of them, to determine whether they are fit for 
the puifose, and tliis is done by a continual succes- 
sion of different bees for various days. The maggots 
which are to become workers are fed upon farina of 
flowers, wldch is collected in great abundance in bas- 
kets on the legs of the bees in the warm months. It 
is stated by lleaumer, "that 100 Ifes. of faiina are 
brought into the hive in one year." This is only 
used for the pm'pose mentioned, aud is not formed 
into wax, as was once ignorantly presumed ; but wax 
is formed fi-om honey by a particular elaboration in 
tlie stomach of the bee. 

Swarms of bees confined by Huber, and fed only 
on liquid sugar, produced wax ; as did another swarm 
fed upon honey only. The bees fed upon sugar pro- 
duced more wax than those fed upon honey, so that 
it is jiarticulavly desirable to feed bees ujion sugar 
when newly hived, in order to assist the bees in the 
formation of wax. 

If we slit down a cell of farina, we commonly find 
it composed of layers of different colours — deeji 
orange ycUow and brown. When a bee canies 
farina into the hive, she puts her hind legs into the 
intended cell, and tlien brushes ofi" the farina with 
the point of her tail from both legs, and the tvvo 
pieces of farina nniy be seen at the bottom of the 
cell : anotlier bee then enters and works them down, 
leaving a smooth surface : this latter operation takes 
about live minutes. Bees collect farina only fi'om 
the same kind of plant from which they begin to take 
their load. Tlius tiiey do not conti-ibute to produce 
hybridous plants. 

Bees are clean in their own personal acts, but are 
guilty of the reverse with respect to the cells of tlie 
maggots ; so that in time the cells become useless by 
the accumulation of filth, aud old liives are broken up 
fi'om this circumstance When the breeding season 
is over, the bees fill the cells iu which the larva; were 
hatched with honey, and seal them with wax, as they 
do aU other cells. This seaUng keejis the bees from 
daubing themselves, and the lioney from spUUng. 

In order to maintain the hive at a proper tempera- 
ture, one or more of the bees are employed in fun- 
ning or ventilating with their wings at the door. Iu 
a popiUous hive the temperature is from '.)i to 07 
degrees. A great many bees in the inside, on the 
floor of the hive, are also employed iu fanning, and 
they turn their heads to the entrance while thus 
engaged. As soon as a bee is laden, she always flies 
in a direct line to the hive, and this is the way that 
persons who live in the woods of America discover 
the nests of wild bees. A plate of honey, or liquid 
sugar, is placed on the gromid, whicli soon attracts 
the bees, who having fiUed themselves, fly straight 
to the nests. The hunter seciu'es one or two bees, 
and having walked a few hrmibvd yards at right 
angles to the course of the bees, lets the confined 
bees escape, observing their course by a pocket com- 
pass. Where the two courses meet, is the spot wliere 
the nest is situated. Huber was of opinion " that 
the radius of the circle wliich bees traverse does not 
exceed a mile and a half, Imt that it is probable they 
do not fly fiir. Bees Juiving the thorax painted did 
not retm-u, if he carried them tor tweuty-five or thirty 
minutes from their dwelling." Plinyj.says, " Bees 



are put into boats in Italy, and cax'ried up the rivers 
in the night in search of fresh pastures. In Upper 
I'lgjlit, boats are filled with hives in October, and 
proceed slowly dowu the Nile to afford fresh pasture, 
luitil they arrive iu Feliruary near the sea." Perhaps 
something of the kiud may be done fin our rivers, 
aud also on our canals, if the tonnage would not take 
away all the profit. Bees liave memory, for if they 
are fed in any particular spot one year, they will 
return to the same place the next year, though no 
food is given them. 

Dr. Butler was of opinion that bees only live one 
yeai-; Thorley says, " two summers;" and Lord Bacon 
speaks of an instance of a bee living seven years. 
Huber knew a queen for two years ; but queens do 
not labour, uor use their wings, but very sparingly. 
In July bees are seen witli ragged wings; but in 
September they are no longer to be observed. We 
hope bees do not drive away theii- aged members. 
(To he continued.) 



CATCHING GAEDEN MICE. 

After planting my bulbs late in the autumn. 1 
found nearly every morning one or more had 
vanished diuing the night, and tlic hole in which it 
was placed exposed. Thinking it was the work of 
mice, I put a quart jar in the middle bed up to the 
rim in mould, and laid a little wheat round •!. and 
hall filled the jar with water ; almost every night 
smce 1 have caught one of those destructive little 
animals, and frequently two or three. I am qmte 
aware this is no new method, but a very exceflent one 
I am sure it is. li. Bol-field. 



SCRAPS. 



Balji of Gileab (Bracoeephcclum canar'tense). — 
Tliis native of the Canary Islands was first cultivated 
in England by the Dueliess of Beaufort, in the year 
ItiiJT. Miller says it was called ]3alm of Gdead on 
accovmt of its fragrance ; but we quite agree with Mr. 
M'Jntosh, gardener at Dalkeith Palace, that we can- 
not account for the superstition among northern 
spinsters, that if they plant this flower their spinster- 
hood wiU eoutiuue for hie. 

What Influences the Flavo-jr of Vegetables? 
As fiir as we h-HYe been able to observe, it is an axiom 
witliout exception, that vegetables gro«'U on soUs 
most abounding with uuitters suitable for then- food 
are always the best flavoured, provided the situation 
be favourable. 

Schluber says, that tlie jieas grown upon a soil 
manured with lime or marl, boil better, and have a 
superior flavour than those on a dunged sod. — Onrd. 
Chron., 74. This, we think, is not correct, unless the 
soil was sufficiently fertile to bear a good crop with- 
out the application of any nuiuure. Lime, or super- 
]diosphate of lime, is a g'ood addition to tlie soil on 
which the pea is grown, but the produce would be_ 
very indifferent, botli in quantity and quality, if 
there was uot an al)undance of decoiuposing organic 
matter in the soil. 

Tlu'^ same distinguished cliemist proceeds to say, 
that lime used as a manure for the potato, renders it 
more meidy and savoury. It may, if tlie crop be 
gi-own in the Iiumid imgemal climate of Germany, 
and in a retentive soil : but, in a favourable soil in 
this country, the best saline application is a mixtore 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



193 



of 2 lbs. common salt and 1 lb. Epsom salt to each 
square rod of ground. The best potatoes in England 
(those of Lancashire and Cheslm-e) are gi-own in light 
soils within the influence of the sea-haze, (which 
brings to them those salts), and are treated with the 
richest of animo-vegetable manures. 

The flavour of vegetables is gi'eutly influenced by 
then- exposure to the light, without winch they cannot 
duly elaborate theu- appropriate juices ; to demonstrate 
which, if demonstration be necessary, let a crop of 
peas be sown on the south and north sides of the 
same wall. 

Freedom li-om excess of moisture to the roots is 
another essential circumstance for obtaining full 
flavoured vegetables. This is only to be secured by 
a good system of under-draining. This is most re- 
markably apparent in pot-herbs. If these be gi-own 
in a wet soil they are luxuriant, but very deficient 
in the peculiar essential oils on which then- flavom-s 
depend. 

Seedsmen are not always too careful in preseiwing 
the purity of varieties of which they sell the seed ; but 
it is quite certain, on the other hand, that diflerence 
of soil and of cultivation will work changes on the crop 
gi-own, that bring censure upon the seedsman totally 
unmerited. 

Thus, we have seen Knight's Wiinkled Pea sown 
fi'om the same bag upon a hght and upon a heavy 
soil, and the produce through every stage of growth 
strikingly dissimilar. So. at a late meeting of the 
Loudon Horticifltm-al Society, some Ringleader 
cucumbers were exlubited. Some of them had been 
watered with a solution of nitrate of soda, the remain- 
der had been grown in loam mixed with powdered 
charcoal ; they were very dissimilar, the one being 
prickly, and the other nearly smooth. — Oardener's 
Almanack. 

TR.\XSPLA>iIING L.iKGF. EVERGREENS. Mr. Glcndill- 

niug, of the Cliiswick Nursery, Tm-nham Green, re- 
commends all evergreens, and whatever tlieir age, 
young or old, to be transplanted in August or Sep- 
tember, which last, he says, iiS "the safest month in 
the year." He prefers this month, because the sap 
is then descending, and the sim's action on the 
dechne; besides, he considers that the earth being 
yet warm aids the production of young roots diu-ing 
the same autumn. Preparatoi-y to moving large ever- 
gi'eens, he recommends a trench to be dug round 
them, so as to include a ball of earth not too large to 
move undisturbed, and the ti'ench so deep as to 
enable the workman to cut thi-ough all the principal 
roots. This is to be done in the winter previous to 
moving, and the trench again filled with earth. This 
gi-eatly facflitates the moving of the trees or shrubs. 
At the time of transplantmg. after they have been 
replanted, the roots are to be thoroughly watered with 
pond water. Each should be supported in its new 
place with thi-ee stakes, for if violently shaken by tire 
wind they cannot produce fresh roots. — Journal of 
Horticultural Soc. iv. 41. That evergreens planted 
in September wiU succeed if the season prove moist 
we have no doubt, and Mr. Glendinning we are quite 
sure has so succeeded ; but then we are equally sm'e 
that Mr. Rogers, Nm-sei-yman, of Southampton, suc- 
ceeded equally well in planting evergi'eens in April. 
They are both practical men, and we think that the 
error they have fallen into is mistaking an exception 
for the ride. If Aprfl. and May ai-e moist and are 
succeeded by a wet summer, Aphl-planted evergreens 
will succeed admirably ; and it October is wet, those 
planted in a moist August or September will thi-ive 



equally well ; — ^but what would they do if a di-y May 
was succeeded by a hot summer, or if September and 
October were, as usual, hot and diy? — Ed. O. G. 

Sooi Manure fob Celert. — Mr.W. Cole, gardener 
to H. Colyer, Esq., of Dartford, says that soot water 
is an excellent manm'e for celery ; and that, where 
worms and otlier insects are troublesome, a little dry 
soot dashed in along the rows will jn-event then- 
ravages. — Journ. of Sort. Society, iv. o(j. 

Earliest Conservatory or Hot-house. — Albertus 
Magnus possessed a structure of tliis kind in the Con- 
vent of the Domuiicans at Cologne. This celebrated 
man, who had already fallen luider the suspicion of 
sorcery on account of his speaking machine, enter- 
tained the king of the Romans, Wilhelm of Holland, 
on the 6th of Januaiy, 1249, in a large space in the 
Convents garden, where he kept up an agi'eeable 
warmth, and preserved frrut-trees and plants in flower 
tln'oughout the winter. The account of this banquet 
was exaggerated into a tale of wonder in the " Clu-onica 
Joanuis de Beka." — Humboldt's Cosmos, 2. Note xxii. 
and authorities there cited. 

Vegetable Marrow. — Mr. CutblU, Florist, of Cam- 
berwell, says, " I have been tiying numerous experi- 
ments tliis autumn with ripe vegetable marrows ; and 
I find they contain a rich, sugary, and farinaceous 
matter, and are a most exceUent and nutritious ai'ticle 
of diet, when dressed in the following manner : — Cut 
the marrows into short pieces ; take out all the pitch 
and seeds, and boil them in plenty of water with salt. 
When well boiled scrape out all the marrow, put it 
between two dishes and squeeze out all the water, 
then mash it well, adding salt, pepper, and a little 
butter : it is then a dish fit for any table. But my 
object is, strongly to draw attention to the desirableness 
of gx'owing marrows instead of the later Idnds of pota- 
toes, until more propitious seasons shall come. The 
early potatoes having been well taken care of during 
winter — as recommended in my pamphlet on the 
cultivation of the potato — the marrows may be sown 
about the first week in May, in the open gTOund in a 
warm corner ; when ti-ansplanting time comes, the 
early potatoes wiU not be near ripe ; but a root of 
potatoes is to be lifted every sLx or eight feet apart, in 
every sixth or eighth alternate row, and the niaiTowto 
be inserted in its place. I find that when thus planted,^ 
in moderately rich land, I can gi'ow twenty tons of 
nuuTow to the acre easily ; and. when ripe, they can be 
stowed away anywhere, and wUl keep good for a veiy 
great length of time. In addition to their utility as a 
vegetable for the table, they form a most economical 
and excellent article, when boiled, for fattening pigs; 
and landlords woidd do well to encom-age then- tenants 
to cultivate this prolific vegetable, which wUl yield 
them an ample return for theh labom-, in place of the 
later sorts ot potatoes, until more propitious seasons 
for the cidtivatiou of the potato shall return to us." — 
Oardener's Chronicle. 

Cottage Farming. — One of the best practical farm- 
ing lessons that I have ever received, was given me 
whilst travelling in Wales, last Februaiy twelve- 
mouth, by the mail between and . I had 

proceeded du-ect from London, and was becoming 
very tired from being so long shut up, when told I 
should find amusement, and the distance shortened, 
by taldng a seat for a few stages on the box. The 
afternoon being fine, I was thus induced to place 
myself by the coachman, of whose fai'ming I had 
been hearing wonderful accounts. We had not pro 



194 



THE COTTAGE G ABDEMEE. 



ceeded far wheu some remarks of inine, comment- 
ing on finding the cattle shivering in the fields 
at that inclement season, opened the conversation. 
"Ah, SU-!" said the coachman, "you may well make 
these remarks — these Welshmen see no farther than 
their pigs there, that eany tlieir ears over their eyes ; 
and when I holloa to them to get out of the way, are 
sm-e to holt between the leaders' legs. Such a thing 
as a dry farm-yard, well littered down, with the stock 
half hid in the straw, you will not sec in all Wales. 
They have no idea here of making their animals 
comfortable, or of providing manure for turnips by 
wintering them in their yards. No ! their poor cows 
and beast aj-e all exposed at this season ; starving in 
theh' fields, dropping their manure under hedges and 
trees, wliei-e it does no good, and half the summer is 
, lost in recovering the flesh they lose in the winter; 
and consequently a field of turnips is a rare sight in 
this country. Vegetables for man or beast at this 
time arc scarcely to be had ; but then it's an ill wuid 
that blows no one any good. Their neglect does me 
no hami. I drive the mail four stages out and in 
every day, and this gives me four hom-s a day to work 

in my garden. My liome is in . where I have a 

good cottage and nearly an acre of garden for £i'2 a- 
year ; gardens in this country are not thought much 
of, except to grow potatoes. They lierc don't know 
wliat may be made from a small piece of well-done 
land — so I get mine cheap. There, I coidd as soon 
live without bread as without gi-een stuft"; 1 wish I 
could show you the fine brocoli and Brussels sprouts 
I am now selling to those who have gardens of tlieir 
own, and arc getting nothing out of tliem. I have 
made £1^ in the last twelve months of its produce, 
besides what we have ourselves consumed. All this 
is done with the manure these people take no account 
of; they will go crawling all day on the roads to pick 
up the dung they find there, and yet let all their soil 
at home inns waste into holes or ditches, or be earned 
away by tlieir rivers. When a lad, 1 was always 
more ready to help hang a gate, or mend a fence, and 
fonder of working at the wheeler's than going to 
school, so I am handy with tools. I have knocked 
up a carnage on wlieels, and I sink tubs in my cess- 
pools, into wliich everything from my house, cow-stalls, 
and pig-sties is drained, and wlien the tub is fuU it 
is raised on my carriage ; and with little laboiu', and 
no dirt, I and my boy am able to draw it about, and 
apply it where it is wanted. By this means my gar- 
den has become so rich, it now does not take all these 
cesspools provide ; the remainder is now carried out 
to a little meadow I hired for a cow, but finding slie 
could not keep down the grass (which by this dressing 
has rajiidly increased,) I took to buying w-eaning 
calves, and as these gi-ew to near calving, I found 
small farmers to take and rent them of me at a pound 
a year apiece. I have now twenty cows so let, and 
I liave also forty sheep which I have thus raised and 
put out; besides, I must not omit a sow and her 
pigs, which arc kept principally on the waste from 
my garden, and the milk we have to spai-e. The sow 
gives two litters a. year, and generally nine or ten 
pigs at a time ; these come in March and September, 
and find mo in bacon and pork, and pay most of the 
rent. They tell me in a few years we shall have 
railways everywhere, and tlierc will be no coaches to 
drive ; T shall tlieu be fit for nothing, unless 1 again 
tm-n farmer. ] was born a fanner, as was my fatlier 
and Ills father before me, and at twenty I came to 
one of the best little farms at the rent in Bucking- 
hamshire ; but at that age notliiug would do for me 
but driving a coach, and in five years I had given 



up my fai-m, and was on the ' Tally-ho 1' and so t 
have continued driving ever since; hut 'what is bred 
in the bone will come out in the flesh,' so now I 
want to be again a fanner, and you see I am getting 
together the stock to begin with. Won't I some day 
show the natives how to raise larger crops and grow 
roots, by well dressing and keeping the land clean ! 
The gentry round come to sec the coachman's fann, 

as they call my garden and field. Su- John 's 

agent came a few weeks ago. and offered to let me 
one of Sir John's fanns, liut I told him I was not 
yet ready to take one. What do you think he said in 
reply? Why, that the want of a couple of hundred 
should not be a hindrance, for he wished to have me 
on the estate to set an example to tlie old tenants, 
w'lio were always complaining of the times, and who 
he feared, with fi'ee trade and low prices, would soon 
not be able to pay any rent at all ; but I told him, 
' No, no, I would wait a little longer.' You see I can 
manage to keep laying by a few pounds as I am now 
doing, and I am sure nothing is to be done in farming 
without plenty of capital. Do you think, sir, I could 
drive tliis mail ten miles an horn' over these hills, if 
the horses had not plenty of corn? Nothing does 
well that is done by halves ; when I go farming I 
will have a liundi-ed to spare, and no double rent to 
pay, from the want of capital." Hewitt Davis. 

Pexstemon Speciosuji. — Mr. G. Gordon, one of 
tlie managers of the Hoiticidtural Society's gardens, 
at Chiswick, gives the following directions for the 
cultivation of this beautifid flower. "The seeds should 
be sown as soon as ripe in the autumn; for, if not 
sown until spring, they will probably not grow until 
the following Mareli, which is the case with those of 
most Penstemons fi'om the north-west coast of 
America and California. The seeds should be sown 
in pans or large pots in sandy loam, without any 
mixture whatever, and sliould be placed in a cold pit 
or frame for the winter, where they wUl requu-e no 
further care mitil the following spring, (beginning of 
March,) when they should be removed to a wai-mer 
situation, where there is plenty of light and air, (tlie 
greenhouse is a very suitable situation.) and where 
they may remain until the middle of May, when tlie 
young plants should bo potted, taking caj-e nt aU 
times til at they never suffer from the want of water, 
with whicli they should be liberally supplied. In 
jjotting, place each plant singly in a 00-])Ot (3-inch,) 
and use a compost composed of three parts sandy 
loam, and one of well decayed cow-dung ; afterwards 
place the jilants in a close pit or frame, and water 
freely for a few days, until they recover the cft'ects 
occasioned by the sliift ; afterwards give air fi'eely, 
and wlieii the weather becomes very warm, and the 
sun liright, about midsummer, place the plants in a 
frame with its face to the north, shading them in 
very bright sunshine, but fully exposing them during 
night, and in dull weather. They may remain in 
lliis situation until tlie end of August, when they 
sliould be shifted into larger pots, using the same 
kind of compost as before, and giving a liberal sup- 
jdy of water. When shifted they should be placed 
in an any situation, where they are jiartially sliaded 
from the swi, until tlie end of October, when tlie 
strongest plants sboidd be planted out in a bed in 
the flower-garden, made rather rich and fresh, with 
sandy loam and rotten dung ; llic smaller ones 
should be again transferred to a cold jiit or frame 
for the winter, where they will be free from dam]) 
or stagnant moisture at then- roots, and where they 
may remain till the end of the following March, wheu 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



395 



they may also be planted out in the flower garden as 
before, making the soil very rich for them with rotten 
dims;. These plants will then make a good succession 
to tliose planted in the autumn : they must he freely 
supplied with water in very dry weather, but never 
over-head ; for if watered over-head, they very soon 
canker and lose their stems ; and as the stems are 
easily blown over or broken off by the wind, they 
should be fastened to slender stakes about the begin- 
iring of Jime, and it woidd be very advisable to place 
hand-glasses over the plants planted out in the end 
of October, to protect them in case the winter should 
prove very severe and damp; for although they are 
seldom killed by cold, they are very impatient, and 
soon injured by frost and damp togetlier, particu- 
hu'ly in sprhig. Thus treated, this fine Penstemou 
will bloom from the end of June to September, and 
produce aliundauce of seeds, which should again be 
sown as above stated ; for in reality the plant is not 
more tliau a biennial, and recpiires to be raised every 
year from seed, to keep up a succession." — Ganlcner's 
Chronicle. 

C.inDooN. — Although, except in raising the plants 
in pots, there is nothing partictilarly new in the 
following mode of cultivating the cardoon, by Mr. 
Fleming, of Trentham Hall, yet it is an e.Kcellent 
mode ; and we insert it, for the purpose of rousing 
attention to a Idtchen vegetable too little known, and 
too much neglected. 

It is good stewed like celery, and is an agreeable 
addition to stews, haricots, and soups, and where it 
is disUked, it is because sufflcieut attention has not 
been paid to boiling and soaking it with water, so 
as to remove the bitter flavour it otherwise retains. 
Only the iieart, and not tlie piped outer leaves, ought 
to be employed. The hearts sliould be boiled until 
tender, in water without any salt ; all strings and 
sliminess should then be removed from them, and 
then they should be kept in cold water until required 
for table. They may then l)e served up with wliite 
sauce or gra'N'y. 

" I choose for the cardoon," says Mr. Fleming, " a 
piece of gTOund that requires well pulverising and a 
rest from lieavy cropping ; as for growing them on 
the plan I follow, it matters not how poor or stift" the 
soil, so that the bottom be dr}'. The exposure must 
be an open one, as they require a free circulation of 
air and all the sun possible. Having marked off the 
spaces for tlie trenches and ridges, allowing U feet 
for each, those spaces marked out for the ridges are 
manured well and dug, for I keep in view the ijnprov- 
ing of the pieces of ground for other crops, as weU 
as providing for the cardoon. The trenches are next 
dug out one footdeep, laying the soil right and left on 
the ridges, and brealciug the lumps well as the work 
pi'oceeds. The sides of the ridges should be well 
sloped off, and beaten smooth with the back of the 
spade. The trenches being now ready, we wheel 
into them, to the depth of 4 to inches, a previously 
prepared compost, consisting of chopped turfy soil, 
good solid half-rotten manure, and road drift or fine 
ashes, and, if we have it, some bm'ut clay, in about 
the proportion of equal ])arts of each kind. This is 
forked into the trench in such a manner as to keep 
the compost merely covered, wliile the ground below 
is loosened to the depth of a foot at least, and this 
finishes the tr-encli, which ought to lie uncropped 
until the season for planting out the cardoons, by 
which time the ground will be in fine order to receive 
tliem. 

We sow two rows of dwarf peas upon the ridges, 



and a row of spinach between ; these will be off be- 
fore the cardoons i-eqvur-e earthing up. In the first 
week in May, we sow the seeds in tlmmb pots, placing 
two sound seeds at opposite sides of the pot, and 
plunge the pots in a cold frame, which is kept close 
until the plants appear, when jilenty of air is admit- 
ted to prevent them drawing up weakly. In a fort- 
night after the plants are up, they will be strong 
enough to plant out in this order : — one row up the 
centre of each trench, IS inches apart, and a row 2 
feet from it in quincunx fasliion on each side. 

Planting two plants together is to guard against 
losses by insects, and, when all danger fi'om this is 
over, the weakest can be destroyed. Raising them 
in pots, instead of sowing them in the gi-oimd, is to 
prevent gaps in the rows, and to give the opportunity 
of having all the plants in the ridge of equal size; 
so that, when earthed up, the plants being alike in 
strength, the same quantity of soil will be required 
for alL Tlie weakest plants may bo kept in the cold 
frame 10 days longer, whioli, with a second sowing, 
will give a succession. Water the newly turned out 
plants, and loosen up the soil between them, which 
finishes the planting part of the business. If dry 
weather succeeds tlus operation, the plants will require 
watering once or twice, until they get established, 
after which they will only require to be kept 
clear of weeds till October. This will bo most advan- 
tageously done by forking among them occasionally, 
wliich will keep the weeds in elieck, and promote the 
gi'owth of the plants better tlian the use of the hoe. 
In the beginniiig of October, the most forward trench 
of plants will have attained tlieir full gi'owtb. and a 
sufflcieut number of well twisted hay-bauds must be 
provided for winding round them. Take advantage 
of a flue dry day, and conunence by carefully bring- 
ing all the leaves into an upright position, in whicli 
tliey should be held by one person while another 
fastens the hay-band round the bottom of the plant, 
and winds away tightly until the whole of the stalk 
is hound round, and the end of the rope secured. 
Proceed in tliis way until the trench is completed, 
and then earth up till the bands are covered with the 
soil, which should be pressed very tightly round the 
plant at the top, to exckule air and moistm'e as efi'ec- 
tually as possible. Proceed in the same manner with 
the remaining trenches when fit, until the whole are 
finished. 

By deferring the earthing up till October, and by 
twisting the bands well, and fastening them tightly 
round the plants, we have very few faihn-es, although 
our situation and soU are very indifferent. We have 
ti-ied blanching by fastening the leaves closely toge- 
ther with string or mattbig, and putting an earthen 
drain pipe over the plants, and filling up with sand. 
This plan answers admirably ; the whole of the leaf 
stalks were perfectly blanched, quite crisp, and fit for 
use. The adoption of this plan would prevent the 
loss of room occupied by the ridges, as no soU would 
be wanted for eartlung ; but it takes a pipe 7 or is 
inches in diameter for a well-grown plant, and these, 
if many are required, are expensive. The cook here, 
who is one of tlie first in his profession, gives me the 
following recipe for cooking and serving ; 

" After the cardoons have been trimmed and 
waslied, and their outside leaves removed, cut them 
into pieces about 4 inches long. Put the pieces into 
a pan of cold water ; wdien boiled take them out, and 
with a cloth rub the outer skin until it can be easily 
removed. After this is done, let them be well washed, 
and boiled three hours in good stock or broth. Serve 
them very hot with brown sauce, made with good 



196 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



gravy. It is au improvement, in serving the cardoon, 
to put some marrow round it." — Qanhnefs Chroniqle. 

Shell Sand, a Cl'ue for the Potato Disease in 
THE Parish of Holme, ix Orkney. — Mrs. Smith 
liad heeii in the practico of having sheU sand put 
into the parts ot'tlie garden where the early potatoes 
were phuited. I'or several yimrs hetbre the disease 
Uiade its appearance, in order to improve their 
tjuality and make them earlier. It had the effect, 
and from that time she reaped the earliest and hest 
potatoes in the country. In IS46, the first year of 
the disease in Orkney, she was prevented from at- 
tending to planting, and hut a small patch that 
never hefore produced good potatoes was sanded, 
and it yielded the only part of the crop that escaped 
the disease. Next year, 1847, all the early potatoes- 
were manured with shell sand, and proved quite 
sound, while the general crop was diseased. To test 
the efficacy of this sand in preventing disease, she, 
in 1848, had part of the early potatoes planted with 
the sand, and part without. The first was perfectly 
free from disease, and tlie latter overnni with it, as 
well as the rest of tlie crop. The potato submitted 
to the expei'iment was a white kidney. The sand 
was strewed rather thickly on the ground before the 
potatoes were planted, but it was found to have the 
same effect when spread over tlie surface afterwards. 
Shell sand, of which a sample is forwarded, is what 
was used. Mrs. Smith was induced to try it, from 
having seen similar sand improve pasture gi*ass land 
many years since. — Gaideners Chronicle. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Pruning Peaches just Planted {M. W. C.).— Select fire 
shoots, cut the others awny ; set out two of them to the right, two to 
the left, and one npripht in the centre. In pruning:, leave the lowest 
right anil left eigliteen inches long; the next, one foot; and the 
centre one, nine inches. Watch The Cottage Gardener in May, 
how to proceed with disbudding and stopping, on which so much 
depends. 

Raspbrrries (SrooWflwrf Gardens). — The True Fastolf and Au- 
tumn-hearing are both red. The first differs from the common 
raspberry only in bearing much larger fruit ; and the second differa 
from both in bearing from July to the end of October, and even 
later, if pruned as di^rected at p. 8 of our First Number. They are 
all propagated the same way, viz., cither by suckers or division of the 
stools. 

Meadow, Laying down a (iW. W. C, Sm/oM-).— That part of 
your field already sown with wheat, can have grass seeds sown and 
harrowed in some time during March, at which time the rest of the 
field had better be sown with barley and grass seeds also. If you 
will tell us the nature of your soil, and whether on a hill, or near a 
river, we will tell you what seeds you had better sow. 

Tuberose {F. Giles). — No man, however lowly, will ever find us 
inattentive to his inquiries, or unwilling to inform him. Vour thanks 
are the more gratifying, because they tell us we are useful. You will 
find the culture oi the tuberose in another page of this Number. 
Your new-buught bulb, if true to name, is not much — a hardy plant 
that will grnw in any common soil, the leaves and flower-head not 
unlike an onion, with dingy yellow flowers, Thanks for the spirit of 
your letter. 

The Calendar (/rnnAoe). — It always is for the following week. 
This Number, for instance, was so published in London, that you 
could have it in Sheffield on the 25th. The fault must be with your 
bookseller. 

Chimonantiius Fragrans (J. Wharfe). — This hardy deciduous 
shrub is a native of Japan. If it is the sub-species C. f,n-undi/{oi-u.s, 
it will do best on a well-drained border, beneath a south wall. The 
three kinds may be propagated by layers, or by cuttings of the young 
shoots planted in a pot of sand under a glass, and plunged in a gentle 
hot-bed. The rooted plants do best if a little peat is niixed with the 
soil, and leaf-mould is the next best addition. The only pruning 
they require is to pinch off the points of the strongest young shoots 
early in the summer ; this cauaea them to push out bidc-ahoots, bear- 
ing numerous flowers. 

Fruit-Trkes for a NoETn-NORTH-KAST Wall (3p, 0. B,).— 
Your situation will take ten dwarf trees ; the following would answer 



v»ry well:— 1 Duke cherry, 3 Morello ditto, 1 Orleana plum, 1 Reine 
Claude violette plum, I Aston town pear, 1 Marie Louise ditto, 1 
Hacon's incomparable ditto, and 1 Easter Beurre ditto. 

Cottage F.^hminc (.V. 1', Z.). — We shall by degrees give the in- 
formation you require. The Farmer's E/ici/clopo'dia and the Fnr- 
vitr's Almanack should be your standard works for reference. 

RIagnolia (Iiei<. G. Griffiths). — Magnolia grandlflora, varieties 
elliptica, obovata, lanceolata, and rotundifolia, arc all splendid trees, 
and hardy if grown on a peaty well-drained soil. If plants of a few 
years old are planted, they will bloora the second ye ar after removal, 

Soot from Peat {Ibid). — We never tried this, but judging from 
the components of peat it must be nearly as good for manure as that 
from coal. In so cheap a publication as ours, and as we have no 
room to spare, we should not do justice to our old subscribers by 
reprinting any extracts from our early numbers. Twopence will buy 
the number containing the extract. 

Cucumbers (Dai'id Gee). — You will find a list at p. 144. Latter'a 
Victory of England hati been grown 21 inches long ; Browston Hy- 
brid, isi; Duncan's Victoria, 28; Allen's Victory of Suffolk, 24 j 
Sion House, 9 ; Victory of Bath, 17 ; and Prizefighter, 16 inches. 

Chrysanthemums {Rev. W. Procter). — None of those in the list 
are quilled. 

Celery Culture fS.J.— The plan pursued by Mr. Turner is 
adapted for growing celery of the largest size, and this does not pre- 
vent it jjossessing every other excellence. In a short time we will 
state our mode of culture for general table use. Mr. Nutt will not 
have any seed to sell until next autumn. Seymour's Red and White 
Solid are good sorts for general purposes. 

Apple Weevil {Ibid). — However extensive your orchard may be, 
it would cost but very little to have the loose bark scraped from the 
trees. Doing so will not injure but improve their health. We 
recommend you to do »*o forthwith, and then, with a whitewasher's 
l>rush, to paint your trees over with a strong mixture of gas-lime and 
■water. There is no better mode of destroying the apple weevil ; and 
by repeating it for a reason or two, you will probably get rid of the 
peat. 

Pea {Twig). — The dwarf white pea you describe as being no more 
than six inches high, and called the White Fan, was, perhaps, the 
Queen of the Dwarfs. Wc know of none other approaching your 
description. 

Tables of Prices {,1. Price). — We have not lost sight of these, 
but the difficulty is to obtain returns that can be relied upon. They 
are too often totally devoid of credit, made up to suit private purposes. 

Worms {J. N. S.). — No applications yet tried will banish these 
from your lawn, but you will find a mode of driving them away at 
p. 124 of No. 13. 

Miscellaneous. — ^V. X. and L. li. Lucas will be answered in 
our next. 

Peach-leaves Falling {B,, Waterford). — Your peach-trees on 
n south wall produce, you say, the usual amount of leaves at the 
■proper season, and after a while they f.all off ; but this is not informa- 
tion sufticient for us to advise you confidently. The great amount of 
humidity in the Irish climate is not by any means favourable to the 
peach. Nevertheless, it is very probable that your case proceeds 
from the attack of aphides (Plant Lice). It is hard to persuade the 
"world what an extent of mischief these simple insects produce witli 
the peach. We have known effects quite equivalent to the anomalous 
appearances complained of produced in three days. Are, however, 
the roots of your trees right? Have you read oiu- article on " Sta- 
tions?" Watch The Cottage Gardener; our advice is at least 
practical, and quite as well adapted for Ireland as England. 

Strawberries and Gooseberries (T. Griffin). — We apprehend 
that the strawberry you mention is I\lyatt's British Quei-n, which 
you may obtain of any respectable nurseryman. The following 12 
best gooseberries may be obtained from Mr. Turner, Neepsend, 
Sheffield. Reds. — Slaughterman, Companion, London. Yelloivs. — 
Catherine. Leader, Drill. Greens. — Thumper, Queen Victoria, Gene- 
ral. Whites. — Queen of Trumps, Lady Stanley, and Freedom. 

Damson Pruning (Brookland Gardens). — You inquire what 
pruning the damson requires ; and whether it would be safe to cut 
down one just planted, iis you wish to dwarf it? In reply, — the only 
pruning the rtambon requires is a little thinning out of cross branches 
during its earlier progress. Many thousands, howuvor, in the north- 
west of Kngland never feel a knife. Your newly-planted tree should 
be suffered to grow one season, and then be cut to the desired height. 
The process will, liowr.ver, make nearly three years diiference in the 
produce coming to hand. Your plum query is, you will see, partly- 
anticipated. You will find copious advice shortly. 



London : Printed by Harkx Wooldridge, 147", Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-lc-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Ulary Kalendar ; and Publisheil by \\'illi.\,m 
SoMERViLLE Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Straud, London.— January 25th, 1849. 



mmtmrmnt^tm^tmam 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 



197 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M 


w 


D 


B 


1 


Th. 





F. 


3 


S. 


4 


SnN. 


5 


M. 





Tu. 


7 


W. 



FEBRUARY 1—7, 1849. 



Botanical Society's Meeting, [seen. 

PUBIFIO. CaNDL. D. Pied Wagtail first 

Blase. Tawny Owl hoots. 

SepTUAGESIMA Sun. Field Speedwell 

Agatha. Elderleavesopen. [flowers. 
Linuean & Hort. Soc. Meetings. 
Golden Plover goes. 



Plants dedicated to 


Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon*s 


Clock 


Day of 


each daj'. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


bef. Sun. 


Year. 


Bay Tree 


VII 


VI 


1 20 


8 


13 56 


32 


Snowdrop 


39 


49 


2 34 


9 


14 4 


33 


Great Water Moss 


38 


51 


3 44 


10 


14 10 


34 


Common Goldylocks 


36 


53 


4 48 


11 


14 16 


35 


Common Primrose 


34 


54 


5 45 


12 


14 20 


36 


Blue Hyacinth 


33 


56 


6 33 


13 


14 24 


37 


Round-leaved Cyclamen 


31 


58 


rises 


(?) 


14 27 


38 



TuE Purification of the Virgin Mary, or the anniversary 
of hRf iiresentin;]: her child and offerings in the Temple, (Luke ii. 22,) 
is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church. It ia also called Can- 
dlemas Day, because on that day, according to the Ritual of the 
same Church, the candles which would be used during the year were 
brought to the priest and blessed. In the north of England, it is 
called " Wives' Feast Day." In Somersetshire they have as a farm- 
ing proverb, that you should " Sow beans on Candlemas waddle;"* 
and in many parts of these islands they have rhymes intimating that 
if it is fine on tliis day the remainder of the year \vill be inclement ; 
the Scotch express this in these two lines : — 

" If Candlemas is fair and clear, 
There'll be twa winters in the year." 

Blase was Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, and was martyred in 
the year 3l6. He is said to have been the inventor of the comb with 
which wool is combed, and for this reason he was adopted by the 
Wool-combers as their titular saint. In some of the Yorkshire 
woollen districts, processions and feasts are held on this day, in 
which some weaver, I'cpresenting Bishop Blase, performs a con- 
spicuous part. At Winchester, formerly a great woollen mart, the 
anniversaries of two of its charities are always accompanied by u 
representative of Bishop Blase. 

Agatha was a Sicilian Christian virgin, martyred in the year 251, 
by command of Quintianus. 



Phenomena of the Season. — "February fill ditch," shews 
that the months have not changed their manners ; for our ancestors 
so called this one of the twelve, because of the floods which then 
overflowed the country; and, still, February continues "birth-time 
of thaws and fogs." It is a very common error to consider this a 
rainy month ; but, so far from this being the case, less rain falls 
during its continuance than during that of any other month. On an 
average of years, at London, the amount of rain in inches which falls 
in each month is as follows ;^ 



January 1.483 

February O.746 

March 1,440 

April l.;86 

May 1.853 

June 1.830 



July 2.516 

August 1,453 

September 2.ig3 

October 2.073 

November 2.400 

December 2.426 



The %vestem side of England is visited every year with a much 
greater fall of rain than is poured upon its eastern counties ; proba- 
bly three times the quantity. The depth of rain which falls on an 
average over all England "is about 30 inches, or 300 tons on each 
English acre, — MUiier's Gallery 0/ Nature, 473. 

Insects. — The little furze beetle (Bruchus ater) may be now 
found upon furze, and is one of a family that confines its attacks 
chiefly to leguminous (pod-hearing) plants. This insect, represented 




Feb 


1841, 


1842, 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


1848. 


I 


Snow. 


Fine, 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 




31°— 23' 


46°— 26° 


53°— 45° 


39°— 20° 


38°— 27° 


51°— 39" 


40°— 30° 


37°— 26° 


Q 


Snow. 


Fine, 


Rain. 


Snow. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Snow 


Fine. 




31°— 18° 


50°— 40° 


45°— 37° 


390 — 28° 


40°— 21° 


48°— 35° 


36°— 31° 


46°— 29° 


3 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Showerv. 


Frost. 


Showerv. 


Fine. 


Snow 


Fine. 




28°— 14° 


45°— 37° 


45°— 24° 


40°— 23° 


43°— 34° 


52°— 39° 


37°— 30° 


460—33° 


4 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Snow. 


Snow 


Cloudy. 


Fine, 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 




30°— 22° 


42°— 30° 


390—30° 


40°— 25° 


43°— 25° 


490—36° 


39°— 22° 


51°— 39° 


5 


Fine, 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Fine, 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 




30°— 26° 


42°— 27° 


39°— 29° 


40°— 19° 


48°— 31° 


49°— 30° 


35°— 32° 


53°— 48° 


6 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showerv. 


Showerv. 




2S°— 24° 


38°— 26° 


38°— 31° 


43°— 26° 


43°— !9° 


50°— 33° 


51°— 30° 


55°— 46° 


7 


Sleet 


Sleet. 


Snow. 


Sliowerv. 


Frosty. 


Showerv. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 




27°— 24° 


40°— 30° 


37°— 32° 


45°— 31° 


38°— 17° 


52°— 31° 


35°— 17° 


52°— 40° 



in the annexed cut of its natural size, as well as magnified, ia black, with its elytra (wing cases) marlicd with lines, and lighter-coloured dots ; 
antennje (horns) divided into eleven joints. The females are now depositing their eggs in the germs, or young seed-vessels, of the winter- 
blooming fui'ze ; and the same insects may be found again in June similarly employed upon the summer-blooming furze. The grub hatched 
from her eggs lives upon the seeds, and every one who has noticed this plant, must be aware that its ripe seed-vessels often contain nothing 
but a little rough powder ; a powder which is the refuse of the seeds destroyed by the grub of this insect. Two other members of this family 
of beetles, Bruchus i^runnrhts and B. pisi, are greatly destructive to our pea crops. They are small brownish beetles, usually found at the 
time the plants are in flower, and they deposit their eggs in the tender seeds of leguminous plants, and sometimes in different kinds of corn. 
In these the larva, a small white fleshy grub, finds both a suitable habitation and an abundance of food. It undergoes all its transformations 
in the seed, and the perfect insect remains in it till the spring, though in fine autumns the perfect insects appear at that season also. The larvie 
possess the singular instinct of never attacking the vital part of the seed till the last. We have often observed the seed-pods of chorozema, and 
other delicate and scarce leguminous plants in greenhouses, pierced by the Bructius pisi. The more effectual remedy is to pull up and burn 
the haulm and pods altogether, and not attempt to get a crop at all. Peas infested with B. ^anarius, are always known by a small hole being 
on one side, and these should be carefully picked out, as they not only spoil the appearance of a sample, but spread the injury, 

* Waddle — wane of the moon. 



We are too much accustomed to ignorance and 
prejudice being connected with all that relates to the 
cultivation of the soU, to be sui'prised that the use of 
LIME, as a fertilizer, has been so much neglected by 
the gardener. It is quite true that the preparation 
of lime was a process known to the Israelites, some 
two thousand and five hundi'ed years ago, (Isaiah 
xxxiii. 12) ; and it is equally true, that Cato and 



Pliny, Roman writers contemporary with the Apostles, 
speak of the same process, and of the use made of 
the lime as a manure ; but these facts do not at a 1 
induce us to be sm-prised that, perhaps, not one gar- 
dener in a thousand ever employs lime for the same 
pm-jjose. Gardeners of the old school, more even 
than other men, are "bundles of habits," and as the 
use ^ lime, as a manure, is not one of these habits — 



No, XVIII., Vol. I, 



198 



THE COTTAGE GABDENER. 



that is, because neitlier liistntai^r nor gi-andfntliev ever 
used it, so neither does Jonathan Bhie-apron. How- 
ever, the bundles of habits have of late years been very 
much broken up, changed, improved, and enlarged. 
Indeed, so much so, that if Stephen Switzer, Philip 
Miller, and John Abererombie, the three best gar- 
deners of the last centiuy, could revisit the enclo- 
siu'es over which they once presided, they would fuel 
" strangers at home ;" for there is a change in every- 
thing, we think, except the wateiing-pots ; for these 
are quite as awkward and rmsightly as they were in 
1740 ! 

To the other changes which those three ancient 
gardeners woidd have to contemplate, we desire to 
add the general employment of lime, as one of the 
gardener's best friends ; and our desire is foimded 
sure and steadfast upon " practice with science." 
Let us take the testimony of science first, and this 
shews to us that not one of the crops cultivated by 
the gardener — not one, be it pot-herb, flower, or 
fi-uit — but contains a veiy considerable amount of 
lime. For instance, 100 paits of the ashes of broooli 
leaves contain more than 20 parts of lime ; 100 
parts of the ashes of the greengage, 10 parts ; of 
the Jerusalem artichoke, 41 parts; of the daisy, 25 
parts; and of the sunflower, 11 parts. This list 
might be increased by the addition of eveiy garden 
plant that has been submitted to the tests of the 
chemist, but a number has been enumerated suffi- 
cient to enforce the fiict upon the attention of our 
readers. It is quite time that a portion of the lime 
found in plants is in the state of phosjihate of lime 
(earth of bones) ; and tlus is best given to them in 
the form of dissolved bones, as directed at pp. 02 
and 124. But much of the lime in plants is also in 
the state of carbonate of lime (chalk) ; and in no 
state so favourable for the rains to dissolve it, and 
thus enabling the roots to suck it in, can it be added 
to the soil, as in the shape of lime. 

Lime added to a soil usually improves its staple ; 
clayey loam mixed with it is rendered more friable, 
that is, more easily broken down by the s]iade and 
the rake ; light sandy soils, on the other hand, are 
rendered more compact and more moist — for Professor 
Schubler and other chemists have found that lime 
attracts moisture very powerfully from the au'. 

Lime, also, is very caustic ; and, when mixed with 
a soil, not only destroys the insects it contains, but 
speedily converts to vegetable mould the stubborn 
dead stalks and other fragments of previous crops 
with which it may come in contact. 

We have had the opportunity of tiying numerous 
experiments with Hme, both iqion light and heavy 
soils; and have used it both by itself and mixed 
with other matters, so as to form a compost. Twenty- 
live bushels per acre for light soils, and one hundred 
bushels per acre for heavy soils, we tlunk, are the 
most beneficial quantities. One bushel of lime ^ 



eveiy three bushels of the tiu'fy parings and scour- 
ings of ditches, makes a compost, which, after being 
mixed for six weeks, and then dug into a light sod, 
produced excellent crops of tuniijis and potatoes. 

Lime 30 bushels, and salt 15 bushels, applied to 
an acre of light soil, just before sowing it with tur- 
rups, yielded a crop equal to another on which rye 
had been fed ofl' by sheep, who, at the same time, 
were supplied with oil cake. Lime should never be 
mixed with dungs of any kind, as it promotes the 
escape from them of their most valuable constituent, 
ammonia. Neither shoiUd it ever be mixed by the 
gardener with the peat some of his plants requfre ; 
for it decomposes the sulphate of iron (gi-een vitriol), 
and other substances which render peat acceptable 
to our rhododendrons and other American plants. 

It is a common practice to burn oouch-gi'ass, docks, 
gorse, and other vegetables, wliich are veiy retentive 
of life, or slow in decay; — a more mieconomical, rm- 
scientific method of reducing to a state beneficial to 
the laud of wliich they were the refuse, cannot be 
devised. In breaking up heaths, such vegetable re- 
fuse is vei-y abundant ; but, in all cases, if the weeds, 
leaves, &c., were conveyed to a hole or pit, and, with 
every single horseload, and with barrowJoads in 
proportion, a bushel of salt and half a bushel of lime 
were incorporated, it woidd, in a few montlis, form a 
mass of decayed compost of the most fertiKziug 
quality ; the lime retaining many of the gases evolved 
during the putrefaction of the vegetable matter, and 
the salt conibiuiug with the lime to destroy noxious 
animals, which might form their nests in the mass. 
By this plan nearly aU the carbonaceous matters (or 
charcoal) of the refuse vegetables are retained ; by 
burning, nearly all of them are driven ofl'. — Prin- 
ciples of Oartleninci. 

Lime riibhish is the old mortar and plaster obtained 
when brick buildings are pulled do'mi. It is an ex- 
cellent manure, abounding with tlie salts of potash 
and lime. It should be reduced to powder before 
spreading and digging in. 

Lime water, one of the most effectual applications 
for destroying slugs, woims and other insects, is best 
made by mixing one peck of fresh-burnt lime to forty 
gallons of clean soft water. A wateruigpot, contain- 
ing four gallons, will be enough for soaldng a bed 
thu-ty feet long and four feet wide ; or for a single 
row of cabbages, or other plants, sixty feet long. 
We purposed to have added examples of the results 
from applying lime to particular crops, but our 
limited space compels us to defer this to some future 
opportunity. 



Death was busy, during the past month, among the 
friends and practitioners of gardening. Earl Auck- 
land, one of the vice-presidents of the Horticultin-al 
Society, died unwarned, but, we believe, not unpre- 
pared, wliUst on a visit to Lord Ashburton, and not 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



199 



long after a stroll through tliis nobleman's elegant 
conservatory. Whilst in India, the writer of this 
brief tribute witnessed Lord Auckland's exertions 
there to improve the cultivation of its soil; and will- 
ingly bears testimony to their strenuousness and 
efficacy. His distribution of medals among the na- 
tive mallees (gardeners) ; Ids appointment of Dr. 
Falconer, to be general superintendent of the Botanic 
Gardens of Mussooree and Saharunpoor; his encou- 
ragement of the Agri-horticultural Society of India ; 
and the long dissertation, written by his own hand, 
on cotton cultivation, ai-e a very few incidents rising 
promptly to memory, as instances of tlie efforts Iris 
lordslup made to promote the cultm-e of plants in 
the most important of our tropical possessions ; 
efforts not relaxed, though du-ected into a ditferent 
channel, upon his return to England. The words of 
the Advocate-General, Sir Laurence Peel, \vhen Loi-d 
Auckland was leaving oui- Indian shores, may be 
repeated over his gi'ave, for they were also applicable 
to Ids life at home — " His career, tlu'oughout, and 
uniformly, appeared as il' it were to be an answer to 
one perpetuaUy-rememberod query — 'How can I 
best promote the interests of those over whom I 
jH'eside ? ' " 

Equally sudden in their departure have been those 
two excellent horticulturists, Mr. Robert Watson, 
gardener to David Anderson, Esq., at Morcdun Gar- 
dens ; and of Mr. John Blnir, gardener to the Earl 
of Roslyn, at Dysart House. The first died on the 
yrd, and the second on tlie 11th of Januai'y. Mr. 
Blair was a very successful hybridizer and cultivator 
of Rhododendi-ons, and was preparing for publication 
an essay on the subject, when death so unexpectedly 
struck him down. 



THE PRUIT-GAEDEN. 

Pruning Young Trees from the Nursery. — ^'This, 
although appearing at first sight a simple affaii', 
proves to be very puzzling to many beginners in 
gardening ; and, on consideration, we need scarcely 
wonder at it, for the old moral maxim, " train it up 
in tlie way it should go," is, literally, as applicable to 
a tree as to a child. We have been amused, many 
a time, at bearing persons declare that they have 
purchased " a fine peach-tree fi"om the nursery, with 
slioots four feet long!" and, perhaps, desii-ing, at 
the same lime, to know how to prune it. But their 
disappointment when, in former days, the ruthless 
hand of the pruuer woidd reduce at " one fell swoop" 
a fine-looking four-feet shoot, to six or oiglit inches, 
was indeed gi'eat ! Yom- gardener " of the olden 
time," moreover, was not the man to give reasons 
for such a jirooedure ; and this must in many cases 
have much increased tlie disappointment. We will 
now offer a few words of advice on this head, and 
will preface them with a few remarks on 

The Young Pe.\oh in the Nursery, and Mode of 
Selection. — It shoidd be at once understood, that 
over-luxiuiance in either the peach or nectarine is 
only another name for hnmatui'e wood ; or, in the 
gardening language, wood " badly ripened." It is 
well, if in oiu" damp and fitfid climate, the peach or 
nectarine can produce shoots annually, of one foot 
in length, even against a wall. Indeed, of what use 
is a greater length, if a very considerable portion 
has to be pruned away? If strengih ahne is to be 
the criterion, the addition of manures will generally 
accomplish any amount; but such we know to be 
ruinous. 



A great many of our nurseiy trees are, in these 
times, ti'ained on sticks in the open quarters of the 
mu-sery; and we need scarcely say, that such are 
more immatm'e by far than those fi'om walls. 

Peaches and nectarines are budded in the open 
quarters ; and the spring after budding, the stock is 
beheaded ; when, in consequence, all the sap goes to 
nourish the yoimg stranger — the newly-introduced 
bud. This, availing itsell' of the monopoly of sap, 
grows with much luxuriance. The young shoot the 
bud produces is so well suckled, that in general a 
multitude of side sprouts are also put forth ; and, 
strange to say, it reserves five or six buds at the 
base, which remain in the embryo state, that is, tliey 
do not shoot. 

We come now to the autumn, and the young 
peach or nectarine in this state is termed "a maiden," 
a name which has been technically applied much 
beyond a century. Now, from such maidens, the 
niu'serymau selects young plants, to supply the place 
of those sold from his walls or fences ; as also those 
from tlie luirsery-quarter, trained, as before observed, 
on sticks. These are headed down, — that is, are 
pruned to witldn a few inches of the junction of the 
stock and the new bud ; or, in fact, to the embryo 
buds or eyes, before aUuded to. At the end of May, 
or beginning of June, the young " maiden " will 
have produced several sprouts, — generally about 
five or six ; and these are carefidly trained to the 
wall or fence. 

By tlie end of summer, tlie young tree loses its 
original name ; and, instead, of being teiTned a 
"maiden," is called "a dwart-trained peach," or nec- 
tarine. And, indeed, if the culture has been success- 
ful, the quondam "maiden" is vei^ much altered in 
appearance as well as value. In the autumn jire- 
vious, it might have been pui'chased for eigbteen- 
pence ; now it is accounted worth five shillings, at 
least. The purchasers now select from these, and 
five out of six will jircfer those with the longest and 
strongest shoots ; such, however, is not always the 
best policy. This brings us to the — 

Principles of Selection. — Such trees are, of 
course, wanted for a wall or a fence of some kind ; 
such walls or fences are, in general, not very high ; 
and it is desirable to clothe them to the very bottom. 
We advise the amateur, therefore, to moderate the 
idea of veri/ early productiveness ; and to cndeavom-, 
by all possible means, so to ostabUsb the tree dm'hig 
the first two years, that the above objects may be 
carried out in a permanent way. Here, then, arises 
the necessity of a somewliat close pruning during 
that period. How often have we seen a good and 
healthy hedge spoiled for want of a closer pruning 
when in a young state ! As with the hedge, so with 
the tree : the " bottom" must be first well established 
— or, in other words, the lower part of the wall must 
have good shoots secured to it. 

We do not here wish it to be understood that 
whiter-pruning alone is to accomplish all this ; no, 
a far more effective agent will be found in what is 
termed summer-stopping. We must not, however, 
digi'ess so much as to explain the rationide of this 
interesting process ; this we shall recur to with much 
pleasure at the proper period ; suffice it here to say, 
that this we consider one of the most important pro- 
ceedings connected with fruit culture. 

In selecting peaches and nectarines fi'om the nur- 
sery, the foUowuig we would lay down as maxims to 
regulate the choice : — 

1st. Purchase no tree wldch has giun exuding 
ft'om any portion of it. 



200 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



2nd. See tliat the shoots trained right and left are 
equal, or well balanced. 

3rd. Select one, if possible, that has an equal 
number of slioots right and left, and one shoot ceu- 
ti-al, or capable of being rendered so. 

4th. As to strength, choose one of a medium cha- 
racter, in which the shoots ai-e rather short than long. 

5th. Prefer one in which the young shoots are of 
a brownish cast, in preference to those of a very pale 
green. 

tUli. Select those in which the stock and scion, or 
budded portion, are nearly equal in thickness; if 
there must be a difference, the scion should have 
shghtly overgi-own tlie stock. 

7th. Take those in which the bai'k of the stock 
looks bright and clear. 

8th. Prefer those wliich show portions of fine 
hearty roots a little above the gi-ound. 

nth. Reject all the shoots of which have decaying 
points, be they ever so strong. 

The relative importance of these points of selection 
are mdioated by the order in which they are placed. 
These rides will be sufficient to giude the most inex- 
perienced. In the next number of The Cottage 
Gardener, we will give a drawing illustrative of the 
fii'st primings, and a select list of peaches and necta- 
rines, with then' characteristics, periods of ripening, 
&c. &c. In the meantime, we may as well offer some 
advice about the care requisite in planting yoimg 
liiiit-trees. 

The Dwarfixo System — We hope none of oiu' 
readers wUl be alanned at tlus title. Those who 
have been pestered ^vith stimted trees will apprehend 
a case of actual starvation ; such, however, is not 
strictly identical with our dwarfing system, as we 
shaU presently shew. It is one thing to starve a 
ti-ee with improper soils, and another to feed it with 
a sound material in a limited quantity. 

We have before stated that abundance of fibrous 
surface-roots must be obtained by some means, or 
the whole case may fail. It has been long known 
that such roots lead to a fruit-bearing liabit, and 
vice versi'i. The philosophy of this affaii- has not 
been, however, so clearly understood and defined; 
and this, in due time, we shall eudeavoiu' to explain. 
Admitting, then, that the soil is duly prepared, and 
eveiything in readiness, even the yoimg tree in hand, 
awaiting the knife ; the first thing is to see if thei'e 
be any root of a strong sap, or forky character. Now, 
it so happens, that some young trees imlucldly 
Jiossess chiefly such ; in such a case, therefore, bad 
roots are better than none. There is generally, 
however, about a couple of sti'ong roots, rather of a 
sidelong or horizontal character than descenehng, 
and from these proceed nmnerous fibres or subordi- 
nate roots; these must be cai'efidly preserved. If 
there shoidd be a strong root of a dcsceniUng cha- 
racter, let it be cut entirely away. The only business 
now, is to use a shaqi knife, and to cut away every 
wounded point from every root that can be found 
hroken. The peach-tree is so susceptible of iujmics, 
through bruises, that we consider tins course • abso- 
lutely necessary, in order to ensui-e the pennanence 
of the tree. 

Lei it be well understood that, during these pro- 
ceedings, that is to say, from the moment the tree is 
taken out of the groimd imtO fixed in its new situa- 
ation, not a root must be suffered to become dry ; 
every good cultivator wdl be sure to pi'ovide against 
that. It is, therefore, necessary to keep a water-pot 
at hand, with a rose on, and frequently to api)ly a 
little. R. Ebkingion. 



THE FLOWEE-GARDEN, 

Waiks. — No gai-deu can be said to be even re- 
spectably managed, where the walks are ill ch-ained, 
badly defined, neglected, and covered with moss and 
weeds. If every other part of the garden be kept in 
perfect order, and yet the walks be even pai'tially 
neglected, they give an air of desolation to the 
whole. On the other hand, if the walks are dry, 
clean, and neat, a sti-oU in the garden may be endiu'- 
able, tliough the grass may be rank, and the weeds 
rampant in the otlier parts. We feel, even when in 
health, great comfort in walking in a garden on a 
sohd, dry walk ; but to the invahd, this is absolutely 
necessaiy. To such, who have been confined long 
to a sick-room, and ai-e consequently weak both in 
body and mind, a short walk in the garden appeal's 
an enjoj-nient devoutly to be wished for. Imagine a 
dearly-loved one in such a state, some fine spring 
morning, immediately after a refi'cshing shower has 
fallen ; the clouds have dispersed, the rain is over, the 
bii-ds are singing, the sim is shining, and all nature 
appears rejoicing, and, as it were, rimning over with 
tliankfulness and joy. On such a day, we wish our 
sick relative, or friend, to lean ujion our shoidder, 
and gently walk abroad to taste the sweet breath of 
heaven, and by such influences hope to win back 
health and strength. Our relative is brought to the 
door, equipt for this fii'st effort, when, alas ! the walk 
appears in pools of water here — in miry puddles 
there — and with moss and weeds ovei'gi'own ; and 
the invalid, in bitter disappointment, exclaims — " I 
cannot, dai'e not, go out ! beautifid morning as it 
is, I must wait till the sun diies up the walk." 
Perhaps, by that time, the day is declining, and 
then the feai- of the dews of the evening ai'e a final 
prevention of the desired aii'ing. 

To prevent the possibihty of such occiuTcnces, oiu* 
advice is, " mend yoiu' ways promptly and at once." 
We are sensible that our language may ajjpcar some- 
what sti'ong and savouring of the visionary ; but we 
too often see instances in our daily rounds, of walks 
in such a state, that a person of mfirm health would 
di'ead to take the aii' on them, excepting in the driest 
weather. As this is a good season to either unprove 
old walks, or to make new ones, we shall endeavoin- 
to give our amateur and cottage readers some iu- 
stnictions on the subject. 

To Improve Old Walks. — Whenever walks are 
out of order, proceed with ]iickaxe and sliovel to 
loosen all the rubbish the walk may be made of. If 
the walk is not drained, or badly ihained, have 
either some draining tiles or bricks with covers 
ready. Let all the old rubbish be sifted, and tlie 
rough laid in a ridge at one side of the waUc. The 
fine stuti' that passes through the sieve wiU do well 
to mix witli dung to mauiu'e the garden with, 
especially where the general soil of the garden is 
heavy, or of a clayey natm-e. Wiiere there is plenty 
of room to lay the rough rubbisli, the whole may be 
sifted at once ; but where that is not the case, the 
work may be done in lengths of ten or more yards 
at a time. After tlie nibble is removed, the next 
operation is to make and lay the driiiu, iirovided the 
walk is deep enough. To make a thoruugldy good 
di-y walk, there ought to be at least nine inches deep 
of open rubble. The drain shoidd be in the centre 
of the walk ; haU' of its depth ought to be below the 
bottom of the rubble. Then lay short chains from 
the sides of the walk to the centi-e drain ; and upuu 
them, close to the cdguig, lay four bricks to receive 
a grating, to take in tiic top water in heavy showers. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER, 



201 



Where tlie walk is pretty level, these gratings need not 
be nearer to each other than from 10 to 15 yards ; 
biit if the walk is steep, or even of a moderate slope, 
the gi-atings ought to be much more niunerous; 
perhaps, in extreme eases, as near as five yards to 
each other. The day, or earth, under the rubble, 
should be made smooth and sloping from each side, 
down to the drain. This will convey aU the water 
that settles through the rubble to the draia, which 
draiu will convey it to a general di-aiu outside the 
garden. As soon as the drain is laid and the bottom 
made smooth, the rubble should be put in carefidly, 
so as not to distirrb the drain. This shoidd be put 
in to within two inches of the level of the edging. If 
the edging, whether it is of gi-ass, box, thrift, daisies, 
or even slates, be out of order, in tliis state of the 
walk it is a veiy good opportunity to renew it ; but 
gi-eat care must be taken not to mix the earth with 
the rubble. AVhen all this work is well and duly 
done, let the rubble be beaten down with a rammer, 
or well rolled ; it is then ready for the gravel. Lay on 
a coating of rough gravel first, rounding it up in the 
centre, so that the top of the centre should be as high 
as the edging, and the sides 1^ inch below it. This 
rough gravel would be better to lay as it is for a few 
days, or even weeks, if convenient, so that it may 
settle, and become in a degi-ee solid. Then lay on 
the last coat of gravel, wliich should be moderately 
fine, the pebbles amongst it not being larger than 
hazel nuts. This coat of gi-avel should be laid on 
pretty nearly level witli the edging, and roimded up to 
the centre. This will, after it has been well rolled and 
becomes solid, allow the water to run to the lowest 
part of the wallv — the sides, and fi'om thence into the 
drains, through the gi'atings before mentioned. All 
the drains ought to have a gentle descent, to allow 
the water to run off fi-eely. If the walk is steep, it 
win be necessaiy to lay the bottom of the drain with 
slate or flat tiles, to prevent the water working away 
the substratum, which will soon choke up the drain 
if this precaution is not adopted. In places where 
the wallis are ou a steep descent, it is a good plan to 
pick out of the gi'avel, or to procure them on pmiiose, 
as many pebbles about the size of hens' eggs as wiU 
pave each side of the walk six. or nine inches wide, 
laying them rather hollow, so as to form a condiut 
for the water in heavy rains. This will prevent the 
gi'avel washing away, and will not look amiss, pro- 
vided it is neatly performed. 

Walks fob Coti.vge Gardens. — If om cottago 
friends cannot procm-e gravel, there are many sub- 
stances that will make a firm dry wallt. Perhaps the 
next best to gravel is coal-ashes. In the neighbour- 
hood of large manufactming towns these are vei-y 
plentiful. In using them, proceed as with gravel, — 
di'ain first ; then put in the rough, larger pieces, and 
then a coat of fine ashes, beating them down firmly 
with the back of a shovel or spade. These walks are 
drj' and firm, though, of course, not so sightly as 
gi-avel, neither do they last so long. We have also 
seen very decent walks formed of road scrapings. 
These requu-e to be well raised to keep them dry. 
Spent tanners' bai'k, where plentifid, makes a good 
path, and has the advantage of keeping down weeds 
entirely ; or if these do grow, of being easily weeded. 
Wliichever of the foregoing materials can be easiest 
procured, we hope our cottagers will not neglect to 
obtain and use them at once, for notliing makes a 
garden, however hrmible it may be, appear so un- 
sightly, as a mhy, puddly walk up to the door. 

Labels for AirAiEURS. — We saw lately some veiy 
neat enamelled labels, both for pots and borders, at a 



shop, 109, St. Martin's- lane, London. They are very 
dm-able, neat, and, considering the material, tolerably 
cheap. Those for pots were of three sizes — the largest 
63s, middle-size 48s, and the smaller iis per 100. 
The names of the plants ai-e beautifully -wiitten upon 
them ; the expense of the writing being included in 
the above prices. Neither the name nor label, with 
moderate cai-e, can ever decay ; not, at least, for a 
gi'eat nimiber of years. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

Tulips. — The very rmusually mild weather we 
have had lately will cause these brdbs to send up 
their leaves ; and, as cold weather may yet reason- 
ably be expected, its effect will be very unfavoui'able 
to tlieir flower buds. To prevent this, we must adopt 
means to check their growth. The most effectual 
way to do this, is to shade the beds during the day, 
and to expose them dirring the night, iniless frosty. 
When fi'osty, cover up the beds very secm-ely, as the 
tulip, with advancing buds, is very tender, and the 
efiects of fr'ost getting to them will be shewn by 
yellow defoimed leaves, with imperfect flowers, and 
consequently gi-eat disappointments to the anxious 
cultivator. 

Auricula and Polyanthus. — These flowers will also 
feel the efiects of the warm weather, and the same 
means must be used to keep them fi-om prematmely 
pushing foi-ward their flower stems. Keep them as 
cool as possible, by giving abundance of an, and 
during sunshine by shading them ; keeping the air 
on at the same time. Choice seedlings in small pots 
may now be shifted, to encourage them to grow and 
make sti'ong plants to flower next year. 

Pansy. — Those planted out last autumn will now 
'requfre the smface of the soil in the bed to be stiiTed, 
either with a short three-pronged fork, or a small 
forked stick; close the soil with the hand fh'mly 
round each stem, and keep a look out for slugs and 
wireworms. Below is a descriptive list of some of the 
best moderately-priced ones : — 

Arethusa (Brown's), purple ; 
self.^ 



Apollo (Turner's), yellow and 

bright orange- 
Beauty of Guildford (Hart's), 

white and ^'iolet purple. 
Blue Fringe (Major's), white 

ground, deepljlueeye, andblue 

edge. 
Bridegroom (Major's), white and 

purple. 
Cato (Schoficld's), white ground, 

with light blue belt. 
Clinia.^ (Bell's), white and purple. 
Companion (Hooper's), gold and 

chocolate. 
Duchessof Rutland (Thompson's) 

white and purplish lilac. 
Doctor \A''olff (Backhouse's), gold 

and bronze purple. 
Excellent (Thompson's), golden 

yellow and dark bronze. 
Favourite (Schoiield's), mulberry 

and rich crimson. 
Field-Marshal (Schofield's), white 

and dark purple. 
Great Britam (Hooper's), yellow 

and purple. 
Grand Siiltan (Youell's), dark 

puce ; self. 
Hero of Bucks (King's), gold and 

maroon. 
Lord Hardinge (Gossett's), straw 

and purple. 
Lady Sale (Hooper's), dark pur- 
ple. 

The above tliirty-six varieties average Is each, or 
9s the dozen. T. Appleby. 



Lord Jlorpeth (Major's), large 

yellow. 
Mmerva (Schofield's), rich mul- 
berry, and white ground. 
Model of Perfection (Chater's), 

mulberry ; self. 
Optimus (Turner's), white and 

purple. 
Perfection (Thompson's), golden 

yellow; self. 
Pizarro (Thompson's), yellow and 

bronze. 
President (Schofield's), yellow and 

purple. 
Queen of 'Whites (Hart's), fine 

white ; self. 
Rainbow (Hall's), dark purple ; 

self. 
Richard Cobden (Oak's), black; 

self. 
Satirist (Thompson's), bron2epur- 

ple ; self. 
Supreme (Youell's), yellow and 

dark purple. 
Superb (King's), white and blue. 
Sulphurea elegans (King's), sul- 
phur ; self. 
WhitcSergeant(Hooper's), white; 

self. 
Wonderful (Hooper's), yellow and 

rich bronze. 
Wellington (Hunt's), maroon ; 

self. 
Yellow Climax (Bell's), yellow; 

self. 



Self— 2k flower all of one colour. 



202 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[Eerata. — At page I69, first column, 27th line from the top, for 
*^ plants," read "pots." Same page, second column, 2nd line, for 
*' or in a bed 7tot properly prepared," read " but in a bed properly 
prepared.*'] j 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
G.iEDENING. 

Calceolarias. — These may be called the next hest 
class of flowers for window and pit cultm-c, after the 
gerauiums and fuchsias ; and, like them, they have 
always been favoui'ites with those who know tliem, 
and grow them for summer flowers. The florists 
have taken tliem up of late yeaj's, and improved them 
wonderfully in size, shape, and markings, but they 
committed a sad mistake in discharging some very 
beautifid blotched and selt-colom-ed ones, tliat were 
in high repute between 1834 and 1840 ; for it must 
be remembered, that the present race of calceolarias 
are of very recent origin, and, with the single ex- 
ception of the fuchsia, are the youngest tribe wliich 
have won the smiles of the florists, (shame be to them 
for neglecting om- old favourite sorts !) for the pansies 
began to attract attention much about the same time 
as the calceolarias. 

The first hybrid calceolarias were raised near Edin- 
burgh, and flowered in the summer of 1830, and the 
fh-st account of them was given to the world in 
Jameson's Plulosophical Journal for Jidy of that year, 
by the late Dr. Graham, then professor of botany in 
the University of Edinburgh. The late Mr. Yoimg, 
nm-seryman at Epsom, bought that coUeotion, and 
introduced them to England in 1831, and their fame 
soon spread throughout iUl the laud, making a great 
stir among gardeners ; and in less than six months 
afterwards, we had finer colom-s, and more marked 
ehai-acters among them, than is to be met with in the 
present day. The present race of fancy calceolai-ias 
are certainly most beautifid things, and are extra- 
ordinary instances of the powers of cultivation, aided 
by the hand of the hybridiser, over the wUd fonns of 
nature, in so short a time. Yet these beautiful plants 
would have been far more extensively cultivated and 
sought after, if the family character had not been 
reduced down to one uuifonn strain, so as to come 
into mathematical precision in respect to form and 
general outline of the flower. 

The industiy and perseverance of florists, and the 
ndes they have laid dowTi for testing the produce of 
their- laboius, are beyond all praise ; but the race 
between the diflerent growers is so keenly contested, 
that unavoidable mistakes, with respect to breeders, 
are often committed. No matter what good proper- 
ties a plant may naturally possess for the purposes 
of general cultivation, if it does not include the " go- 
a-head" principle, and can reach the wimiiug-post 
" neck-or-iiothing," it is utterly discarded ; and once 
the tide of fashion is led into a smooth channel, it is 
useless to endeavovu- to stem the cuiTcnt. No one 
knows aU tliis better than a florist ; but he must live 
like other honest people, and what brings hiui in bread 
and cheese is not to be compared with other people's 
fancies. 

Great treasures are left in store, therefore, for the 
amateur who has time and inclination to follow out 
the art of hybridising, without allowing himself to 
be trammelled by mathematical rules, or any set of 
fixed laws whatever, and he need have no apprehen- 
sion about gardeners being able to compete with 
him in that department. In these days they have no 
leisure for such pui'smts ; and if they have the incli- 
nation, they can only take a bite here, and a snatch 
there, without any regular plan of proceeding. 



Slipperwort is the English name of the calceolaria, 
because the little weeds ti-om wliicii oiu present stock 
is descended had gaping small flowers somewhat in 
tlie shape of a shpper; but the new ones are more 
lilie globes and balloons than anytliing else, and the 
toe end of the old slipper must now be jmtt'ed out 
like a fuU blown bladder, without the least wrinkle or 
jiuckeiing of any kind, and moreover be as regidar 
in outline as if cut out with a stamp, othei-wise it will 
not come witliin the florist's ultimatum. Some of the 
varieties have really attained tliis — so called — perl'eo- 
tion, and then- spots, strijies, and other mai-kings, 
are nearly endless. 

Notwithstanding all this diversity from the ori- 
ginal stock, and having through twenty successive 
generations been removed as far' fi-om their wild 
alpine ancestors as it seems possible to reduce them, 
they yet maintain the coiiMUutional character im- 
planted in their wild parents through the lapse of 
ages in a pecidiar climate. The whole race are 
natives of the western declivities of the groat Andes' 
chain of mountains, in South America, fi-om Peru, 
tlu-ough Chili and Patagonia, and some of the adja- 
cent islands. In some of theu- localities on the hills, 
they are so niunerous as to give a peculiar cast to 
the vegetation, as om- own buttercups do here. 
Those fi-om which our present calceolarias have 
originated, inhabit a belt, or zone, on the liills in 
Cliili and the southern provinces of Pern, not far 
below the snow hue, the moltiug of which often suj)- 
plies them with summer moisture ; and the south 
wind, loaded with vapour fi-om the Pacific, plays on 
them for eight or nine months in the year, so that 
they enjoy a temperate, moist climate ; while the 
vegetation immediately below them, along the plains 
to the sea, is withered with scorching heat and want 
of rain. They have thus acquii-ed a pecidiar consti- 
tution, from wliich their more civilized ofi"spriug 
seem imwiUing to depart ; and a constitution, too, 
wliich pecidiarly fits them to the damp atmosphere 
of England. Actual damp in cold pits, however, is 
certain destruction to them. Their alpine nature 
requii-es a uniformly cool, moist air, in constant 
motion around them. A wai-m close room, there- 
fore, wiU not do well to grow them in, mdcss they 
are tm-ned outside in mild weather; and in that case, 
there is no place better than a %vindow for them. 
Eii-e-heat is disagreeable to them at any stage of 
then- gi-owth ; eveu om- summers are generally too 
hot for them ; and it is in the autumn and spring 
tliat they enjoy, with us, the nearest approach to 
tlieii- native climate. 

This " relation between climate and vegetation" 
is ahuost a new kind of study among gardeners; and 
it is of the utmost importance to facilitate the jiro- 
gress of superior cultivation. The climate of Italy 
is much the same as that of central Chili, but the 
cUmate of Chili varies considerably in the lUfl'ercut 
districts. Thus, in the calceolaria districts, we have 
seen how cool and moist the atmosphere is, while in 
the nortliei-n eUstricts of Chili, idl along its coast 
line, the gi-eat heat and di-yncss of the air renders 
the vegetation of those plains more like that of the 
Cape colony than that in which the calceolarias 
flourish, just on the hills above thorn. 'I'hercfore, 
with the same general climate as Chili, the Italian 
gardeners may and wiU excel us in rearing the 
ti-agrant tuberoses, the gay helladonua, and even 
the Peruvian daflbdils {Ismeiic), from the country of 
tlie calceolarias, aud yet not be able to approach 
oiu- success in the culture of the calceolarias them- 
selves. So much is vegetation influenced not only 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



203 



by climate, but, also, by tbe state of the atmosphere 
in a given locality. Hence it is, that plants from 
the same country, and under the same latitude, 
often require very opposite treatment. Hence, too, 
the necessity of keeping the roots of calceolarias 
much cooler than thefr herbage ; their natural water- 
ing, on the hills of Chili, being from the melting 
snow on the hills above them. No lukewarm water 
I'or them, therefore, for it is almost impossible to 
keep them too cool at the roots under cultivation ; 
and they ai'e the first to suffer from exposure of the 
pots to a dry or hot atmosphere. No plants delight 
in double potting more than these; and cold water 
is, at aU times, more congenial to them than when 
in a lukewarm state. 

The generaUty of plants are much improved in 
health and vigour, if the soil about their roots is kept 
somewhat warmer than the atmosphere they live in ; 
because, in all warm coimtries, and even in more 
temperate localities, it is found that the average 
temperature of the soil is always some degrees 
warmer than the surrounding atmosphere ; and this 
state of things we endeavour to imitate, by watei'ing 
our pot plants with lukewarm water^more particu- 
larly in cold weather. Plants like the calceolaria, 
however, which hve naturally near the snow-line in 
hilly countries, have the usual course reversed. 
Their roots are in a much cooler state than the air 
they breathe : with the melting of the snow, the 
groimd is always more or less moistish, and at a 
temperature much lower than the suiTOunding air. 

The first fruit tliat ever I tasted, I believe, is the 
produce of a little plant that for years I was accus- 
tomed to see in flower early in June, with a collar of 
snow round its neck. Yes, as soon as the snow got 
thin enough to allow this little alpine to push up its 
leaves and flowers, it would bloom in myriads along 
the edges of the snow, with flowers just like om' 
strawbeiTy blossoms, and as clear white as the snow 
wliich siuTounded and watered them. Yet a frosty 
night at that season woidd destroy a year's crop, as 
happens in oiu' gardens but too often. This shews 
clearly that they require a warmer atmosphere for 
theii' flowers thau is uatm'al for tbeii' roots ; and, of 
course, piu'e an- is at all times what they breathe. 
Hence tlie gi'eat assistance gai-deners and others 
derive from the study of climate with reference to 
vegetation, and the peculiar conditions under which 
some plants thrive in their native places. 

The fruit of the little plant alluded to is called the 
Cloudberry. It is about the size, shape, and colom- 
of a sti-awben-y, and in hot weather, at the end of 
summer, is as refresliing and wholesome to eat as 
any of our summer fr-uits; but I forget about the 
flavour. 

No codling, therefore, for our calceolarias. In 
summer, however, the pots shoidd be well secm'ed 
from the sun, and be enveloped in damp moss, if 
possible. They will gi-ow in any light rich soil ; but 
leaf-mould, peat, and sandy loam, in equal propor- 
tions, will keep them more healthy, and less Uable to 
mishaps, than richer composts. They are very glut- 
tons, nevertheless, and will get to a gi'eater size in a 
more rich and adhesive compost ; but that sort of 
forced gi-owth is against their keeping qualities. 
They are propagated from sUps, or cuttuigs, after 
they have bloomed in summer, and the little plants 
are kept over the winter in cold pits and greenhouses 
in four-inch jiots, with very httle water and abund- 
ance of air. As soon as they begin to move in the 
spring — about the end of Eebniai-y — they ai'e potted 
into pots one size larger. They now grow rapidly, 



and take large doses of cold water, and manure water 
twice a week. As soon as one sized pot is getting full 
of roots, they are shifted into the next larger one in 
rapid succession, till the middle of May, when their 
flower-stalks are pushing up strong. No amount of air 
is too much for them after the flower-stalks appear ; 
and if the night an- is just above the fi-eezing point, it is 
more natural to them, and they delight in it, as well as 
to be watered at this season with ice-cold water. This 
I have proved over and over again; for, as is well 
known to many of the readers of The Cottage Gar- 
dener, I was once the greatest gi-ower of calceolarias 
in England, and my fingers always had an itchuig 
for experiments. The best preventive against insects, 
is to give calceolarias abimdance of cold night air, 
and to keep them veiy cool at the roots. When they 
are pampered with warm water and close comfortable 
lodgings, as one might say, they become the prey of 
insects directly, as you may easily prove by keeping 
a plant in a wai'm room, and his fellow just outside 
the window ; and it would be intei-esting for the 
reader to tiy all om- niles by du-eot experiments. 
No matter how humble your station, if you shew by 
a fairly-tested experiment a better way of gi-owing 
any plant, all the best gardeners will be obhged to 
you for telling them of it ; and you need never be 
afraid of \viiting about any plan of gi-owing plants, 
for fear that you cannot speU the words right, or that 
you might use bad gi-ammar, and all that sort of thing. 
You never think it a difiiculty to write a letter to any 
of yom- friends, and are we not all of us friends ? 
We never think anything about fine words, or good 
spelling either — facts are much better. The editors 
and printers will put all that to rights — it is their 
business : they cannot dig, veiy pi'obably, like us ; 
but the most confused letter that you ever saw, they 
can make as smooth and even in pi-int as an onion 
bed, and nothing pleases them better, if it is about 
anything new or useftd. D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 

Rhubarb Forcing. — First cover the plant either 
with a sea-kale or common garden pot (twelve inches 
across), but a butter firkin or chimney-pot is still 
better ; the leaf-stalks becoming much longer and 
finer. Whichever vessel is used, cover it two or 
three feet all round with fennenting dung. As by 
this mode the plants are very Uable to be broken, 
their leaves soon touching the sides, a fi'ame is much 
less objectionable, formed, by driving stakes into the 
grovmd on each side of the bed. These are to be 
three feet liigh above gi'oimd, and the space between 
the two rows of stakes two feet at the bottom, but 
approaching each other, and fastened by cross pieces, 
so as to be only fifteen inches apoi-t at top. To the 
sides and top, stout laths are fixed to prevent the 
dung falling upon the plants, are represented in the 
accompanying sketch. 




The dung may be either fresh, or that which has al- 
ready partly undergone fermentation, placed all round 
the frame eighteen inches thick, and tbe top covered 
with long litter. The temperature in the interior 



204 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



should have a range from 05 to CO degrees. If it 
rises higher, two or tlrree large holes made through 
the top soon coiTects it. 

Cabbages. — Any vacancies among the autumn- 
planted, caused by vei-min, or the effects of winter, 
should now be filled up from those pricked out for 
the purpose, and for supplying sti-ong plants for 
sijruig planting. The plants should be raised with 
a liand-fork or trowel, so as to distui'b tbeii' roots but 
slightly. Tlie yellow leaves should be collected away 
from aU cabbage plantations, and lioeing and sm'- 
face-stimng well attended to, in suitable weather ; for 
it will well repay th'p trouble, by an earlier produc- 
tion of healthy luxuriant produce. 

Cauliflowers wliich liave stood in frames, or 
under the shelter of glass, should now be well hard- 
ened. Indeed, the frames may now be altogether 
removed from them ; and, if frost shoiild prevail, 
hoops and mats, or evergi'een bouglis, straw, pea 
haulm, or any simOar covering, will answer the pur- 
pose of protection. Those who have warm borders, 
or banks, or sheltered situations of any kind, and 
the soU well pulverized, should, there, at once get a 
quantity of the sti'ongest plants set out. Yoimg 
l>lants now coming up in pans, &c., should be 
pricked out as soon as they can be handled, into 
other pans, an incli apart; or on a sUght hot-bed, 
slieltored with lioops and mats ; or under a light or 
hand-glass, for a short time, if these shelters can bo 
spared. 

Jehusalem Abtiohokes and Hoksebadish, where 
not already ti-enched out, and new plantations made, 
should be done so at once. The small and r^efuse 
artichoke tubers should be saved for the pigs or 
poultry, for which they are excellent food. Where 
game is preserved, artichokes are a most excellent 
food for enticing and keeping them at home. 

Routine Work. — Sow ^»'«s and heans in succes- 
sion, Salmon and Turnip radishes, and tmistard and 
eress. The two last-named wholesome salad plants 
may be gi-own well in the cottage window, in pans 
or boxes ; and shifting it to the chimney corner of 
a night will forward it much. BrocoU now coming 
in shoidd be protected by breaking over them a leaf 
or two, or by pulling otf two or tlu-ee of the yellowest 
leaves from the base of then stems, and placing over 
them for protection. Early varieties of rhiibarh, in 
the natural ground, may be much assisted by placing 
a few evergi'een boughs round about their crowns, 
and by adding a little fern, heath, straw, or pea haulm, 
lightly over the crowns, and between the boughs. 

Mushroom Beds should be kept clear from .short 
litter ; and, where necessary to be covered, which is 
the case with those in cold sheds or out of doors, 
a little fresh litter should occasionally be applied ; 
which is a much better system than changing it to any 
extent, or all at once, for this is apt to cause various 
checks, which are not so easily remedied. Stable dung 
should be got together for succession beds, and placed 
in small ridges, and turned over and left open and 
light, to partially dry ; open slieds, or inider stack 
stands, are the best places for putting it to dry. 

Frames and Pits shoidd now bo well attended to. 
Early ciic-umlers shoidd be methodically stopped, 
thinned, and trained, always rubbing off every show 
of fruit, until the plants are strong enough to cany 
and mature them in perfection. When leaving fruit 
to be matured, rub off all, at each joint, as soon as 
seen, with the exception of one, and that the strong- 
est and boldest looldng. Those thus left should be 
again thinned as soon as tlie blossom is di'opt and 



the fruit set, only allowing a given quantity in vari- 
ous stages of gi-owth to swell off. For being over 
covetous of much fruit is often the means of only 
producing deformities, exliaustion, and disease. 
Whenever needful, Unings, if well protected with 
furze, faggots, or otlier refuse, and kept topped up 
to the upper edge of the frames with dry, sweet 
stable manm'e, will produce a lasting, kindly, regular 
heat ; which is much more essential for the main- 
taining good health, and obtaining abundance of fniit, 
than sudden changes. A succession of both ciicum- 
hcrs and melons should be sown ; and plants already 
potted, kept close to the glass, to maintain sturdiuess. 

Early Potatos. — Eveiy available article, at all 
fit for fermenting piu'poses, should be collected to- 
gether, for making slight hot-beds, for producing 
early potatoes in trenches. Cart out earth enough 
to make a bed one foot deep, with earth enough 
left in a ridge, on each side, to comraaud a foot 
in lieight, above the potato plants, for forming a 
shelter, and for placing across poles or rough scant- 
lings, to bear a slight covering of any casUy-pro- 
curable material. The best plan for preparing the 
potato plants for plantings in such temporary places, 
is to place moderate-sized whole potatoes thick toge- 
ther, in shallow pans or boxes, putting these in a 
little heat, — such as the front of cucumber or melon 
pits, frames, or hot-houses, &e., covering them, but 
thinly, with light earth. W^hen the slioots are two 
inches high, transplant them into the trendies. No 
plant does better than a potato, transplanted, AVhen 
the stems get high enough to earth up, the soU in 
ridges, left for shelter on the sides, shoidd be made 
use of for tliat puiiiose. 

Radishes and Horn Carrots ah-eady up should be 
thinned in due season ; the sm'face between them 
stirred often, and spiinkled in good time, during fine 
afternoons, mth tepid water ; and if, by any accident, 
they have become a little drawn up, sift among them 
some light earth and charred ashes. Lettuce plants 
should be also similarly treated. 

G. W. J., & James Barnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 15.) 

The unusual mildness of the present season pro- 
mises a cold, frosty spring. Every lady who has ne- 
glected to prepare her borders in November, or who 
has, since that period, caught a new idea, should ad- 
di'ess herself to the work \rithout delay, if the open 
weather continues, as notliing can be done during 
the prevalence of frost. New borders may now be 
formed, and left to pidverize and settle, before the 
planting time begins. If the new soU is strong and 
heavy^if it is even a clay — spread coal ashes rather 
thickly over the newly-dug bed, and leave it to 
digest them. The eifeot of coal ashes on clayey soU 
is marvellous. I have myself experienced tins, and, 
therefore, can speak confidently. My oNvn garden 
soil is a vei-y sti-ong one, almost approaching to 
clay, and was once a shrubbery of laurels and other 
trees. When first cleared, and laid out in beds, the 
newly-dug soil lay in almost hopeless lumps, hard 
and unmanageable. After throwing a thick coating 
of coal ashes over the soU, I left it for a little whUe, 
perhaps a mouth or more ; when, to my joy, the 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



20 5 



lumps broke up into mould, and I worked with ease 
and comfort. I have ever foimd tliis to he the case ; 
therefore, ladies need not give up a situation that 
suits their taste, because the soil is hai'd and cold ; 
they need not lament over theii' borders, because 
they are wet and comfortless ; only give them a good 
supply of ashes, not very finely sifted in the worst 
cases, and they wUl find in a few weeks that the 
spade and trowel wiU move with ease. It is best to 
do this before the winter, because you gain time, 
and the frosts help you too, but it is not too late to 
do it now ; and, as there is every j^robability of a 
cold late spring, the garden wiU not be much behind- 
hand. 

In mild open weather during this month, hardy 
bulbous roots may be planted — hardy perennials 
and biennials also, Lf not done in the autumn. 
Shrubs may be moved also ; and shiiibberies shoidd 
lie cleared ft'om long rambling shoots, and whatever 
is unpleasing to the eye. Cut them aU away ; let 
an air of neatness prevail, so essential in a lady's 
garden ; and either dig among the sluiibs, or clear 
and rake away long dead grass and litter, according 
to the ground on which they stand. P'rom my own 
experience, I should advise ladies to have as little dug 
gi'ound as possible among shrubs and bushes, for it 
is a perpetual trouble ; weeds spring up incessantly, 
and it is very difficidt to get at them. The rose and 
sweet-brier bushes tear our bonnets and collars to 
pieces, and we tread most vexatiously on our rai- 
)iient, when stooping to avoid them. Tims, as in 
some situations in hfe, often brought on by our own 
folly, we cannot avoid one evil witliout eneoiuitering 
another ; and I have come ft'om among my slmibs 
with draggled dress' and cnished bonnet, day after 
day, in the vain attempt to destroy the persevering 
endless-rooted weed that infests my garden. It has, 
however, defeated my efibrts ; and I have now tinfed 
up the border, lea^^ng a veiy small circle round each 
stem ; and this plan I recommend every lady to 
adopt who is her own gardener. It would be well 
for some of us, if we " turfed up " much that we do, 
and take delight in ; much that, at best, is weedy 
and ixnj^rofitable, and very often ends in guilt and 
grief We have within us, gi'ound veiy difficult to 
tiU ; our hearts are harder than clay ; our wills more 
stubborn than thorns and briers ; and every evil 
more deeply-rooted than a dandelion. Clay may be 
softened, briers cut down, weeds rooted up, but how 
are ^ve to be broken up and fertilized? Tins is a se- 
rious question. Let us not spend all om' time and 
skill upon fruits and flowers, useftil and lovely as 
they are ; but let us leai'n fi'om their requu'ements 
how much we need culture too ; and that though 
many ways are devised to enrich the soQ, there is but 
one way to improve the human heart. Let us seek 
it, and use it diligently. 

Few, and far between, ar-e the flowers of this 
season. The lovely lilac primrose has been per- 
suaded to tbuik this winter only a chilly spring, for 
her blossoms have been peeping among the soft 
green leaves for some little time. The common 
prinn'ose, too, I saw, long befoi"e Christmas, in the 
sheltered garden of a friend ; but they did not give 
me pleasure, they looked cold, and pale, and languid, 
as il awakened fi-om their sleep too soon. Nothing 
looks healthy — scarcely pretty — when out of season ; 
but when once we feel ourselves again bounding 
towards the sim, an early flower dehghts us ; and I 
am already beginning to glance at the hedges and 
warm banks, in seai-oh of the early buds. I do not 
like primroses in borders, they belong so exclusively 



to the woodland treasury, to " the banks and braes 
of bonny " England, that they do not look half so 
charming among garden flowers, as when carpeting 
the newly-cleared copse, spiinkliug the fields, and 
peeping fi'om imder every wild entanglement of 
hedge and brake. There they are in their native 
loveliness, and cbai-m us with then- delicate blos- 
soms, and equally dehcate scent, which, in the fuU 
flowering season, greets us as we pass. 

The Winter Aconite is a valuable addition to the 
scanty flowers of winter. Its rich yellow blossoms 
rest on the ground, below the i-each of cutting and 
dashing winds. It is found in the woods of Italy 
also, and some other pai-ts of Eiu'ope, and is a 
deadly poison. Where there ai-e childi-en, it should 
be excluded from the garden. 

The Rosemary is blooming also ; it is a ft-agi'ant 
as well as a pretty flower, and useful as a flavom-ing 
herb in some jjarts of cookery. It belongs to south- 
ern Eiu'ope, and is foimd among the broiling desei-ts 
of Africa, so that it may be called a citizen of many 
climes. It is used in Gennany in some of their 
religious ceremonies; and was once regarded, in 
days of romance, as an emblem of constancy ; and 
in bygone days, it was used in England both on 
nuptial and funeral occasions. It has much to say 
to us, therefore, of times and seasons — ;joys and sor- 
rows — and is an interesting as well as kindly visitor 
at tins dark season. We might fill our gardens with 
many plants that woidd talk instructively to us, if 
we studied their nature and their liistoiy. They 
would form a little hbrary of useful knowledge ; and 
we should not content ourselves with admiring "the 
pretty blue flower," or " the bright and handsome 
red one," as we often do. I feel my own ignorance 
on these subjects, and how much of enjoyment and 
interest I lose by it ; therefore, I would mge " my 
sisters " to gain all the information possible, relative 
to their histoiw, then- habits, and then properties. 
A garden is a beautiful and rational recreation ; a.nd 
the more we see and understand of God's perfect 
woi'kmanship, the more interest and delight it wOl 
afford. The Garden and the Field are the cradles 
of Englishmen; and we shall, I trust, be old indeed 
when the pleasure and profit we derive from them 
shaU cease. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Strawhehries (E. Marsden). — The best early strawberry is 
Keene's seedling ; and the best, for the main crop, Myatt's British 
Queen. The best time for planting is from the beginning of August 
to the end of September, but the earlier the better. Trench the 
ground and manure it now, and plant two rows 18 inches apart, and 
the same distance from plant to plant. The bed being so narrow, 
enables the fruit to be gathered, and all necessary cultivation attended 
to, without treading on the bed. This is important, for it ought 
never to be dug until the plantation is broken up. 

Salt Water for Hyacinths (W. X.). — A little salt in soft 
water is no doubt useful for hyacinths and other plants ; but the dose 
is so liable to be overdone, or not given at the proper time, that we 
never recommend it. We have found nothing so saie as the soap- 
water from our wash-hand basin in the morning, without the addition 
of other slops. For twenty years wc have used this water with the 
best effects for all kinds o'f house-plants ; and this is generally the 
thing we mean when we say *' soap-suds.'* The morning is the best 
time, at this season, to water plants ; and every house has the daily 
supply of this useful article every morning. 

Greenhouse Climbers {W. X.). — I'ou say that you have Mau- 
randya Barclayana, Sollya salicifolia, Lophospermum scandens, 
Lonicera implexis, Tweedia coerulea, Passiflora princeps, Kennedya 
monophylla. Clematis azurea, Clematis grandiflorum, and Jasmi- 
num revolutum. These are all good — but your Lonicera and 
Jasminum will do out of doors, — even in your " bleak situa- 
tion." If you can train them against a wall ^ith any aspect, s o 



20G 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



much the better. The perpetual-flowering rose you require for a 
greenhouse must be of the " tea-secnted" class. If intended to be 
planted out as a climber or pillar rose, almost any of the strong-grow- 
ing old sorts will answerin good rich soil ; and some buds of the newer 
sorts may be inserted afterwards. The newest and best of the tea- 
scented roses iu, unnuestionably, Vicountessc de Cazes. It was exhi- 
bited last summer tor the first time in England ; and is of a beautiful 
huffish red, and charmingly sweet ; but it costs 3s. Gd. But to begin 
with, take Uougere. Triomphe d<r Luxembourg, or Belle AUemande, 
all for a shilling each, and bud the others on as you can get them. 

Ventilating a Geeenhouse (W. X). — Your plan of ventilation, 
by having openings into a stable at the back of your greenhouse, 
would suit your plants very well — but would such a current of air 
suit the horses ? The rush of air will often enter from the stable, by 
the top ventilators, and out by the front sashes, according to the di- 
rection of the wind, and, at such times, the ammoniacal gases from 
the stables would enter the greenhouse, and might be unpleasant to 
you. It is true that, in your instance, such gases woidd be rather 
beneficial to the plants than otherwise. A hay-loft over the stable, 
with a window at each end, or even at one end, would be more 
favourable for this kind of ventilation. Please to recollect there will 
be a back cuiTent at times, and any dust about the loft might be 
carried into the greenhouse. The thing can be done well enough, if 
these things are kept in view. 

Ventilating a Cold Pit (Ibid). — The plan you propose, by 
having an opening near the ground, on one side of the pit, and near 
its top on the other, is often to be met with, and a capital plan it is 
when well attended to. In piercing cold winds, the openings near 
the ground would require to be shut up, to prevent a cold draught. 
The openings, both at top and bottom, would require to be grated, to 
exclude mice, which would nibble a host of plants in one night. 
Concrete will not answer for the front of your coach-house — the frost 
would injure it. 

Neglected Grass-plot (Clerieiis). — The grass on this being 
very poor and thin, you had better sow it at once with salt and soot, 
as you suggest. Your plot being 90 feet long and 50 feet wide, you 
will require two bushels of salt and one bushel of soot. Put this 
mixture on during rainy weather, but do not add any coal-ashes, un- 
less the soil is very heavy. We should also sow on the plot, in the 
spring, a little of the grass seeds enumerated at p. 62 ; first raking 
the surface slightly, and then rolling it after sowing the seeds. 

Best Early Pba (Weston-super-Mare). — The earliest is Cor- 
viack's Prince Albert, but the Early Wartvicb is nearly as early, and 
much more productive. Sown side by side, on the 4th of January, 
Prince Albert's were gathered from on the 14th of May, and Early 
Warwick's on the 2Sth. 

Garden partly Ligdt and partly Heavy (Ibid),~'By all 
means take three inches from the top of each part, and interchange 
them — mixing the heavy with the light, and the light with the heavy. 
You will thus easily improve the staple of both. Cut down the elm 
trees, for no kitchen-garden crop will grow beneath their shade ; and 
adopt the rotation of cropping so plainly pointed out at p. 184. 
July potatoes may be obtained of any seedsman in Southampton or 
Winchester. 

Beet (J. W). — The red and the scarlet are the same. Boiled un- 
til soft, without being previously peeled, and eaten alone, after being 
peeled, with vinegar, it is one of the best of salads. Boiled similarly, 
peeled afterwards, and then having boiling vinegar poured over it, "it 
makes an equally excellent pickle. If your wife will try these, she 
will never again ask if *'beet is good for anything but cattle." 

Rabbit*s-Dukg and Peat-Ashes (Ibid).— This will make one 
of the richest of composts, for cabbages, brocoH, &c. Do not manure 
your ground for potatoes, it increases the disease if they are attacked. 
Haricots, boiled for three or four hours, become quite soft, and are 
very good, eaten with plain melted butter. 

Oleander Scale (J. N. B.).— If you will refer to what we said, 
you will see that we directed you to brush over the scale, not over 
the leaves, for which spirit of turpentine is too strong. If the leaves 
are so thickly infested with scale that you cannot put on the spirit 
to the insects only, then the best mode of submitting them to its in- 
tiuence is to cover the plant over with a sheet, and place underneath 
it, on a hot iron, a little of the spirit of turpentine in a saucer. The 
vapour will kill the scale, after one or two applications. 

Grafting Apples (J. F. yeou(7).— This may be done in the 
course of the present month, before the buds begin to swell. If you 
only require two dessert apples, you cannot do better than by select- 
ing the Pitmaston Nonpareil and Stunner Pippin. You will find a 
list and description of sorts at p. 33. 

Muscle and Paradise Stocks (J. D. W'rm^iort).— Muscle plum 
stocks arc known to every nurseryman. They are plants of the 
muscle plum, of a size sufficient for budding or grafting. Paradise 
or Doucin Stocks are raised from layers or suckers of a dwarf apple- 
tree. The roots of such stocks are produced nearer to the surface 
than are the roots from crab stocks, and they form smaller trees from 
the grafts worked upon thcra. 

Standard Gooseberries and Currants (/6irf).— The cuttings 
for forming these must be treated exactly as for dwarfs. The top 
bud will produce the leader ; and all lateral buds being rubbed off, 
they may be trained, as the stem, to any height you please. 

Currants (/Airf). — The Black Naples, Knight's Large Red, and 
the White Dutch, are the three best varieties. 

Brunsvigia Josephin-e (J. B., Stokfi Newtngton). —You say, 
"that from directions in the Hon. W. Herbert's work, on Bulbs, 
and for other reasons, you have grown this plant in a pot, with its 
bulb .entirely above the earth ; that, after two or three, years, it 
bloomed well, but that last aiumuer it did not bloom i" and you ask 



for our advice. You surely cannot mean Dr. Herbert's great work 
on the Amaryllis (1837), for, if you do, you have trusted to some 
misquotation from it. We could almost repeat all the precepts on 
culture, in that work, from memory, but cannot lay our hands on it 
now, to refer to particular plants or pages. However, having long 
enjoyed personal mtcrcourse with the lamented author, we can state, 
positively, that he was incapable of writing such bad advice, as 
recommending, or in any way approving, of keeping any bulb in 
cultivation above the ground. The " other directions " you mention, 
are mere stock phrases, which may, or may not, lead to success, 
Your own Brunsvigia Josephinie. or, more properly, Amaryllis 
Josephinie, is a case in point. The fact of its not flowering last 
season, as formerly, is a common occurrence ; and the reason is, that 
it spends too much of its energy l)y successive flowering, and requires 
a season of rest (from flowering) to renew its strength. You may, 
therefore, expect to sec it flower again nest autumn, and it is not 
advisable to alter your present treatment, till that is ascertained. 
Pray endeavour to obtain a cross between it and Belladonna; there is 
no question about their being able to produce an offspring. Use the 
pollen of the Belladonna. 

Draining (A Subscriber, Mastock). — Your heavy, cold, damp, 
marly garden, on a clay subsoil, will be greatly benefited by a deep 
drain under the paths round it. But why not have some rather 
shallower drains across the beds, falling into the main drains under 
the paths ? This would complete your drainage, and surprise you 
by the improvement of your crops. Be sure to provide a good out- 
fall for your drains into some neighbouring ditch. 

Hardy Roses (Miss C. liobson). — The following are good for a 
cold northern situation. You had better grow them as dwarfs. Of 
Damask Perpetuals, Antinous, double, and dark crimson ; Bernard, 
salmon, very double, and fragrant. Of Hybrid Perpetuals, Comte de 
Paris, lilac, and very large ; Fulgore, bright pink, and very double ; 
Lady Fordwick, crimson, very double, blooms in clusters. Of Bour- 
bons, Bouquet de Flore, reddish carmine, large, and double. Direc- 
tions for grafting and budding will be given very soon. 

Verbenas (Dianthus). — You will find a list of these at p. 159 of 
our fifteenth number. 

Ink for Writing on Zinc Labels (Ibid). — "Burrow's and 
Thorn's Chemical Ink" for this purpose, may be obtained, we sup- 
pose, through any patent medicine vendor ; but you can make a very 
good ink by following this recipe. Take of powdered verdigris, 1 
drachm ; powdered sal ammoniac, 1 drachm ; lamp black, half a 
drachm; and water, 10 drachms. MLxthem together in a two-ounce 
phial, and shake every time before using. It will be ready so soon 
as the verdigris and sal ammoniac arc dissolved, and must be written 
with a clean quill pen upon the zinc labelsi 

Darlington Horticultural Society (Secretary). — Thanks 
for a report of the meeting. Professor Johnston, of Durham, was 
there, and gave an impromptu lecture on the germination of seeds. 
Such meetings are most desirable ; they enable science to shed a light 
on the path practice has to pursue. 

Killing Insects for a Collection (V. Rofheram). — Do not 
use either prussic, nitric, or oxalic acid, for this purpose. They all, 
more or less, injure the colours of the insects. Nitric acid would ab- 
solutely destroy them. Put the insects into a wide-mouthed phial, 
into which a few bruised laurel leaves have been previously introduced, 
and then cork it tightly. Or, place the insects in a tin box, with a 
little camphor, and heat it by the fire. The latter mode helps to 
preserve the insects. In either caae they are dead almost immediately. 

Celery (W. G. Cherry). — On reference to the advertisements in 
No. 17, you will sec that Mr. Nutt will have no seed to spare until 
next autumn. His direction is, " Near St. John's Church, Sheffield." 
Mr. Turner's direction is, " Neepsend, Sheffield." Thanks for your 
communication. 

Planting Fruit-trees (H. B. Smith).— You have done right 
in avoiding the low level ; we ought to have pointed to this evil, 
perhaps, sooner. Six apples, for kitchen purposes, may be : — 1 
Keswick Codling, 2 Mank's Codlings, 1 Martin's Free Bearer, and 2 
John Apples, or Northern Greenlings. Your garden plots seem 
pretty well arranged; you have, however, a good deal in walks. Plant 
your other three trees according to our station directions, only do not 
go below the ordinary soil. Shavings will do no harm. About nine 
loads of marl would make your land good. 

Deodara Cedar (W, L. H.). — Your nurseryman is right, about 
not supporting the leading shoots of Cedrus Deodara. We have 
reared some hundreds, both from Himalayan seed and from cuttings, 
and we never stake the young leader. It is well, however, to stake 
the lower parts, to prevent wind-waving. Let us advise you to 
screen off both wind and sun from the Deodara ; but not to totally 
exclude light. Whatever you use as a screen, do not let it quite 
touch the plant. 

Depth of Kitchen-gabdbn Soil (JJid).— Eighteen inches is 
deep enough ; you have done well to take out the limestone mixed 
iivith it. Your tour plots will do very well, provided your trees are 
not too near. The vegetables must have breathing- room, at least, 
between the lines of trees. We will tell you all about parsnips in 
our next Allotment number. 



London : Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; aud Published by William 
SoMERViLLE Ore, at the Office 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-lc- Strand, London.— February lat, 1849. 



THE COTTAGE GABDENER, 



207 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M 


w 


D 


D 


8 


Th. 


9 


F. 


10 


S. 


11 


Sun. 


U 


M. 


1:3 


Tu. 


U 


W. 



FEBRUARY 8—14, 1849. 



Small Eft seen in ponds. 

Wild Goose, or Grey Lagg, goes. 

Q. Victoria Mab. 1840 Sea Curlew goes, 
Sexagesima Sun. House Pigeon lays. 

Primrose flowers. 
Partridge pairs. 

Valentine. Golden-erested Wren sings. 



Plants iledicated to 
each day. 



Narrow Spring Moss, 
Roman Nai-oissus. 
Mezereous. 
Red Primrose. 
Common Hepatica. 
Polyanthus. 
Yellow Crocus. 



Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon's 


Clock 


Day of 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


bef. 


Sun. 


Year. 


29 a. 7 


V 


6 a. 30 


15 


14 


30 


39 


27 


2 


7 48 


16 


14 


31 


40 


26 


4 


8 07 


17 


14 


32 


41 


24 


6 


10 3 


18 


14 


32 


42 


22 


7 


U 8 


19 


14 


31 


43 


20 


9 


morn. 


20 


14 


30 


44 


18 


11 


11 


21 


14 


28 


45 



Sexagesima (Latin for suctietli) is always the second Sunday be- 
fore Lent ; and is so called, because about sixty days before Easter 
Sunday. 

Valentine was a Christian priest, martjTed at Rome about the 
year 270 ; and there is not a knouTi passage in his history entitling 
iiim to preside over love letters, or to be the namesake, on this day, 
of every lover in Christendom. Chance alone appears to have raised 
him to the dignity. The anniversary of his martyrdom happening on 
this day, during which the idolatrous Romans celebrated their feast 
of Lupercalia, when our early Christian bishops established a festival 
to supersede it, for the recreation of their early converts, this was 
held on Valentine's day of commemoration. Now, one of the amuse- 
ments, or ceremonies, of the Lupercalia, was putting the names of 
young women into a box, from which the young men drew them, as 
chance directed. Instead of the names of young women, the Christian 
pastors had the names of saints put into a bos on this day ; and 
■whichever saint a man or woman drew, was to be his or her patron 
for twelve months, or until the next St. Valentine's day. Drawing 
sweethearts, however, was too pleasant a recreation to be entirely 
superseded ; and though the young converts might draw saints 
under the supervision of their clergy, they appear to have continued 
in private to acquire sweethearts by a similar lottery. In various 
forms and modifications, this has continued ever since ; the only 
attempt at a compromise being that, instead of " lover," the more 
saintly name of " Valentine " has continued to be bestowed upon the 
chosen mate. The practice of sending poetical addresses, on this 
day, is not so general now as it was formerly ; and yet about two- 
hundred thousand more letters than usual pass through the post- 
office on this day every year. 

Fbenoaiena of the Season.— As we observed last week, this is 



a month of thawing and fogs ; and we dare say that not all of our 
readers could very readily explain what a fog is. Why is the air 
damp and thick only occasionally? Air, in proportion to its warmth, 
will unite with the vapour of water ; thus — the steam from our tea- 
kettle, and from a railway steam-engine, soon fades away in the air, 
because the air unites ^vith it, or dissolves it ; and the warmer the 
air, the quicker the steam is dissolved bv it. So long as the air has 
no more vapour of water, or steam, niixeu with it than it can dissolve, 
it remains clear and invisible, the same as hot water dissolves a large 
quantity of Epsom salt, and yet remains bright. But so soon as the 
water gets cold, it lets go some of the Epsom salt, which again 
appears in crystals ; and so the warm air, when it has in it as much 
vapour of water as it can hold, when it becomes colder lets go some 
of the vapour; and this, if sbght, is called u mist, but if abundant or 
thick, a fog. These, then, are the vapour of water, deposited or 
dropt by the air, as it becomes cold. This explains why mists and 
fogs are seen over one field, or over part of a field, or garden, and 
not over the remainder. The part where the mist appears either is 
worse drained, or, from some other cause, is colder than the other 
parts ; and, consequently, the air over it becomes cold faster than 
over the other parts, and therefore deposits its vapour first. 

Insects,— At this season occurs one of the opportunities of which 
the gardener should take advantage, to prevent the occurrence of one 
of the worst ravagcrs of his trees — the caterpillar of the Lackey, or 
Barred Tree Lackey I\Ioth (Clisiocampa neitstria}.* The eggs of this 
insect may now be detected easily, in broad bands round the twigs of 
our pear, apple, and other trees. They are arranged \rith such admi- 
rable art, that they seem set by the skilful hands of the jeweller. (See 
the annexed drawing). Each bracelet, as the French gardeners call 




Feb. 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


1848. 


3 
Highest 
& lowest 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


Snow. 


Cloudy, 


29°— 26° 


46°— 28' 


38°— 35° 


45°— 27° 


35°— 18° 


46°— 29° 


30°— 5° 


52°— 44° 


9 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Frost. 


Frosty. 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 




30°— 27" 


51°— 43° 


39°— 34° 


44°— 32° 


36°— 27° 


45°— 26° 


34°— 4° 


51°— 36° 


10 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Snow. 


Frosty. 


Snow. 


Fine. 




32°— 27° 


51°— 41° 


42°— 31° 


43°— 31° 


35°— 22° 


41°— 22° 


36°— 22° 


49°— 37° 


U 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Snow. 


Frost. 


Frost. 


Fine. 




41°-37° 


52°— 47° 


41°— 26° 


39°— 30° 


34°— 3°t 


44°— 25° 


40°— 6° 


4-°— 30° 


12 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Fine. 




51°— 38° 


64°— 30° 


4 1°— 27° 


390—22° 


32° — 12° 


45°— 36° 


37°— 9° 


48°— 36° 


13 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Frosty. 


Snow 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 




51°— 44° 


52°— 28° 


42°— 18° 


32°— 23° 


38°— 32° 


45°— 27° 


40°— 16° 


51°— 47° 


14 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 




SZ^^ll" 


52°— 37° 


39°— 16° 


42°— 32° 


45°— 27° 


4S°— 24° 


45°— 39° 


53°— 48° 



it, contains from 200 to 300 eggs, fastened by their ends, in a series of from 15 to 17 close spiral circles, round the twig. The spaces between 
the eggs are filled up with a tenacious brown gum, which protects them from inclement weather, as well as from all attacks, except those of 
man. The eggs, thus placed, look Uke a ring of seed-lac, and we think its name may have been thence derived; they are easily crushed by the 
gardener's knife. The caterpillars, striped lengthwise, blue, red, and yellow, slightly hairy, and with a white line down the back, appear from 
these eggs in the April or May follomng. They congregate early in the morning, or during rain, in large nests at the forks of the small 
branches, and are then easily crushed. They enter the chrysalis state at the end of June, and then they are to be found in cocoons, or oval 
webs, powdered with white or yellowish dust, between two leaves, &e. The chrysalis, or pupa, is longish and dark brown, in which state it re- 
mains for three weeks or a month. In July the moth appears ; its colour is light yellow, or reddish yellow-ochre. The upper wings have a 
darker baud across their middle, which band is bordered by two light cross-lines ; the fringes of the wings are whitish, spotted with brown ; the 
lower wiugs are of a uniform brownish or bght-yellow colour. The male is readily known from the female by its comb-like (pectinated) 
antennte, and thinner body. The insect flies only at night, and, consequently, is rarely seen. It often appears in considerable numbers, and 
does not confine its ravages to fruit-trees, but attacks many other trees— such as beeches, elms, poplars, oaks, and even pines. In May, when 
the caterpillars are living in society, the nests containing them should be collected and destroyed. Care must be taken when collecting the 
nest, for if the caterpillars are much disturbed, they let themselves down to the ground by means of a thin silken thread, and escape. In July 
their cocoons should be looked for on the trees, between the leaves in the roofs of sheds, in hedges, and even on the tops of walls. 



* This insect is a striking illustration of the trouble and confusion 
caused by changing scientific names. Stephens and Curtis call it as 
above; Kirby and Spence call it TWcAorfa; L^treille, Bombyx ; Och- 
senheiraer, Gastrojiacha ; and Leach, Lasiocampa. 



t This temperature was 3° below zero, that is, 36° below the freez- 
ing point of water ; and it is the third time of the thermometer falhng 
so low during the present century. On the Qth of February, I8I6, it 
fell 37° ; and on the 19th of January, 1838, 36^° below freezing. 



No. XIX., Vol. I. 



208 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



The trutli of the Eastern proverb, " Can the Ethio- 
pian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then 
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil,'' 
is well illustrated by the obstinate refusal of most 
cottagers and gardeners to plant potatoes in the au- 
tumn, rather than late in the spring. So gi-eat is tlie 
prejudice in favour of the old time of planting, that 
■n-e actually know a jobbing gardener at Fareliam, in 
Hampshire, refused to plant potatoes in the autumn, 
preferring, as he said, not to be employed, " rather 
than to be laughed at in every beer-shoj) he went 
into !" Even one of the intelligent culivators of the 
gardens at Dalkeith Palace, Mr. W. Anderson, seems 
reluctant to admit the benefit, though he relates the 
following faots : — 

"I marked off two acres, and as soon as the grow- 
ing crop was removed, which was early oats, I had 
it deeply ploughed, cross-ploughed, harrowed, hand- 
picked, and rolled repeatedly, until reduced to a tine 
tilth, and the weeds totally extermmated. The soil a 
light gi'avelly loam, resting on a subsoil of the most 
tenaceous and impenetrable clayey nature, drauied 
the previous year according to Mr. Smith ol' Dean- 
ston's system ; hut. owing to the subsoil plough never 
having been used, the drains were not so effective as 
they might. The diills were then formed 38 inches 
apart and 7 deep, and the manure applied in the 
usual manner. The previous damaged crop was now 
being dug out, and all apparently sound potatoes 
were can-ied to the prepared gi-ound, and then dropt, 
whole, 12 inches distant in the drills : they were then 
covered 3 inches deeper than ordinary, and thus left. 
In March I found them perfectly safe, and germina- 
tion just commencing. Fearing a recurrence of the 
calamity of the preceding year. I had them han-owed 
across with a light haiTow, in order to remove the 
additional covering ; and having procured a quantity 
of beans, I directed one to be dibbled between each 
potato as a reserve. The same culture suiting both, 
they flourished equally. The beans ripened early in 
September, and were cut, tied in bunches, and placed 
three together on tlie lieadlauds until jierfectly dry ; 
they were then stacked, and jiroved a most excellent 
crop indeed. On the 18th of October, the potatoes 
were dug out, consisting chiefly of what are called 
" cups." The crop proved superior, and a remark- 
able feature in it was an utter absence of small ones. 
I disposed of the produce, and, including the beans, 
realized, according to the most moderate calculation, 
for the two years, ilOO. It must, however, be taken 
into consideration that markets averaged just then 
rather above the ordinary standai'd prices. At the 
same time I cannot draw from this any inference in 
favour of autumn-planting, but that it is an excellent 
and most desirable mode of preserving the bud from 
premature excitement, and the consequent ruinous 
system, often resorted to, of disbudding, thus robbing 
the tuber of mucli of the nutriment nature intended 
should su]ipnrt and sti'engthen the germinating bud 
until fit to extract from the soil the properties neces- 
sary to its future development. In disbudding, it 
follows as a necessary consequence, that each suc- 
cessive bud must be weaker than its predecessor ; 
and it is a well-authenticated fact, that the upper or 
rose end of the tuber starts first, aud the hud thrown 
fi-om that part will yield a heavier and much supe- 
rior produce than one from any other; hence the 
necessity for its preservation. The shoots thrown 



fi'om the under or side part of the set are but 
possessed of secondary power ; and this fact, simple 
though it be, is well worthy the remembrance of all 
who aim at perfection in the gi-owth of this valuable, 
justly esteemed, and favoiuite esculent." — Xortk 
British Agrieultiirist. 

We care not what "inference," or what theory 
Mr. Anderson may favour, to accoxmt for tlie fact — 
the important fact — that two acres of potatoes, 
planted in autumn, as fast as they were taken up 
ti'oiii an adjoining field whei'e the disease had pi-e- 
vailed, produced " a crop supeiior. with the remark- 
able i'eatm-e in it of an utter absence of small pota- 
toes." Such a testimony as this, even if alone, woidd 
justify us in again asking evei-y one of our readers to 
try — to test by experiment — the recommendation 
which, for two years, tlie wi'iter of this has advocated, 
•' Plant in autumn, or as early as you can." But we 
have another and far stronger testimony now, bid- 
thug us once more to urge this reaUy national subject 
upon our readers' attention ; and tliis is what may 
be looked upon as the evidence of all Great Britain 
in favom' of planting potatoes some time hetueen 
Uctuher and the end nf Fehriiarij. 

Dr. Liudley, wisely employing the influence he 
possesses through the Society vnih which he is con- 
nected, has obtained some hundi-eds of returns of the 
results in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, 
from planting potatoes in the autumn and in the 
spring ; and the following is the epitome of tiiose 
results, with his observations upon them. 





ENGLAND, LRELAXD, 
WALES. 


SCOTLAND. 


PLANTED IX 

Autumn 

Jan. — Feb. ... 
March 


Bad 

Crops. 


Good 
Crops. 


Bad 
Crops. 


Good 
Crops. 


11 
11 

88 
147 
155 


50 
131 

130 

105 

44 




3 

13 
10 


4 
40 


April 


91 


May & June 


23 



'• Shewing conclusively that, for the principal part 
of the kingdom, the autumn, with Januarij and Feh- 
ruarij. are the best months for planting : that March is 
unsafe. April dangerous, and May and June niinous. 
In Scotland, March may be taken as the best month, 
after the autumn ; the rate of loss being about 7;^ per 
cent, in Mai'ch, 14 per cent, in April : for that country, 
the May crops, known only in the most northerly 
districts, may be disregarded. This point may be 
taken in another view, by comparing the cases of 
entire escape with the whole numlier of cases reported 
upon. The numbers will then stand thus : — 





WHOLLY ESCAPED. 




ENGLAND, IRELAND, 
WALES. 


SCOTLAND. 


Autumn planted. . 


22 in 67 

34 in 142 

9 ill 222 

8 in 250 

4 in 200 


2in 4 




20 in 43 




36 in 104 


May and June ... 


Sin 88 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



209 



These facts establish the proposition, that the earlier 
potato planting is performed the better, and the 
later the wobse." — Gardeners' Chronicle. 

Again, then, do we ask and warn oiu- readers to 
plant their potatoes immediately, — to do it at once, 
— to set to work the day they read this, — for " to- 
morrow is found only in tlie almanack of fools." 
Again do we say, plant middle-sized whole potatoes ; 
plant sis inches deep ; do not trample on the ground 
after it is dug, but plant with the dibble a row as fast 
as enough space for it is tmned over ; do not manure 
the ground ; grow a main crop of the kind of potato 
that ripiens earliest in your neighbom'hood. If these 
rules ai'e strictly attended to, the potato murrain in 
1849 may be encountered by you without feai-. Be- 
hove us, or do not believe us, yet try the experiment; 
" ask the question of Nature — her reply may be de- 
pended upon." 



THE FEUIT-GARDEN. 

The Peach and Nectarine. — We will now con- 
clude what we have to say, at present, relative to 
these trees. 





Prdning. — Fig. 1 reiwesents a dwarf-trained peach- 
tree, when fine, after one yeaa-'s training fi-om the 
maiden state, represented 'at Fig. 2, and as men- 
tioned in our observations last week. 

The pruning in Fig. 1 is indicated by cross lines. 



In Fig. 2, the dotted hue, b, shows the branching 
top, previously described. There it is pruned, and 
below are the embryo buds, whicli also have been 
fiilly described, a a represent two young shoots 
shortened farther back than the two lower ones ; this 
is in order to secm-e successional wood neai- the 
collar. The centi'e one, also, is pruned closer, in 
order to get the bottom of the tree formed before the 
middle. An explanation of this, also, will be found 
in our pirevious j^aper. 

Planting the Peach and Neot.aeine. — The sta- 
tion being properly prepared, according to om- du'eo- 
tions on that head, the soil should be flattened a httle, 
or, rather, should be formed with a trifhng amount 
of roundness ; the highest part of this roimdness 
being where the collar- of the tree is to be stationed. 
Such roundness, however, must be trifling ; the only 
reason for any being, that we deem it necessary that 
the point of every root shoidd incline slightly down- 
wards. Roots inserted with their ends somewhat 
pointing up will be hable to breed suckers ; a thing 
to be studiously avoided The soU must not be dug 
out, but the tree set on the ordinai'y ground level ; 
for when the newly-made station settles, it will be 
just of the necessary depth. 

The roots must now be spread forth, or, rather, 
trained, with as much precision as tlie branches : no 
two touching each other. A barrowful of very mel- 
low loam, and very old vegetable soU, should be at 
hand, wcU mixed ; and handiuls of this will serve to 
bed the roots in then- positions. Alter some more 
of this is scattered over the roots, the orcUuary soil 
may be filled in ; and it will be well to have some 
half-rotten maniu-e, or leaf-soil, to blend with this m 
the act of filling, in order to induce fibrous smface 
roots. 

Select Peaches. — We now proceed to give a list 
of peaches, with their characteristics and order of 
ripening. Some of these have several names, wliich 
are what botanists call synonymes (meaning the 
same). As locahties differ as to the explanation of 
these names, we deem it expedient to give two or 
three of the pruicipal names by which they are 
known in general. They will be placed, as nearly 
as possible, in the order of their ripening, and we 
shall select only such as may be considered truly 
good and useful kinds. 

1. Earhj Anne. — Beghining of August. A middle- 
sized fniit, rather pale in colour. Flesh melting, 
and the fruit tolerably well flavoured. This will 
not prove a very profitable jieach, and we merely 
place it at the head as being the most ehgible for 
those who can find space, and are determined to 
have a veiij early peach. 

2. Acton Scott. — End of August. A middle-sized 
fruit, of a palish colour ; flesh melting. This is a 
very good early peach. 

3. Pourpree Hdtive (Pm-ple Eai'ly). — End of Au- 
gust. A large fine fi'uit, generally rather high 
coloiu'ed ; flesh melting. A triily good early fruit. 

4. Malta, also called the Italian, or jpeche de Malte. 
End of August. A respectable fi'uit of a palish 
red ; fuU-sized, and melting. This fruit is known 
to keep better than many others after it is gathered, 
and to bear caiTiage well. 

5. Orosse Mignonne. — This peach has two or tlu'ee 
score of names, the following are a few of the 
synonymes: — Grimwood's Royal George, French 
Mignonne, Ronald's Galande, Large French Mig- 
nonne, and Padley's Pm'ple. Tliis is a noble fruit, 
of a rich yellow and red, and thoroughly melting ; 



210 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



ripe end of August. Not liable to the mildew, 
and forces well. 
0, Royal Oeoiye, called also Red Magdalen, i\Iillet's 
Miguonne, and Double Swalsh. — Begiuniug of 
September. Excelled by none. We think this 
better adapted for northern climates than any 
peach with which we are acquainted. FuU-sized, 
of a fine rich colour, and melting. A capital forcer. 

7. Noblesse, called also Vanguard. — Beginning of 
September. A magnificent fruit, of a pale greenish 
gi'ound, speclded, next the sun, with deep crimson 
dots; flesh melting. Capital for forcing. 

8. Bellegarde, called also Galande, Brentford Mig- 
nonne, French Boyal George, &o. Middle of Sep- 
tember. A splendid fruit, very large, melting ; of 
a fine creamy ground, with a gorgeous tinted cheek 
towards the sun. Keeps well after gathering. 
Good forcer. 

9. Late Admirable, called also Royal, Peche Royale, 
Bom'dine, &c. End of September. A fine, late 
peach, perhaps our veiy best to finish the season 
with. Melting, very large, and of a good colour. 

10. IValberton Admirable. — We are unacquainted 

with this kind, wlucli is a novelty. It bears a 

very high character, liowever, in reputable quai'- 

ters. End of September, or beginning of October. 

A large peach, and melting 

We think it needless to add any more ; for these, 
cultivated in a first-rate manner, will be found, as a 
sei-ies, to equal anything in the kingdom, in the 
peach waj'. We will now add a sort of analysis of 
their characters. 

For a forcing-house, where only one is required, 
we would plant No. 6 ; if two are wanted, then take 
Nos. 6 and 8 ; and if three are requisite, then Nos. 
6, 8, and 9. 

For a small garden, where only one is required, 
take No. 6; if two, then take Nos. 6 and 8; if three, 
then take Nos. 2, (i, and 8; if four, then take Nos. 2, 
6, 8, and 9 ; and if five, then take Nos. 1, 2, 6, 8, 
and 9. If a greater number Is requisite, it woidd be 
well to have two of No. 0, as being a siu'e bearer, 
and hardy. In this case it would be well to give the 
Walberton Admirable a fair trial. 

Let us, in concluding the peach subject for the 
present, endeavom' to impress on the minds of the 
readers of The Cottage Gakdener, the absolute 
necessity of attending well to the preparation of the 
soil, and the selection of tlie trees in tlie nursery. 
With regard to the latter, the tree, or ti'ees, should 
be selected dm-ing the end of September, before the 
walls have been picked over. A dwarf-trained tree 
will cost no more then than is charged for the 
" dregs" in the following February, and the tree will 
be worth treble the value. 

As to soil, never plant a peach in the same sod 
from which an old one has been removed. Adhere 
to our maxims on Stations, so fully described in om' 
number for November 30th ; taking care to let the 
chief component in the soil be a sound and fat loam. 

We shall frequently recm- to the treatment of 
peaches durhig the spring, making our remarks 
apply, as much as possible, to the season, so as to 
render it unnecessary to ajiply to any other source 
for calendarial business. Dming an experience of 
some thirty years, wo have always found the proper 
cidtiu-e of the peach to be the most diflicult of 
problems with tho amateur. No tree is more impa- 
tient of bad usage than our present subject. 

Gooseberry and Currant Pruning. — We would 
« now advise the cottager to see that every gooseberry 
and currant-bush is pruned forthwith. 



Those who defer tliis operation until spring, little 
imagine what a loss of strength is occasioned ; and 
in many cases, where the buslies are weak, this can 
be iU spared. We should not hesitate to say, that 
the loss of power, consequent on spring pnming, as 
compared with the same process performed in No- 
vember, amounts to nearly twenty per cent. ; and this 
is at the expense of both the future wood and fruit. 

It ought to be more generally known, that the 
stem absorbs, or sucks up, sap all the winter, less or 
more ; or why should the wood of a deciduous tree 
shrivel, if removed and kept long out of the soil? 
Where pi-uning is behind, and time presses, the 
gooseberries shoirld be done first ; next the blaeic cur- 
rants, and then the raspberries ; then the cherries, or 
the apricots. Next come plums and pears, and, 
finally, the apples. 

Planting. — Let all planting be completed imme- 
diately ; paying every attention to tlie station-advice 
given on November 30th. 

Mulching. — Every newly-planted finiit-ti'ee, of any 
importance, should receive a coating of half-rotten 
maum'e over its roots as soon as planted. This acts 
as a regulator ; it neither permits injurious eflects from 
excessively low temperature, nor sudden droughts 
from the summer's sun; consequently, the soil is 
preserved in a more regular state. Indeed, we ap- 
prehend that the time will come when even estab- 
lished trees of value, in a fruit-bearing state, will be 
annually midched. It is necessary, before mulch- 
ing, to form the surface into a hollow, in order to 
retain water, wliich may have to be applied m May 
or June. We have known many trees heavily 
watered, and yet but Uttlo benefited, for want of this 
precaution. R. Errinoton. 



THE TLOWER-GAEDEN. 

Roftine Management. — At this season of the 
year there is but little to mention under this head. 
Yet in fine weather, such as we have had lately, we 
must be up and doing, in order to lose no time as 
the spring approaches. 

St.UvIng.— Let aU newly-planted ti'ees be well and 
properly secm-ed from the spring winds. If any 
large trees have been removed and planted, three 
strong stakes should be placed in a triangular, slo- 
ping position, meeting at the top ; so as, when tied, 
to be, as it were, embracing the tree. In this posi- 
tion, whichever way the wind blows, there will be a 
stake to resist its power, wlu(di, on a large-lieaded 
tree, is always gi-eat. Hence the necessity of having 
three stakes, to keep the tree finn and its roots 
quiet. For all moderate-sized trees, one stake will 
be sufficient if driven firmly into the ground. Trees 
and slirubs planted early m autumn — if staked then 
• — ^wUl now require examining, and slioidd either any 
of the stakes have blown loose, or the tj'es have 
become slack, let the stakes be fi-esh thiven in and 
the tyes renewed; always remembering to place 
some substance, such as a hay-band, between the 
stakes and the trees, to preserve the bark from being 
rubbed ofl'or injured. 

More about Walks. — AU walks that do not re- 
quire renewing, should now be weeded, well swept, 
and frequently rolled, to make them firm, smooth, 
and even. After frost, the gravel is apt to slick to 
the roller : to prevent tliis, let the operator put on 
a wateqiroof overcoat, and, while a gentle shower is 
falUug, take the roller, and draw it over the walk 
several times. The rain will wash the gravel ofl' 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



211 



the roller, and effectually prerent it sticking. Eoll- 
ing, while the rain is falling, will crash in the lai-ger 
pehbles, as the rain will soften the imderstratum, to 
aUow that effect to take place. This crushing, 
rolling operation, if fi'equently performed, will also 
help to destroy or to prevent the growth of mosses — 
those sad disfigm-ers of gi-avel wallcs. The above 
remarks, of coui'se, apply only to om- amateur read- 
ers, who can afford to purchase a roller. No good 
garden, indeed, ought to be without one. Ovi cot- 
tage friends, perhaps, may have some land neigh- 
boiu' that win lend them a roUer occasionally, for 
their walks also. Should any pebbles be so large 
that the roUer will not crush them in, take a rammer, 
such as the paviers use, only not quite so large, 
and, with tliis instnunent, beat down tliese large 
stones to the level of the walk ; then nm the roller 
over the walk, and aU will be even alike. We have 
fi-equently practised the rolling of gi-a,vel walks 
dming a shower, and always found it to answer ad- 
mirably in preventmg the gravel adliering to the 
roller, and making it set firmly, and become an 
even, smooth walk. 

Tkenohing or Digging. — These operations may 
yet be performed in the ilower-garden, where the 
beds are empty of flower-roots; that is, if our plan of 
having the beds fiUed with evergreens in pots has 
not been adopted. The plan to do this well and 
effectually is, to remove all the soil out of each bed, 
to the depth of 16 or 18 inches. If the soil be poor 
or exhausted, take it all away, and entu-oly renew 
the bed with fi-esh soil. Flowers mostly love a light 
and rather rich soil. The following compost wUl 
suit the generality of flowers, usually gro^vn in 
masses of one variety, in each bed : — One half of 
tm'fy loam from a common, or old, hilly pasture 
(tins should be at least 12 months laid up in a heap, 
and regularly turned over once a month, for that 
time, before using); sandy peat, one quarter; very 
much decayed cow-dung and leaves, one quarter ; 
with as much river sand as wdll give the whole 
a sandy texture. To make this perfectly plain, we 
will describe the compost as consisting of two bai-- 
row-loads of loam, one ban-ow-load of sandy peat, 
half a baiTow-load of cow-dung, and the same quan- 
tity of rotten leaves, with the requisite quantity of 
sand — ^perhaps a bushel of sand, to the above quan- 
tities, would be enough, or less would do if the loam 
and peat are natm-aUy sandy. At the bottom of 
each bed, put in the rougher parts of the compost, 
which may be picked out for that purpose. The old 
soil wiU be useful for vegetable crops, and may be 
wheeled at once into the Idtchen-garden. When 
the soil of the beds is once thoroughly renewed, as 
above described, it \vill last several years, with the 
addition of a portion of dxmg, or rotten leaves, 
annually. The soU in the beds ought to be fiUed in 
so high as to allow for settling. When all the beds 
are filled, if they are on the lawn, let the edges be 
neatly cut with a sharp hedging-knife, and the tm'f 
that is cut ofl' taken to the compost-yard to decay. 
It win make good loam for various potting piu-poses. 
The beds will now requu'e no more attention till 
the time arrives to plant the flowers. 

Violets. — If the du-ections we gave in the autumn 
about forcing violets have been followed, those 
sweet, modest flowers, wUl now be rewai-ding the 
cultivator for his pleasant toU. Continue to cover 
up every night; and give air on all mild days. 
Keep a good look out for slugs, as they are very fond 
of making a meal of those favourite flowers. Let 
the flowers be gathered as soon as they are fuUy 



blown. By doing tliis constantly, you will sti'engthen 
the coming blooms. Should several sunny days 
succeed each other, they will requii'e water. When- 
ever you observe tins, have some soft water, about 
as warm as new milk. Do not give them a mere 
di-ibbling only ; but a right good soaking, that will 
thoroughly wet the soil, and go down to the roots 
effectually. Tliis good watering wiU cause them to 
send up fine, large, weU-coloured flowers. The ope- 
ration will then not need to be so often repeated; 
for when too often done, there is danger of damping 
off the flowers. Watering should now be always 
done early in the morning, and on fine, -warm days. 
It may happen that the gi-een fly (aphis J will make 
its appearance. As soon as you see them, even in 
small numbers, jirocure some tobacco, or tobacco 
paper, and fill the frame or pit with its smoke. Do 
tliis carefully, or you may scorch the leaves. Never 
aUow the tobacco to blaze, if you do yom' violets 
■wiU suffer for it. It is easily prevented by damping 
the tobacco, just enough to prevent that effect. The 
red spider is also veiy fond of violet leaves, and, if 
aUowed to go ahead, will almost destroy tliem — at 
least, prevent them from flowering satisfactorily. 
This is a far more formidable enemy to contend with 
than the green fly, and ten times more destnictive. 
It is also more difiicult either to prevent or to get 
rid of. Yet it must be destroyed, or yoiu- crop of 
violet-flowers vnU be vei-y meagre. But, om- young 
gai-denors — whether amateur or cottager — may ex- 
claim, " how shall we know tins terrible foe ?"* He 
is, we assure you, a veiy little one — hardly visible to 
the naked eye, but his ravages wUl soon make you 
aware of his presence. He feeds, generally, on the 
under-side of the leaf, sucking out the juices. The 
upper-side of the leaf will then lose its healthy gi-een 
colom, and become of a pale brown. Whenever you 
perceive any of the leaves in this state, you may be 
sure the enemy is abroad : instant measures must be 
taken to an-est his progi-ess. Fu-st, try a severe syiing- 
uig, with tepid water, some fine morning; shutting up 
the frame, or pit, for the whole day. If the sun shines, 
shade with tliin mats, till the sun loses his power 
to do mischief; and, in the evenmg, cover up closely 
again. This insect increases rapidly in a chy-heat, 
but moisture is fatal to it, if well followed up. Too 
much wet is, however, almost as injiuious as the red 
spider ; so, if one or two severe syringings will not 
destroy this pest, some other means must be tried to 
finish liim. Take some soap water and sulplun, as 
recommended for the same purpose for the polyan- 
thus at page 25, and apply it in the same manner. 
Tliis is a rather techous operation, but it will be 
found effectual. 

FoBciNG Roses. — The first lot wiU now be show- 
ing flowers, and should be attended to closely, with 
moderate waterings. At every thii'd appKcation of 
water, mix a small portion of guano in the water, or 
some manm-e water made with cow-dung ; both ex- 
cellent fertUizers for the rose forced in pots. Should 
any worm-casts appear on the sm-face of the earth in 
the pots, apply clear lime-water. This will destroy, 
without injuring the plants. The gi'cen fly will also 
make its appearance, and may be easDy desti'oyed by 
the same means as that mentioned above for violets. 
The red spider is also fond of rose leaves : use the 
syringe freely to keep lum within bounds. Look also 
for maggots in the buds, and crush them with the 
fingers. AU these enemies require constant watch- 
fulness, to keep them from destroying what all your 
pains are put forth to obtain, healthy plants and full 
* A diawing of the red spider will be fooud at p. 63. 



2)2 



THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



liandsome flowers. Some more pots of roses ought 
now to be taken in, to insure a succession of blooms. 
Place them at first at the coolest end of the house or 
pit, giving but little water for the first fortnight. 
The roots will, by that time, have begun to put out 
rootlets (young roots), and will be able now to take 
up nomishniput for the springing buds. You may 
then give water more freely. The heat for forcing 
roses should be .55° by day and 50° by night. With 
sun heat, it may bo allowed to rise to 60°, provided 
there is plenty of air at the same tune. Any Iiigher 
temperature would cause them to draw up weakly, 
aud the flower buds to di-op oti". 

Forcing the Lily 'of the Valley. — Of all the 
lovely ti-easures that Flora produces to regale our 
senses and delight our minds, there are none that can 
boast of more elegant atti-actions tlian the modest lily 
of the valley. It has the advantage, also, that it loses 
none of its beauty or fragrance by forcing. Indeed, 
the leaves axe, if ])ossible, more beautiful now than 
in the open air and fuU light of summer. Beautiful 
as it is at all times, we hail its appearance at this 
early season more especially, as flowers are now so 
scarce. K the directions we gave at p. 23 have been 
ill operation, the plants that were then set to work 
will now be in flower, or nearly so. As of the roses, 
so of the lily of the valley, a fresh lot may now be 
taken in to force, and those that are in flower may 
be taken out of the fi-ame and put in the window. 
Those that are so placed ^vill requne an extra quan- 
tity of water for a time, as the window is a far drier 
situation tlian the frame. 

Annuals. — A gentle hot-bed for raising annuals 
may now be made, either wholly of stable dung, well 
prepared by being thrown together on a heap, watered 
if di-y, and frequently turned over ; or a mixture of 
leaves, collected in the autumn, mi.Ked with it. Beech 
or oak leaves last the longest in heat. If those two 
materials ai-e mixed together, the heat will be more 
durable, and less fierce than the dung by itself If 
you have a spai-e frame, let it be placed upon the 
bed, with the glass on it, to prevent the rain or snow 
from cooling it too much. Let off the rank steam, 
by tilting up the lights at the back. If you have not 
a. frame at Uberty, cover the bed with hoops and mats 
for the same purpose, tUl the heat is moderated, and 
the fi-ame is at liberty. Tliis bed wiU be three weeks 
or a month before it is fit for sowing your seed in it. 
Should you possess a pit, you may either use dung, 
leaves, or spent tanners' bark. Tanners' bai-k is 
longer in coming to a fuU heat, but it has the advan- 
tage of lasting longer. Om- cottage fiieuds may put 
into then- turf pit, which we hope some of them have 
formed, some of the leaves collected in the autumn, 
and they will give a gentle heat, either for forcing 
flowers, or raising annuals, or mustard and cress, 
and other usefid things. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

The time for planting Ranunculuses is fast ap- 
proaching. No time should bo lost in procm-ing 
what roots you may requu-e. Let the beds be pro- 
tected from heavy rains and suow, aud the surface 
stin-ed occasionally, to let in the air and prevent its 
becoming sodden and unmanageable. 

We have filled up our space with other matter, 
aud must defer the rest of our florists' flowers, under 
this head, till next week. T. Api-leby. 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GAEDENING. 

Mignonette, Stocks, Sweet Peas, &c. — About 
the beginning of Febniary, the London nurseiymen, 
as well as those of ether lai'ge cities, begin to sow 
and prepare immense quantities of these articles, for 
flowering early in May in the windows and balconies 
of the houses of the rich inhabitants. In London 
alone, in the eaiiy pai't of summer, you may see miles 
of neat green painted boxes, about nine inches wide, 
six mches deep, and of all lengths, fifled with stocks 
and mignonette : also some of other shapes and 
sizes, to suit every conceivable situation, about the 
doors, windows, aud even the roofs of the houses of the 
Londoners. These green boxes ai'e filled with plants 
that have been reared in pots till they are just on the 
eve of opening their flowers, the pots being more man- 
ageable to move about wlrile the plants are gi'owiag 
than boxes ; besides, if the seeds were sown in tire 
boxes in the first instance, the damp pits in which 
the plants are grown would soon render the boxes 
useless by rotting them with so much wet. There is 
no gi-eat difficulty about all this ; and anybody with 
a good window, a few pennyworth of seeds, and some 
small pots, say fom--inch and sis-inch sizes, may so 
manage as to get up plants sufficient to fill a nice 
sized box to fit the outside ledge of a window, or any 
similai' situation. 

Mignonette should be sown in six-inch pots> 
in a rich soil, and well drained, the seeds covered 
one-fourth of an inch, and about 20 seeds in that 
sized pot, as some of them may not grow, and others 
may chance to die after they are up, but then, after 
making a full allowance for all failures, there ^vill be 
plenty to fill the pot and some to spare. The plants 
must, therefore, bo tUuned as soon as they begin to 
crowd each other, seven or eight plants will be 
enough to leave for flowering, and half that number 
would be enough if they were to be flowered in the 
pot ; but they are to be planted out in the box as 
soon as the flower buds appear-, with the ball undis- 
tiu'bed, and the top of it placed half an inch deep 
below the smi'ace of the soU in the box. 

Stocks (of which the scarlet ten-week, or inter- 
mediate, is the best,) are to be raised after the 
same manner, but in four-inch pots, aud three or 
fom' plants will be sufficient for one pot. When 
the plants are six inches high, they will be ready to 
shift into the box in alternate rows with the migno- 
nette pots, and then the whole to have a good water- 
ing to settle the mould about the balls. Of course 
there will be a row of holes in the bottom of the 
boxes to let ofi" the water, ^\^len the seeds ai-e sown 
the pots may stand in the window : or, if the kitchen 
window is wai'mer, they may be set there tfll the 
seedlings are well up above tlie sod. If they do not 
come up weak aud spindly, the place is not too hot 
for them, but they will require to be very near the 
glass, and to be gently watered as often as the 
surface soil becomes dry ; but very little wiU serve 
them at a time till they get up stout little plants. 
Any window on which the sun shines most part of 
the day, aud where a fire is kept, \vill do to rear 
these little fellows capitally ; and as they advance in 
strength, timi them outside for a few hours on fine 
sunny days; or, if frost prevails, keep them diier, 
and let them stand down in the room at night, for 
fear of the fi'ost nipping them through the glass. 
Now this is reaUy a nice experiment to try ; and, if 
you shoidd not succeed at first, the loss wiU be a 
mere notliing, and depend upon it you will learn 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



213 



more about them in one month tlian you can leam 
from hooks in a twelvemonth. There is nothing Uke 
going at the tiling in earnest, and doing the work 
with yom' own hands ; that is the right way to find 
out all the httle secrets, and if you persevere I shall 
tell you of many such experiments this spring, and 
hy this time next yeai', perhaps, you will put yom' 
neighhom'S in a better way of doing these things, 
fi-om your own experience. Only tliink of that. 

Sweet Peas. — These also are extensively sown in 
pots about tliis time, to iiower early in May, and 
perha])s this plant is the safest thing for one to begin 
with for the flj.'st time. Sow m a encle roimd the 
sides of large pots, say those eight or nine inches in 
diameter; and, as soon as the seedlings appear, allow 
them plenty of an-, and merely guai-d them from fi'ost 
and cold, cutting winds, .giving them water whenever 
the soil appears dry. When the i^lants are five or 
six inches high, put a few twigs in the pots for them 
to cling to ; and when they reach a foot in height 
give them taller sticks, and large doses of water, as 
they are now sti'ong feeders. A sheltered place out 
of doors, where the sun will get at them most part 
of the day, would be a suitable place for them after 
they are six inches liigh, and either to have some 
protection at night or to be taken in doors. 

CALCE0L-\rjA Seed. — If you should make up your 
mind to have a trial at gi-owiug these beautiful 
plants, and would be content to raise plants for 
yourseh', this is a good time to sow the seeds, and 
by good management the plants would blossom next 
autumn. The best time, however, to sow calceolaria 
seed is in August ; but, imluss one has had a little 
experience in keeping jjlants over the whiter, these 
are too delicate to begin with. The only (h-awback 
to February-sown seedlings is, that our svunmers ai'e 
too hot for tins family ; and unless the pots are kept 
cool, either by double-pottiag, or by being enveloped 
in damp moss in a shaded situation, the plants often 
become a prey for the red spider, an almost invisible 
little insect, which is a sad pest to gardeners when 
once they get a good footing, and of which a di'awing 
was given at p. 03. The seeds of calceolarias are as 
small as dust; therefore, I shall give a very full detail 
of the whole process of sowing and rearing the plants, 
and the same iides will be appUcable to many other 
Mnds of small seeds. 

Some people have a notion that seeds ought to be 
sown in the veiy land of compost that will gi-ow the 
plants best when they are full gi-own. The reason- 
ing on this point is natmal enough ; but in jiractico 
it is found that aU seeds that will sprout in a few 
weeks, will do so just as well in a poor sandy compost, 
as in the best prepared soil. This must have been 
imderstood in ancient times, othenvise om' Saviour 
would not have referred to the subject in the para- 
ble of the sower. I have often raised calceolaiia 
seedhngs in pure sand ; and I consider light sandy 
soil one half, and the other half sand, the veiy safest 
compost for young beginners to sow then- *eds in ; 
as, being so open and so poor, the plants will be less 
liable to accidents from over-watering or damp.. 
Pom-inch pots are of the best size to sow the seeds 
in, and these should be half filled with cinder ashes, 
then this light compost for the other half, but not 
fillin g the pots quite fidl, for we must leave a littlo 
room for watering. Make the soil smooth on the 
top, or if an iuch of the top soU were sifted finely it 
would be all the better. Then take a fine-rose water- 
ing-pot, and give the soil a good watering, to wet it 
tlu'ough. EecoUect this is before sowing the seeds, 
for they are so small that they can hai-dly be covered 



with soU, and such a watering as is necessary to wet 
all the soil woidd be apt to wash them out. There- 
fore, for very small seeds, we always water the pots 
first, and as soon as the water passes off through 
this large mass of di-ainage, the seeds are thinly sown 
with the forefinger and thumb, taMng a small pinch at 
a time, and passing it off as you would salt upon a 
sandwich at a pic-nio party : and when the seeds are in, 
take another pinch of the dry soil or compost and sow 
it exactly in the same way, till you see the seeds are just 
bedded in the soU, and no more. The pots ai-e then put 
into a good window, with a piece of cai-d, or something 
of that sort, placed over the mouth of the pot to keep 
the moistm-e fi-om diying oS out of the damp sod; 
and when you see the surface of the soil getting diy, 
you must give a gentle spriulding of water, but you 
must do it as carefully as if yom- very existence de- 
pended on your caution, for fear of distm-bing a sin- 
gle seed out of its place. In ten days or a fortnight 
you will see the seeds sprout, and then the card must 
be removed, to let in the au- to them. Now, at this 
early stage, a good window in a room where a fire is 
kept is the place for tliem, much better than a gi-een- 
house, as the diy atmosphere of a room will prevent 
any damp — the gi-eat enemy of aU young seedhngs. 
They are not veiy particular about being always in 
the same tempierature ; what happens to be the heat 
of the room will do, provided neither the fi-ost is let 
to them at night, nor any cold currents of air. 
Although it is always advisable to be careful in the 
rearing of young seedlings of any sort, there is no 
more diificidty about the matter than in raising a 
pot of mustard or cress. As to how often a pot of 
seedhngs, or indeed any pot, ought to be watered, all 
the plulosophy ui the world cannot determine with- 
out being on the spot. Therefore, when I state such 
a time, or so many days, it is all mere guess. In 
dull weather, tlu-ee or fom- days may pass, and no 
watering will be needed; and in hot, sunny weather, 
seed pots often require to be watered twice a day. 
The only ride for seedlings, is to have the smface 
damped gently as often as it gets diy, and that such 
water be always Inkewann when apphed, even for the 
calceolaria ; whose watering, in a state of natm-e, is 
often from the melting snow, as we stated last week. 

CixERARTAs, to fiowor iiext autiunu. shoidd be sown 
early in Febniary, and treated exactly as above di- 
rected for the calceolarias, only they may have a little 
more covering of sod. 

I tliink any seedsman in the throe kingdoms can 
supply little sixpenny packets of those two tribes ; as, 
if they happen not to have any of their own saving, 
they can procm-e them fi-oni London or other lai-ge 
places. Orders for things of this natm-e ought to be 
given in time, however, as it will never pay to send 
for small jiai-cels on puiqiose. They must come along 
with plants and other tilings. Veiy fine and new 
varieties wiU be much dearer than stated above ; but 
it is only such as have gone through the process 
already, that will risk a good price, till they see how 
the experiments wUl tm-n out. 

Wlien the little seedlings are big enough to be 
handled — or, say, when they have four leaves each — 
they must bo transplanted into small pots ; large pots 
hold too much sod for seedlings that are at all deUcate 
in gi-owth ; four-inch pots are the best for the flu-st 
potting of calceolarias, and half a dozen little plants 
may be be put into each, for nm-sing ; and, in another 
month or five weeks, according to the weather, these 
will reqiui-e a foiu--inch pot each. The soil for all this 
nursing must be of a light natm-e ; but after that they 
wUl take richer soil, and one uot quite so light. 



214 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEB.. 



Gardeners make use of reiy lich composts for 
gi-owing caleeolaiias, but until you get well accus- 
tomed to manage tliem, such rich composts are dan- 
gerous. A coiTespoudeut at ^Manchester says, "last 
October, I got some horse's dung, leaves, &e., and 
mixed them with some hght soil, ready for my jilants 
this spring." — A capital receipt, and this compost 
will be in good condition to grow the calceolarias 
and cinerarias after the nursing is orer: and, with 
equal parts of sand, ^vill do for the seeds and for the 
nursing pots. A boy, for a few pence, will gather a 
baiTowfiil of horse-dung for such a compost on almost 
any road ov street, and a little dry road-scrapings is 
exceUent to mis witli such a compost; and when 
that is quite rotten, one-thii'd of it added to two- 
thirds of any good mould, and a little sprinkling of 
sand, will gi-ow ninety -nine out of a hundred oJ' all 
tlie pot plants in the kingdom. 

Bals.\ms, Cockscombs, and a host of other tender 
annuals will be time enough if sown early in March. 

Pots. — If you use new pots for any kinds of seeds, 
they ought first to be steeped in water for a few hours, 
as they will be too dry otherwise, and will suck away 
the moistiue from the seeds, and nothing is worse 
for them than to be too often watered. All your old 
empty pots ought also to be steeped and well washed, 
to be ready for use. There must be no idle pots 
lying about by-and-by. If you have any wallfloicerx 
in the garden, a couple of them removed into pots 
now, and kept in a shady place for a few days, would 
come into flower a long time before those left out of 
doors, if you can spai-c room for them in a pit or 
greenhouse. I find moss by far the best thing to 
grow the hyacinths, and some might even now be 
taken out of a bed and put in pots of moss. 

D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. 

In every art, and in eveiy science, he is the most 
praiseworthy practitioner who can effect his piu-jjose 
with the simplest apparatus, the commonest tools, 
and, consequently, at the smallest expense. We 
aj-e led to this remai-k, from having lately been walk- 
ing roimd the forcing gi'ouud in the garden of tlie 
Warden of Winchester College, which is imder the 
care of Mr. Weaver. He is one of the best practical 
gardeners alive, a good natiualist as well, and cai'- 
ries oif some of the best prizes, eveiy year, at the 
shows of the Hamjishii-e Horticultural Society. 
Amongst other excellencies, he is a vei-y superior 
chiysauthemum grower ; and this leads us to Dlus- 
trate the sentence with which we commenced. Upon 
looking over the sea-kale forcing, by liim, under a 
hot-bed made of leaves, we found ttiat the twelve- 
inch pots, ill winch Mr. Weaver blooms his chrysan- 
themimis, are employed by liim in this operation, 
and Ms observation upon it is worthy of every gar- 
dener's remembrance : — " Tliis keeps the flower-pots 
from being idle ; and I can get sea-kale a fortnight 
foi-warder imder tliem than I can imder sea-kale 
pots ; they are smaller, and can be kept warmer." 

Pkeparing the Soil. — Embrace eveiy favourable 
opportunity for bringing the soil into a healthy, pul- 
verized condition, for all spring crops ; for this inte- 
resting, busy season, is now fast approaching ; and 
as success in obtaining an abundant return from the 
sou so much depends on a good preparation, and 
the fi'equent surfaee-stimngs afterwai'ds among the 
growing crops, it is well often to remind om- cottage 
friends of tliis important matter. It is not luuTying 



the seed, or the plants, into the soil on " our village 
fair-day," or on any other appointed day. because it 
has aiTived, whether the soil is in a fit condition or 
not, or whether the weather is suitalile or not ; but, 
on the conti-ary, the chief point of good culture, and 
for seeming an abundant retiUTi ti'om the soil, is 
first to di'ain, and then to trench it well ; to perfomi 
surface-stiiTings, and hoeings. in favourable weather, 
and as often as possible. All these pains and la- 
bours wiU be well repaid by a bomitiful, healthy 
crop in return. Sowing and ])lanting shoidd always 
be perfonned, too, in favom'able weather, and not 
till a good preparation is seciu'ed. 

A sowing in diills, of parsh-i/ and spinach, should 
now be made ; a little chaiTed refuse sown with it 
will be found beneficial. Spinach, in drills, may be 
advantageously sown now. and at all times, between 
every two rows of peas. The ground is thus econo- 
mized, and tlie shade from the peas continues the 
spinach longer in a state fit for table use. Peas and 
heans, already up, should be occasionally sm-face- 
stin-ed, and protected by shaking amongst them dry 
dust: and those intended to be protected by sticks 
and boughs should be so protected at once. 

I'r.oies. — Earlfi cucumbers and melons. — Maintain 
as regular a surface heat as possible, by well topping 
up the linings, keeping the inside soil and inner 
side of the frames or pits moist, by sprinlding them 
in the aftenioon. at shutting up time, with tepid 
water. This is the means of mauitaiuing a kindly 
moistness, preventing the occurrence of red spider, 
thiips. and woodlice. Those who have a little fer- 
menting materials to spare, by making shght hot-beds, 
protected with refuse, and hooped over to support the 
protection of a mat, could forward a few early turnips, 
sowed in di'ills. Also aspaniyus may in this way 
be fonvarded, and produced veiy fine and abundant. 
Potatoes, radishes, and carrots, may stiU be obtained 
earlier, by planting and sowing on slight hot-beds : 
and with more certainty of obtaining a healthy, 
abundant crop, than in the open gi-ound. if pro- 
tected with mats, &c. Those already up, and gi'ow- 
ing, should be kept well thimied, surfacc-stiiTed, and 
assisted by waterings of tepid water. When the 
seedlings are strong enough, a Little liquid manure 
should be added, thus encouraging a healthy, luxu- 
riant gi-owth, and by shutting up tolerably early of 
an afternoon. Potatoes ab-eady gi'own liigh enough 
in fi-ames or pits, should have a little hght earth 
placed amongst them, to keep the siuface tubers 
from greening. Collect together eveiy available ar- 
ticle that can at all be turned to account as a fer- 
menting material, and keep it snug together, turned 
and sweetened ready for use. 

G. W. J. & James Barnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 16.) 

Althodgh Februaiy is, in general, wintiy and cold, 
it is decidedly a spring month. The days ai-e delight- 
fully lengthe"iiing ; every moniing we hear a new 
and joyous note, when we open our window ; and 
when the sun does find time and opportimity to shiiic 
brightly upon the eai-th, his beams ai-e waraier and 
softer than duruig the frosty days of winter. There 
is a stir, too, among the things of earth, — a busy 
movement in nature, that speaks of approaching re- 
vival ; and every soimd of spring is so distinct from 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



215 



that of other seasons, that were we to bring from a 
long impTisonment one who knew not what season 
of the year he left his cell, and were to bring him 
forth blinclfolded, he would at once exclaim, " It is 
the spriag." There is a whispering in the woods, a 
rusthng on the ground, sounds both above and be- 
low, that can never be mistaken ; the perpetual har- 
mony of birds, the lowing and bleating from the 
sprkiging pastiu-e laud, reminding us so loudly of 
the pastoral habits of God's ancient people, and the 
beautifid and interesting scenes described in the 
sacred pages of the first great histoiy. The very 
gales of spring have a different tone to those of 
autumn ; there is a loftiness and giundeur in them, 
a peculiar soimd in the topmost boughs, and, at the 
same time, a buoyancy and spirit, if I may so speak, 
that I have never remarked at any other season. 
All these pleasing harbingers of brighter days are 
now steahng upon us, and drawing us continually 
to the open window, the garden, and the fields. 1 
have already rejoiced at the sight of one half-blown 
snowdi-op, and one little bright twinkling hepatica — 
a sight really exhilarating to any one who loves the 
garden, and longs to be busy among the borders 
once more. The shai-p gi'een points of my crocuses 
are rising here and there ; the gentianeUas seem ac- 
tively employed, and look gi-een and promising ; and 
the laoneysnokles are covering themselves -with deU- 
cate springs, and the old lingering leaves have all 
disappeared. I am. however, sensible of some di-aw- 
backs to perfect felicity. The hares and rabbits have 
eaten down one flourishing climbing rose, to wliich 
I bad been looking forward with some interest, hav- 
ing placed it in a new and striking position, and in- 
tending it to cover a pole. That hope is extinguished 
for the present, as are several pinks and other plants 
which I hoped the mild winter would protect from 
hungry animals. I mention these disagreeables be- 
cause it may reconcile some other sufferer to her lot, 
when she knows her case is not one of singular an- 
noyance. Tha best way to protect borders from such 
destruction, is to fix rows of tar-twine round them, 
by means of sticks, hke miniatm-e posts and rails. 
Hares and rabbits are said to dislike the smell, and 
will not jump over the Uttle fence ; but I do not 
speak from observation, for 1 have never tried the 
experiment. This is the first season my roses have 
been attacked, and I was not, till now, aware that 
they were in any danger. 

Although there is still much wet in the gi-ound, 
and some soil can scarcely be touched with the rake 
or ta'owel, yet in early situations and light soU, the 
borders should now be put in order, and prepared for 
seeds. Weeds begin soon to appear, much sooner 
than the flowers : the garden, as well as the human 
li£art, proclaims that bitter fact. Whenever the soil 
is stirred, — whenever a border is formed, — whenever 
a garden operation is effected, up comes a weed. 
Flowers must be placed there, but weeds spring up 
unbidden. Let us, while we prepare the groimd — 
while we remove the weeds — while we plant and sow 
those future beauties of the soil — remember, that 
were it not for that one gracious Hand that nm'tm'es 
us, that sends light and sunshine upon om' worldly 
path, that roots up the evil and sows the good seed 
within, we should be left in hopeless, unfruitfid ste- 
rUity. Let us reflect, too, with bitter shame, that 
wlule our trees and plants rewai'ds us for our care, — 
wlule our flower-beds please the eye by their neat 
and cultivated appearance, and our shi-ubs look 
gi-een, and bright, and healthj' — our hearts and lives 
make a far different return to Him who ti'ains us 



with a Father's hand, watches over us with a Father' 
love, and has opened " a Fountain for sin and mi 
cleanness," more pm'ifying and enriching than all 
the showers that water the eai'th. Well may those 
deeply-affecting words be spoken to us, " What could 
have been done more to my vineyai-d that I have not 
done in it?" Surely, as we labom- and busy our- 
selves about our flowers, we might learn a deep and 
important lesson om-selves, the blessing of which 
might extend even beyond the gi-ave. 

Slickers and layers may now be removed from the 
parent plant, in soft, open weather. Thrift may be 
planted for edgings, and an extremely pretty edging 
it is : it gives a bright rich glow to the garden, lasts 
a long time in flower, and makes up considerably in 
effect, should any flower-bed be without bloom for a 
time. I have seen it interspersed with flint-stones, 
and, for a cottage garden, I like the idea ; but I do 
not think it would so well suit that of a lady. Box 
has been called " the worst of all edging," but I con- 
fess I think it neat, pretty, and sweet, if kept in close 
and perfect order. Turf may be laid down now : it 
should be laid very even, and weU beaten down. 
The best thing for tm-f is constant treading. Wild, 
rank, weedy grass, by being continually trodden upon, 
will beoeme a fine lawn. Pressure desta'oys weeds, 
but it benefits the grass ; never mind, therefore, how 
much your lawn is trampled upon, in wet weather 
especially ; roll it, to keep it even, and it will look 
more beautiful than ever. Moss ought never to be 
encoiu-aged, stiictly speaking, but I much admire it. 
A soft mossy lawn is agreeable to my taste, but a 
gardener would condemn it. Frequent roUing de- 
sti'oys it, and it arises sometimes from not being 
rolled at all. Ladies cannot always command the 
use of a labourer, to roll then- lawns, in which case 
they will imavoidably become mossy ; but frequent 
treading will do much to prevent it. Moss is a very 
pretty ornament for dishes of winter fniit; it looks 
warmer and less formal than tiie laurel leaf, and en- 
ables you to place the fiiiit more conveniently m the 
dish. Lawns should never be allowed to remain 
long without mowing ; or the grass wUl grow strong 
and coarse, and look yellow and liightftd when the 
scytlre has passed over it. Eveiy fortnight, at least, 
tliis should be done, and oftener if possible, except 
in very di-y weather, or where the soil is apt to scorch 
and injm-e the grass. A lady will soon make her 
own observations, and dii-ect it acconUngly. There 
is always something to do, and to watch, and about 
which to interest ourselves, when once we have 
formed an attaclunent to that delightfid object — a 
garden. 



SCRAPS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 

Hedges on Yellow Clay. — The crab will succeed 
better than the white-thorn, and make an impene- 
b-able fence. Hornbeam will also make an excellent 
hedge on such a soil. On a yellow clay, especiaDy 
if moist and of the plastic clay formation, cuttings, 
either of the common bramble or of Rnbns Coryl.i- 
foliiis (Hazel-leaved bramble), will make a dense and 
unassailable hedge in two years; tiie latter is the 
preferable sort for its fruit, which makes an exquisite 
preserve. — Hantoniemis. 

Cyclamen — Sow-bread. — Wliether this name be 
sufficiently distinctive or not, we believe the fault 
lies not with EngUsh botanists, but that the name is 
translated literally from the Genuan. The plant is 
cultivated in Hungary as food for animals — we 



IIG 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



believe swine ; see Dr. Bright's " Travels in Hun- 
gary." ilangokl-wiu'tzel is a name still less descrip- 
tive than sow-bread.— W. P. T. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Heating a small Geeexiiouse (T. F. M. Otleif).— You have a 
vinery 1/ feet long by 11 feet wide, with a pit in the middle, which 
you propose heming by means of three-inch piping, connected with 
:i boiler at the back of your kitchen fire ; and you wish to kno\y if 
these pipes will heat both the pit and the house. You also mention 
some cases of failure, where the pipes were considerably below the 
boiler bottom. In reply, we have to observe, that the best, the 
simplest, and the cheapest way of heating a small greenhouse is by a 
common flue, as we have already stated. It is always dangerous to 
place hot-water pipes lower than the bottom of the boiler, as then 
the circulation often ceases in the lowest part ; two of your pipes, a 
flow and return, will be amply sufficient for your pit in the vinery, 
and these ought to have stop-velves to cut off the cb-culation when 
the bottom heat is high enough ; the other two should be carried 
round the front to the farthest comer, and then return. Keep them 
a few inches from the stem of the vines. It will not at all answer to 
heat the house from the pipes under the pit. The pipes for bottom 
heat ought to be chambered, by cross pieces of rough wood, a few 
inches above them, on which lay the plunging material ; but 2-inch 
slate would be the cheapest in the long run, with sand over to plunge 
in. It would cost from 35s to 403 to cover your pit with slate. Sand, 
kept moist, is the best material to plunge pots in over bottom heat. 

Sigma. — Many thanks for your friendly though cynical criticism. 
■\Ve all require stimulating occasionally. 

Binding the Cottage Gahdener (G. E. L.). — We i^ropose to 
give a full index and title page at the end of the year, leaving every 
subscriber to adopt what binding best suits his taste. 

Manuee Round Roses {Ibid). — Do not remove this until the end 
of March ; we would, indeed, recommend our own practice, viz., not 
to take it away at all, but to point it in and cover it with earth when 
the beds are spring dressed. 

Monthly Parts (Eastoniensis and G. Langtry). — Thanks; we 
will endeavour to meet your wishes, and we think it will be generally 
acceptable, by printing, in future, on the cover of the Monthly Parts 
a Calendar of the work to be done in the Fruit, Flower, and Kitchen 
gardens during the next month. 

KvANiziNG (L. B.). — This certainly renders wood less liable to 
decay and the attacks of insects ; but a cheaper and very effective 
mode of obtaining the same benefits, is to have the wood planed very 
smooth, brushed over with coal-tar at a boiling heat, and then painted. 

Glazing Melon Frames {Ibid) — Use the largest and &es< sheet 
glass. We are quite sure that where any injury has occurred from 
using sheet glass, it is because cither the quality of the glass has been 
bad, or less attention has been paid to the ventilating, watering, and 
heating, than was necessary to keep pace with the vigour of the plants 
enjoying an increased degree of light. Panes 9 inches wide and 2 feet 
long would not be too large. In London the frames can be had for 
the price we quoted. 

Filtering Water {J. P. Hawick). — We do not know the patent 
purifier you mention, but we do know, from having tasted it, that 
rain water passed through a filter like that described in The Cottage 
Gardener, p. 141, is pure and excellent. A cask, as there drawn, 
with a tap and a false bottom, bored full of holes, supporting the 
filtering materials, may be cheaply and easily made. The filtering 
materials should be : — I, a layer of pebbles ; 2, a layer of sand ; 3, a 
layer of powdered charcoal ; 4, a layer of sand ; and, on the top of 
this last layer of sand, a board pierced with holes, to prevent the sand 
being disturbed by pouring in water. At first the water will run 
through thick, but after using it constantly for two or three days the 
water will be pure and clear. Each layer should be 6 inches deep. 

Calceolarias, &c. (An Amateur in Plajits). — The directions 
given in our last Number, in the "Greenhouse and Window" de- 
partment, will give you all the information you require. On Cine- 
rarias and Balsams you will find in our columns full information in 
due time. Your compost of horse-dung, leaves, and light soil, made 
in October, will do very well if you mix it with one-fourth sand. See 
Window Gardening. 

Gladioli (E. B.). — Fou ask about their after treatment, and 
whether they may be planted out in the spring. In reply, — water 
your Gladioli (Corn-flags) sparingly till the leaves are tour or five 
inches long ; after that, water freely every two or three days. If you 
drained the pots according to the directions for this tribe, you need 
not fear giiing them a good dose every time, say a pint of water to a 
bulb-pot six inches wide, and what the soil will not hold must pass 
quickly through the bottom. If you give them plenty of air, and so 
bring them up hardy, they will do very well to plant out late in the 
spring, if you prefer that way. Plant them without the pots, and 
place the surface of the ball an inch below the ground, taking care 
not to break the bill. There it no advantage gained by plunging 
them in the pots. If the pots arc six-inch ones, and only one bulb in 
a pot, you need not shift them ; if otherwise, when the roots begin 
to coil round the ball is the proper time. It is best to put all flower- 
ing bulbs into their flowering-pots at once. 

Cold Pit (Ibid). — The bottom of your intended pit, on " sandy 
and gravelly" soil, will not require any draining; it is the best 
possible bottom for a pit. Unless you wish for a flue, or hot-water 
pipes, to heat it, the "internal arrangements" will consist of levelling 
the bottom, placing two or three inches of rough coal-ashes over the 
bottom, and a little flner over that, to place the pots on. Then such 
plants as are very dwarf must be brought near the glass, by adding a 
quantity of fine coal-ashes at one end, and plunging the pots ia it 
Qown to the rim. Any little plants will do well enough a foot from 



the glass, and this way of plunging them is by far the best and easiest 
way of wintering them. Shelves, or stapes, in such pits are expen- 
sive, last no time, and can only be well managed bv experienced 
persons. Nevertheless, never hesitate a moment to ask for any little 
instructions that we can give. 

Hardy Spring Flowers (A Glasgow Lndy). — There are hardly 
any new additions to our very early hardy spring flowering plants, 
and many of the older ones would not do in front of your library 
windows, where more fancy things must take their place in JMay, 
when little spring plants dislike to be removed, and if left in the beds 
would be smothered. Therefore, the most satisfactory way of keep- 
ing flowerbeds near the windows gay in early spring is "by bulbs, 
such as the snow-drop, crocus, snow-flake, hyacinth, early tulip, 
jonquil, and squill ; also, for the middle of the'beds, wallflowers of 
different hues, and as many tree violets as you can get, — but we shall 
give an article on the subject. 

Fattening Cattle (0. S.).— It is a disputed point whether 
cattle are fattened most profitably upon Swedish turnips or upon 
mangold-wurtzel ; we believe that the doubt arises from other cir- 
cumstances than the actual nutritive composition of the two roots. 
One soil will bear a greater weight per acre of one than the other : 
the cattle may relish one more than the other ; and the season may 
have been more propitious in the production of sugar in one root 
than in the other. We should recommend a combined feeding with 
the two roots, adding daily a little straw, bruised oats, and oil cake. 

Laving down a Meadow (M. W. C. Suffolk).— Instead of 
barley, as recommended by us, p. 196, you may sow oats, but your 
land being light, on a gravelly subsoil, would probably bear a better 
crop of the former. You need not root up the wheat already sowti 
on the part you intend for a la^-n, but may sow the |grass seeds 
among it. The same seeds will do for your meadow. 

Slips op Roses {Lady C, Wiltshire).— Yo\i may now put these 
into water, as mentioned at p. 1/3, by our fair contributor. 

Whitewashing a Wall (A. N. -40.— This will probably improve 
the health of your plants by giving them more light. A red orick 
wall absorbs nearly all the rays of light which fall upon it, except the 
red, but when whitened it reflects them all. It is for this reason that 
the insides of greenhouses, frames, &c., are painted white. 

Burnt Oyster-shells (Ibid).— AH that we have said about the 
use of lime applies to these, for they form a very superior lime when 
burnt. Oyster-shells, before they are burnt, are composed of car- 
Itonate of lime (chalk) 98'3, phosphate of lime (bone earth) 1*2, and 
animal matter, 0'5. You cannot employ a more prolific bean than 
the Scarlet Runner for your trellis. 

Raspberries (.-I Constant Subscriber). — If in a single row, a space 
of two feet from plant to plant is quite room enough ; and wc recom- 
mend you so to plant them on the east, west, and north sides of your 
kitchen- garden beds. If you devote a separate quarter to them, plant 
them in rows three feet and a half apart, and two feet and a half 
from plant to plant. 

Soot and Salt (T. Harton).— For your plot of ground, 20 yards 
long and 10 yards wide, which you are preparing for potatoes, half a 
bushel of salt and two bushels of soot will be a good dressing. Sow 
them over the surface, dig them in, and plant immediately you read 
this. 

Allotment Farming (Sylva, Brijton). — We will reply to your 
inquiries fully in our Nmuber which will be published on the 22nd 
instant. 

Potatoes on .\.n Old Meadow (TT. A*.).— Do not, if you wish 
for a good sound crop, put a single shovelful of guano, soot, or any 
other kind of manure, for an old meadow is always full of decom- 
posing matters. All agree in deprecating the practice of manuring 
for potatoes. All that you need do is to pldjit forthwith, do not delay 
for a single moment, but follow the rules we have given in our edi- 
torial to-day. 

Budding Roses (Miss C. Robson). — Hai-ing some wood-cuts to 
be engraven, we must defer our answer until next week. 

Na.me of Plant {C. Planner).— Tht plant of which you have 
sent us a slip is, we think, Diosma hirsuta, but there being no flower 
we cannot speak positively. If a Diosma. it is of the Linnean class 
and order Pentandria Monogynia. Cuttings of the young shoots 
planted in sand under a glass will root without any artificial heat. 
The crocus is of the class and order Triandria Monogynia. 

Sweet Peas (Highgate iff//) -—Probably, Mr. Beaton, to-day, 
gives you the information you require. — In your poor hea\'y soil, it is 
no wonder you fail in your attempts to grow this sweet annual. Let 
your soil be finely broten ; remove a circular space one foot across and 
six inches deep ; put into this one inch of your rotted horse-dung, then 
replace some of the soil, leaving a hollow one inch deep. Sow your peas 
the last week in March in this hollow, and cover them with sifted coal- 
ashes, so that these rise half an inch above the surface. Do this to 
every patch of sweet peas, and you will succeed, provided you take 
care of them after they come up, by sticking them vrith small twigs 
first, and stronger ones as they grow. For Jasminum nudijiorrnn, 
price 25. 6d., anply to Mr. Appleby, at Messrs. Henderson's, Pine- 
Apple-place, Ecigeware-road. 

Sweet Lemon (H. F. Saunders). — There are two lemons which 
are sweet and pleasant to eat. One of them, the common sweet lemon 
(Limonicr a fruit doux of the French gardeners), may be obtained of 
any of the large fruit retailers in London, and very cheap. The 
otlier, Citrus margarita, the Pearl, or sweet China lemon, is not well 
known in this country. 

Agapantuus (W. H.).— Shall be answered in our next; and 
Tanks (0. S.) on the 22nd of this month. 



London : Printed by Harry Wooldeidge, 14". Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and \\'inchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
SoMERViLLE Obr, at the Ottice, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-lc- Strand, London. — February 8th, 1849. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



211 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M 


W 


D 


D 


15 


Th. 


10 


F. 


17 


S. 


18 


Son. 


1!) 


M. 


20 


Tn. 


21 


W. 



FEBRUARY 15—21, 1849. 



Yellowhammei' sings. 

SmaJl bloody-uose beetle seen. 

Dandelion flowers. 

Shrove Sund.\y Jaclvdaws build. 

CoUop Monday, Spring Crocus flowers. 
SuroveTues. Hort.& Linn. Soc. meetings.' I 
LentBegins. AshWed. Greenfinchsings. 



Plants dedicated to 


Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon*s 


Clock 


Day of 


each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


bet. Sun. 


Year. 


Clotb of gold Crocus. 


16 a. 7 


13 a. 5 


1 


13 


® 


14 25 


46 


Pink double Primrose 


14 


15 


2 


12 


23 


14 21 


47 


Susian Crocus. 


12 


17 


3 


8 


34 


14 17 


48 


Wall Speedwell. 


10 


18 


4 





25 


14 12 


49 


, Field Speedwell. 


8 


20 


4 


47 


26 


14 6 


50 


j Vouus's Navel-wort. 


6 


22 


5 


29 


27 


14 


51 


1 Wiite Crocus. 


4 


24 


6 


C 


28 


13 53 


52 



Shrove is derived from the Saxon word shrive, or shrift, and 
means confessed; this being: the time especially set apart for confes- 
sion of sins by the Roman Catholic Church, preparatory to entering 
upon their severe fasting time of Lent. 

CoLLOP flloNDAY is obscrvcd still in the north of England, coUops, 
or slices of ham, or other salted meat with eggs, being the customary 
dish at dinner. It was the last day on which our ancestors indulged 
in eating riesh ; and it is probable that they now ate up remnants 
(coUops) of meat, to avoid having a large joint just at the beginning 
of the forty days of Lent. With this, Egg Saturday, celebrated two 
days before at Oxford, seems to correspond. 

Shrove Tuesday, Fuating Eve, or Pancake Tuesdm/y the last 
day before Lent, though devoted to confession, was no less celebrated 
by feasting in old CathoHc times. The hell which is still rung in some 
of our towns at ten o'clock, is no longer kno\vn as the Confessional 
but as the Pancake hell. There is strong reason for belie\'ing that 
eating pancakes on this day is a relique of the adaptation of papal 
customs to those of the heathen converts. The Roman Fomacalia, 
a festival celebrated in honour of Fornax, who presided over bread- 
making before ovens were invented, were celebrated on the 18th of 
February. We have no space for details of the games celebrated in 
various places upon this anniversary, but will conclude with some of 
our ancestors' sajings relative to its weather : — " Thunder on Shrove 
Tuesday foretelleth wind, store of fruit, and plenty;" *'So much 
as the sun shineth on this day, the like will shine on every day in 
Lent." 

Asn Wednesday retains the name given to it hy the priests of 
the Roman Catholic Church, who on this first day of Lent bless ashes 
and sprinkle them on the heads of their congregations. The term 
Lent has no reference to fasting, but is derived from the Saxon name 
for spring — Lengtcn-tidc — because the days then are lengthening, this 
lieing the spring fast. It is a Norfolk proverb, that ** wherever the 
wind lies on Ash Wednesday it continues dm-ing all Lent." 

PiiENosiENA OF THE SEASON. — Some of the most striking occur- 
rences of this month are the general sj-mptoms of plants arousing from 
their winter's torpor. The blossoming of some, the leating of others, 
and the bud-swelling of a still greater number, announce on every side 

Insect. — The Orange Upper-wing 
Moth ('X«H//i«/e//<?ac*'oc(fOi§'o;varies from 
1 to li inch in the expanse of the fore- 



that they are again awaking to life, and to reassume then: beautv- 
Did you ever ask of yourself, or of others— ^^Tiat is vegetable Hfe'? 
If you have, you have discerned already that the answer is beset M-ith 
difficulties. Some animals, as the zoophytes, arc so little differing 
from plants, that it has defied the most acute philosophers to define 
where the animal kingdom terminates and the vegetable kingdom 
begins. The zoophyte is fixed to the soil, and has an organization 
differing little from that of plants ; and when we know that if you 
tickle the leaves of the Venus's Fly-trap, they clasp their sides 
together ; that if you similarly irritate the stamens of the common 
Berberry, that they rise spasmodically ; and that the slightest touch 
makes the Sensitive plant close up its leaves ; — w^ho can say in what 
respect the life of these differs from life in the zoophyte ? So long as 
life remains in any one of them they retain their form and loveliness ; 
but life once departed, decay, with all its disgusting consequences' 
speedily arrives, and reduces them to the dust from whence thev 
were created. It is vain to strive to detect this pervading, control- 
ling, preserWng power ; we can only obtain a veiled ghmpse of it in 
its effects ; under its influence all the functions of the roots, leaves, 
and flowers, proceed orderly and correctly ; "no two operations clash ; 
there is no discord, no irregularity, no disturbance ; every object is 
gained, and everything is ready for its intended purpose;" yet "no 
person has been able to detect the agent, always so busy, and per- 
forming such wonders, nor to discover him at his work." We shall 
often recur to this subject and its wonders ; we will, by degrees, 
place before our readers an outline of the phenomena of vegetable 
life, from the sprouting of the seed to the closing scene on the dung- 
hill, — for the subject is full of instruction, and of illustrations of the 
power, wisdom, and goodness of God. A volume might be composed 
upon that single text— " Consider the lilies of the field, how they 
grow." So also thought Thomas Faircliild, gardener at Hoxton": 
and we dare say that many of our readers are not aware that next 
May 29th— and on every other Whit-Tuesday— a sermon is preached, 
in accordance with his will, at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch. " On th<? 
certainty of the resurrection of the dead, proved by the certain 
changes of the animal and vegetable parts of the creation." This 
excellent man died in 1729. 




Feb. 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. . 


1345. 


1946. 


1847. 


1848. 


15 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Showery. 


Highest 


















& lowest 


49°— 42° 


54°— 40° 


29°— 22° 


49°— 27° 


45°— 33° 


50°— 31° 


54°— 34° 


49°— 26° 


temp. 


















16 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 




51°— 39° 


53°— 33° 


32°— 20° 


49°— 30° 


41°— 22° 


48°— 41° 


51°— 10° 


44°— 26° 


1 17 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudv. 


Fine. 




46°— 36° 


49°— 25° 


42°— 30° 


50°— 36° 


44°— 23° 


47°— 39° 


57°— 47° 


45°— 29° 


18 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudv. 


Cloudv. 




53°— 38° 


47°— 24° 


34°— 31° 


49°— 39° 


41°— 21° 


48°— 39° 


51°— 41° 


42°— 25.° 


19 


Showerr. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Shower^'. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Snow. 




50°— 35° 


49°— 30° 


37°— 34° 


50°— 29° 


35°— 16° 


46°— 39° 


49°— 32° 


49°— 32° 


20 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Frost)'. 


Frost. 


Cloudv. 


Fine. 


Showcrj'. 




56°— 40° 


40°— 31° 


39°— 35° 


°42— 20° 


37° — 22° 


50°— 40° 


62°— 41° 


48°— 25° 


ai 


Fine. 


Earn. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 




66°— 29° 


48°— 27° 


54°— 37° 


42°— 32° 


44°— 20° 


58°— 36° 


51°— 41° 


46°— 39° 



wings, which are of an orange or yel- 
lowish red colour, with streaks and 
spottings of brown ; the front margin 
of the fore-wings marked with six distinct, white, nearly equi-distant spots ; the portion of the wing bearing the spots is dark ; the spots large, 
and alike in colour ; a distinct, brown, oblique strealt running from the hinder part of the outer spot to the inner margin of the wing ; beyond 
the outer spot is a curved row of dark dots, and the side margin of the wing is dark-coloured, bearing an undulated, somewhat indistinct, sub- 
apical streak ; the hind-wings are whitish, with a dusky spot and central streak often having a rosy tinge, but which is as often scarcely discern- 
ible. Varieties occur in the intensity of the ground colour of the fore-wings, and in the depth and extent of their markings. The caterpillar 
is yellowish, colom-ed with white dots, and angulated dark markings along the back, and oblique ones on the sides. It feeds on almost all the 
species of the oak. The moth appears to survive the mnter, for it is found not only in June, but at the end of February and April. It is 
not a very rare species in oak woods in the south of England ; and we have found it on the ornamental oaks in shrubberies. 



Exactly si.'c hundred years ago, Albertus Magnus 
constructed a conservatoiy or structiu'e, whereby he 
so prevented the escape of warmth fi-oni his plants, 
that he not only brought them to perfectioii eai'lier, 
but preseiTcd them in beauty amid the severities of 
a German winter. For doing this, for effecting 
what every one of our readers may now effect for a 



few pence, Albertus was, in those dark ages — dark 
because ignorant — designated a magician and a 
leaguer with evil spuits ! Happily for us we live in 
daj's of better knowledge, and ai-e in a fair way to 
become a nation of conjurors such as Albertus, for, 
in tliis day of cheap glass and better gardening, we 
have no doubt that, in a few years, every cottager 



No. XX., Vol. I. 



218 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



will have glass structui-es of some kind, and, as Mr. 
Rivers, the truly excellent nurseiyman at Sawhridge- 
worth, said to us the other day, '^ Every cottager's 
wife will take in her hasket to market a few peaches 
and nectai-ines." Xor wiU Hamhm-gh, and other 
high class grapes, nor pine apples, he unknown to 
those baskets in om- southern counties. 

Tills is no wild vision, for the cultivation of such 
plants is simple in the extreme ; the system of 
dwai-fing renders very small structures capable of 
holding many trees; glass is now extraordinarily 
cheap ; and houses for the cultivation of fniit are, 
in our days, no longer the elaborate, expensive stnic- 
tures which they were formerly. We shall have to 
give some curious particulars upon all these points ; 
hut to- day we will confine oiu'selves to the cheapest 
forips of glass shelters, or what Mr. Maund, more 
than five years ago, very aptly tei-med " The Partial 
Protection System." 

There is no magic in this, nor in any other system 
of fruit-tree protection, for it is all founded upon 
plain facts, which the boy who cannot understand 
is not fit to dr-ive even a plough team. In cm- vari- 
able cliniate, when a bright sunny spring day is so 
often succeeded by frost and ice at night, it is neces- 
sary, to insure a crop of fruit from apricot, gi-eeu- 
gage, peach, and nectarine trees, then in blossom 
upon our walls and trellises, that their flowers shall 
be protected from those fi-osts. This may be done 
by screens formed of the twigs of evergi-eeus, nets, 
&c., but then these must be removed during the day, 
if warm and sunny, or the blossom wiU faU from the 
want of that heat and light combined, so essential 
for perfecting the pollen, and for seciiring impregna- 
tion, or " the setting of the fruit." 

Now, a screen of good glass not only shelters by 
night, but increases the day temperature in wliich 
the ti-ees are kept; and, as it admits the hght also, 
it needs not to be removed at all, or, if removed, is 
taken away without danger of rubbing off the buds. 
We proposed such a screen as this in the Gardener's 
Almanack for 1817, and we gave the following 
sketch and brief commentary. 




" With a hinge at each of the upper corners, the 
light may be opened whenever air is desired to be 
admitted ; the angle at which the glass is placed 
allows the inlet of more rays of hght than if it were 
perpendicular : and being in form very like a com- 
mon garden-frame, it may be so employed at all 
other seasons of the year than the period between 



February and the middle of May, when shelter to 
wall ti'ees is no longer requh-ed." 

Now, hinges ai-e not at all necessary, the glazed 
sash alone need be employed ; and, instead of by 
wood-work, the sides may be closed by means of 
furze, heath, or other leafy, bushy materials, tied in 
bundles. The sashes may be made and glazed for a 
sum so small as will sm-prise oui' readers when we 
enter into the detail next week. 

Those who cannot afford an outlay even so tiifliug 
as is requh-ed for the preceding, may adopt a more 
partial system of protection, which was first pubhshed 
in the Gardener's Almanack for 1844, and was sug- 
gested by Mr. Maund. Any cottager may make a 
dozen or two of these shelters for half as many shil- 
lings, and, by then- means, may protect and ripen 
early the fruit on as many branches of the vine, 
peach, apricot, or any other tree which he may have 
trained against his cottage or his paling. It is by 
no means necessary to cover the whole of a ti'ee ; 
half of it, one quarter of it, or only one of its 
branches may be thus protected, and wOl set and 
ripen its fruit a month earUer than that on the other 
jxirts unprotected. 

Any one may make such protections of any pieces 
of rough board and pieces of glass, from the follow- 
ing description given by Mr. Maimd. Elegance of 
appearance is not at all essential to its success. 

" Grapes gi'own on open walls in the 
midland counties are rarely well ripened ; 
therefore this year I provided a small 
glazed frame, a sort of narrow hand-glass, 
of tbe shape shown in the annexed out- 
line, to fix against the wall, and inclose 
one branch of the vine with its fruit and 
foliage. The open part, which rests 
against the wall, is thirteen inches wide, 
and may be of any length reqmred to 
take in the ft-uit. The sides are formed 
of single panes of glass, seven inches 
wide, and meet on a bar which may re- 
present the ridge of a roof, the ends in- 
closed by tiiangular boards, and having 
a notch to admit the branch. This was fixed on the 
branch a month before the vine came into flower. 
The consequence was, the protected bunches flowered 
a week earlier than the exposed. The frame was 
not fitted closely to the wall, but in some places may 
have been a quarter of an inch from it. The lateral 
branches being shortened before it was fixed, it did 
not require removal, even for pruning, because I 
adopt tlie long rod mode of training, which is pecu- 
liarly adapted to my partial protection system. The 
temperature within the frame is always liighor than 
without, sometimes at mid-day even fi-om 30° to 30°. 
By this simple protection 1 find gi-apes may be 
ripened from three weeks to a month earlier than 
when wholly exposed, and this saving of time \n\l, 
i believe, not only secure their ripening well every 
year in the midland counties, hut also that such 
advantage will be available in the north of England, 
where grapes never ripen on the open walls. 1 
should have told you that the cold nights of last 
spring caused almost all the young fruit to fall off 
during the flowering season, excepting where it was 
protected." 




THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



219 



THE FLOWEE-GAEDEN. 

DioGiNS and Trenching. — Last week we endea- 
voured to give some plain directions about renewing 
the soil in flower-beds. Now, we very much fear 
there are a great number of villas and cottage gar 
dens that have the ordinary flower-beds and borders 
not yet dug. What language can we use to persuade 
such persons from neglecting this necessary opera- 
tion any longer? The benefit of digging or trench- 
ing in autumn, or in the open weather of winter, is, 
we assure our readers, veiy gi'eat. The exposure of 
the under stratum of earth to the air actually en- 
riches it. The close textiu-e of the soil is opened by 
the action of the weather, whether it be fi'osty or 
not ; and the rain is thereby more fi-eely filtered, as 
it were, through the smallest particles of the soil. 
Again, by loosening the soil in the operation of dig- 
ging, the roots of the flowers and shrubs have a 
larger pasture allowed them to seek for nourishment. 
These advantages of stm-ing the earth of the flower- 
border with the spade are independently of enrich- 
ing the borders either by the addition of fresh loam 
or dung. With the addition of these fertilizers, the 
advantages of stirring, opening, and pulverizing the 
soil with the spade ai-e increased tenfold. Now, we 
would ask om' readers that have liitherto neglected 
to dig then flower-borders, if it is wise to do so any 
longer ? However small the flower-plot may be, tlie 
same beneficial results will foUow in proportion. 
Even the small borders attached to our town villas 
should be fi'equently dug, and the shrubs and flowers 
will thrive better in conseqiLence. 

Is it necessary to describe how tliis common work 
should be done ? It seems it is, for some of om- 
correspondents say, that " we cannot contract om' 
ideas to the naiTow limits of the humble villa or 
cottage garden," and that " we mite without think- 
ing enough beforehand." Now, to these somewhat 
wholesale accusatious, we cannot say " guilty " — for 
all om' life, and that not a short one, it has been our 
constant study to diffuse the best information in our 
power, not only to the possessor of large gardens, 
but to the owner also of the smallest plot ; and, with 
respect to thinking before we vnite, I ask, can any 
man write on such a varied subject as gai'deuing 
without thinking, and deeply too? However; let all 
this pass, and let us retm'n to om' subject of digging. 
We suppose yoi.u- borders, or border, are tinnished 
with some flower-roots, roses, and shrubs — in fact, a 
mixed flower-gai'den. Procm'e a few stout pegs, and 
stick them in close to each patch of bulbs or roots, 
leaving about two inches visible above ground. Let 
all your rose bushes be pruned, edgings cut, shrubs 
against walls or paling trimmed and nailed, or tied ; 
clear away all the rubbish, and then, if you have 
any fi'esh loam, rotten leaves, or dung, or all three 
mixed, lay on a moderate thickness all over the bor- 
der of those refreshers. If you have none of those 
good things, do not therefore neglect the digging. 
Commence at one end of the border by opening a 
trench, that is, taking up with the spade a row of 
spadefuls across the border. Put this soil in a 
harrow, and wheel it to the other end of the border ; 
then take up a spadeful of soil at one side, and tui-n 
it upside down, dnectly before you, in the trench you 
have opened. K yom' soil is heavy and strong, 
break it partially in pieces with the spade; if hght, 
it will not need it. Proceed so with the next spade- 
ful, and so on across the border, in as straight a line 
as you can, taking care not to injure or distm'b the 
flower-roots, &c., that may be in the beds or borders. 



Fni up the trench at the end with the soil that was 
placed there at the begimiing. 

If the beds or borders have not been dug for some 
time, and you are desirous of making a really good job 
of it,' take up all the roots and shrubs, and lay them 
in by the heels: that is, cover the roots with earth 
in some vacant pai't of the garden ; then lay on a 
good coat of ii'esh earth and dung ; open a trench, 
as before, at one end, but instead of one spit deep of 
earth, take out two, and make a trench, half a yard 
wide, of two spades depth. Wheel this sod to the other 
end, and then tm'n the next spits of the next trench 
of the same width to the bottom of the first trench ; 
then bring up the next spit to the top, and so proceed 
trench after ti-enoh till the whole is finished. After 
that, lay on another coat of compost and dig it lightly 
in. This is trenching, and wiU entirely renew your 
borders for several years. When all this is finished, 
the flower-roots and slu'ubs should be immediately 
replanted. If you have not compost enough to afford 
a covering to both top and bottom spit, omit the 
first coat, and apply one to the last tm'ned-up spit, 
for this is most likely the poorer of the two ; and, 
besides, the roots of the plants wiU sooner feel the 
benefit of the application. 

The Compost Yard. — Now is a good time to attend 
to this department. By this term, " compost-yard," 
we mean that place in the gai'den set apai't to keejj 
loam, peat, dung, and leaves in. To have aU these 
implies a moderate sized garden. Perhaps tlie cot- 
tager in the country may find a corner in the lane, 
or waste, that may be near liis cot, to keep his heap 
of collected leaves, gathered dung, and the dung from 
— what we hope he possesses — Iris pigsty. To such, 
then, as have compost, or heaps of any kind of ferti- 
lizers, our present writing is du'ected. The dimg 
and leaves require the most frequently turning over, 
to prevent then' heating too much. Should either 
appear di'y, wet them thoroughly with water, or, what 
is better, with the di-ainage of the dunghill, the slops 
fi'om the house, or, if there is such a thing neai', tlie 
water h'om a stagnant pool or ditch. Every time 
this heap is turned, cover it up with a coating of 
eai'th: this will check the escape of the gases, which 
are the best part of the dimg. If you can procure 
such a tiling as a bushel or two of lime, it will mate- 
rially assist the decomposition of the heap, and 
greatly increase its fitness for vegetable food. Strive 
to make this heap as large as you can : it is the 
riches of your garden. Without it, even mtli the 
best management, your flowers, as well as vegetables, 
will be poor and unsatisfactory; with it, liberally 
applied, they wiU be rich in colour, in scent, and fla- 
vom'. Search, therefore, for materials to increase its 
bulk, as you would for gold in California. It is a 
more certain increase of your comfort and wealth 
than any of those wild chimerical schemes now too 
prevalent. 

Reserve a portion, or small heap, of clung and of 
leaves, separate firom each other, to be turned over 
frequently, until they become quite decayed, and fit 
for potting pm'poses. Attend to the heap of turfy 
loam also: expose every part to the an- iu succes- 
sion. If you have a large heap of this valuable ma- 
terial — considerably more than is likely to be wanted 
for plants in pots — sejiarate it into two heaps; and 
the one intended for use in plotting, keep as it is; 
but the other, rai.x. with Ume. You wUl find its good 
qualities for gardening piu'poses much increased. 
Peat earth does not requu'e turning so often as the 
above-mentioned. If it be tm'ned three or foui' times 
a year, to keep down the weeds, it is quite sufficient. 



220 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



That word, " irceds" reminds us of a piece of ad- 
vice a very ancient ftiend ffave to ns with much 
gi'avity, — "Nevfr allow a weed to seed, for one year's 
seeding gives seven years' weeding." In the compost 
yard, or place wliere you keep yom' various soils, 
never allow a weed to be seen, much less to seed. 

Keep a corner also for the soot out of yoiu' cliim- 
ne)', and another for broken Iviies. These last ought 
always to be mixed with eartli, or they will — if even 
in so, small a quantity as half a husliel — heat vio- 
lently, and lose the greater part of their fertilizing 
]iroperties. Lime, for dusting your borders or seed- 
beds, where slugs and worms ai-e troublesome, or to 
make hme-water, should be kept in a di-y place, in 
some vessel that is as near air-tight as possible ; tins 
wUl keep it quick and powdery, and preserve its 
pungency. 

To preseiTe saml for sb-iking cuttings, we have 
alluded to before. Eiver or pit sand, to mix amongst 
composts or soils for out-door pm"poses. may be laid 
in any corner, stin-ing the sm-i'ace occasionally, after 
heavy rains, to prevent the growth of moss, &c. 

We ha.ve thus, at some length, dwelt upon the 
matters connected with the compost yard, because 
we feel satisfied of the importance of the subject, and 
are convinced our remarks will be of use to a gi'eat 
number of our readers. To such as may not have 
room, on account of the size of their premises, to 
keep dung and soDs by them, we can only say we are 
sorry you cannot have the benefit of such usefid, nay, 
indispensable materials. Of cotu'se you may, if you 
can afford it, always buy from a respectable niu'sery 
the soils you may want ; Init that you will find much 
more expensive than if you couhriiavc theiu by you 
in even small quantities, to be ready for use when- 
ever your plants may requii-e them. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
Ranunculus. — The season has now anived for 
planting these very beautiful and elegant flowers. 
The soil of the bed ought to be in fine condition, 
neither wet nor dry. To pi-ove its state, take up a 
handful, gently squeeze it, and let it fidl about half a 
yai-d: if it is in a right condition, it wiU fall in 
pieces. Proceed then with a rake to level the soil ; 
and iiaving finished that operation, then, with a trian- 
gulai'-shaped and ratlier small hoe, or with the comer 
of a common hand-hoe, draw a th-ill across the bed 
two inches deep ; draw the next five inches distant 
from the first, and so on till the whole bed is finished. 
Commence this some fine morning when there is a 
)irospect of the day continuing fin(>. When the 
ch'ills are all finished, sprinkle, at the bottom of each 
diHl, some fine sand ; then bring out your ranuncu- 
lus roots, with a numbered label, made cither of lead, 
with the number stamped upon it, or of wood, with 
each number wi-itten upon it with a black-lead pencil, 
upon a coating of white-lead. Begin then to plant 
the variety written in your book opposite No. 1 : 
take each root between your finger and thumb, and 
place it at the bottom of tlie drill, veiy gently press- 
ing it down ui the sand to about liaU' the length of 
the claws of each root. Having placed the first to 
your mind, put the next at four inches distance from 
It ; and so proceed till you have planted all the first 
Icind; then thrust in the numbered label, either with 
the number facing the kind, or with its back to it. 
Both ways are practised by llorists, but we prefer 
the number to face the variety it belongs to. If our 
plan is followed, the number should be always put 
in first, the whole of the variety planted, and then 



the second number put in, and the second kind 
planted. Follow on in this manner till the bed is 
filled. As soon as that is completed, cover the roots 
just over the crowns with some more of the fine 
sand : this sand prevents the roots from getting too 
wet or moidding. Having proceeded thus far suc- 
cessfully, take your rake again, and carefidly level 
down the soil into the drills. If your lied is not 
edged with boards or slates (as reconuuended before), 
stretch a line on one side of the bed, about four 
inches from the roots, and with the back of the spade 
]iat the sod on the side of the bed gently, to make it 
firm : then chop down the edge of the bed nearly per- 
jiendicularly, rake the walk neatly, and the operation 
of planting ranunculuses is finished. 

Auriculas and Polyanthuses. — As the season ad- 
vances, the days becoming longer, and the sun more 
powerfid, so the cares, and toUs, and pileasures, of 
the lover of flowers inci'eases. The tune to to])-dress 
these chamring flowers has anived. Look in the 
compost-yard for some very rotten cow-dimg. two 
years old at least, and some rotten leaf-mould and 
light loam. If these are not dry, use means to make 
them so : mi.x them with the hand well together, and 
add a little sand ; then have yom' plants in some 
couvement jilace; remove a portion of the old soil, 
clear away all decayed leaves, and apply the top- 
dressing of fresh compost, veiy nearly fllUng the 
]iots ; press it rather closely to the stem of each 
plant; give a gentle watering with a fine-rose ■water- 
ing-pot, to settle the new earth; rejdace the plants 
in the frame, and attend to them caroiidly, as directed 
by us previously. This top-dressing gi'eatly strength- 
ens the plants, and consequently the Wooms. 

T. ArPLEBY. 



GEEENHOUSE AND AVINDOW 
GAEDENING. 

The Fuchsia. — Of all the jdants in oiu- gardens, 
this has the prettiest name ; it is, perhaps, the pret- 
tiest flower also ; and, what is curious enough, the 
very oldest of all the fuchsias is as beautiful and 
elegant as any one of the many thousands that have 
hitherto been raised by cross breeding them. Of the 
best of the new wild S2iecies, it may be almost pre- 
dicted that we shall never be able to improve on 
them ; that is, in their own sections. Intermediate 
forms we have in great abtmdance, and these mil 
go on improving, nobody luiows how long. But 
Fuchsia fidgeiw, the glo\ving fuchsia of ile.xico — 
F. coriimhijlora, the cluster-flowered fuchsia from 
Peru — and the Queen of Fuchsias, F. sju-ctahilis, also 
from Pei-u — have been so exquisitely finished by the 
hand of Nature, that no art can possibly improve 
them. The Queen of Fuchsias, as Dr. Lindey calls 
it, is the best of them all; or, the "loveliest of the 
Idvely," as the young gentleman who first discovered 
it WTOte home concerning it. This ought to have been 
called the Marvel of Peru, if that name had not been 
pre-occcupied ; and, by the way, the scarlet Marvel of 
Peru is nut unlike the Queen of Fuchsias. If envy 
was aUowable, who would not n\\y the feelings of 
Jlr. WiUiam Lobb when he first discovered this 
charming plant on the Andes of Cueuca, in Peru. 
We who live in hajijiy England little know of tho 
gi-eat hardships and dangers which botanical col- 
lectors, like Mr. Lobb. must necessarily undergo in 
wild and savage countries, looking out for beautiful 
plants for us to cultivate and enjoy, with all the 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



221 



other blessiugs which, are so abuDdantly vouchsafed 
to us iu our temperate climate. Look again at the 
great expense and rislv wliich must attend these 
expeditions; and, who can gi'udge the nurseryman a 
i'air price for what has cost liim so much labom-, 
anxiety, and expense. Messrs. Veitch and Sou, of 
Exeter, are the hicky gentlemen who raised the 
Queen of Fuchsias for seed, and in whose possession 
it now is — but I behove it wiU be sold to the pubUe 
in the spring. A guinea a plant, no doubt, will be 
the price at first; and cheap enough too, if we 
would but remember the hunth-eds of pounds which 
Mr. Lobb's mission must have cost this enteiinising 
firm. I hope, however, before the end of next au- 
tumn, this Queen of the Fuchsias wUl be cheap 
enough to be within the reach of all our readers ; 
meantime, let us keep it in mind, the name of it — 
" spectahilis" (gi-aceful) is very easy to learn, if we 
only think of s23eotacles, or resjjectable — words which 
sound very like it. 

And now let us see what is best to be done with 
om- present stock of fuchsias. They have all been 
laid up before winter arrived, in some out of the way 
jilace, safe from the fi-ost; and before the end of Fcb- 
ruaiy, some of them at least ought to be set gi'owing, 
to come in for early bloom in May. The dry soQ 
should be all shook away fi'om their roots, and then 
the largest roots must be pruned back to within six 
inches of the stem, and the smaller roots trimmed a 
little. Then their branches must all get a regidar 
pruning, the smaller ones to be cut back to the last 
joint, and the stouter branches to be cut to three or 
four joints next tlie-main stems, and the tops of the 
old stems had better be cut back a little also, for 
tliis wUl render the plants tliick and busby ti-om the 
bottom. 

They are then ready for a new potting, and the 
first pots ought to be as small as just to hold aU the 
roots without cramping them, yet some of the smaller 
roots may be tinned roimd the jiot in a regidar way 
without doing any liarm. The soil for this first pot 
ought to be light and rich; say, three parts light 
sandy loam, or any good garden mould, and one 
part leaf mould, or very rotten dry old dung, a hand- 
ful of sand being added. This compost wiU enable 
the young roots to get a fair stai't at first. The soU 
for after pottings may be of a stronger kind. Fuch- 
sias oi-e fond of rough compost, such as pieces of 
tiu'fy peat, some charcoal about the size of horse- 
beans, or broken bones of that size, and these — • 
besides em-iching the soil — will help to keep the 
whole ball more open, and free for the roots to 
spread in, and, therefore, the loam may be of a firm 
textiu'e. I.eaf-mould, or rotten dimg, and a little 
sand, m the foregoing proportions, must be used in 
all the pottings; and always when the young wliito 
roots appear to get crowded round the sides of the 
pot, is the true sign when they, or any other plant, 
want another shift into a larger pot. They ought to 
be in their last pot for the season, by the time they 
are getting freely into bloom, and that is the best 
time to begin to give them good doses of strong 
liquid mauiu'o at every other watering. They are 
never at a loss for a good appetite, and, as they cany 
such a heavy crop of their beauth'ul cariing-hke 
blossoms, they require a generous diet. 

They ai-c excellent window plants, except in very 
hot summer weather, when they may stand outside, 
but it wiU be time enough to ttilk of that when the 
summer comes. 

As to the mode of increasing them, they make 
roots as free as willows, if you stick them in the 



ground. The bits of the branches you pnine off at 
the first potting will make roots if you plant them 
iu a pot of light soil; or even if you only place them 
round the sides of the pots iu which the plants are, 
they wUl do weU enough, and be ready to pot by the 
time the plants wUl reqim-e shifting. The cuttings 
would also root in little phials of water, Inmg up in 
the window, and tlus is a very interesting way of 
trj'ing many cuttings. The phial that comes readiest 
to hand will do, as, if it is too deep for them, you 
have only to tlnnk of the sly old crow, which wanted 
to diink out of a deep pitcher, but woiUd not trust 
her cunning head down the neck of it. Of coiu'se 
you recollect how she filled the pitcher with pebbles, 
tUl the water rose up to her reach: just do the same 
for yom' cuttings. If yoiu- phial is too deep, fiU it 
up one half or so with moiUd, and pom the water 
over it; if the water is two inches deep it will do, 
and you may gi'ow hundreds of cuttings that way. 
The pliials may hang on naUs, or hooks, round the 
sides of the window, right facing the sun : oleanders 
and hydrangeas, and, I dare say, many other plants, 
wUl make i-oots that way faster, and much easier, 
than in earth. 

If you have a cucumber bed, there is another veiy 
curious expei-imeut you may tiy with fuchsias, when 
they come into full leaf, namely — to grow them fi-om 
leaves only. If you are dexterous enough, you 
might turn every leaf of a fuchsia into a new plant. 
Cut them oft" with their stalk, and plant them in very 
little pots, half filled with sand. Let the bottom of 
the leaf part just touch the sand; place them down 
close to the sides of the i)ot, with the tops of the 
leaves leaning iuwai-ds, towards the centre of the pot. 
Give them water to settle the sand, veiy close to 
their little stems, and you must keep the sand damp 
all tlie time they ar-e fonning roots. After a whUe, 
you wUl see tiny plants, like seedlings, coming up 
out of the sand, and when they ai'e all up in this 
"way, you can shake them out and repot tliem iu a 
nursing pot, one size larger than that they were first 
in, and use half sand and half soil for this nin-sing. 

I must now turn back to tell you the safest way to 
manage them after they are first potted in the sand. 
Take an empty pot, two sizes larger than the cutting 
l)ot, and place the cutting jiot inside it; then place a 
jiiece of glass over themoutli of the emptypot, and if it 
is of the proper size, the top of the leaves in the inner 
pot wUl be just one inch from the glass covering, or if 
they are a Uttle deeper down it does not matter much. 
The best place for them is the front side of the cueiun- 
ber pit, as the sun does not reach that part so strong; 
and tlie reason for putting the glass over them, is to 
keep them from the air, which might otherwise dry 
and shrivel them .up. You wiU find the glass quite 
wet on the underside every morning, fi-om the damp- 
ness of the sand, and you must turn it upside down 
eveiy day, that the leaves may have a dry covering 
overhead, otherwise the drops falling fi-om the glass 
in so confined a place might damp and destroy them. 

Now, this is really a most beautifiU and ciu-ious 
experiment. The nicety and patience reqim-ed to 
carry it through will lear-n you such a practical use 
of your eyes and fingers as wiU make you a good 
gardener so far for the rest of your life ; and I can 
say, from experience, that a single potful of such 
plants reared in tliis way wtU give you more genuine 
pleasui-e than if you were to get a whole basketful 
of new plants for nothing, and the Queen of the 
Fuchsias added to the bargain. I recoUect, as if it 
were but yesterday, the first cuttiug I struck. It was 
from that old sweet-scented plant, the Balm of Gilead. 



222 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I had it from a schoolfellow, whose father was a job- 
bing gardener, and sill his children were fond of 
flowers, and I thought them very genteel because 
they had pot flowers in then- windows, and if I could 
but manage to have flowers of my own I would be 
a gentleman at once. All that I recollect of my first 
cutting pot is, tliat it did not want for water, at any 
rate! but I rooted one out of three cuttings, and I 
am certain I have never thought that I have executed 
a more clever feat since. Yet the Balm of Gilead is 
easier to root than a fuchsia, and though a very old 
plant, it ought to be seen in, or about, every cottage 
in the kingdom. It is almost hardy, and will keep 
green all winter in a window. The flower is nothing 
— it is the peculiar fragi'ance of the leaves for wlrich 
it is remarkable. When rubbed, they emit a strong 
resinous scent, which is agreeable to most people, 
even to those who are not able to bear the scent of 
many kinds of flowers. The associations connected 
with the plants mentioned in the Scriptm'es are 
always pleasing, and this name more so than most of 
them. Jeremiah (viii. 32,) makes a beautifiil figure 
of language, when he asks, "Is there no balm in 
Gilead? is there no physician there? Why then is 
not the health of the daughter of my people re- 
covered?" Our plant, however, is not a native of 
the vnld hOls of Gilead beyond the Jordan. It 
grows much nearer home, in the Canary Islands. 

Where there is a good stock of fuchsias, some of 
them may be left in their winter quai-ters along time 
yet ; even till it is safe to tm"n them out into some 
sheltered corner, where a good mat will protect tliem 
from the late fi'osts. Thus a succession of blooms 
of them may be had thi'ough the whole season. 

Sc.iKLET GKR.iNiuMs that have been kept dry, as 
recommended, ought now, or very soon, to be brought 
to light. If they received much injuiy, as sometimes 
they do in theu' winter stores, they will requue a 
particidarly good treatment at first. If they are in 
pots, which is the safest way to winter them, do not, 
on any account, shake them out of the dry soil at 
first. Hundreds of soft-wooded plants, that have 
been kept safely over the winter, are killed every 
spring, by the bad practice of shaking them from the 
soil at first, as I have just recommended to be done 
with fuchsias, which are of a very different and op- 
posite, or hard-wooded, natm'e. We must get rid of 
the rule of thumb, which treats all plants and seeds, 
at particular stages, alike. Thus, one man plants, 
or pots, a diy bidb and waters it immediately, as if 
it was a camellia; another takes out his scai-let ge- 
raniums about the end of February, and shakes the 
di'y mould from then' roots, as if they were fuchsias ; 
whilst a third sows his calceolaria seed, which, 
although they are as small as dust, he wiU water im- 
mediately, as if they were tmnip seeds. Now, if The 
Cottage G.\rdenek can break tlu-ough this thumb- 
ride, even at the risk of breaking some of the more 
stubborn of the thumbs, it will be doing a gi-eat 
service to gardening. Therefore, when you talic 
down — for I suppose they are somewhere up stall's — 
your scarlet geraniums, take a sharp knife, and cut 
out every spot and speck wlrich appears driatl up or 
dead, and see that every wound is left fleshy and 
quite gi-een. If it is the least brown or streaky, you 
must cut lower down stiU. There must be no 
squeamishness about the matter; if you should have 
to cut down as low as the suri'ace of the pots, you 
must not leave a morsel of dead matter on the plant. 
Then, with a sharp pointed stick, loosen the surface 
of the soil, breaking it quite fine, and the work 
is finished. No watering, recoUect, or any kind of 



codling, till all the wounds are perfectly dry. Any- 
where about the kitchen is better for them now than 
the best gi-eenhouse. All that they want now, is to 
be left to get round in their own way, and some of 
them will get over their woimds faster than others, 
like other patients, and you have only to look upon 
them as a set of dry bulbs, newly potted, and you 
cannot go wrong The dry heat of the kitchen will 
soon heal their wounds, and set tbeii' blood in cu'cu- 
lation. Be in no biu'iy, however, to water them. All 
their smaller roots have been killed in the diying: 
thei-efore, water mat/ do them hai-m, but cannot be of 
any use to them. Their own vitality, or livmg prin- 
ciple, is sufficient for all their present wants. By- 
and-by, buds will appear ; and after that, tiny leaves; 
and now, the large roots are making small white 
fibres, no matter how dry the soil about them may 
be. This is the moment to water them for the first 
time, and you may give them a good dose, if you 
have looked that the drainage crocks ai'e fi-eed from 
the old ball. When the more forward buds make 
shoots an inch long, is the time to shake the old 
soil from them. You can then prove what I said 
about dead and living roots. 

Cinerarias. — The more fonvard of these should 
now be shifted into then blooming pots. Use a rich 
compost; keep them regulai-ly watered; and see about 
diy mould, clean pots, and stuff for di'ainage, as 
potting-time is fast arriving. D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 

Slugs. — We fear, after the many months of mild, 
moist weather, which occurred dm-ing last autumn 
and the present winter, slugs have been active, and 
will shortly come forth in stiU gi-eater numbers fi'om 
then- hiding places. Their ravages will then be felt 
in every department of the garden, but especially in 
the kitchen-garden, where yoimg seedlings of the 
cabbage, lettuce, and pea tribes, ai-e especially hable 
to their attacks. There are many ways to trap and 
to destroy these vermin, but the most successful and 
sweeping mode to operate upon them is to have 
some fresh brewers' gi-ains in a bucket, and from 
these to drop upon the bed piuclies here and there 
as fast as you like to walk. Do this in the dusk of 
the evening, and about three hours aftenvards go 
round with a bucket of freshly-slaked lime, and 
sprinlde some over the numerous guests which will 
have coUected to partake of the gi-atus. If slugs 
aboimd, and the evening is quiet and moist, they will 
collect in a shoit time about the grains in midtitudes 
not to be imagined by those who have not put this 
simple method to the test. Then our method is, to 
send a boy round, at day-break, with a small spade 
or garden trowel, to collect the beb-ayed foes into a 
bucket, or to bury them at the spot, if it does not 
interfere with the crop, thus converting a desti'uctive 
enemy into a maniu-e at once. New bi-an, also, is a 
most excellent bait, if di'opped about in the same way, 
but we find it does best scalded first, as it appears 
the slugs are attracted to it by the smell. Scooped- 
out tiu'uips, cut in halves or quai'ters, placed about 
witii the outsides of tlie tiu'nip upwards, will also 
attract slugs ; and so wiU Swedjsh tunup tops, cab- 
bage leaves, brocoU leaves, and many other articles of 
that kind; but thus to destroy them in a large garden 
amounts to much labom-, which is only anotlier word 
for expense. Salt is also a very good ai-ticle applied 
on dull, misty, mild nights, or early in the morning, 
but it requii-es to be applied with much caution ; be- 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



223 



sides it only destroys tliose that are out fi'om their 
liiding places, and those only which the salt happens 
to fall on. The same may he said of slaked lime. 
Let it also be home in mind, that a gi-eat help to 
keeping the soil free from slugs, and other vennin, is 
to ti-enoh and drain the soU well. Forking, hoeing, 
and surface-stirring, on every suitable occasion, all 
tend to the same good result, at the same time that 
they promote the health of the gi'owing crops. 

Routine Wobk. — Now that the season is advanced, 
work must be got fonvard, and advantage taken of 
all opportunities, according to weather, soil, and the 
prepai-ation made. Full crops of Long-pod, Wind- 
sor, and any other kinds of hean, should be planted. 
Good vai'ieties of cabbage sliould be sown on well- 
dug, rich soil, in a sheltered situation. Brocoli, 
borecole, and nohl-khol, kohl-rabbi, early born carrots, 
chervil, and caiilijlower, should be somi, each to be 
protected slightly with a ooveiing of mats, or other 
available article, and secui'ed fi'om the ravages of 
bu'ds by nets or boughs. Also spinach, for full 
spring crops, lettuces, radislies, and small salading. 
Peas should now be sown in full crop of the best 
vai-ieties. Endive should be blanched, and early 
cabbage-httuce protected. 

Fbames. — Those used for cauliflower, lettuce, and 
aspai'agus forcing, as soon as done with, take care to 
have in view, and in good order, so that no loss of 
time shall occm- when they ai'e again wanted for 
early varieties of potatoes tm-ned out fi-om pots or 
boxes, early dwarf French beans, cucumber or melon 
plants, or whatever may be most requisite. Pay 
strict attention to cucumbers and melons already 
ridged out, gi's'ing them abundance of air night and 
day, with very light covering at night if the weather 
continues quiet and mild. This treatment is essen- 
tial to maintain the plants healthy, sturdy, and for 
the pi'oduction of a good, lasting, crop of handsome 
fruit. 

Pot-Heebs — -such as balm, bumet, fennel, mint, 
pennp-oyal, sage, savory, lansy , tairagon, and thyme — 
should now be planted. They all require a well- 
di'aiued, light soU. Do not put any ft-esh dung into 
the ground prepared for them, but a little biicklayers' 
limy rubbish improves their quality. The object to 
be obtained is intensity of flavom-, not luxuriance of 
growth. 

Gaelic and Shallots plant on the tops of slight 
ridges. Put a pinch of soot, or of chan-ed garden 
refuse, on every spot where you ai-e about to insert 
an offset, or clove, of either of these bulbs, and then 
press the offset into it, so as not to bm'y it moi'e than 
half its length. 

Onions. — The weatlier is so fine that we should 
recommend the main crop to be sown now, or before 
the month closes. Select for them ground where 
celery has been grown. The onion jirefers a rich 
fiiable soil on a di'y substi'atuin ; a situation enjoying 
the full influence of the sun, and entirely free from 
ti-ees, wliich are veiy injm-ious to them. If the soil 
be poor or exhausted, abundance of dung should be 
applied in the preceding autumn or winter, and the 
gi'ound thrown into ridges. By these means it 
becomes well decomposed and incorporated with the 
soU; for rank uni-educed dung is generally hui'tfol, 
engendering decay, and inducing maggots ; if, there- 
fore, the application of manm-e is neglected until the 
spring, it should be taken fi-om an old hot-bed, or 
other som-ce, whence it is to be had in a thorouglily 
putrescent state, and tm-ned in only to a moderate 
depth. Sea-sand, particularly if the ground is at all 



heavy, is advantageously employed ; coal-ashes, but 
especially soot, ai-e applied with particular benefit. 
In digging over the gi-ound, smaU spits only should 
be tm-ned over at a time, that the texture may be 
well broken and pulverized. 

Sow the seed tliinly, in drills, eight inches apart. 
An ounce of seed, if so sown, is abundantly sufficient 
for a square rod of ground, especially for the main 
crops, as they should never be allowed to gi-ow to a 
size fit for salads -svithout thinning. The beds should 
be divided by nan-ow alleys, into foin- feet widths, 
for the convenience of giving the necessary fi-equent 
weedings and hoeings. 

G. W. J., and James Babnes. 



THE FRUIT-GAEDEN. 

[Mr. En-ington's conti-ibution to this depaa-tment 
not having axi-ived at the time of cu- going to press, 
we have to substitute the following highly useful 
communication fi-om Mr. Beaton. — Ed. C. &.] 

Peuning. — You desu-e me to give you my reason 
for disapproving of the wood-cut given in No. 2, p. 
77, of The Cottage G.aedeneb, as a model for 
pruning young shoots ; and as one reason, in a 
good case, is as good as ten, I shall only give one, 
although the shape and equiUbrium of a whole tree 
tunis upon this very point. All wounds die back, 
more or less, after winter pi-uning, those of young 
shoots more so than those of older wood ; therefore, 
when you cut close under a bud, as in the wood-cut 
refen-ed to, say about the end of October, nature 
cannot heal that woimd till new wood is formed next 
Jime and July; and in Oiis long inteiwal it is a 
hundi-ed to one if this close wound does not perish 
tlie wood immediately under the bud, so that, if it 
starts at all, it will only make a weak shoot, and the 
next bud below it wiU become the leader, and thus 
derange the shape of the b-ee at once. A vine shoot, 
a chen-y, cmi-ant, or raspbeiTy, or, indeed, any soft 
shoot with a large pith, cut in that way late in the 
autumn, would be as certain to km the bud over it 
as that two and two make four. 

Close cutting imder a bud is only appUcable to 
summer pruning, and that is the only ti-ue way for 
pi-uning in summer, because then new wood would 
heal over the wound in a short time. I cannot now 
refer to No. 2, for it is at the other side of the paiish ; 
if the wood-cut tliere is meant only for summer 
pruning, my objection falls to the ground. 

Now for authorities. In the last edition of Lou 
don's Encycloi^asdia of Gai-dening, the wood-cuts for 
general pi-uning are given like yom-s, and, therefore, 
are wi-ong in principle, without the shadow of a 
doubt. I Idow, liowever, that when that immense 
work was first written Mr. Loudon was in very ill 
health, and that many things had to be altered in 
the otiier editions, but the wood-outs for pi-uning 
were never altered. In Loudon's " Suhm-bau Hor- 
tioultmist," a work on which he spared no pains, 
he corrected tlie mistake in the Encyclopaedia, at 
p. 454, and assigned the same reasons as above — 
thei-efore, Mr. Loudon is fi-ee fi-om tlus en-or. Now 
turn to tlie " Gai-deners' Chi-onicle" for 1847, p. 19, 
the latest authority, and there you will see that 
Dr. Lindley has given sis wood-outs, shewing tlie 
good, bad, and indifferent modes of cutting young 
slioots. No. 1 he caUs the best, and, as fai- as my 
memoi-y seiwes me, tliis No. 1 is exactly the same as 
yours ; therefore, according to my -view of the ques- 
tion, it must be wrong. The flung is so fanifliar to 
my mind and eye, that I am as satisfied that both 



au 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Dr. Lindley and you ave wi-ong, iu t]iis instance, as 
I am of my own existence. I am equally satisfied 
that Dr. Lindley never meant it for geueriil pnming, 
but only for summer pruning, although he did not 
say so. His fig. i> is the tiiie way for winter priming, 
but lie must have meant summer pruning, since he 
says distinctly, " in some ti-ees it (No. 1) ^"ill, in fact, 
lieal over iu a few weeks," and if it did not, and 
had to remain from November to June, it woidd 
assiu-edly kill the bud right out. Farther on, in the 
same volume of the Gardeners' Chronicle, Mr. Thom- 
son, fruit gardener to the Horticidtiual Society, one 
of the best and most scientific primers of the age, 
has given wood-cuts showing how to piime most 
of our fi-uit-trees, every one of which are true. He 
leaves full half an inch beyond the liud, and in the 
raspberry more than that, with the bud as I insist 
on ; but iu summer, he cuts close under a bud, to my 
own knowledge. I never allow a close cut in winter 
pnming, and I always insist to begin the cut on the 
same side as the bud is on, except on wall trees, 
where we make all cuts next the wall, and on the 
opposite side fi'om the bud, Imt a half inch above it. 

Therefore, the question stands thus: — In summer, 
jirune close under a bud, in order that there may not 
be any snag to prevent the woimd healing over im- 
mediately ; but iu winter pruning, cut from a quarter 
of an inch to an inch in advance of the bud, to pre- 
vent the wound from destroying the bud ; and by 
making tlie cut on the same side as the bud is on, 
you give a gi'eater length of living wood beyond the 
bud, without increasing the length of the snag ; and 
by cutting on the ojiposite side from the Imd, the 
snag nuiy be the same length as in the other case, but 
the living wood beyond the bud will be lessened, ac- 
cording to tlie angle of the cut. Therefore, it is 
jjlain enough whicli is the'best side to cut from. 

In all gardens and nurseries, in my time, cutting 
off the snags left at the wnnter pruning fonns a cldef 
item hi the summer pruning ; and, with all our philo- 
sophy, we cannot possibly vary our practice ^vitbout 
running the risk of doing infinite mischief You 
can form no idea of the mischief and confusion I 
shoiUd make in this garden if I was only to act for 
one season on the plan of close cutting in October 
and November; and, whether I have convinced you 
or not on the point, you will see that I had my rea- 
sons for pointing out to you what I consider to be 
wi'ong. We are all seek- 
ing after the ti-uth. We 
cannot always escape er- 
rors of the press ; but 
principles founded in er- 
ror must do no good. 
Now, recollect, all this is 
merely for your own use, 
and an cxjdanation be- 
tween two fiiends; and 
sec that it does not shp 
througli your fingers, in 
the hurry of business, and 
get into the hands of the 
printers. 

D. Beaton. 

[There is too much 
sound information iu the 
foregoing communication 
for us not to ask Mr. Bea- 
ton's permission to pub- 
lish it; and, with some 
reluctance, he has con- 
sented. We were the moro 




anxious to publish it, because 
he furnished us with the ac- 
companying illustrations of his 
mode of making the cut iu 
pruning ; and because, with all 
that he says we must fully co- 
incide. 

In these outlines, No. 1 re- 
presents the winter pruned 
shoot, aud No. 2 the summer 
pruned. If Mr. Beaton had 
had our second number to re- 
fer to at the time he wrote, he 
would have seen that the mis- 
take was with the engraver, for 
we recommend the cut in win- 
ter pruning to be " half an 

inch above the bud." When we wi'ote, we did not 
contemplate cutting ott' the snags in the summer, as 
mentioned by Mr. Beaton, but which is a most ex- 
cellent practice. — Ed. C. G.] 




MISCELLANEOUS lATFORMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 1-.) 

The gem of February is the crocus. Our borders 
ai'e now glittering — or about to glitter — with the 
golden, cup-like flowers of this lively jdant. and also 
%vith those of snowy white and pui'jile, forming a 
gay and early inti'oduction to the richer and rarer 
beauties of the advancing spring. The bunches of 
the graceful snowdrop have long been our sole com- 
panions. Vei-y early in this mild season they stole 
forth from their long sleep, and spoke of the bright 
aud beautiful sisterhood so soon to follow in their 
steps. The crocus is the fii-st that comes gaily to 
meet us: it is a native of the south of Europe, and 
especially abounds on the hills of Greece. Even in 
some parts of India, the yellow, and also a jiink 
crocus, has been found in a vrHd state. This is 
another instance of God's wondi'ous power and love, 
that in our cold and northern climate the lovely 
natives of warm and sunny lands should be %^nlling 
and able to cheer and delight oiu' minds, as the 
first harbingers of spring. They have been called, 
by the voice of the Creator, to brighten our dark and 
wintry days, wlule other flowers are absent; and 
although many reject then' simple beauty, yet, to the 
iDifashioiiahle garden lover, they are very dear. The 
crocus was first brought into England about the 
time of Queen Elizabeth, aud thus marks a most 
interesting and important period in the histoiy of 
Protestant England. I seldom see the feathered 
crocus in gardens; it is a lovely variety, aud should 
be generally encouraged. 

The Pontic Daphne is an exti-emely pretty ever- 
green shrub, and is at tliis time displaying its co- 
ronal of delicate gi-een flowers among the dark, 
polished leaves. I remember when first I saw this 
jdant I mistook it for a rhododendron ; there is some 
simUaiity in theu- appeaiunce, but tlie Daphne 
gi-ows on rough, uncidtivatcd ground, on banks, and 
under trees, and is, therefore, a far more useful 
shrub. In my dark, shady gai'den, beneath the 
boughs of a spruce fir that sweep the gi-oimd — where 
nothing grows but the luxuriant i^'y — there stands a 
self-sown Pontic Daplme, as ricli in foliage, in 
colour, aud iu flower, as any of its more brightly 
seated brethren. This is worth knowing, because 
in gardens like my own, screened fi'om the south, 



THE COTTi?GE GARDENER. 



225 



and overhung with trees, some ladies may be wish- 
ing to find a shrub that will form a variety with the 
laurel, and the Pontic Daphne is well suited to do 
this. I cannot tell to what lieight or size they will 
attain ; those I have seen are small, but then they 
have grown in hard, unlHendly soil, and this may 
have checked then- growth. 

Ranunculus roots ought now to be planted. These 
flowers are veiy rich and handsome, when somewhat 
attended to, and I do not see them so generally culti- 
vated as they ought to be. They should be planted 
together in beds, and the efiect, in the blooming 
season, is beautiful. The soU they thrive best in is 
a fine, rich, and loamy one. Where the gilt-cup 
gi'ows luxuriantly, the soil wiU be best adapted for 
the ranunculus ; and if you can have it mixed with 
]nanm-e, do so by aU means. Rake the bed till the 
eai-th is fine, and then, with a dibble, plant the roots 
separately, one inch deep, provided you can cover 
them to the depth of another inch with fine, rich 
soil ; if not, the holes must be made two inches deep 
at first. In examining closely the crown of a ranun- 
culus root, some small protuberances will be found, 
fi-om each of which a shoot will spring; the root 
may, therefore, be divided by a sharp knife into as 
many parts as there are protuberances. This will 
lessen the danger of losing any favomite variety. 
The beds which these plants occupy shoidd not, if 
possible, be fiUed with any other plants after the 
roots are taken up, but be left to pulverize and 
sweeten tOl they are replaced in it. To contrive 
this, without disfiguring the garden much, two or 
three small beds should be set apart for them, and 
so placed among the other beds and borders as least 
to oflend the eye when left empty ; and if each bed 
was neatly edged with thi-ift, or some later flowering 
border plant, the unpleasant appeai'anoe of empty 
beds would be much lessened. 

We shoidd now begin to make our gai-dens look 
neat and dressy. Leaves may he swept up, with 
something Uke success, and added to the heap accu- 
mulating for our futm'e wants. Weeds will be spring- 
ing up thick and fast arormd us. The warm, sensi- 
tive, and balmy shower, that nourishes the good 
seed, causes, also, these troublesome intiniders to in- 
crease, which lay very quiet dm-ing the cold and 
dreariness of winter. Our own hearts respond to 
this. In prosperous days, how many evil thoughts 
and passions awaken, that dm'ing the depi-essing in- 
fluence of trial, or the absence of temptation, which 
poverty may cause, nestle so quietly within us, that, 
till sunshine arouses them, we would not believe 
dwelt in or even near us ! " Is thy servant a dog, 
that he should do this great thing?" is the indignant 
exclamation of our hearts, as it was of Hazael. Let 
us carefully weed and cleai- our beds and borders ; 
but let us use equal diligence, at least, to clear that 
weedy, stony soU, where the fruits of the Spii-it ought 
to spring up and flourish, but which too often bring 
forth tares alone. 

It is deUghtful now to see the cottager beginning 
to work, once more, in his peaceful garden. A 
death-like stOlness rests there during winter, and, 
too often, the labourer's beds and borders then ap- 
pear- neglected and untidy ; but when we hear the 
spade at work as we pass along the lane, and smell 
the sweetness of the newly-dug soil, we know that 
cheering times are coming on, and that not one horn" 
in the lengthening day need now be idled away — 
every sti'oke of the spade tells. It is pleasant to see 
the ploughman whistling on the back of the fore- 
horse, as he paces slowly onwards to the field, while 



the lark soars, and sings merrily, to welcome the 
reviving spring ; but it is even pleasanter to watch 
Mm at the evening hour busy among his cabbage 
beds, his children playing rormd him, and his wife 
joining in his toil. An English cottager is an im- 
portant part in England's frame-work A foreigner 
may say to us, " Come and look at oui' vineyai'ds, 
our olive groves, our boundless tracts of grain, our 
silver mines, — aye, oiu- gold fields, where you may 
grow rich in a day." What says old England's 
sturdy son? — " Come and look at o\n' farmers, our 
cottagers, our tillers of the soU, — these are, under 
God's blessing, the gold fields of the Biitish mocai'ch, 
her jewels, and her strength. The humblest of her 
subjects have done more for her than aU her anny 
could. They rose, as one man, to uphold her, when 
thrones and scepti'es went to wr-eck ; and while they 
ai'e encouraged and protected, the crown sits lightly 
and fii-mly on her head." 

Yes — while the Protestant institutions of om- land 
are preserved — wliile the agriculturist flemishes — 
and The Cottage Gardener thrives — above all, 
while the feai- and love of God dwells in om' hearts, 
and the Bible lies open before us — England may sit 
quietly behind her wooden walls, and say, " The 
Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I 
fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life ; of whom 
shall I be afraid?" 



BUDDING ROSES. 
In answer to many inquiries, we offei' the follow- 
ing instructions : — Having procured yom- stocks and 
planted them, the next thing to attend to is, to pro- 
cm'e a proper budding knife, and some white, soft, 
worsted string. Roses do not graft well, or succeed 
well, when gi-afted. The gi-eat rose growers always 
bud their roses. The best seasons are Mai'ch and 
•July; pei'haps, so far north as some of our ques- 
tioners are, the latter season might be preferable. 
The best time of the day is either early in the morn- 
ing, at least as early as seven o'clock a.m., or after 
three o'clock in the afternoon ; cloudy, moist days 
are most suitable. Cut ofi' the head of yom stocks, 
and all the side branches to three, tliat is, for 
standards. For dwarf's, cut off to within six inches 
of the ground ; tlien, with the knife, make an incision 
on the upper side of the young side branches, as 
close to the main stem as possible. This incision 
should be about an inch long, lengthwise on the 
branch. Cut a cross just at the top of tins incision, 
in a direction somewhat more slanting than in the 
annexed di-awing, (fig. 2). Then take ofi' the bud, 
previously cutting ofl' the leaf, leaving part of the 
leaf-stalk. Cut away with the bud a portion of the 
bark from the pai-ent stem, which is technically 
called the shield of the hud, and a portion of wood 
\vith it. This bud, and the bark and wood with it, 
should be, altogether, rather more than f of an inch 
long. Turn the bud over between your finger and 
thumb, and dexterously take out the gi-eater part of 
the wood, but be careful to leave the wood full in the 
eye of the bud. Then raise one side of the bark of 
the incision, in the shape of a T made in the stock, 
and, with the ivoiy handle of the budding knife, slip 
in one side of the bark attached to the bud, then 
tui-n yoiu' knife, and lift up the other side of the 
incision, and the bud will drop into its place : press 
the bark of the bud to the fai-ther end of the incision, 
and, if any projects beyond the cross incision on the 
stock, cut it off. Then tie with the worsted neatly, 
and the operation is complete. We feel it almost 
impossible to give insti-uction, to be understood, in 



220 



THE COTTAGE ftARDENEE. 



words only, for such a complex operation. We have, 
thevelbre, given the following woodcuts to shew all 
tlie sevevai parts of this interesting operation. 





1. The bud, with the wood taken out, and ready to be put into the 
stock side branches. 

2. The branch, or stem, with the incisions made, previously to raising 
the bark. 

3. The bark raised for receiving the shield of the bud. 

4. The bud fitted into its place. 

5. The bandage put over the parts. It is here represented as done 
with a shred of bass-mat, but stout worsted thread is better. 

T. AprLEBY. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

AcAPANTHDS (W. H. IsUiigton). —Yow say, that "when your plant 
had done flowering, as it appeared to consist of two offsets, you 
divided them, and put them into separate pots, keeping them in a 
cool, airy room during the winter, and watering them sparingly." — It 
would have been better to deter the operation of dindlng your aga- 
panthus till the end of March ; such plants, although they may 
tlower in summer, will not finish their annual growth till late in the 
autumn j therefore, you must have checked its growth, in some 
measure, by dividing it during the growing season. The proper time 
to divide this plant, and indeed almost all plants, is just at the time 
they begin to grow in the spring. Your winter treatment is right : 
allow it plenty of air in fine weather, and water sparingly till it begins 
to grow. You will not see much change in the size of its stem till it 
makes a fresh growth. 

Gladioli [Ibid). — Your bulbs of these, potted as we directed, and 
kept similarly treated with your agapantnus, have been managed 
fairly. After the frosts are over, you may then put them out in the sun 
all day, meantime give them plenty of air and light, and water them 
more freely as they advunce ; we shall often allude to them in our 
weekly notices. 

Fruit Trees for Walls (T. Picton). — Against yoiu- wall facing 
the north-west, plant morello cherries ; against that facing the south- 
east, Moor-park apricot, any of the peaches you may prefer in our 
list at page 209, and a Pitmxston orange nectarine, and an Elruge 
and early Newington nectarine. If you are residing in any of our 
southern counties, your east wall, having half a. point to the south, 
will also ripen peaches very well. Plant a Morello cherry against 
the end of your house facing the north, if you wish for fruit ; or ivy, 
if you wish only for shelter and ornament. 

Vegetadlk Marrow (S. F.) — We prefer sowing the seed in pots 
plunged in a gentle hot-bed, early in April, and planting the seed- 
lings out in May, when they have four rough leaves, on a rich soil, in 
a \yarm, sheltered situation. The roots need not be disturbed when 
turned out from the pots, and a slight shelter at night for the first 
week will be sufficient. In dry weather, they require a daily supply 



of water and ruiuid manure alternately. The training required is 
the same as for the cucumlier. 

Ink for Ziac Labels (An Amati'iir). — The receipt we gave at 
page 201) is the onlv one that we know. We have used it ourselves, 
lait we certainly did not jiut the writing out into tlic rain immedi- 
ately after we had written on the zinc. Try pain, and let the writing 
remain in the dry fur three or four days, before exposing it to the 
weather. 

The Mouse and the Pea (T. Ji. L/07/(/).— The mouse will not 
be checked from attacking your peas by your soaking tliem in onion 
water ; even asaftttida docs not offend them sufficiently for such 
])urpose. The only effectual guard for your rows of peas is, to cover 
over each row, eight inches wide and one inch deep, with coal-ashes. 
The mice will not burrow through this covering, and its black colour, 
by absorbing more heat, you will find to hasten forward the growth 
of your peas. 

Rhododendrons (.-In Emiuirer, Bank of Englnjid). — You ask 
us " for the best time and mode of propagating " these. — Now, as we 
do not know for what purpose you wish to propagate them, we are at 
a loss whether to recommend you to sow their seed, or to graft, layer, 
inarch, or to plant cuttings. If you will state your object, we will 
give you all the information we can. 

Improvement of Soil (/. C. Smith). — Your, soil, according to 
the specimen sent to us, is deficient in alumina (clay) — so very de- 
ficient, that if you put on 100 tons per acre of clay, or of clayey marl, 
or even of brick earth, from any pit in your neighbourhood, you will 
not give it too heavy a dressing. We do not know the depth of your 
soil, nor the nature of your subsoil, or we should be able to advise 
.you as to trenching it. You will find three or four slight dressings 
of salt, at the rate of five bushels per acre each, put on at intervals of 
two months, will assist your crops, but no permanent improvement 
can be effected without claying. 

Spade Husbandry {W. T. Loudon), — The advantages of this, 
when pursued on a large scale, are not topics exactly suited to our 
columns. We may enter upon it, however, when we have an oppor- 
tunity, being well aware of its advantages. In the meantime you 
can obtain abundant information relative to it from the volume on 
Flemish Husbandry, written by the late Rev. Mr. Rham, and pub- 
lished in the Library of Useful Knowledge. Another work, equally 
cheap, and even containinir more information, is Dr. Yellowly's little 
publication "On Spade Husbandry." 

Lemons and Oranges (J. N. S.).— These will live in your con- 
sen'atory, which has no artificial heat, and, with a slight shelter, 
would not be killed by a severe winter, but they will not thrive. The 
most successful cultivators of these fruits never allow the heat in 
which they grow to fall below 50'^ in the winter, and in the summer 
they keep up a moist day-heat of from 80° to 90°. 

Camellia SniFTiNC {Ibid). — These, which are now growing in 
the l)orders of your convervatory, had better not be moved until the 
young wood of this year has ripened, and the blossom-buds of nest 
year can be seen at the ends of the shoots. 

Potato-Planting (A Novice), — You will have seen full particu- 
lars on this subject in our last number. Grow early-ripening sorts, 
such as Walnut-leaved Kidneys for the first, Ash-leaved Kidneys to 
succeed them, and London Early Round for your main crop. The 
earliest will be fit for taking up in June, and the last early in August. 
Plant the two first kinds in rows, is inches apart, and 12 inches from 
set to set ; and the third kind 2 feet by 18 inches. 

Onions {Ibid). — Apply charred refuse to these, by sprinkling it a 
little thickly along the bottom of the drills, before j'ou sow the seed ; 
but both for them and turnips, two barrow-loads may be dug into 
everj' square rod. 

Manure for Potatoes {J. Rector), — You will have seen in our 
last number, at p. 2l6, our opinion as to manuring with soot and salt. 
Do not add any lime to th»m, as it would only help to drive off the 
ammonia in the soot. You had better spread this compost over your 
ground just before you dig it. 

Filberts and Cob-Nuts (T. Lindsay). — You may move these 
with success during the present month, if careful to injure the roots 
as little as possible, and to keep them moist until again planted. 
Your hint about the heading shall be attended to. 

Roses [J. M., Dublin). — You say that your roses against a paling 
100 feet long, facing the north, and' on the top of a turfed bank, do 
not thrive.— We recommend you to take off the grass, next the paling, 
the width of two feet. Examine the soil. If not dry and good, drain 
it, and procure some good loam and dung ; remove the old soil to the 
depth of 15 inches, and replace it with the new. If dry and good, 
add two bushels of super-phosphate of lime, and of either rotten 
dung or leaves one cart-load ; mix them well with the soil. Roses 
will grow on grass after they have been established two or three years. 
You might mix a few honeysuckles with advantage amongst the roses. 
The following roses arc very hardy, and will thrive in the coldest 
situations, if the ^il is good and dry : Ayrshire Queen, Thoresbyana, 
Dundee Rambler, l\Iiller's Climbing Purple, Queen of the Belgians, 
Ruga, Crimson Boursault, Elegaus and Red Boursault. Felicite Per- 
petual, and Madame Plantier.^ M'e are not surprised that China 
Roses do not succeed. Your situation and aspect are much too cold 
for those tender roses. 

[Correspondents who arc not answered will be pleased to under- 
stand that their communications will be inserted in our double num- 
ber, or that we are waiting for information, to give them a more satis- 
factory reply than we could without prcWous inquiry.] 



London: Printed by Harry Wooldeidge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Pariah of St. Mary Kalendar ; and Published by William 
Somerville Obr, atthe Office, 14/, Strand, in the Parish of 
Sttint Mary-le-Stxand, London.— February 15th, 1819. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



007 



M 


w 




Plants dedicated to 


1 Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon's 


clock 


Day of 


1) 
20 


D 

Th. 


FEBHUARY 22—28, 1849. 


each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


bef. Sun. 


Year. 


Sun's declin. 10° 7' s. Lesser Periwinkle 


Common Daisy. 


i2 a. 7 


26 a. 5 


6 40 


29 


13 45 


53 


23 


F. 


Earthwonus lie out. [blooms. 


Apricot. 





27 


sets. 


® 


13 37 


54 


U 


a. 


St. Matthias. Ds. Cambuidge b. 1"74. 


Eoyal Fern. 


VI 


29 


7 a. 24 


1 


13 28 


55 


25 


Sun. 


1 Sunday in Lent. Rinj-dove coos. 


Peacli. 


56 


31 


8 40 


2 


13 18 


56 


20 


M. 


Goosebe.i'iT leaves open. 


Lesser Periwinkle. 


54 


33 


9 54 


3 


13 8 


57 


27 


Tu. 


Red CiUTaiit leaves open. 


Lungwort. 


52 


34 


11 9 


4 


12 58 


5S 


28 


W. 


Ember Week. Alder flowers. 


Pui'ple Crocus. 


49 


36 


morn. 


5 


12 46 


59 



St. Matthias was chosen by lot fActs i. 26) to fill the apostlestip, 
vacant by the death of the apostate Judas. He was murdered by 
the Jews, 

E:m3ER Week. — See page 105. 

Phenomena of the Season. — The time for sowing has arrived, 
and we will detail, from week to week, according to our space, the 
changes which so secretly and so wonrlrously occur to the seed, after 
it has been placed within the soil. To enable these changes to be 
effected, or, in other words, to enable the seed to germinate or 
. sprout, there must be a certain degree of warmth in the soil, ami to 
this point, for the present, we must confine ourselves. If we except 
the snow mushroom {Uredo nivalis), we know of no plant, certainly 
of no cultivated plant, the seed of which « ill sprout, either lielow or 
at the temperature at which water freezes. A temperature above 32° 
of Fahrenheit's thermometer, tliereforc, is requisite. Hut, on the 
other hand, the temperature must not be excessively high. Even no 
tropical seed, probably, will germinate at a temperature much above 
\2\'f \ and we know, from the experiments of M.lVr. Edwards and 
Colin, that neither wheat, oats, nor barley, will vegetate in a tem- 
perature so high as 113°. Every seed, differing in its degree of 



excitability, consequently, has a temperature without which it will 
not vegetate, and trom which cause arise the consequences that differ- 
ent plants require to be sown at dilferent seasons, and that they ger- 
minate with various degrees of rapidity. The gardener should 
always bear in mind that it would be a very wrong conclusion, be- 
cause a seed does not germinate at the accustomed time, that, there- 
fore, its vegetating powers are gone. No two seeds taken from the 
same seed-vessel germinate precisely at the same time ; but, on the 
contrary-, one will often do so, while its companion seed will remain 
until another year, and will then grow. jM. dc Caudolle relates an 
instance where fresh tobacco seedlings continued to appear annually, 
for ten years, on the same plot, though no seed was sown after the 
first sowing ; and the same phenomenon usually occurs for two or 
three years, when the seed of either the peony or hawthorn are sown. 
\\'hy one seed is more easUy excited than another is, as yet, unex- 
plained ; but the wisdr^m of God, in this one of many provisions for 
avoiding the accidental extinction of a species m any given locality, 
is readily diseenied. An ungenial spriug may destroy the plants 
from those seeds which first germinated ; but this could scarcely 
occur also to those of the second and third year, or even to those 
which were only a few weeks later in their vegetation. 



Insect. — TheBrindled Beauty Bfoth {Bis- 
ion hirtiiriiis) does not usually appear untU ^^^ 







April ; but. as it has been proA-iflentially or- 
dered, when the winter has been very mild, 
it appears, like the leaves on which it feods, 
during l^farch. we are not much out of order to introduce it in our 
present Number. We are indebted for the following particulars to 
that most beautiful and accurate work — H umphrey's and Wcstwood's 
'^'^ British Moffia.'" Wlien the fore-wings are expanded, they mea- 
sure from 1.J to nearly 2 inches across. They arc of ;i lUirk yellowish- 
grey or brown colour, thickly spotted with fine, dusky atoms, and 
three or four dark streaks, generally equi-distant, but sometimes run- 
ning into each other, on the hind margin. Of these streaks, one 
beyond the middle is the broadest and most curved. The hind- 
wings are similarly coloured, having, generally, three nearly imper- 



Feb 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


18J3. 


22 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Snow. 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 




42°— 38° 


50°— 34° 


52°— 41° 


40°— 19° 


37°— 31° 


57°-47° 


46°— 39° 


51°— 39° 


23 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Snow. 


showery. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 




44°— 32° 


50°— 40° 


53°— 37° 


50°— 33° 


44°— 31° 


58°— 50° 


42°— 27° 


55°— 41° 


24 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 




40»— 36° 


47°— 33° 


43°— 34° 


51°-27° 


43°— 28° 


59°— 49° 


41°— 37° 


53°— 44° 


25 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Shower\'. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Shower^'. 




42°— 35° 


45°— 23' 


38°— 32° 


5I°— 37° 


49°— 37° 


58°— 34° 


40°— 21° 


54°— 13=' 


26 


Rain. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 




48°— 35° 


4S°— 30° 


40°— 31° 


52°— 26° 


52°— 35° 


60°— 39° 


39°— 25° 


51°— 39° 


0- 


Showery. 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Sho\ver^-. 


Frosty. 


Rain. 




45°— 32° 


44°— 36° 


4n°-37° 


40°— 32° 


50°— 35° 


62°— 38° 


35°— 28° 


55°— 42° 


28 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Pine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 




47°— 32° 


51° — 12° 


41°— 31° 


51°— 29° 


31°— 23° 


64°— 42° 


38°— 32° 


56°— 35° 



ceptible, duslty, equi-distant, slender streaks (strigae). The female 
has more transparent wines ; their broad transverse bands are less 
distinct, and the colours less bright. The horns (antennie) in the 
males are not quite feathered to the tips. The caterpillars appear in 
May ; they are usually greenish-brown, w ith greyish marks, pale 
stripes, and numerous pimple-like knobs {tubcrclesj. The eater- 
pillars feed on the Icayes of yarious fruit-trees, especially those of 
the plum family, as well as those of the privet, lime, and elm. They 
change to the chrysalis state in July, and remain in that state until 
the spring following. 



If anytliiug warm is covered over by auotlier, it 
cools fast if the covering takes tbe heat from it 
rapidly; and slowly if the covering talces the heat 
from it less quickly ; we aU ai-e aware of this, tliere- 
fore we put an extra blanket on our bed in winter, 
because woollen takes away heat slowly, or, in other 
words, is a bad conductor of heat: and ladies wear- 
muslin dresses in summer because "they are cooler," 
that is, they conduct the heat away from their persons 
more quickly than the thicker fabrics which they 
adopt in winter. For precisely similar reasons the 
gai-deuer is content to let Ids frame plants have no 
other cover than a film of glass in Jlay, but in winter 



he covers over this such worse conductors of heat as 
double matting and asphalted felt. 

It is very easy thus to control the cooling of a 
body, which cooling arises mei'ely from the heat being 
taken or conducted from it by another body touching 
or covering it; but there is another mode of cooling, 
by radiation, with wliich the gardeut-r is still more 
interested, and to prevent this is more difficult, for it 
takes place by day as well as by night, and, during 
the first-named part of the twenty-four hoiu's, the 
gardener must admit the light while he shuts in the 
warmth. 

By radiation is meant, that the rays of heat dart 



TTIK COTTAGE OAUDENER. 



iiivny into llio air ns the sun's rays do to our eaitli, 
iiiid as tliey do i'iv)iii any liot Lody, such as tlie soil 
of a bowl.'i- at uiijlit aftcv biiii;-; exposed to a briglit 
snui-liiue by dav. Tlie surface of a soil thus exposed 
ol'teu becoiiies heated to i)0 degi-ees duriug the day, 
fi'oni mere exposure to the heat radiated upon it by 
tlie sun, and it' this heat could be retained, as it 
would be if the soil coidd be protected from cold 
winds, and if the heat could he prevented radiating 
from it at night and during cold days, then might 
many plants be kept all the year in our borders that 
now require to be wintered iu greenliouses ; and many 
crops could be obtained early and with certainty, 
which, at present, can only be grown in ex])ensive 
buildings, and with imminent peril of total failure. 

It is curious how very slight and even very distant 
coverings will prevent the heat radiating fi-om the 
earth. Evei-y one must have noticed that a clear 
starlight night in winter is usually colder than a 
night that is overcast, and this arises from the clouds 
checking the radiation of heat from the eaith. We 
have often tried the great power to prevent radiation 
jiossessed by very shght screens; for example, a 



thei'mometer, placed upon a grass plot, exposed to a 
clear sky, fell to :io degrees; but another thermo- 
meter, within a few yasxls of the preceding, but with 
tlie radiation of the rays of heat from the grass 
cheeked by no other covering than a cambric pocket 
biiiidkercbief, di'clined no lower than -t'-J degrees. 
No diflerence of result occurs, whether the radiating 
surface be parallel or perpendicular to the horizon; 
for when the mercury in a thermometer hung against 
an openly exjiosed wall fell to 38 degrees, another 
thermometer, against the same wall, but beneath a 
web of gauze stretched tightly, at a few inches 
distance, shewed a temperature of 4;) degrees. 

A knowledge of these facts suggested to H. B. Tver, 
Esq., of Chesliuut, that, now glass is cheap, peaches, 
nectarines, and other fruit trees, may be cultivated 
under a screen made of that material, without any 
wall or other exjiensive structure, so as to be within 
the means of cultivation possessed by those who 
have only a few sliilUngs to spare upon garden- 
culture annually. The following is a sketch of 
the structure Jlr. Rivers, the highly intelligent 
nurseryman and florist of Sawbridgeworth, Herts, 



aftSw 




has erected for the puiqiose.-:: The posts and rafters 
Ijcing made of larch poles sawed in half, and 
the frames for tlie glass of unplaned deal, made 
without any dovetail joints, but merely as repre- 
sented in Fig. 2, the cost is very trifling.f Tlie 




lower ends of the posts are charred before tliey are 
put into the ground, and for a few inches above its 
surface, to preserve them from decaying, and the 
whole is to be painted over with gas tar, which Mr. 
Rivers truly and emphatically describes as "one of 
the most useful gil'ts bestowed on modern gardeners;" 
or, with what is still better, "yellow pine varnish.'' 
To increase the warmth and drj'uess of the stiiicture, 
we think that the ends and sides might be atlvau- 
tageously closed by means of bundles of furze, reeds, 
or other similar materials, and the surface of the 
earth, beneath the screen, covered with coal ashes. 
It has also been suggested by Mr. Ker that, at the 
back of the frame supporting the lights, but under 



* It oiifrlit to he known as "Ker's Protective System." 
t It will he seen that the joints are nailed topethcr, and tlie narrow 
strip on the har where the plass rests (called the rebate) is only 
fa>itened on by brad-nails. The ends of each bar are utiiik into the 
frame, for the sake of the glass lying level. In the above cut it is 
drawn ns if only nailed on. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



mo 



their slieltev, that is hetween the 2J feet posts in 
FiS- 1 , cheiries and phims may he trained. " They will 
get light enough." says Jfr. Ker, "and will not stop 
Teutilation. In order to vrirm the hoixler of the 
peai'heg I have put two feet of leaves, having hitherto 
kept the border dry." Upon this suggestion, Mr. 
Rivers ohse'ves: — " Dung or leaves, not 2)laced undoi- 
the glass till !^^arc]^. will, I think, do well." Yet we 
still think coal aslies on the soil under the glass, and 
leaves or dung over the roots of the ti'ees of the out 
side horder, will be found a move benelicial practice. 
We thiuk there will be no deficiency of heat under 
the glass, and that a vigorous niovenaeut in the roots, 
to keep pace in'ith that in the branches, will be formd 
desirable. 

ilr. Rivers plants his peach ti'ees in a slanting 
position, so that their branches lie, without being 
bent, upon the trellis; to this, wliich is made of 
common laths, they may be fastened by means of 
string, or narrow strips of very thin sheet lead ; the 
latter are veadUy twisted and untwisted as required, 
and last for yeai's. Mr. Rivers has planted his trees 
six feet apart, so that he may be able to remove 
every alternate tree after three or four years, when 
he pm-poses to move them to another trellis twelve 
feet apart. "No space," as he justly observes in a 
letter now before us, "is thus lost, and the trellis 
looks furnished at once." The only magic iii doing 
this, is by a careful attention to root-pnuiing, in 
which Mr. Rivers is an adept, so that by keeping 
the roots within certain bounds the ti'ees may be 
removed with little iujui^y. 

The posts of the ft'ame supporting the glazed liglits 
are six feet apai't, and the posts supporting the ti'ellis 
are tlu'ce feet apart. The cost of these posts is only 
about threepence each, and that of each light is 
stated by Mr. Rivers as follows: — "Each light is 
(i feet 8 inches by 3 feet 2^ inches, and contains 2 
bars, 2J inelies by 1 inch ; 2 sides, 2i mches by 1 
inch ; 1 cross bar at bottom, 2^ inches by 1 inch ; 
1 cross bai- at top, 2^^ inches by 1 inch; and 1 cross 
bar in the the middle, 2i- iuches by 1 inch ; this will 
give somewhere about li cube foot of timber. This, 
cut for one light, •will then be. 



li foot of timber, at Is. Gd 3 

3 rows of glass, 20 feet, at 3(7 5 

Sawing, about 

Labour and nails 1 

Glazing and putty 



a. 
3 


n 


!) 



Total 9 9=;< 

"Pine varnisli is the cheapest and most durable 
for rough , nnplaned wood ; Sd. will bo the outside of 
cost of two coats." 

ilr. Rivers employs sheet glass, one foot wide and 
about two feet long ; this brings us to the considera- 
tion of the kind of glass most eligible for use by 

* Jlr. Rivers employs a carpenter permanently, and he can finish 
the wood-work of five lights in a day. 



gardenei-s, but this must be deferred until our next 
number. 



Vfhv much jdeasure is afforded to us, by being en- 
abled this day to benefit many of our readers by the 
first of a series of monthly communications on The 
Managemest of Bees, fiu'nished by J. H. Payne, 
Esq., of Bury St. Edmunds, author of "The Bee- 
Kee]iei''s Guide." These communications will be, as 
much as possible, calendarial ; that is. will supply at 
the end of each month the work required to be 
attended to by the bee-keeper diu-ing the month next 
coming. In the case of bees, this work is regulated 
by seasons rather than hy months ; but each paper 
written hy Mr. Payne will contain infoiination ap- 
propriate to the time at which it appears ; and will 
be information fi'om a man of sound judgment, who 
has been a bee-keeper for upwards of fifty years on 
the depri^'ing system, ■with, as his chief motive, a 
desire to induce cottagers to follow his example. To 
promote this object, 'Mr. Payne has disti'ibutcd some 
hundreds of ti'acts, giving instructions on the subject; 
and has invented the hive — etficient, yet simple, and 
therefore the more valuable, of wliieh more than one 
engi'aving mil appear in our columns. " The result," 
says ^Ir. Payne, in a letter now before us, " I am 
happy to say, has been vei'y satisfactory, for many of 
the cottagers ai'ound me are making five, six, and 
seven pounds (in money) annually, of their honey, 
and that without destroying the bees. !My plan of 
managing them is, I beUeve, the most economical of 
any, and the best adapted for the cottager. My 
hive, wliich is called " Payne's Improved Cottage 
Hive," costs here (Bm-y St. Edmunds) only 14d. ; 
the price of a swarm is 10s., which, in a tolerable 
season, will afford fi'om twenty to thirty pounds of 
honey-comb, after leaving a supply for the bees in 
the winter, making a profit of, say a.Os. for honey, 
and 20s. for tho stock of bees, amounting to 4")s. — 
from an outlay of lis. 2d.; and this, in about four 
months." 

We need say no more, we should tliink, to induce 
many of our readers to become bee-keepers : we re- 
commend every one to do so ; and all who become 
masters of swarms cannot follow better directions 
than those which will he given by ^[r. Payne ; for 
they are, to use his own words, "founded cntu'ely 
on my own experience, \vithout any speculation as 
to the Natiu-al History of Bees, but sirajily inl'or- 
mation Itow to nhtuin the lanjest quantitij of honey 
at tlie Imst possible exjn'iise." 



THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 

Grafting. — As many of the readers of The Cot- 
tage Gardener are somewhat inexperienced in this 
art, it may be well to give some instructions con- 
cerning it. We here mean gi'afting by means of 
detached scions or shoots, which are generally chosen 
ft'om the preceding year's wood; although, in some 
eases, it is expedient to use two years' wood, in addi- 



230 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



tion, as we shall presently shew. This is a different 
process from hiih-cliitu/. which is sometimes termed 
graftinr/ hi/ uppivach. lu the latter case the scion, 
or shoot, is not cut away, hut left attached to the 
parent plant until the union hetween the scion and 
stock is complete. It is hy some considered proba- 
hle that the idea of grafting was at first suggested 
hy the curious phenomenon we sometimes meet with, 
of two shoots iu tlie same tree, or of two adjoining 
trees, forming a perfect junction, so that they become 
to all appearance one shoot. It appears that the art 
was known in most remote times, and we find it 
ailirmed that ^'arro, amongst the ajicient Romans, 
was acquainted with at least twenty diiiereut modes 
of performing it. 

The objects of grafting, as bearing on that portion 
of the gardening world for whom oiu' labours are 
intended, ai-e as Ibllows: — 1st. To increase choice 
kinds. 2nd. To increase the vigour of kinds over- 
delicate. 3rd. To reduce the vigour of those winch 
are too gross. Ith. To accelerate the period of 
fruiting. 5tli. To ada))t kinds to soil for which 
they would be unfitted on their- own roots. 0th. To 
renew, or renovate, old kinds. 

These six points comprise all that we think it 
necessary to say on tins head for ordinary gardening 
purposes. We cannot go into a thorough explana- 
tion of each of these lieailings at the present moment, 
but will return to them, and deal with each as 
occasion serves; for to understand them completely 
is to have mastered some very impoitant points in 
gardenbig afJiiirs. 

We now proceed to give a series of cuts, illustra- 
tive of such modes of gi-afting as may be suitalde to 
the amateur and tlie cottager ; they are all the iiii ides 
which are absolutely essential iu general horticul- 
ture. Many others are practised, as we are aware, 
by our continental neighbours, whose lively imagi- 
nation fro(|uently leads tliem to outstrip John Bull 
in matters of this kind. 

The modes wc have to notice bear the following 
titles, viz: — 

1. Whip, Splice, or Tongue Grafting. 

2. Crown Grafting. 

3. Cleft Grafting. 

4. Saddle Grafting. 

5. Side (jrafting. 

(i. Chink or Shoulder Grafting. 

7. Root Grafting. 

S. Peg Grafting. 
1, Whip Gn.iraNo, called also npUce and tongue 
ijniftliici. — This is the most common mode of all 
others, and is that almost luiiversally adopted in our 
nurseries; and, indeed, when the stock and scion 
are about equal in size, is ])erhaps the handiest ])lan 
of all. Tlie head of the stock is pruned 
oft' at the desired height, and then a slip 
of bark and wood removed at tlie upper 
portion of the stock, with a very clean 
cut, to fit exactly with a corresiionding 
cut which must be made in the scion. A 
very small amount of wood mnst bo cut 
away, and the surface made quite smooth ; 
care must be taken that no dirt be upon 
tlie cuts in this, and, indeed, in all the 
other modes. The scion must now be 
prepared; this should have at least three 
or four buds, one of which should, where 
jiossible, be at the lower end. to assist in 
uniting it to the stock. A sloping cut 
must now ho made in tlie scion; this cut 
must correspond with that on tlie stock, 



^i 



and a slit made to fit iu a cleft made in the stock 
when heading it This slit serves to maintain the 
scion steaddy in its place until properly fastened, 
and is more a matter of convenience than anything 
else. Care must be taken that the scion fits hirh to 
hark, on one side at least, for it is not the old or 
e.\isting portion of wood that forms the union, but a 
tissue which has to be produced, just as when the 
sides of a wound have to be reunited. This power 
exists in the alburnous matter, which lays next the 
inner bark; and the substance which forms the 
union, and which is secreted by the returiring saj-), 
is termed cambium. 

^^'here the stock and scion disagree in point of 
size, of course only one side can toucii, and great 
care shoidd be taken in this part of the operation ; 
and, in the case of a young scion on an old tree, 
some allowance must be made for the ruggedness of 
the bark. 

The scion being thus adjusted, the whole is bound 
close, but not too tightly, with a shred of bass mat, 
cai'e being taken that the inner harks coincide. The 
clay is now ap])lied, iu order to keep the parts moist, 
and some iiractitioners pde soil over the gi'afted 
part, when near enough the gi'ouud. In all the 
modes of gi-afting it may here be observed, that the 
vliief yroiiiid of xKccesx lies in nieeli) fitting together 
some Corresponding portions of the inner bark of the 
scion and stuck. 

•2. Ceown, called also Chft, or Wedge Orafting. — 
This is apphed to various plants as well as fiiiits, as, 
for instance, the rose, cactuses, &c. Vines, also, are 
fre(pieiitly grafted by tlds mode. I.il;e as in wlii]j 
grafting, it accelerates tlie union if the bottom of tlie 
scion has a bud or two. In tlie case of the vine it is 
considered necessaiy to let the stock grow a little 
before graiting; care must be tal;en, however, to 
keep some gi'owing portions on the stock, above the 
graft, or severe bleeding would ensue. As 
the name indicates, a cleft, or division, is 
made in the stock to receive the scion, 
which is cut like a wedge; again tidcing 
care, iu casi! of inequality of size, to make 
one side lit hark to liark. When llie 
scion and stock are unequal in size, both 
sides of the scion may he brought to fit 
by cutting the cleft nearer to one side of 
the crown than the other. 'I'lie wound 
is bound over, as in the other processes, with bast, 
and covered over with clay, or grafting-wax. The 
camellia succeeds well when grafted this waj'; even 
a single bud will make a plant, provided the stocks 
are kept in a damp and shady atmosphere for a few 
weeks alter grafting. Tlie stock here, also, should 
be slightly in advance, that is, should be fonvardcr 
in growing than the gi-aft or scion. Tlie best time 
is just as the sap is rising. 

:l. Cleft GnAFTixo, as represented in 
this sketch, is only a kind of crown graft- 
ing, and is ]iractised on stocks one or two 
inches in diameter, and, therefore, too 
lai'ge for wliip gi'afting. Cut or saw off 
the head of the stock in a slo]iiiig form: 
with a knife or chisel cleave tlie stock at 
tlie to]!, making the cleft about two inches 
dee]i : keep it open hy leaving in thi^ chisel ; 
cut the lower end of tlie scion into the 
form of a wedge, one inch and a half long, 
and the side that is to he towards the 
middle of I lie stock sloped olf to a fine edge; 
the bark of the thickest side of the wedge end 





place 
of the 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



231 



scion so as to covrespond exactly with the bark ot 
the stock; take away the chisel, and then the sides ot 
the stocl; wOl pinch and hold last the scion, iwo 
scions may he inserted, one on each side ol the 
clett; hut iu this case the top of the stock _^ 

must not be cut oil' slopiug. Bast and 
clay must be put on as in the other modes 
ol' grsifting. 

4. Saddle Grafting.— Tlie top of the 
stock is cut to a weds:e shape, and the 
scion or graft cleft up the middle, and 
placed astride on the wedge of the stock ; 
hence the name. The binding and clay- 
ing is performed as in the other modes, 
cai-e being taken to make at least one of 
the sides meet havk to hiiH\ 

A modilioation of this mode is practised 
iu some of our cider counties, where they 
do not hesitate to practise it iu the middle 
of summer, wlien the young wood has 
become somewhat mature. The sciou is 
chosen smaller than the stock, and is 
clelt about three inches at the lower end, 
so that one side is rather thicker than the 
other. The rind of the stock is then 
opened or "ue side, and the thick side of 
the scion introduced between the bark 
and wood; the thinner portion is carried 
astride the stock, and down the opposite 
side, a slight cutting bavuig ben made 
to receive it, on the ]n-inciple of making 
corresponding parts meet. This, though 
tedious, is a very safe mode of grafting, 
inasmuch as it presents a greater expanse 
of alburnum for etl'ecting the junction. 

S. Side Grafting.— This, in general, is performed 
on trees on which the top is required 
to remain, and is well adapted for the 
insertion of new kinds of pears, or 
other fruits, on estiiblished trees, in 
order to increase the collection, or to 
hasten I'riht-bearing. It is also adapt- 
ed to furnish naked portions of old 
shoots. It is, however, not so safe a 
mode as some of the "thers. Little 
description is needed tlie cut \vill 
sulBciently explain it. 

6. Chink or Shndikr Oreif ting. —Tins 
is not much iu use in this country, and, 
indeed, we see little occasion for its 
practice. When the stock and scion are 
equal in size, however, it offers an op- 
portunity of gaining the advantage of an 
extra, aviiouut of alburnous luiion. Tlie 
cut will explain it. 

7. Root Grafting. — An old practice 
but with regard to deciduous fruit 
trees it offers no particular ad- 
vantage over the ordinary whip 
grafting, when ]ierfornied near to 
tlie gi-ound. It is, perhaps, better 
adapted for very large scions, for 
in many trees such may be used 
when two or three inches diameter. 
When strongly bound they may 
be soiled over head, merely leaving 
a hole for the bnd of the scion to 
come through, which in this case will rise like 
sucker. 

8. Peg Grafiixg, — This mode is now never pra 






tised in England, and we only insert 
the annexed engi-aving because it com- 
pletes oiu- catalogue of all the Imown 
modes. Of these eight modes there 
are many modilications, but they are 
all derived from the eight enumerated. 
Peg grafting, never having been prac- 
tised by ourselves, we shaU only make 
this extract relative to it: "The scion 
must be of the exact size of the stock ; 
bore a hole into the centre of the stock, 
one and a half inch deep ; cut the bottom of the 
scion to fit; the edges of the barks must be very 
smooth, and fit exactly." 

General Observations. — For ordinary garden 
jRU-poses, we tliiuk the whip, the cleft, the sadclle, 
and the crown, the most eligible modes by far. 
These may be said to be the nde, the others are 
merely exceptional cases. 

In all these proceedings a few axioms or main 
principles must be kept steadily in view : of such are 
tlie following: — 

1 St. The scions of deciduous ti-ees should be taken 
from the parent trees some weeks before the gi'afting 
season, and "heeled" (the lower ends put into the 
soil) in some cool and shady place; this causes the 
stock to be a little in advance of the gi-aft, as to the 
rising of the sap, a condition admitted on all hands 
to be essential. 

2nd. Let all the processes be performed with a 
very clean and exceedingly sharp knife, taking care 
that nothing, such as dirt or clups, gets between the 
scion and the stock. 

3rd. Let the bandage be applied equally and 
firmly ; not so tight, however, as to cut or bruise the 
bark. For this reasou, hroacl sti-ands of bast are 
exceedingly ehgible. 

4tb. In selecting grafts be careful in choosing the 
wood, avoiding, on the one hand, exhausted or bad- 
barked scions, and, on the other, the immatiu-e, 
watery spray which frequently springs from the old 
trunks of exhausted or diseased trees. 

Grafting Clat, to make.— Take some strong and 
adhesive loam, approaching to a clayey chai-acter, 
and beat and knead it until of the consistence of 
soft-soap. Take also some horse droppings, and rub 
them through a riddle, of half inch mesh, until 
thoroughly divided. Get some cow manure, the 
fresher the better, and mix about equal parts of the 
three; kneading and mixing them until perfectly 
and ouiformly mixed ; some persons add a little road 
scrapings to the mass. A vessel with very finely 
riddled ashes must be kept by the side of the grafter, 
and after the clay is closed roimd the scion the hands 
should be dipped in the ashes; this enables the person 
who applies the clay to close the whole with a perfect 
finish. It must be so closed as that no ah can 
possibly enter ; and it is well to go over the whole 
in three or foui- days afterwards, whoi, if any have 
rifted or cracked, they may be closed finahy. 

Grafting AV.ix. — The following recipe has been 
recommended by a first-rate authority. Take com- 
mon sealmg-wax, any colour but green, one part; 
mutton fat, one part; white wax, one part; and 
honey, one-eighth part. The white wax and the fat 
are to be first melted, and then the sealing-wax is to 
be added gradually, in small pieces, the mixture being 
kept constantlv stu-red; and, lastly, the honey must 
be put in just before taking it olf the fire. It should 
be pom'eci hot into paper or tin moidds, to preseiwe 
for use as wanted, and be kept shghtly stirred tiU it 
begins to harden. B- Eeeington. 



2:« 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



THE FLOWER-GAEDEN. 

Small Villa Gaudkns. — Near to huge to^TOS tlie 
laud is so valuable for liuiUling ]mr]ioses, that the 
owners of such property sseklom afford much ground 
for gai'doning purposes. It is to be lanieuted that 
such is the case. If the gardens wei'e larger, the 
dwellings would be much healthier, and the means 
of recreation in the open air more ample. Yet even 
a small garden is greatly to be desired ; and it is 
alwavs a recomnieudatiou to a house, if there is " a 
bit oi' garden" belonging to it. Gardens of this l;ind 
have cither a walk in the centre, or on one side, 
leading nji to the door. This walk is mostly paved 
with Hag stones, and this is done, generally, in tlie 
worst possible manner ; we shall commence, there- 
fore, ora' gardening instructions, for villa gardens, 
with describing the best method of laying down the 
Hags. 

Flagged Walk. — In the first place, take out all 
the soil imder where the walk is to be, and four or six 
inches wider than the flags. The soil cau be used 
to improve the borders. Then lay a good drain in 
the centre, and till up with open rubble of brick 
ends, or broken stones, or veiy rough ashes. I'ill 
up the drain to the general level of the ground with 
this material. Upon this lay a coat of fine gravel 
or sand, or coal ashes, thi'ee inches thick. Beat the 
whole firmly down with a pavicr's beetle, and then 
have the flags laid down, with lime or cement at the 
joints. Employ a good mason for this part of the 
business. The flagged walk will now be completely 
raised above the level; and, in consequence, will he 
always clear of moss, and quickly dry after rain. Every 
one that thinks at all ou the subject must perceive 
that a tia-gged path, laid in this manner, must be 
drier and more easily cleaned than one laid in the 
common way. 

BoriDERs AND liEDs. — Thcse gardens are generally 
laid out with around or oval bed in the centre; a 
narrow gi-avel walk, edged with box, round it; and 
the rest forms a border, in which, as well as in the 
centre bed, are grown trees, shrubs, and flowers. 
Now this plan is very simple, and if judiciously 
planted, and neatly kejit, is, perhaps, the best way 
of arranging such small plots. Some such gardens 
have a square or round grass-plot, M'ith a border round 
it ; but grass, in such a situation, is excecdingl}' trou- 
blesome. If it is not freipiently roUed and mown, it 
soon becomes tliin of gi'ass, mossy, and out of order, 
besides taking up tlie room which might be occupied 
with flowers. I'or small gardens, gravel walks, with 
beds and borders edged with box, are more suitable; 
more easily l;ept in order; can be nniuaged by the 
occupier, withoiit so nuicb assistance from a day-gar- 
dener; and atlord more sjiaee for ornamental shiubs 
and flowers. The great difficulty is to choose, out of 
the host of good kinds which are now in the nurse- 
ries, such as will suit a garden of this class. We 
shall give a list of trees, shrubs, and flowers, that will 
furnish a small villa garden, such as are connuon 
about large towns. There are, liowever, manv beau- 
tiful things that will not thrive near smoky"^ towns. 
These we reluctantly omit. 

Ok Thees, we would renunk that they are useful 
in su(di gardens, to shield ott' in sultry weather the 
hot rays of the sun; and, as villas are generally tiear 
a highway, they partly shelter the lower gi"owing 
flowers from the dust, and serve also as ii screen 
from llie jiassers by. Those trees, then, ouglit to bo 
planted close to the boundary fence, and should bo 
kept iiruned in, so as not to hang over either way. 



Deciduous (losing their leaves in winter) trees are 
most ])roper. '['he following we conceive to be the 
best for this jnirpose; — the Lime-tree, Laliurnum, 
I'latanus, or Plane-tree, and Robinia pseudo-acacia, 
or, as it is commonly called, the Acacia. ( )ne of each 
of those will be sufticient. The price depends upon 
the si/.e, trees Irom four to six feet higli are Is. each ; 
ten feet high, x's. (id. each. 

Shrurs. — We woidd bj' no means have a garden, 
however small, without some shrubs in it. These 
may lie planted between the trees, and to servo as a 
division between such gardens. In this class is the 
queen of flowers — the rose, of which every garden 
cau scarcely have too many; at least, we have no 
fear that villa gardens will ever be overstocked with 
this universal favourite. lu very smoky parts of 
towns, such as London, JMaucbester, Birmingham, 
&o., we are reluctantly obliged to confess that the 
rose will not thrive; but at short distances from 
such towns, it will do moderately well. Shrubs may 
yi;t be planted ; therefore, if you do not possess 
any of the tbllowing list, procure tliem without 
delay. Let your gi'ound be previously prejiared by 
digging in the manner described in our ;i(ith ntuu- 
ber, then plant your shrulis, giving theni. if the wea- 
ther is dry, a good watering at the roots. Evergreens 
may be jilanted till April with success, it they are 
put in with puddle, that is, earth and water mixed 
together till of jiaint-lilce thickness, in the hole where 
the tree is to be planted. The shrub is then put 
into this puddle, and filled up with earth, mixing 
again with water till the hole is filled u]) level witli 
the ground. We have removed large evergreens in 
a hot dry Jidy, and by using ]iuddle they have all 
succeeded well. Now, as we liave proved the great 
use of ]iuddle in planting large trees and slu'ubs, it is 
surely not too much to expect that it will answer as 
well, or better, for smaller ones. 

LtsT OE Select Shiiubs for a small villa garden: — 
Amj'gdalus ]iumila flore pleno (Double Dwarf Al- 
mond), three feet, pink. "■Arbutus unedo (StrawbeiTy 
tree), eight feet, creamy white. =^'Aucuba ja])onica 
(.lapan Aucidia), fom- feet. Berberis a.(piiiblium 
( Holly-leaved Barberry), two feet, yellow.'! Cotoneaster 
microphylla (Sinall-loaved Cotoueaster), two feet, 
white. Dapline Mczereum (Connuon Mezereon), two 
feet, pink. " Kricaherb.acea (Dwarf Ileatli). six inches, 
]iink. Tliere are several other low growing iLcaths, 
very ]U'ctty and desirable, but, like this, they all 
require peat earth. =::Hex aquilblium variegatis 
(Variegated common Holly). The silver and gold- 
edged varieties are tlie freest growers, and most 
handsome. Lavendula spica (Lavender), two feet, 
liglit blue. '^T-'oeonia moutan (Tree Peony), for the 
centre bed, three feet, pink. Pruniis lauro-cerasus 
(Common Laurel), five feet. -i^Uibes sanguiiieum 
More jileno, (Double red-blossomed Currant), three 
feet, crimson. Rliododendrou ponticum (I'ontic 
Pose-bay), three feet, purjde. R. Catawbienso 
(Catawba Rose-bay), deep pink, two feet. Tliese 
rhododendrons require pent earth. •::S]iirrea aria^- 
folia (.Aria-leaved Meadow-sweet), three feet, white. 
-Sjiarlium multiflorum (Many-flowered white Broom), 
four feet. --Syriuga Persica (Persian Lilac), lour 
feet, lihic. ■:A'iburnuin tinus (Common Lauru^tinus), 
three feet, white, v;Weigelea rosea ( Kosey Weigelea), 
tbrec feet. The above cost fioni (id. to ;.'s. (id. each. 

If tlie borders will not contain the whole of the 
above, take those only that are marked with a star. 

t Tliifl 13 now made, with aome others, into a srparatc genus, and 
is called Miihonia Aquifuliuni. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



233 



The entire number are well worth growing, either for 
tlieii- flowers, leaves, or fragrance. We should have 
brcu s'lad to have added the Scarlet Tlioru and tlie 
Weeping Willow, both elegant plants, liut for small 
gardens tliey ai-c of too spreading a habit; and to 
paine them into small heads, completely destroys 
then- peculiar character and beauty. 

Roses are a distinct class of shrubs, and are 
deserving a separate notice and list. A row of 
standard roses, not very tall, on each side of the 
walk, is very desirable. One standard might lie 
planted in the middle of the bed, with smaller ones 
round it, and dwarf imes in front, in which case the 
tree peony must be placed elsewhere. These shoidd 
not be jilanted tliickly, but at such distances as will 
allow room for flowers. Some roses may also be 
planted in the corners of the border, where it is 
widest 

AS STANDARDS. 



Provence or CabbaRe Rose, Adri- 
tjunc dti Cardoviftc. 

Moss Roses, Cctina, rich crim- 
son. 

Crested Moss, bright 

rose. 

White Bath, white 



French or Gallic, Reine de Fran- 
eaia, rich rosy crimson. 

Tliese cost from 2s. 



Hybrid Provence, Blunehe Jlcur, 

white. 
Of other Classes, Chenedole, 

lar^e, vivid crimson. 

Fuf^ettx, scarlet, fine. 

Paul I'erras, pale rose. 



finest 



beautiful. 
Austrian, Persian yellow, 
yellow. 

to 2s. (id. each, and ten 
standards, as the above, will ftn-nish a smaU garden 
sufficiently. Those we have named are select, good, 



showy Icinds. 



DWARF ROSES. 



Provence, Ujuque, pure white. 
Moss, Cnmjnofi, pale rose. 

Criittsun, rosy crimson, 

^—^^ Lntieii, rosy crimson, 

tinted with purple, and fine, 

7s 6d, e.vtra kind, rather dear. 
Damask, Lerf«, blush, edged 

with cherry. 

Pulchictre, pure white. 

White, Aiifretiqfie, tine bluish. 
WTiite, Madame Campan, vivid 

blush. 
French or Gallic, Fleur d',4mo«r, 

light crimson. 
Hybrid Provence, Duchesse d^Or- 

lean, wax-like. 
Other Hybrids, Beauty of Bit- 

lard, scarlet. 

. Coai) d'Hette, deep pink. 

- Great Western, crimson 



Hybrid Pcrpetuals, Baronne Pro- 
vost, pale, superb rose. 
Clementine Seringe, fresh 



rose. 

Dactor Marx, carmine. 

— Duchess of Sutherlandt 

pale rose, magnificent. 

Edumrd Jesse, dark pur- 
ple, shaded with crimson. 

Louis Buonaparte, Ver- 
million, glowing. 

Bourbon, Cardinal Fesc/t, fine 
violet crimson. 

Madame Souchet, blush. 



tinged with crimson, fine. 
Paul Joseph, dark velvet 

crimson. 
. Souveytir de Malniaisou, 

clear flesh, edges blush, extra 

fine. 



and purple. 

The above kinds are all very fine. The hybrids 
thrive best if budded on very dwarf stocks. If the . 
garden is too small to hold the whole number, choose 
any number yon may think sufiicient, varyhig tlie 
colours as much as possible. We must, for want of 
space, defer the selection of flowers tiU next week. 

BiENNi.\LS. — The weather being so open and mikl, 
biennials may now be removed out of the bed into 
which they were transplanted last summer. Plant 
them in the borders where they are to flower, placing 
the tall growers at the hack of tlie border, and the 
dwarfer kinds ui front. They generally consist of — • 

Tai.i, Growers. — Anehvisaitalica (Ilahan Bugloss), 
Canterbury Bells, DigitaUs alba (White Foxglove), 
French Honeysuckle, Scarlet Lj'chnis, and Red 
Valerian. 

Dwarf Growers — Catananche bicolor and C. cce- 
rnlea (two-colom'ed and blue Catananche), Indian 
Pinks, Sweet-rocket, Sweet-scabious, Brompton Stocks, 
Sweet-williams and WaU-Uowers. 

These are all, or nearly aU, old favomites, and are 
worth cnltivatinff where there is room for them. 



We mentioned about our cottage friends forming a 
kind of society, to exchange flower-roots every spring. 
We trust they will not lose sight of this friendly 
design. We are quite sine it would lead to the best 
feeUngs amongst them being developed. There is 
nothing so pleasant as being on social terms with 
neighboin-s; and we heartily wish that every village 
in Great Britain may soon have in each a Cottager's 
Horticultural and Floricultural Society. As we have 
seen the good eflfects of such combinations, we shall 
endeavour to give some rules shortly, by wliich such 
societies may be advantageously governed. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

D.\HLiAs. — The season has now anived to look 
over your stores of this splendid autumnal ornament 
of the flov, er garden. Examine the roots well, and 
all that are alive place in a pit, or fi-ame, or some 
other place where a gentle heat is at work. Too 
much heat is very injurious, often rotting the roots 
just at the part where the buds are, namely, round the 
old stem. If you have a large stock of roots, it woidd 
be better to let them have a frame of two or three 
hghts or more, if necessary, to themselves. The 
reason for starting them thus early is, to have them 
strong plants by the time for planting out, and also 
for propagation pui-poses, of which we shall say 
more hereafter. 

Tulips. — Be sure and keep a stii<:t look out after 
yom' tidips, especially if you intend to have blooms 
for exhibition, or even lit for a florist to look at with 
pleasure. Protect the bed from severe weather, 
wliether frosty, or snowy, or rainy, especially after 
such mild weather as we have experienced lately. 
— weather such as the oldest of us can scarcely 
remember to have seen equalled for mildness in any 
former February. We may indeed say — " Beware of 
the ides of JMarch." Watch, therefore, the signs of 
the change of weather. Cover up every night, and 
shade from sun during day, to make yom- pets all 
safe at all times. T. Appleby. 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 

Scarlet Geraniujis.— The du-ections given last 
week for the management of these, after their winter's 
rest, was meant to apply to those in good preservation, 
as in ordinary cases : cases may occur, however, where 
the plants are all but dead, and'if this has been brought 
about by too mucli damp, they had better be freed 
from tlio soil at once, and every dead portion cut 
out; after that, let them be we'll dried for two or 
three days before tliey are potted agaui. If the 
plants, on the other band, have suS'ered from over 
dryness, and arc shrivelled up veiy much, their case 
is more bopefid, but tliey must be carefully watered 
before they are brought into heat; these are the 
three stage's which usually occur, and the damp stage 
is the worst, and requires a longer time to overcome 
it; drying the plants well, and to be very sparing of 
the watering pot, with a very tight compost, and 
small pots, are the best means to recover them. 'The 
very dry ones may be found out Ijy this rule: after 
cutting oft' the tops down to the Uve wood, if the edges 
of the""cut or the cut end of the shoots are contracted 
much after a day or two, it is a sure sign that their 
sap is too far gone to be able to break the buds, and 
therefore they' must be watered, but not turned out 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



of the wiuter soil. Those tliat have been wintered 
without pots will come in luider one of these heads, 
and may bo treated accordingly. Of all the plants 
that can be used for fiu'uishing small gardens, tliere 
are none more respectable than scarlet geraniums. 
Yon can never have too many of them; a whole bed 
of them looks as rich as any flower-bed the Queen 
can have; and for tilling up corners anywhere, no- 
thing is better: but I am trespassmg on my next door 
neighbour, and I only meant to say how beautiful 
they look in boxes outside tlie windows, or in rustic 
baskets at each side of the door, and indeed every- 
where ; and for growing in pots, for such pmposes, 
one of them called Tom Thumb is the best. But. 
tlieir ,gi-eatest merit is, that they can be kept over 
the winter as easily as potatoes. When I wrote the 
first letter in "The Cott-4ge Gardenek," I took a 
bundle of cuttings of different scarlet geraniums, cut 
them into foot lengtlis, and taking all their leaves off, 
i laid them on a shelf in a room at the top of the 
house; admitted air to tlie room: looked over the 
cuttings tmce a week for the next month, they were 
then in a tolerable dry state for jjacking up to winter. 
I rolled them up in rough brown paper, so as that 
no two of them touched each other, then put them in 
a box along witli himber. About ('bristmas, 1 looked 
over them, and a good many of them were beginning 
to rot at botli ends, and a few had black spots here 
and there; the whole of this was cut out, and the 
cuttings were laid on the shelves again to dry. After 
ten days the most of them were packed up again, 
and some were left on the shelves; both lots are now 
a tolerable samjilc of very good cuttings, and I lifive 
given orders to iiave them potted this week, but they 
would do a month lience. Now, if cuttings can be thus 
Icept from October to March, tlien potted, and be 
ready to flower next summer, who that lias a wmdow, 
or a single flower-knot or bed, would be at a loss to 
fill them u]) at the proper time? to say nothing of 
the quantities of old plants tliat may be jireserved 
bj' good management in a garret. I made this expe- 
riment on purpose to enable me to speak positively on 
the point in tlieso pages, and in order to dispel a very 
common idea, that only good gardeners can manage 
to keep these things through the winter: there is no 
gardening at all required in llie matter, only resolu- 
tion and plain common sense, — an article, by the way, 
much scarcer than scarlet geranirmis. If one was to 
write about a. mysterious expensive process, to do 
this, that, or the other tlnug, many would be temjited 
to try it, who now think it :^11 Greek, or fi'eemasonry, 
to preserve these beautiful flowers through our winters. 

Greenhouse CLUiBEns, — A neat little greenhouse 
without climbers is almost a misfortune ; all the 
jilants in it may loolv lienlthy and bloom as well as 
one could ivish, and yet if it lacks the gay tracery 
which a. good selection of climbers alone can aflbrd 
to the practical eye it will produce that indescribable 
feeling wliich you have exjierienced, if ever you had 
to sleep in a room from wliicli all tlie furniture bad 
been removed, except the bare skeleton of the bed 
itseli'. Climbers are to thegreenhouse what the finish- 
ing strokes are to a flue painting. 

About the end of l''ebruary, or veiy early in March, 
is the proper time to prune and dress up these climbers 
for the season. The only exception to this ride, tliat 
1 can recoUect now, is wlieu the greenhouse is lai'ge 
enough to contain duplicates of some favomate sort ; 
therefore, when two plants of the same kind are iu 
one house, to treat them alike, in respect to pruning, 
would be like making a good feast in order to fast 
afterwards: prune only one of them now, and the 



other one six weeks hence. Where climbeis are 
trained up between the front sashes, it is best to run 
them up to the top of the upright glass with a single 
stem, and then train them right and left ; or up under 
the rafters, not to allow them to s]nead so iis to inter- 
cept the side light. A parti:d shade along the roof is 
often of great service to plants on the stages in sun>- 
mer, but no interruption of the side light should ever 
be allowed. The great fault iu the management of 
climbers is, that they are never pruned close enough, 
unless they come under the hands of a gardener who 
has liad good experience ; and if one has the courage 
to exit in last year's growth to two or three eyes, two 
to one but double the quantity of old shoots ai-e left 
as you generally see vines pruned. If Jlr. Krrington 
were to see our out-door vines in Suti'olk, he would 
say of us — no matter what. The majority ol' the best 
climbers flower on the current year's growth, like the 
gra]ie-vine; and all such ought to be cut to within 
two or three eyes of the old wood annually; iniless 
one or more shoots were wanting, occasionally, to fill 
up a naked space : but I am writing about such as 
are of full age and growth. Yoinig plants will not be 
pruned so close tiU they fill up their allotted spaces. 

Climbers that flower on the last year's wood 
must have a ditt'erent treatment. Tlie healthiest of 
the last year's growth must be selected ami left at full 
length, unless they are very weak, when they ought 
to be sliortened a little, according to their strength, 
and all the inferior shoots to be cut to two eyes, and 
from these two-eyed spurs shoots are to proceed this 
next summer, to flower the following season; also 
most of the long shoots which bloomed last season 
are now to be cut back to one or two eyes. When 
Jilants thus regularly primed get too crowded, as 
most climbers will do under the best treatment, tliey 
shoidd never be checked by cutting the roots. The 
way to manage them is this: those spins that have 
been cut to two or three eyes must be thinned, by 
cutting out oue or two here, and another there, all 
over tiie plant. C^ut them ofl' close by the bark of 
the old branch, but not now at the spring pruning, 
because the wounds might injure the whole plant 
when the growth is slow in the spiring: leave them 
till next INIay, and when the jilants are in full leaf 
such wounds do no barm ; besides, you will then sec 
winch of them jiromise to flower best. The very 
strong ones wiU occupy too much room, and the 
very weak ones will not flower strong enough, there- 
fore cut them oft', and leave the intermediate ones as 
the most likely to flower best. When you want a 
long shoot of last year's growth, to fill up a space 
with, as a jirincipal branch that is to remain for 
years, it is an excellent plan to jiick out two-thirds of 
its buds with the point of your knife, and that may 
be done at any season; cutting out buds oltcn does 
away with the necessity of making larger wounds in 
after years. The spring is not the right time to plant 
out greenhouse climbers, otherwise I would give a 
list of the best sorts, but I shall do so before the time 
arrives. About the middles of May is the best time 
to turn them out of the pots, and from that to the 
middle of July will do; but at any other time they 
are as likely as not to sulk, and remain dornumt or 
stiiuty, unless in the bauds of jirofessed gardeners 
for a year or two — and the reason seems to be, that 
the change is too great for them; but when (hey are 
in active growth in May, and the growing season is 
before them, they can hardly fail to go on as if no- 
thing particular had happened to them. 

New Pl.vnts. — The charms of novelty are nowhere 
more irresistible than in the gsu'dcu, and this often 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



235 



leads to some blimdcvs; you licav or read of such 
and such fine plants " coming out," as tlio phrase 
goes, and your very Angers itch to possess them, but 
after laying out a handsome sum to procure them, 
you soon tind that they are no better than they 
sliould be. I sliall pledge my word, however, that 
no one who wUl buy the two plants that I shall 
name to-day will ever feel a disapporntmout respect- 
ing them. The one is from the far east, and the 
other h-om nearly as far to the westward; one is 
from the island of Chusan, on the coast of China, 
and is called riumhat/o Larpanhc — -Plumbago means 
leadwort, and the word is so near plumber, the man 
wlio works the lead, that no one can forget that 
name, at any rate; the second is a complimenta-iy 
name to Lady Larpent, who was so lucky as to raise 
this plant first, from seeds sent to her ladyship by a 
British officer: one of those clever Englishmen who 
trightenod tlie Chinese almost out of their senses and 
prejudices. We all know what L.I^.D. means, and 
L.L.L. may staud for Lady Larpent's Leadwort, so 
tluit there is very little fear of our forgetting this new 
name. 'J'his new Leadwort, then, is a charming, low, 
bushy, blue liowering pot plant, that will flower as 
easily as a fuclisia, from June till the frost comes ; 
and, in less than two years, will be in eveiy cottage 
garden in tlie kingdom. Although it sold last August 
as high as forty-five shillings each plant, it may be 
liad now for lis (id, and before the end of ne.\t May 
I shoidd not wonder to see them advertised at nine 
shillings the long dozen, and all this because it comes 
from cuttings as easily as the new Verbenas ; and no 
doubt Mr. Appleby will be advising us by aud by to 
buy it in quantities for flower beds, but we are not 
quite sure yet how it will answer that way. 

The second new plant is from Upper California, that 
■\vild country lying on the Pacific, where the gold dust 
has lately been discovered, which they say the Ameri- 
cans are now collecting to pay the " repudiated loans " 
with. When I saw this most beautifid plant for the 
first time, last July, I tooli it to be a new kind of 
fuchsia,, with the flowers turned the wrong way: the 
idea was sufficiently ridicirlous, I own ; but it is the 
best description of the plaut, nevertheless; it is not 
at all unlil;e a close-growing, small-leaved fuchsia; 
the Ilowers, which are of a rosy red colour, looking 
just like those of a fuchsia, only with their mouths 
turned upwards. It grows up to two feet or more, 
and is close and very bushy from the bottom ; aud 
although we sliall have it in the windows for the 
first season or two, till the novelty wears off, it is 
perfectly hardy in our climate; aud, more tlian 
that, after it is once well established in the ground, 
no drought that we are accustomed to in England 
will affect its beauty — for, as is well known, hardly 
any rain falls hi tipper California from May to 
October; the rainy season there is in winter, when 
the climate is much warmer than with us, along the 
coast ; but up on the mountains snow lies for some 
months, and all the plants from hence are hardy with 
us. The Yellow PJsohsoholtzia and Blue Nemophylla 
come from the same place. The name of this beau- 
tiful plant is anytliing but easy to mind, or even to 
]ironounce, by English tongues: it is Zauclisneria 
C'dli/ornica. This is a German word, and the 
audi part of it is a strong guttural with them, wliich 
a Welshman or Scotchman can easily pronounce, 
but few English peojile can; saugh and haugh are 
two Scotcli words which sound exactly as the Ger- 
mans pronounce the first part of tins strange name. 
The Scotch gardeners mil therefore sound tlus name 
as if written Saughneria, putting a sti-ong accent on 



the e; while the English, who cannot sound this 
guttm-al, nmst change the ch into an x, thus — Saux- 
neria; or follow the old way of pronunciation, as in 
fuchsia, thus — Sauchsneria. Tliis is only domestic 
pronunciation, but it gives me a good opportunity to 
say, that it is the duty of our great classical scholars, 
at the head of botanical literatiue, to give the expla- 
nation and accentuation of every hard word of which 
they write ; how else are we to foUow or understand 
such outlandish words? D. Beatox. 



THE KITCHEN-GAKDEN. 

Cet.ery. — Niuuernus are the modes of cultivating 
this wholesome and useful vegetable; indeed, it is 
grown to a great extent as a second crop. Sow the 
seed on a slight hot-bed, or in pans to place in a hot- 
house, frame, or pit, or some sheltered warm spot, 
from the middle of February to the middle of Aju'lI. 
For years past, at Bicton, we have adopted sowing 
the seed for our general crop of winter celery the first 
week in April, on a shght hot-bed, generally where 
the last asparagus has lieeu forced. We encourage 
the young plants' growth by waterings of tepid 
water, aud pricking them early ou slight hot-beds; 
and again, afterwards, to maintain a healthy sturdi- 
ness and abundance of fibrous roots, we transplant 
on rich borders, or on weU prepared rich soil in some 
open situation. Then, as the spring sown or planted 
crops come, such as cauliflowei'S, peas, spinach, eaidy 
cabbage, &c.. the preparation is immediately made for 
planting fidl crops of celery. Our general system is 
to cast out a shallow trench, .'i feet wide, and, as the 
soil has been well trenched and manm'ed in winter, 
we put into it but a moderate quantity of any avail- 
able well-rotted manure, but prefening cow or pig 
manure, or the manure fi-om a sheep-fold, or deer 
jiaddock, witli a jiortion of chan'ed refuse. This we 
foi-k in aud iu(^orporate with the soil. In those 
trenches ive plant rrossurn/ii, six plants in a row, and 
the rows fB inches apart — in order to secure a 
convenient and ready means of hoeing, watering, and 
applying the earth for blanching, witliout ti'eading 
amongst the plants. By this means, a large crop of 
celery, of good quality, is secured on a small space of 
ground, with moderate expense in the whole manage- 
ment. Besides, it is so easily and moderately secm-ed 
from the consequences of a severe winter, by the ap- 
plication of a little fern, stiaw, or any siuular mate- 
rial, a]iplied on each side of the ridge, which it wUl 
then have become, by earthings up to blancli. 

The foUowiug is another system we adopt, by 
which we obtain hea\'y crops of excellent celery: — 
At this season of the year, as soon as oiu- Brussels 
sprout crop is past, which we consider is as soon as 
the sprouts begin to burst and fly open, we pidl them 
up, mark out our 5 feet bed, cast out the eai'th on 
each side to the depth of 15 inches or thereabouts, 
and into tliis we cast the stumps of the Brussels 
sjn'outs, aud any other vegetable refuse, sweepings, 
rakiugs, &c. On to this we wheel the worn-out fer- 
menting materials from the sea-kale, to the depth of 
10 inches or one foot, if it can be spared; casting 
over it, as we proceed, about fi inches of the soil 
which had been thrown out of the trench, and leav- 
ing the other portion to form a shelter for an 

Early Potato Crop. — The sets for tliis we take 
care to have already prepsu-od, with sprouts vegetated 
to a length of :3 or i inches, planting them 15 inches 
from row to row, and about half that distance apart 



23G 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



from each other iu tlie row. Some poles or saw-pit 
scantlings are placed across, and a slight covering 
or protection of sonic kind is contrived. By this 
mode, an iihundant crop of early jiotatoes is olitiiiued 
to succeed the frame; and a good prejiaration is also 
secm'ed for a trench oi' celery. 

To amateurs and cottagers, to whom groiuid is of 
consequence, and where it is iutoided to make the 
most of space and time, the two foregoing systems 
arc worthy of consideration. 

Single-row trenches of celery requii'e more room ; 
besides the plants in them being more exposed to 
the influence of frost. 

SuEi.TEEixG. — After so mild and moist a winter 
season it is not imlikely that we may, as spring 
advances, get cutting weather; it is, therefore, ad- 
visable to look a little to the protection of young and 
fresh-planted vegetables, by the application of a Uttle 
saw-dust, or other thy dusty material, more par- 
ticularly about the shanks of young lettuces, pens, 
cauliflowers, &c. Stick the forward ^jras, and protect 
the north and north-east ends of the rows well with 
spruce fir. or other boughs. Draw a httle of the 
liglitcst mouldy earth up to the shanks of the earliest 
beans. 

Routine Work. — Full crops of caullfloucrs and 
spring cahbarjes should bo planted, and successions 
of them sown; a little brocnU should also be sown. 
Continue to jilant out successions of lettuce plants, 
and encourage those which have stood the winter by 
hoeing and surface-stirruig often. A fidl crop of 
parsleij should be sown ; soot and charred vegetable 
refuse are famous manm'cs applied to encomage its 
vigorous gi-owth. ' Jajies Baenes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INEORMATION. 



ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 

So numerous and so pressing are the objects be- 
longing to tliis period above all others during the 
year, tliat we scarcely know at what jioint to begin. 

In the first place, a few words on 

The Potato. — There can be no doubt that, on tlic 
■whole, the condition of the potato has amended in 
regard to disease; such is our impression — backed, 
we believe, by facts iu the aggregate. We therefore 
say, do not by any means give up this crop, but ])lant 
freely. As, however, the cottager and allotment 
holder can 1\y no means afibrd to lose even one 
crop, it may be necessary, luider present circum- 
stances, to pursue a system of mixed cropping, iis 
advised in our previous supplemental number. Some 
caution is now necessary to tlie cottager in this re- 
spect; and, as a vast amount of information, I'rom 
various parts of the kingdom, has come to hand as 
to tlie ]irogress of the disease, we would fain attempt 
to place the residts iu so compact a form as to be of 
use oll-l)and to tlie allotment cultivator. 

"Much cry and litthi wool" is an old saying; it 
applies to the potato case most aptly. Nevertlieless, 
the numerous investigations and experiments which 
have b(^en carried ou over tlie kingdom liave not 
been willimit their use. They have left an impress 
behind them, out of which a few strong fiicts may 
be gleaned by those who, being thoroughly versed 
in vegetable culture to begin with, can appreciate 
the relative value of tlie facts in ([uestion. If, then, 
there be anytliing determined with regard to reco- 
vering the potato out of its present precarious positiou, 



such may be classed, we thinlc, under the following 
maxims: — 

1st. Careful preservation of the seed. 

2nd. Planting in fresli soil without manure. 

3rd. Very early ji! anting. 

Jtli. Judicious selection of kinds. 

We now proceed to advise on each of these heads. 

1. OarefiilPreservationof the Seed — Although the 
time seems past to ad^-ise on this head, yet, as it 
bears on the whole subject, we must indulge in a 
few remarks. Fermentation or heating in liogs or 
pits, whether or not the original cause of the disease, 
is very destructive, and at least provocative of dis- 
ease of some kind. Such is, moreover, the cause of 
the seed sprouting much earlier than it should; 
when the best buds, of course, get rubbed away or 
otherwise damaged. We, therefore, say, reject" all 
seed which lias been thus injuriously treated. 

2. Plant in Fresh Soil uithout Manure. — Tliis needs 
little comment; the world is pretty well persuaded 
on this head. Indeed, such, with sensible cultiva- 
tors, was a maxim before the disease commenced. 
What we urge, however, is, that where a choice of 
ground offers, tlioso which are termed "maiden 
sods," and unmannred, should he chosen. Manures, 
if not one of tlie circumstances helping originally to 
induce the disease, have been, beyond all question, 
tierce aggravators of it. 

.3. Vcrif Earhj rianling. — The Horticultur.il Society 
of London has had evidence ou this head from 
hundreds of jiersons, condensed into very narrow 
tables: by wliich it ajipears that autumn planting, 
when rightly caiTied out, is by no means to be con- 
demned; and that January and February are far 
superior to March, April, or May. Indeed, iilanting 
in the last-named mouths, under existing circum- 
stances, is absurd. Those who do so must be totally 
unobservant of what has been passing during the 
last four or five years. We would, therefore, advise 
the cottager to jilant every one he intends, whetlier 
of late or early kinds, immeiliatchj ; not to lose a day, 
if possible. One caution is necessary ; and tliat is, 
to plant at this e.arly period a couple of inclu'S deeper 
than usual; not for fear of their fi-osting, but in order 
that they may not thrust their heads through the 
ground too soon, which they may do if shallow. 
Whoever plants with the idea of having them (tliuic 
ijround earlier than their neighbour will lie mistaken. 
None arc safe which appear before the last week of 
April, or, indeed, nearly the second week iu JIay. 

-1. Judicious Selection of Seed. — For the earliest, 
nothuig exceeds the AshJeaved Kidney. It is of no 
use planting them, however, if the first sprout has 
been rubbed oil'. The Kemps, the Radicals, &c., ai'O 
capital: also the Forty-folds. For keeping purposes, 
some of tlie second forward Pink Eyes may be eliosen, 
hut on no account jdant any of tlie Old Keds, of the 
Red Apjile class. I'lvcry district, however, 1ms kinds 
peculiar to it: and it is well to adlicre to those which 
have hitherto ]iroved successful. By referring to our 
diagram selicmc of cidture. at page IRl. of .Ian. 2.")th, 
it will be seen that one division is for winter potatoes, 
without manure. We there suggested that llie early 
kinds might he grown on slopes or borders. Tliis 
plot, however, might be made to contain liotli early 
and late, alternately: first one kind, and llieii the 
other. In this case, the rows may he closer tugether. 
]'-ightecii or twenty inches would suffice this way, 
whereas nearly thirty would be necessary when all 
are late kinds, 'i'lms. Kidneys coidd he taken U]i, 
and part sold, about the midiUc of June, leaving a 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



237 



crop of Iceepiug Pink Eyes for winter use ; aud if the 
Ast-leaved Kidneys were set in Eebruaiy, six inolies 
deep, never soiled or earthed up, hut ouly lioed 
through, aud tlie Piulc Eyes set the early part of 
March, eight inches deep, the latter would not have 
spread to tlieu- full exteut wheu tlie Kidneys were 
taken up ; after which, the Pinlt P^yes would enjoy 
abundance of room. Tliis plan we have often prac- 
tised, and can recommend. The rows where tlie 
Kidneys grew would then do well for some forward 
kale plants, or the Thousand-headed Cabbage, of 
which more by-and-by. It ought to be more gene- 
rally known, that soiling or earthing iqi earhj imUt- 
tocs alwKi/s throws them a fortnight later. Gardeners 
who gi-ow them in frames know tliis well. 

Keeping Winter Eoots. — As the time is at hand 
to sow most of these, we hope to render some ser- 
vice by offering a few remarks on eacli ; remarks 
foimded on long experience and close observation. 
We refer to the carrot, the Swede, tlie parsnip, the 
mangold-wurtzel, and the Jerusalem artichoke. The 
order in which they stand pretty nearly indicates 
the ijrefcrence which is given them by the cottager ; 
we shall, however, have to take another view of the 
affair, viz., which is most profitable to the cow and 

pig? 

The CAnnoT. — There are tlu'ee very profitaI,)le 
kinds adapted to small holders, viz., the 1-Iorn, the 
Green-top or James's, and the Altringham. The 
White Belgian we think better adapted for tlie farm. 
The Horn, above all others, is most eUgible for gene- 
ral purposes, as it forms its root so ewly. This 
carrot may, therefore, be sown at any period from 
the end of January to the middle of July. When- 
ever any of our readers have a small bed which they 
do not know what to crop with during that period, 
let them sow Horn carrots, we say. The Horn will 
grow six times closer together than the larger carrot, 
and is, therefoi-e, one of the most profltable crops in 
existence ; for when sown very early, they will be in 
use by the beginning of May, and the thrifty house- 
wife may pull a good bunch every day, if necessary, 
for six weeks, aud leave a nice regular crop to ripen 
afterwards. As the season advances, however, they 
must be sown a little thinner, or they would run too 
much to top. The Horn, therefore, will come inider 
the bed cidtnre ; the Altriughaui and Green-top may 
go in drills in the other compartment. Tbi.^ only 
drawback in the cultwe of the carrot is its liability 
to the grub; and were it not that our cottiers are in 
general predisposed to this root more than to any of 
the others, we should feel in duty bound to place 
them in a second-rate position. Their feeding quaU- 
ties are very considerable, as is proved by their 
analysis, as well as their known elf'ects in practice. 
They can never be given wrong to cows in milk, or 
feeding ; for swine, we cannot say that we have derived 
the same amount of benefit as from the parsnip or 
the mangold; the latter of which, indeed, we have 
used in the main for the last fifteeu years. Let it 
be remembered that, whatever manure may be con- 
sidered necessaiy for the carrot, it should be dug down 
deep. Not a particle should be nearer the surface 
than eight inches for the larger kinds ; below that, 
it matters not how good the soil is made ; manure 
near the siuface will cause them to fork and grow 
rubbishy. The Horn dehghts in a rich black 
humus, or old vegetable soil : the depth need not be 
more than eight inches. The Horn, therefore, is 
peculiarly eUgible for sliallow soils, where, indeed, 
the Altringham would never succeed. 
The Paesnip. — We pass by the Swede, which 



comes next in order, perceiving that our space will 
not permit us to go into the various bearings of the 
whole of the roots ; we therefore proceed with those 
which demand immediate attention. Parsnips re- 
quire to be sown early ; the mangold and Swedes 
win do in the middle of April. Of all the roots 
adapted to the cottager, or, in fact, any one who 
keeps pigs, and perhaps a cow, we know of none 
which can excel the Guernsey parsnip. In recom- 
mending this useful root, however, as well as the 
others, we woidd advise all parties to consider not 
only the amount of produce, as related to quality, 
but the character of the soil. Thus, a thin, clayey 
soil would, with some manure and plenty of culture, 
be best in Swedes or the Orange Globe mangold ; 
the carrot is here out of the question, or nearly so. 
Ou a deep loam, somewhat adhesive, Init well 
drained, all but the carrot would be highly profit- 
able ; whilst on deep, mellow, sandy soUs, the carrot, 
jn'ovided the grub does not make liis appearance, 
would, perhaps, excel all the other roots. Our 
advice, consequently, is — he sure to suit ijour crop to 
the soil, for quarter or half-acre men may not in- 
dulge in speculative matters. A deeji aud rather 
unctuous or greasy loam is the soil for the parsnip, 
and it is known "to thrive exceecUngly in chalky 
loams, but these are not in everybody's hands. 
Parsnips slioidd be so^vn in drills at the end of Fe- 
bruary or beginning of March. The drills must be 
half a yard apart, and the jdants singled out to about 
six inches in the row. Whatever manure is used, 
it should be jilaced out of all contact with the upper 
portion of the roots, as — like the carrot — the de- 
scending tap root, on which the amount of produce 
depends, will, in the event of its coming to the 
manure near the surface, branch off into innumerable 
fibres. This useful root has the merit of resisting a 
very severe winter, if left in the gi'ound; indeed, we 
have kept them for years in this way. 

The Jerusai.eji ^Vbticiioke. — We must endeavour 
to say a few words about this singular root, for it is 
planting time. W'e woidd certainly not plant these 
where the carrot, the Swede, the mangold, and the 
parsnip thrive, iuasmuch as the produce, both in 
ipiality and quantity, is decidedly superior in the 
latter roots. Nevertheless, on inferior soils, and in 
nooks or corners, the Jerusalem artichoke is a cot- 
tager's root. Swine eat them most greedily, when 
onee they are accustomed to them, and their huge 
tops are capable of adding much to the comjiost- 
yard. They do not require any particnlar cidlnre ; 
they need much room when planted whole. The 
best plan is, we thmk, to cut them into single eyes, 
of which, every tuber contains many. By this 
comse they may be set much thicker. Wo succeed 
well in this way at thirty iuclies between the rows, 
and sixteen inches between the sets in the rows. 

AVe must now pass on to other busuiess jiecidiar 
to the season. On referring to our diagram, at page 
18-1, it will be found that we have disposed, lor the 
present, of oomjiartments Nos. 1 and '2. Let us see 
what can be done in the other two cUvisions. lu the 
bed culture, one of the first things is to sow a good 
bed or two of the Horn carrot: if the soil is poor, it 
must have some very old maniu'e and a little soot, 
with a slight sprinldlng of salt, or any charred mate- 
rials may be strewn over it, and the whole well dug 
a common spade's depth. Another bed or two for 
onions must be prepared : if any fresh manure is 
used, it should be dug in deep ; and here, again, we 
woidd add the salt and soot mixture. The carrot 
beds may be raised above the ground-level four 



238 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



inches, and the onions twice that height. Tliis 
causes tlie crop to lipeu earlier by a couple of weeks, 
and that couple of weeks is most important, as we 
sliall plant a thicli crop of coleworts on their ground 
at the end of August. Let the onion seed be sown 
when the ground is very ihy, and the beds trod as 
liard as tlie human foot can make them. A few 
itidish seeds nuiy he spriulded witli the carrots, and 
some Piiris ens Lettuce, and lirnini Dutch riihhaije 
lettuce, amongst tlie onions. These will he liandy to 
transplant, when strong enough. A small bed of 
.•ijiiniich may ho immediately sown, the seed being 
soaked in lukewarm water for six hours previously. 
The spinach, however, had better go to the division 
No. 4, as No. n ought to be wholly occupied with 
sucli things as tlie Horn carrot — in succossional 
sowings, onions, or other usefid keeping roots, wliicli 
are best under bed cidture. In No. 4, a bed should 
he sown directly with r/reen-lcale, savoi/n, Brussch 
ajirout-i. matchless cahbitge, and the thousund-hearled 
cahhiiije. These will all he wanted in due course. 
X pincli of leek seed, also, at some end. If the cot- 
tager likes hrocoli, lie may sow a little. of the WOl- 
cove. and Jlelville's supeiior late white, for next 
March and April; the autunni and winter brocolis 
must not go in for a mouth yet. Above all, let 
plenty of Uie ('iitF,i:x-K.\i.E he provided; these ai-e 
invaluable for either man or beast. 

Of course the sowing of peas and beans will pro- 
ceed according to former directions. As soon as 
these things are completed, the cottager should ]iay 
every attention to Ids Swede and mangold plots, 
whenever breathing time occm-s : for, in ;uiother 
fortnight, tlie spring weeds wiU require attacking; 
and sliortly ou the heels of these, the voimg rising 
crops will require constantly weeding or hoeing. 
If any curled kale, or Brussels sprouts, at this 
period, stand in tlie way of a well-planned scheme 
of crops, they may be dug up with a hall of soil, and 
" heeled," or placed very tliii-k togetlier, on any spare 
portion of tlie miscellaneous division : here they will 
yield sprouts for some time. 

E.MU.v York CARB.M;ii. — Under this liead we class 
the early Hope, the Matchless, the Nonpareil, &e., 
which are, ior the most part, improved Yorks. We 
woulil wish to ])oint here to the great eligibility of 
these for iutrodueiug. at any time, between standing 
crops. A bed slioiild always be sown in the end of 
Fehniarji, another bed in tlie early part of June, and 
a third in the end of ./«/;/. or beginning of Aur/ust. 
If the cottager does not want them, be can dispose 
of them to his neighbours, or perhaps exchange 
them for something else. This ti'ibe of cabbages 
may at all times he planted within nine inches of 
each other — provided they arc not intended to 
stand for sjirouts. The cabbage plants which were 
planted out in September or October shoidd now 
have the hoe ]ilied tlirough them, drawing a little 
soil to their stems. If any have been "pricked out," 
or are still in late, seed-hvds, they should forthwith be 
jdanted out on some spare bit in the miscellaneous 
section ; or they may he introduced ui any other but 
the root jiortion, if to s]iare. 

Pigs. — A cottager with nearly half an acre of 
ground will, of course, feed !i good hog or two ; and 
as lie can scarcely atibrd to keep a breeding sow, 
this is a good time to purchase a good store or two. 
The prick-eared breeds are by far the best, or a 
cross between the Berkshu'e and Cluiia. A coujile 
may be piu'chased, at oiu- spring fau's, for something 
over a sovereign ; and if they are spayed, and not 
hide-hound, and, moreover, possess some length of 



carcase, with a well-set pair of shoulders, he may 
look to kill one, in the early part of Ctctober, weigh- 
ing at least a dozen stones ; and another in the end 
of February, weighing, perhaps, sixteen stones. To 
do this, however, he must have plenty of the roots 
before alluded to, and piu'chase a little Indian corn- 
meal, which, in the present state of afiairs, is, 
perhaps, the most economical. A sjiayed sow, which 
has had only one litter of pigs, is the thing for a cot- 
tiigcr, and, indeed, for anybody to lunx-liase : these 
are not to be had every day. It is astonishing how 
soon a sow of this character is fattened, if it can be 
obtained about the end of August, when plenty of 
garden refuse comes to hand. 

^Ve need hardly remark, that swine require to be 
kept as ideau as other animals; their skin is, in 
like manner, sensitive, as is evidenced by their ruli- 
liing against posts or v.'alls. in order to dislodge the 
dirt they have accitlentally or stupidly accumulated. 

The Cow. — Those who have land enough for a 
cow, as well as swine, may esteem themselves as 
exceedingly fortunate. There ai'e a few points we 
would here advert to concerning this most useful of 
ail animals. Those who keep but one are too often 
temjitcd to milk her to within a near period of her 
calving. Tlus is loss in the end. We think that 
nearly eight weeks of rest sboidd be allowed in the 
average of cases; and the drying oH' is easily accom- 
plished by natural means, without recourse to 
drinks. A change from good hay to sti'aw, and the 
withliolding of all roots — com, of course, out of the 
ijuestion — will soon begin to etlect this object. 
After tliis, very ordinary food will suffice, provided 
the cow is guarded from inclement seasons. It 
has been stated by very good authorities, that the 
relative value of hay, and the various roots, seeds, 
&c., is about as follows: — I cwt of good hay is about 
equal to 1 cwt. of parsnips, 41 cwt. carrots, 5 cwt. 
Swedes, o cwt. mangold, 7 cwt. common turnips; 
also one part linseed is equal to ten of green food in 
gcner.al ; and one of good oat straw is equal to tlu'ee 
of ordinary green food. 

Such statements must, liowevcr, be received with 
caution, and re-examined ; so much depends on the 
jiiirposo for which they are required. In all these 
matters, it must be remembered that lueic hulk is a 
Ijuestion not to be entirely lost sight of Hay, in 
this respect, has an advantage. 



THE BEE-KEEPEB'S CALENDAP..— Mahch. 
Bij J, H. Paijne, Esq., Author of "The Bee-Keeper's 

Guide," tCc. 
In page 'iO of The Cott.vge G.\p.dener, under the 
title " Bees," I observed two excellent rules : the 
first, "never kill your bees;" and the second, "never 
allow tbeiu to swarm." Now, to enable the cottager 
to carry out these very important rules, and to in- 
struct him fully in tlic managcinent of liis bees, will 
be the chief object of this, and, pcrhajis, of some fu- 
ture papers. I have, for the last iifty years, never 
been without six or eight hives, that both by precept 
and cxam]de I might be able to enforce such manage- 
ment ; and year by year, I am more fidly convinced 
of the advantages of the system I have pursued, and 
of its adaptation especially to the cottagers, and 
indeed to all those who wish to obtain a large supply 
of the finest honey at the least possible expense and 
trouble ; but, although my first object will be to give 
instructions to the cottager, I shall, I trtist, be able 
to offer to the amateur a few remarks worthy of his 
notice. 



THE COTTAaE GAKDENEK. 



233 



Aspect. — I will commeuce by giving the aspect 
best suited for tlie bees to be placed in : I liave tried 
aU aspects, and have now no hesitation in saying that 
the soutli is the best. Bee-houses of all kinds I very 
much dislilce: many hives are ruined by them ; they 
are expensive in tlie first phice, and tliey form a 
shelter for then' worst enemies, mice, moths, spiders, 
&c., and not the least, dampness, wliich is ruinous to 
them. I would recommend the hives being phiced 
south, or as neai'ly so as may be convenient ; if at all 
vaiying from it, give them a little inclination to the 
east, and be sure to place them so that th.ey have the 
morning siui : for the honey-gathering for the day 
usually finishes by two o'doclc, therefore an hour in 
the morning is of much importance to the bees, as 
well as to their proprietors. Another inconvenience 
arising from bee-houses is, that several hives being 
placed upon the same lioard encom'ages pilfering, 
and renders it almost impossible to operate upon 
one hive without distmbing the whole. 

St.vxd for Hive. — Having, therefore, for these rea- 
sons, recommended the abandonment of bee-houses 
altogether. 1 would say — place each liive upon a 
separate board, supported by a single pedestal, fotu' 
or five inches in diameter — a piece of w-ood -nith the 
bai'k on does remarkalily well — place it firmly in the 
gi'ovmd, and about fifteen inches from its surface ; 
upon the top of this post should ho nailed iirraly a 
piece of board eight or nine inches square, upon 
which should be placed the board the liive stands 
upon, but not imited to it, so that the hive may be 
removed whenever required, without disturbing the 
bees. 




Clay or mortar should never be used to fasten the 
hive to tlie board ; the bees will do that in a much 
more eti'ectual manner themselves, with a substance 
they collect from resinous leaves, called propolis. 
Mortar or clay tends very mueli to decay the liives ; 
and hives managed on this principle ai-e expected to 
stand for fifteen or even twenty years. Let the hives 
be placed about three feet apart from each other, 
and in a right Hne. The best covering, as a protec- 
tion from raia, is a large ilat earthen pan (a milk 
pan), suflieicntly large to prevent the drip from 
falling upon the board. It would in all eases be 
well to give them the shelter of a wall or fence from 
the north, but on no account place them close to it, 
but leave a space of ibur or five feet, at least, for a 
]"iath ; for, the ojierations of taking oft' small hives, 
glasses, or boxes of honey, are much moi'e conve- 
niently effected at the back than in the ti'ont of the 
hives. It would be well to clean the boards on 
which the hives stand fom' times in the year ; namely, 
in .Tanuary, March, April, and November. January 
and March are the most important. 

The place wliere the liives are fixed should be kept 
clear of weeds; and j'lants winch rise in height 



equal to or exceeding the entrance of the hives, 
should not be suffered to grow near them. 

PuECH.\siN0 STocKs.^Should these sunple instruc - 
tions meet the eye of any persons who are wishing 
to commence bee-keeping, J woidd say to them, this 
is the best time to jnirchase stocks ; they may be re- 
moved with safety from the middle of Febmary tiU 
the middle of March, much better than at any other 
time : they have passed in safetj" through the ^vinter, 
the combs are empty of brood, light of honey, and 
the i-emoval safe and easy. 

In piu'chasing stocks, the weight alone must not 
be relied on ; a swarm of the preceding year should 
be selected, and one that contains not less than 
twelve poumls of honey. The coinbs must be looked 
at. and if they are not of a yellow or straw-colour, 
and il' at all approaching to blackness, it is not a 
swarm of the last j'ear, and must be rejected. The 
next best time to purchase is May or .lime, at the 
time of swarming; but of this hereafter. 

Hi\n;s. — ^^\'ith regard to the materials of which 
hives are made. I believe it to be a matter of indif- 
ference whether straw or wood be used, but the 
facility and economy in the construction of sti-aw 
liives must always be a recommendation, especially 
to the cottager. Ha-(-ing. therefore, decided upon 
the materials for cottagers' hives, their form must 
now lie considered. For sti'aw hives I would recom- 
mend the following size : — nine incites deep, and 
twelve in diameter; straight at the sides, and flat at 
the top ; in shape like a half-bushel measiu'e. A 
hole slioidd be made in the top four inches in diame- 
ter, and a piece of straw-work, like that of which the 
hive is made, large enough to cover it, must be 
fastened over the hole, not to fit in, but to cover 
occr it. 




It is better to cut a piece out of the hive for nii 
entrance, than to have a groove made in the floor 
board. The entrance should be two inches wide by 
one inch high, to which attix a piece of copper or 
zinc, about si.\ inclies long by three inches wide, 
having a groove to admit two sliding plates, one per- 
forated, and the other having a hole large enougli to 
allow but one bee to come out at a time. 




un 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



Groat advnntiigrs arise from tliis little iipparatus ; 
the perforati'd slider is used to confine the liccs to 
tiieir hive when snow lies iijion the ground, wliieli 
entices tliom out, and they perish ; it is useful, also, 
when feeding becomes necessary, to exclude all in- 
truders. The other slider is used both in spring 
and autumn, preventing cither robbers or wasps 
i'rom entering ; for three or four bees, with the help 
of this slidci', can guard the entrance more efl'ectually 
than ten times that numlier witliout it. 

Feeuing. — I must not close this paper without 
giving a caution to those who have bees, to examine 
thi'in, and immediately to feed those that ai-e weal; ; 
and a hive that has less than five pounds of honey 
in it at this time may be considered a weak one. 
Feeding at the top of tlie hive is very much the best 
method, and an excellent apparatus for that purpose 
was given by the liev. Mr. IJyron, at page l.'ili of 
The Cottage OAnuENEn ; but in common stra,w 
hives it is impossible, and they must be fed at the 
bottom of the hive. The best kind of food that can 
be given to bees is honey liquified with a small por- 
tion of warm water ; but where honey is scarce and 
dear, an excellent substitute will be found in lump 
sugar; three pounds of sugar to a pint of water, 
boiled for two or three minutes, and then mixed 
with a pound of honey, will make five pounds of 
excellent food, which the bees appear to Like quite as 
W'cll as honey idone. From the bad honey season 
last year, the mildness of the present winter, and tlie 
jirobability of a cold spring, a great numlier of sto(0<s 
of bees may be exjieeted to perish, excejit they lie 
watclied, and wi^ll siqiplied witli suitable food when 
reipiiriug it. My eyes were gladdened on tlie 1th 
instant (February), by seeing ray bees, for the first 
time, seizing u]ion thelittle honey and pollen afforded 
them by the crocus and winter aconite, ten days ear- 
lier than 1 ever before saw tboni so engaged. 

J. II. 1'ayxe, Biirij St. jEdiniimh. 



MY FLOWEES. 

(No. 18.) 

Tlie briglit, lively flowers of the clustering bepa- 
tiea arc invaluable now, and form a rich contrast to 
the crocus, and the few remaining aconites. I'lie 
hepatica should be allowed to grow in large clum])s, 
and then the eU'ect ol its glowing liowers among 
tlicir dark, ivy-shaped, leaves is beautiful. There 
are several varieties of this plant ; some are of a 
delicate while, others red, pink, purple, and blue. 
The jiink and blue are the most commonly seen in 
our gardens; yet we should lie repaid ibr some 
ti'oi'.lile if we colleiHi'd all the varieties, lor the glow 
of our early spring borders would then almost rival 
those of summer, and the foliage of the hepatica is 
even handsomer and richer than that of summer 
jdants. Tiiey like a light, well-drained soil best, but 
if you place tliem in a lieavy one, mix sand with it 
round their roots. The hepatica is callcif by the 
Canadia,ns, " Snow-llowcr," as it appears soon after 
tlie melting of the snows, and is their first spring 
fiower ; in that country it gi-ows wild, and its dark 
glossy leaves beautily both plain and woodland for 
many months. Jn some country gardens there are 
wild, shrubby, grassy spots, unlit for borders; here 
wc might plant many liowers that wiudd look ex- 
tremely well, in a half wild stale, mixed with tb<! 
turf and crecjiing ivy. I once was accustomed to 
throw much of the refuse of my borders into a. places 
of this kind, because it was out of sight, and J was 
surjirised in the course of time hy seeing quite a bed 



of fine young sweet-williams springing up ; had I 
allowed them to remahi they njiglit perhaps have 
flowered ; and though the bloom would have been 
weak, yet tlie effect might have been very pli?asing. 
llepaticas would look pretty, glittering in tlieso 
secluded nooks, with many other hardy plants, and 
•would give much agreeable variety to our jdeasiue 
grounds, whether they are expensive or not; for the 
mind always seems more delighted and refreshed with 
what is iialiiral than with the finest effect of art. 
Where man's hand has lieen enijiloyed there is always 
a formality, or a something we feel without, perbajjs, 
being quite able to describe it: but only let us break 
through a garden-hedge into the cops(% or the wild 
heathy eonuiion, and what a change comes over us! 
The eye ranges with un(|ualified delight I'rom object 
to object, and the mind rejoices too; all is jierfect, 
and the very leaves of autiunn lie on the grovnid 
miu-e pleasingly than if tlu^y had been scattered by 
the band of man. In the grounds of one of the 
many lovely residences that fringe the bay of Swan- 
sea, I remember that the columbine gi'cw wild among 
the trees of a woodland walk, and also a kind of lilac 
primrose, that sported among its yellow compajiions 
in great abiuidance ; the Viauks of a nairow stream- 
let that ])a,ssed through the grounds were covered 
with r.ondou-pridc, another beautiful though si)nple 
flower, which I have ever since delighted in, and 
which is highly ornamental as a wild garden-Hower. 
All these plants seemed native, and so charmLngly 
divcrsrfled the scene, that I think we might with 
much success attempt to naturalize some of our 
commonest flowers, and also to cncom'agc many wild 
ones that are \'ery lovely, and would become (piite 
ornamental if treated with a little care. 

A few days ago, in a sheltered cottage-garden in 
Herksbire, I was surprised and charmed with the 
sight of a blooming almond-tree! (t has flowered 
unusually early, but the winter has been so mild, 
and the high box hedge that surrounded it so screen- 
ing, that, being fully open to the south, the little 
plant ])ul forth its deliciate blossoms even before the 
close of .January. It is valuable as an early as well 
as lovely sjiring flower ; and its blossoms, clothing 
ev(n-y twig to its very tip, give it a iieculiarly gay 
and bright appearance. How rapidly it hurries 
away one's thoughts to distant lands and distant 
times! but they are times ever jirescnt to ns in the 
(lages of God's word. It blooms and flourishes still 
alnnnlautly in Paliistine, that once fertile land, that 
has .so long lain, as it were, dead, vnuler the curse of 
God, but which is at this momentous tune beginning 
to " arise and shine," for the glorious gospel is now 
prea,ehed on the summit of Moiinl, /ion, on the very 
ruins of the temple. To the sim]ile-mindcd cottager, 
w'ho studies most frequently the sacred vohnne as 
bis only book, the almond tree should be fiJl of 
interest ; it reminds us of the presents sent hy .lacol), 
in those early simple days, to the king of Figyjit, as 
related in the exquisite history of -bisciih and his 
brethren : it reniinds us, too, of Aaron's rod, that 
budded, blo,ssomed, and bore fruit in one night, to 
nuirk God's choice among the princes of Israel ; and 
it teaches us, by the vision of -ieremiah, that the 
Lord "will hasten his word to perforin it," however 
we may think th(^ time delayed, it being the earliest 
flowering shrub of that I'ruiiful land. 

This plant ]ii'efers a light, rich soil, and, being a 
native of the east, it should he: placed in the most 
slieltcred spot, that it nuiy bloom early, and that its 
delicate blossoms may be, as much as possible, pro- 
tected from cold, cutting winds. 



TIIF. COTTAGE GAHDENER, 



ail 



Wlifitever oliject is directly connected witli Sori]i- 
tural tilings is ]ioeuliavly dear to tlie Christian's 
heart; let, tlieii, all our gardens nosspss at least one 
of those lovely nieniorinls ol' the Iloly Land, to load 
our thoughts to high and glorious suhjects. fi'om 
nature n]i to nature's God : I'rom the wonders and 
beauties of the world to Hhn who holds it in the 
hollow of His hand. Gin- eyes oan scarcely glance 
ft-om heaven to earth withoiit falling upon some 
object selected by Him to (convey a promise, a com- 
fort, a warning, a I'eproof, a truth, or an instruction ; 
particularly where the operations of the hiishnmhiinn 
and the (/r/jv/cHcc are chosen to show forth the teuder- 
^less of His love and the immensity of His mercy ; 
so that amid the simplest cares and duties of oin- 
daUy life we are perpetually called upon to raise 
ourthouglits and hearts to Him who lovetli us, and 
whose blessing alouo can cause the earth to bring 
forth her increase. 

Let the spade, the pruning kuife, the plough, the 
fan (in oiu' days exchanged for the wiunowing- 
machine) — let the thrashing-door, the garner, yes, 
the very wages of the labourer, remind him, and all 
of us, of those awful and solenni truths so closely 
connected with our eternal interests ; and let us, 
whOe storing up our fruits and goods, think that 
perhaps tins niglit our souls may be required of us, 
and then what will theM thiiKjs profit us ? 



THE BEE. 

BY THE llEV. C. A. A. LLOYD. 

(Continued from p. 102.^ 
TiiK drones, or males, ai-o mucli larger than the 
working bee, clumsy in appearance, and very noisy, 
when upon the wing ; they have no power to collect 
honey, farina,, or ]iropolis, or to work iu wax, and 
are sustained wholly by the woi'king boe. On 
aocoimt of the strength of their noise. Purchase, an 
old \vi'iter. concludes that they are males, and the 
workers females because of tbeii' feebler sound. 
This has since been ])roved in other ways more deci- 
sive. The male eggs pass iu tweuty-foiu' days into 
a perfect state. 'I'lie drones are not able to fly until 
they have left their cells at least twenty-four hours, 
as is the case of the workers. They first ajipear iu 
April and May, and pass with great i'acility from 
hive to hive. They go from home only in the mid- 
dle of the day, ,*nd when the sun shines, as is the 
case of the rpieen bee. When reposing, they do not 
enter the cells, but cluster on combs, and sometiuics 
retain this position 18 or -^0 hom-s. They have no 
baskets on their legs, or stings to defend themselves. 
After the seijsoii of swarming, there is a furious 
massacre of the drones ; the workers thrust then- 
stings into them so deep that they are obliged to 
turn, as on a pivot, to extricate themselves. During 
this dcsti'uction, the cells of male maggots are torn 
open, and the embryo drones tm'ned out of the 
hive. If a hive be deprived of a queen, or if she 
only lay male eggs, this massacre does not take 
place in hives of this description. Here, then, is 
exhibited a counter instinct. Those stocks that 
soonest destroy their drones will increase greatly m 
honey. Bruising drones before the hive's mouth 
will sometimes cause the females to take the work 
out of yoiu' hand, and fall npon them themselves. 
The constitution of the drone is much more delicate 
than that of the working bee. If both are placed in 
vitiated air, so as to render them dead in appearance, 
and them removed into pure air, tlie worker will re- 
cover, but the drone will not survive this ti-eatment. 



The Cells. — Lord Brougham makes the following 
remarks on the architecture of bees: — "Man, wlien 
building complicated masonry, requires a plan, tools, 
plumb-lines, and squares. Ho cannot trust his baud 
ouo moment. Now the bee has no plan excejit what 
is in her head, nor any model to guide her hand, 
nor any tool to work with, except her paw. and her 
feeler, which, is as her eye in doing the work." The 
cells are built with six ecpial sides, excepting the 
npjiermost rows, whicli are built with five sides, the 
roof being one side of a ]ientagon. There are only 
three figures of cells, whicli are equal and similar 
without loss of room ; these are square, triangular, and 
hexagonal (six-sided), but the hexagon is the best for 
insect architecture, being most capacious. It has been 
calcidated that the saving in wax is only J eoujpared 
with the square, and i compared with a triangle. 
Mathematicians have also established the fact, that 
no form could have been chosen, or aiTangement of 
cells coidd be made, to save so much room, wax, and 
work, as the hexagonal. The six lateral pannels of one 
ceU form also the pannels of the adjoining cells. The 
sides and bottoms are so thin that four are not thicker 
than common writing paper. Each cell is weak, but 
is strengthened by those iidjoiiiing. and the entrance 
has a border of wax, at least tln'ce-timos as thick as 
the side of the cell, which prevents the mouth from 
being hexagonal. The bottom of each rests npon 
three partitions of opposite cells. The cells are not 
perfectly horizontal, the bottom being the lowest. Tlie 
diameter of the workers' cells is two and 2-")ths Unes, 
those of the drones M^ lines. A line is one twelfth of 
an inch. When a hive of moderate size is ftdl, the 
wax will weigh about two pounds. The distance be- 
tween the combs is usually one-tliird of an inch. 
The depth of the cells of working bees is half an 
inch ; of drones, three-quarters of an inch. 

Wax is, as I have stated, a secretion from tlie body 
of the bee, and found under the scales. When combs 
are wanted, the bees fill their crops with honey, and, 
retaining it iu them, hang together in a cluster from 
the top of the hive, and remain inactive aliout :>4 
hours. During this time the wax is secreted as 
transparent as talc. No tnith has made its way in 
this world slower than this i'act — that wax is made 
from honey or sugar, and not from farina or bee 
bread. 

Phopolis. — Besides honey and farina, bees collect 
what is called propolis ; it is a tenaciovis, resinous 
substance, generally of a dull grey colour, gathered 
from the buds of the alder, ]ioplar, and birch, in 
early sjiring, and afterw.ards from the tacam.ahac, 
liorse-ehesnut, and hollyhock. It is soft, and will 
pull out into threads, is aromatic, and imparts a gold 
colour to white polished metals. It is used to fasten 
down hives, and begin combs, and it becomes harder 
by using and age. Dead toads, and large snails, 
have been found in hives covered wdth jiropolis. 
This shews gi'eat ingeniuty on the part of the bees, 
as they could not remove the toad, and if tliey had 
left it, without doing anything, the stench would 
have destroyed the liive. Tlie bees also use this sub- 
stance occasionally to narrow the mouths of their 
Irives, as a protection against intruders. '■ If the part 
of a tree fi'om which the bark has been removed be 
painted with a cement comjiosed of bees' wax and 
turpentine, the bees will cany it away, and use it 
instead of propolis." — Knight, Phil. Trans., 1807. 

Honey. — Its natural history is imperfect, as stated 
at the beguming of the lecture. According to Proust, 
honey consists of two kinds, and they may be sepa- 
rated by mixing honey with spirits of wine, and 



•J42 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



pressiu" the mixtiirp lliroiigli linen. The liquid part 
passes tbvongli the linen, and the solid honey is left 
upon it. Honey, mixed with water, reaihly under- 
goes vinous fermentation. The ancient IJritons 
made their methegliu with honey, so eelehratcd hy 
the hards. No ])erson who inspects a hee hive can 
avoid observing how well the honey is jiacked up in 
the comb, to prevent fermentation taking place. 
Paley asks, " What could the bee do with the honey 
it' she had not the was ; how. at least, would slie 
store it up for the winter ?" Agiun he observes, 
" The food of bees is tlie nectar of llowcrs ; a ib-oji of 
this syi'up is lodged deep in the bottom of the corolla, 
in tlie recesses of the petals, or down the neck of a 
monopetalous glove. Into these cells the bee thrusts 
its long narrow pum|i. through a cavity of which it 
sucks up this precious fliud, inaccessible to every 
other approach. Bees will also pierce and perforate 
the base of a corolla, which is too deep foi' theii' pro- 
boscis, and suck out the nectar, as in the common 
garden bean, columbine, and other ilowers ; but 
never the honeysuckle or red-clover, though both so 
fragi'ant, and copiously stored for the humble bee, 
whose jiroboscis is so very much longer. 
(To he continued.) 



AN EFFECTUAE METHOD OF PROTECTING 
TREES, &e., FROM BIRDS. 

In the spring of last year I came into possession 
of a garden well stocked with fruit-trees, and at the 
same time I found the currant and gooseberry 
bushes nearly stript of their buds : some of the 
young shoots were bared of every bud from the foot 
to near the jioints, an<l I could not get enough cui'- 
rants for a tart in the whole gai'deu. The biids 
commenced their depi'edalious again in November 
last, and I lost no time in getting the bushes pruned 
and covered with white worsted, twisted and triau- 
gled in all dii'ections. Since then the birds have 
not touched a single bud, and the trees now promise 
well for a crop. 

I have four Morello cherries on a wall, and the 
last summer they had an excellent crop ; being on a 
south-west aspect they escaped the ti'osty east winds 
when iu bloom. The cherries began to ripen in 
Jidy, and as soon as tliey became of a dark red 
colour the birds attacked them, and the juice was 
actually to be seen running down the trees. It not 
being convenient to get ueis at the time, I adopted 
the white worsted, which had the desired etl'ect of 
jireserviug the chen-ies; 1 stretched it across the 
trees iu lines about a foot apart, and again up and 
down the trees, and the birds never touched them 
again the whole season. This is worthy the atten- 
tion of all, but especially of the cottager who cannot 
purchase nets. I treated my rows of peas the same 
when m full pod, twisting worsted up and down the 
rows on the top twigs of the yen sticks, aiul they 
stood till they were ripe for seed. I also find masks 
au excellent scare-bird, by tying a string between 
two stakes, uiul suspending a. mask by a string in the 
middle between them; the least air will turn tlic face 
any and all ways ; but I think the masks should be 
painted with oil-colour, as much wet destroys them. 

W. K., C'liislehursl. 

[We have heard from many persons that nhite 
worsted, if stretched in very numerous lines among 
bushes, ire, as described by our correspondent, will 
keep birds away from them. We also have been 
shewn a mode of protecting the gooseberiy-bush's 
buds in Hertfordshire, which is the most simple and 



effectual we have ever seen ; Mr. Rivers says it has 
been practised by the farmers near Sawbridgeworth 
for some years, and when iheii adopt any new plan 
our I'eaders may be assured that it will do. The 
branches of the luish are drawn together by passing 
a string round the whole, tl)e same as we do round 
the leaves of a cos lettuce, when bringing them 
together for lilanching ; tied thus, as close as can be 
together, a little long straw is thrown over the top of 
the bu.sh, and twisted in among the branches. This 
is done iu November; not a tom-tit, bullfinch, or 
other bird ever attempts to get into this thatched, 
thicket-like bush; the straw also jirotects the buds 
from the severe weather, and Mr. tiivcrs stated that 
tlie buds thus protected always produce earlier crops 
Ihun those without such shelter. — ii'.n. C. O.] 



TANKS. 

These structures are of great imjiortance to cot- 
tagers and others, for the collection and storing of 
raanni-es; we therefore insert the following letter li'om 
"An owner of cottage allotments," with the answer 
of " Senilis." 

" I should not venture to oiler any remarks in re- 
gard to yom' article " Tanks," by Senilis, but that you 
state him to be one of the best practical gardeners iu 
England, and that he proposes his method with a 
view to coll(i(/e gardening. I have taken some pains 
to induce cottagers to be careful of their lii[uid ma- 
nure ; and have come to the conclusion tliat, consider- 
ing the ordinary wages of a cottage laboiu'er, it is 
iiiijjossible for him to construi't a lank suHiciently 
trustworthy to hold his liquid. J have induced many 
of them to dig a. ]iit of a convenient dcptli and form ; 
puddle the bottom witli chiy: cast in refuse earth, 
saw-dust, or oilier rubbish ; and, ujicni that, eiiipti/ all 
slojis, liquids, ur refuse capalile of being converted 
inio nuuiure — wheeling out tlie compost from time to 
time on to their plot of ground. I grant this to be 
a. slovenly ])rocess, but the expense of the tank is au 
insurmountable objection, not, I think, obviated by 
S.'uilis. I consider bis proposed dimensions an far 
too great lor the possibility of any cottager's require- 
ments ; " fom' feet dr'cp ; six feet miii/ he wide enough, 
and capacity given by length." (See p. 1:35.) 1 pre- 
sume he would never make the length less, probably 
I'allicr more. Look at the cupaeiiij of a tank of six 
feet square by four deep ; I think no cottager's sewage 
coidd ever fill it. I doubt also his mode of construc- 
tion being nuich cheaper. There must be bricks and 
mortar for the arch, and therefore I think liie walls 
might be also constructed nearly as chea]ily as by 
concrete ; at the same time, besides that, the average 
muubcr of localities do not present gravel suitable 
for making concrete. 

I do not see much advantage iu his nniking the 
walls of his tank ^vith a three-inch batter inwards: 
1 tliink, after the fom- walls and tlic andi over were 
solidly constructed, there would headifiicidty in throu- 
iiKj out the interior soU. I do not understand how the 
sewage is to be drawn oH' by a discharge pipe. This 
conld only be, of course, for the bottom, or near it, so 
tliat there must be access to the tank on one side 
more tluui four feet below the siul'ace of the soil. 

I may liave misunderstood some pai'ts of his \>\m\; 
if so, 1 should be glad that he would favour your 
readers with some fnrtbei- observations, as I think it 
a ver/i important matter //' tanks could be elieaj)ly 
nuule." 

The following is the reply of " Senilis :" — 

"With reference to the above conimmncation, 
allow me to remark, that, " a pit of a convenient 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



243 



depth aud form, and to puddle the bottom with clay," 
takes just as mucli time to execute as a tank with 
concrete sides and bottom: that where clay abounds, 
a mere pit dug into it will hold liquid manure as well 
as the best tank that coidd be made: that where a 
cover is not requisite, any common labourer can exe- 
cute the work, if he has time and materials: that 
any dimensions wiU do, and that it is not necessary 
to tinish off the woi-k at once; the work of a very 
small tank may run over three moutlis or more, with- 
out any detriment to the work itself. The last tank 
I made liolds 0050 gallons, reckoning fii- gallons to 
the culie foot, which is near enough for a rough calcu- 
lation. That tank took us nine weeks to finish, notliing 
being done to it except at spare times. I eauuot say 
exactly what it cost, but 1 know the whole expense, 
except luudiug the lime and gravel, was under one- 
third of two estimates 1 had for doing it in lirick and 
cement, the brick-work to be nine-ineli work. I have 
made many of such tanks chiefly for rain water, and 
one of them, now seven years old, will last as long 
as the new Houses of Parliament, to all .appearance. 
I never allowed fi'ost to eflect them, and should not 
lilie to trust them to a veiy hard frost ; but a friend 
who has used them for many years, and to whom I 
wi'ote ]iurposely for this communication, says, " if they 
are but slightly covered, or with a stone coping, the 
fi-ost Would not hurt them." 

Any size or aiTangement for drains which is ap- 
plicable for a, brick tank is equally so for a concrete 
one; and, in most instances, the price of a concrete 
tank maj' be put down at one-thii'd of that of a brick 
one. The labour of casting out tlie soil is the same 
in both instances; the lime is about tttice the quan- 
tity for concrete: the rest of the expense is the price 
of gi'avel against bricks, and labourers' work in place 
of the bricklayers ; besides the convenience of doing 
a few hours' work- at the concrete as opportunity oc- 
cmTed. 

"An owner of cottage allotments" misunderstood 
the dimensions I gave in my former article. They 
wei'e meant as the extremes ibr width and depth ; 
two feet deep, or even less, and three feet wide, would 
be a good jjroportion for a small cottage; tlie length 
may be anything we want, and that is the best way 
to give capacity, as formerly stated." 

[To tlie foregoing, we wiU only add, that the state- 
ments of '■ Senilis" and of his friend, whose letter lie 
quotes, may be implicitly relied upon. They are the 
head gardeners of establishments distinguished for 
their horticidture. — Ed. O. <?.] 



NEW PLANTS WORTH CULTI\^\TIN6. 

SwAJiJiERDAMiA AxTENXARiA. — Hardy evergi'een 
shrab, from Mount Wellington, in Van Diemen's 
Land. EasUy propagated by cuttings, and grows in 
any common garden soil. — Hort. 8oc.Juurnal,\\. 77. 

Rosy L.u^E-i'LOWEn ( Limneantltcs rosea). — Hardy 
procumbent (lyuig on the ground) annual. Brought 
by Mr. Hartweg, iu 1S48, from swampy places in 
"the gold district" of California. Sown in autumn, 
it flowers in ilay ; sown in spring, it flowers during 
the summer. — Ihid. It is suitable for the banks of 
ornamental water. 

BiLBEHr.Y-LEAVED PoLYGONuji f Polygonum vacciiii- 
foliiimj. — This hardy trailer gi-ows in the Hiraalayah 
Mountains, at heights varying from 7000 to l.:!,000 
feet above the level of the sea. Sent to England by 
Cajit. AV. Munro, in 18io. The flowers are deeij 
pink, and bloom during the whole autumn. Propa- 



gated by cuttings; tlu-ives on a good, well-drained 
loam, and is very suitable for rock-work. — Ihid. 

OxE-LEAVED Cyclobothea ( Cj/clohntlira mono- 
pJiijlla ). — Hai'dy bidb, from the Sacramento iloim- 
tains. in California, whence it was brought by Mr. 
Hartweg, in 1848. Flowers bright yellow, two or 
three on one stem, about four inches high. Increased 
by offsets, and requires a soil with abundance ol' 
peat and sand, where it should be left unmoved. — 
Ihid. 

Ujibei.ed ABRONrA=:: f AbromatmihellataJ. — This is 
prolialily a hardy trailer, or, at most, may be treated 
like the Verbena. Mr. Hartweg found it on sands 
near the sea, at ilonterey, in California. The flow- 
ers violet-coloured, aud verj' sweet, especially in the 
evening, bloom from .June to October. EasUy gi'own 
from either cuttings or seed, and requiring a rich 
light soil; it may be treated as an annual. — Ihid. It 
was first discovered in 1 i^iii. 

Calii-orniax Bkodicea (Brodicca Cdlifornica). — A 
hardy bulb, from the neighbourhood of the Sacra- 
mento river, iu Califoiiiia, whence it was brought by 
Jlr. Hartweg. in 1818. Its blue flowers are bloom- 
ing from Jmie to October. EasOy increased by 
olfsets from the old bulbs; and requii'es a sandy 
loam. — IhiJ. 

Beal'tifi:e Lisiaxthcs ( Lisiiinthiin pidclier). — A 
tall shrub from a limestone district of New Grenada, 
7U0U or ."^OOO feet above the level of the sea. It has 
been bloomed by Messrs. Lucombe and Piuce, of 
Exeter. Its flowers are crimson, and bloom in Seji- 
tember. Little is yet knowni of its best mode of cid- 
tivation, but it vni\ probably succeed best in a close 
gi-eenhouse, in a loose peat soil, well diamed by 
means of pieces of chalk or limestone. — Botanical 
Mai/aziiif. 

IJoTTEu-LEAVEn Meceeania (MecUania jitiiictaUiJ- 
— A low shnib, re([uiring a warm greenhouse. It 
was sent fronr the Andes by Mi-. Lobb, iu 1848, aud 
has been bloomed by Messrs Veitch and Son, of 
Exeter. Its flowers are red, and bloom iu November. 
This, like others of the same genus, may be easily 
propagated by cuttings, under a bell-glass, with a 
gentle bottom heat. It tluives in a shallow, well- 
mixed soil of loam and peat, on a large amount of 
drainage, as it requires much water whilst growing. 
—Ihid. 

P.mnted-feowered Loasa (Loasn pieta). — A half 
hardy, if not quite a hardy annual, sent by Mr. Lobb 
from" the Andes. It has been bloomed by Messrs. 
A'eitch, at Exeter. Its flowers ai-e brilliant, white 
and yellow, witli a red eye. It bloomed in a cool 
frame during December. It should be aowa in 
April, iu a frame or pit, to be plauted out in the 
borders at the end of May. — Ihid. 

•Iajieson's Browai.lia (Broivallia JamcsoniiJ. — 
Tills is the most beautiful of the genus, aud diflers 
from all its Iciudred, iu being an everffi'eeu shrub. 
It reqiures the protection of a cold gi-eenhouse, or 
pit. Mr. Lobb found it iu the woods of Molitre, at 
aborrt tlOOO feet elevation, in the north of Peru. It 
bloomed in ilessrs. Veitch and Son's Nin-sery, at 
Exeter, in .lune, 1848. It is propagated by hali-ripe 
euttmgs, planted in pots of sand, and phniged in a 
hot-bed. The soil for rooted ]ilauts is a mixture of 
ec|ual pai-ts sandy loam, leaf-mould, and peat, with 
good drainage. Its flowers we a bright orange co- 
lour. — Paxtoii's Magazine of Gardening and Botang. 

Golden Trttoxia (Tritonia aiiiva). — This bulb is 
a native of the Cajie of Good Hope, and wasiutro 

* Umbel— ^hunch of flowers whose stalks till spring from one stem, 
like the metal arras which extend an umbrella. 



•^41 



THE COTTAGE GARDENED. 



dueed liere in IflKi. Tt bloonis in August, and Sep- 
tember, and is tlic most beautiful of its genus. Pot 
tlie bulbs in autumn in tiu'fy loam, peat, and sand; 
keep in a frame dui'ing winter; and in Hay, plant 
tliem out under a sontli wall. Place a bell-glnss 
liver tlie bulb, to liel]i to matiu-e it, ^^■llen tlic flower- 
ing is over. — Maiind'.': Bottiniv Garden. 



NEW FHUFTS AND VEGETABLES. 

Cei.eiiy. — Cole's Snjierb Dwarf Pied (sec Advt.). 
Null's Cbam]iion (sec Jdot.J. Seymour's AVbite 
Cbiinipion. 

Mf.i.on. — Fleming's New Hybrid Persian. Tbis 
obtained tbe first ju'izes at tlie Cliiswiek Sliows. 

Pe.\. — Early Blue Surprise. Fairbeard's Early 
Cbampiou of England. 

Caiiu.\oe. — King of the Cabbages. 



EARLY SPRING-FLOWERING BORDER 
PLANTS. 

A lady resident at Glasgow, and some other cor- 
res))oudents, liaving inquired for a list of jilants to 
make gay and gladsome their borders iu early sprmg, 
we have pre]iared the following. 

There are very few new things suitable for the 
purpose, unless some of the new shrubs from China 
are selected. The following ai'e good, freely flowering 
plants, that are perennial, and will answer the pur- 
pose admirably. 



Annnone fippentnn (Apenninc 
aiiemone), blue, 4 inches. 

*Adtun!i vefji'itis (Vernal Phea- 
sant's eye), 6 inches, yellow. 

Chrirtmtlinn a/jnnus (Alpine 
wallflower), 4 inches, yellow. 

*Cnrjjdfitin noiiliH (Noble Fumi- 
tory), 9 inches, yellow. 

^Dodfcathftin. trifrrmtimn (Giant 
American Cowslip). 

*Gf}ttiiinii iiritn/in (Htemless 
Gentian), 4 inches, deep blue. 

*Hfj)nlicus, double, blue and 
pink. 

h-is perstca (Persian Iris), vari- 
ous colours, 4 inches. 

Vierin Gibriiltui-icn (Gibraltar 
Candy tnrfl, 1 font. 

*Lininn flavtim (Vellow flax), 4 
inches. 

7tnrfjoiieusfi (Narbonne), 

4 inches, blue. 



Orohus vprnn (Karly Sjirin^ 
Vetch), fi inches, blueisli lilac. 

*Phh.r vermt (Early Phlo.x), 4 
inches, pink. 

divfiricata (Spreading 

Phlox), lilac. 

* setacpu (Bristly Phlox), 

6 inches, rosy. 

subulata (Oval-shaped 

Phlox), pink. 

— nhmlis (White Phlox), 4 

inches. 

*Puhnonni'ia virghticif (Virgi- 
nian Lunji- wort), p inches, blue. 

San^uimtriit canadensis (Cana- 
dian Blood-root), 6 inches, 
white. 

*Sa:iifraffa opposlti/otia (Op- 
posite Leaved Saxifrage), 3 
inches, red. 

*}*rinirosef! (double), various 
sorts and colours. 



There .are also some beautiful early flowering 
hardy bulbs, that are really beautiful, of which we 
recoramend the following for borders: — 



Aufmnne ni'mm-nstt plnn (doidjle 
Wood Anemone), 6 inches, 
wliite, 

^Cifflnmt'n Coicm (Round- 
leaved Sow Bread), 3 inches, 
red. 

llildcinthns rneemnsus {Raceme 
Flowered Hyacinth), 6 inches, 
blue. 

Eriithfontnm denscunifi (Dog's 
Tooth Violet), 4 inches, red 
and white, 

*Muscaria moschnla (Musk- 
smelling Mustard), 9 inches, 
blue. 



Nnrcissits bieolor, 1 foot, yellow 

and white. 
* hulhocodium (Hoop 

petticoat Narcissus), 6 inches, 

golden yellow. 

' miiwr, 6 inches, yellow. 

*Snl/a bifolia (Two - leaved 

Squill), 2 inches, blue. 

' allm (White Squill). 

— ^— peruviana (Peruvian 

Squill), 1 foot, blue. 
alba (\\Tiite Peruvian 

Squill), 1 foot. 

I * sibiricus (Siberian 

I Squill), 6 inches, blue. 



These bidbs arc lovely early flowers ; very hardy, 
and not half so common as they ought to be. We 
do not mention snowdrops, crocuses, and winter 
aconite, as they are oomninn iu every g.arden. 
A gi-oat addition to early flowers might be obtained 
by keejiing a I'ew of the best sorts of annuals in a 
pit or greenhouse through the winter, and ]ihniting 
them out nearly in flower by the latter end of JNIareii 
or April : such as 
•Nemophila insignis, blue. | •Ncmophila maculata. 



The last named is a lieautiful new annual from 
California, having a white ground, and each petal 
tipped witli a brilliant blue spot. 



Clarkia pulchella, 
*f,obeIia heterophylta. 
Mcsembryanthenium (tricolour). 
Petunia pho'nicca. 



♦Phlox drummondii. 
Double Indian Pink. 
"^Rhodanthe manglesii. 
*Viscaria oculata. 



If your border is extensive, the whole of the above 
may he planted in it, and will make it very gay for 
the next four months. If your space is limited,' pro- 
cure only such as are marked with an asterisk (=::). 

The three following are new hardy handsome 
slii'ubs: — Jiiamiinin niidiflnriim (Naked-ilowered .Tas- 
rainc), yellow; I''iii\ii/thi(t viridixxima. ((ireenest For- 
sytbiii), yellow: Sjiinai. pniiiiJ'oUd plena (Doidile 
Plum-leaved Spiroea), white. All now and pretty, 
and moderate in price. 



MR. NUTT'S MODE OF GROWING CELERY. 

I THINK it woidd not bo right for me to say any- 
thing respecting the quality of my celery; I had 
better leave that for others after they have tried it. 
I now will give a statement of my treatment of this 
vegetable fi'om the time I sow to the time it is ready 
to take up. 

Sowixo. — I sow my seed in pans from the 12th to 
the isth of February; covering it as lightly as pos- 
sible with rich soO, and plunging these under a frame 
in a gentle hot-bed. 

Seedi.incj Plants. — When these have been up 
ahout a week, I give them a little air in the daytime, 
not allowing them to get drawn. After they have 
been in their second leaf nine or ten days, F pre]iare 
my frames, Ulling thein with new stable litter, and 
covering this with three inches of ricli-soil ; and when 
it is near the same heat as the hot frames in wljii-h 
the seedlings have been raised, I begin transplanting. 
After the seedlings have been planted nearly a week, 
I give a little air in the frames in the day time, 
watering the plants very lightly. 

I'l.ANi'iNo Out. — When I prepare for planting, I 
dig my trench 1^^ inches deeji and ■M'l inches wide. I 
manure with pig and horse dung, with horn or bono 
dust, well mixed together. I hay about lo inches of 
this mixtiu'e in the trench, and cover it with three 
inches of rich soil. I plant out near the middle of 
'Slay, putting the plants 12 inches apart from each 
other. 

When the plants get to a good size, I tie a string 
loosely round them, so that the wind cannot break 
the stems of the plants. When I begin watering 
them, I have horse and pig dung and sulphate of 
ammonia mixed together tor that purjiose in a largo 
tub. I never pour any water nearer than 12 inches 
from the jilaut. If the weather be dry, I water twice 
a week, and if wet, throe or fom- times a week with 
the liquid manure. 

EAiirniNo Up. — I begin earthhig when the plants 
get ahout 2(1 inches in height, and do so a littlo at a 
time once a fortnight ; leaving the earthing up on a 
slant towards the edge of the trench, so that the water 
will not run in so as to touch the stems of the plants, 
as this would cause them to rot. Be careful to re- 
member that sandy soil is the best for earthing up 
with. Tliis I have found out i'rom experiiuice. 

John NuTr, near Si. Juhii's Church, 
Purl; Sheffield. 

[Wo would remind our readers that Mr. Nutt is 
acknowledged to be the grower of the finest celeiy ; 
and has carried ott' the best prizes at the Sheffield 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER 



Uo 



Celery Rbows. PTe lias oLliged ua with this detail of 
liis uiode ot* cidlivatioii, by which he grew lieads of 
celery, last year, ol" the weight of 15.^ tbs. the brace 
(see page -^H). He oauuot spare any seed iiutil next 
autumn, hut he is ready to Ibrward plants to any one. 



FUCHSEAS. 

List of twelve distinct lirst-rate Fucbsia??. 

Beauty S«/>rem«.— Delicate white waxy tube, corolla fine verxuil- 

lion.— ii.v. (if/. 
Beauty of Letrfi.— Tube and sepals light pink, cnrason corolla.— 

•is. tirf. 
Brilliant.— Vevy large light crimson tube, rich dark crimson co- 
rolla. — 'is. 6d. 
Criterion.— Dark crimson tube, rich deep purple corolla.— Os. 
J>r. Smith. — 'Viihe and sepals dark crimson, corolla line violet 

purple. — 2s. 
Eliza fict/i.—Tuhc white, slightly tinged with purple, fine rosy purple 

corolla. — '2a. 
Jetmii /,(«(/.— Tube short, waxy, light pink, corolla rosy red.— 2s. 
Massena.—hQW)^ clear white tube and sepals, corolla lavender. 
Nonpareil.— ¥\nc large bright crimson tube, corolla reddish, purple 

dwurf. — 2s. 
Queen of the llV/Z/e.?.— Tube white, waxy, slightly tinged with rose, 

corulhi liriuht rose.— 24-, 
Scarlet inu reffe.i a.— Tiiich crimson tube, sepals very much reflexed, 

corolla line rich jmrple. — Is. Gd. 
Spanish Infanta.— Wii^iy white tube and sepals, tinged with red, 

carmine lake corolla. — 2s. 

Twelve distinct Fuclisias, of good qualities. 

Atrosanguinia.— Dark carmine tube, with long reflexed sepals, crim- 
son corolla. — Is. 6rf. 

Conf/MtTor.— Bright carmine, dark purple corolla.- Is. 6il. 

Coratlina. — Fine crimson, dark purple corolla. — Is. 

Duchess of Suthertund.—'Vnh^ white, with lilac corolla.— Is. 

Exonieiisis. — Dark crimson tube, and purple corolla. — Is. 

Etoile dc Versailles (Star of Versailles).— llich bloody-coloured tube, 
rich purple corolla. — Is. (irf. 

La Sylphide. — Corolla lavender rose. — Is. 

Napoleon. — Tube pure white, corolla crimson, purjile dwarf.— Is. 

Nicholsii.—Vme dark carmine tube, rich purple corolla. — Is. 

Une-in-the-ring. — Waxy white, tine vermillion corolla. — Is. 

Purity. — Tube and sepals pure white, corolla a beautiful rose ver- 
million. — Is. 

Nepius ultra. — Tube bright reddish crimson, sepals well reflexed, 
rich violet puiple corolla. — Is. 



PIG-FEEDINa IN LANCASHIRE. 
The young pigs ure taken from tlieir mother at 
aliout six. 01- eight weeks old, the price at that age 
varying ii-om fifteen to twenty sliillings each, accord- 
ing to the size. The cottager takes care to provide 
tlieni with plenty of straw to keep them warm and 
clean ; and if they do not feed well at once, which is 
often the case, some porridge is made from the wash 
and leavings of the house, adding a little coarse 
wheat-flour or oatmeal, and given to them warm for 
the first few weeks. The refuse of the cottage and 
garden heing then considered sufficient food for them, 
and the rich often giving the refuse of their houses 
to the cottager in preference to throwing it away, no 
further expense is incurred for the pig until the com- 
mencement of fatting, and for this purpose oatmeal 
is far superior to anything that can he given, not 
only as the most wholesome food for the pig, hut also 
the most profitahle to the feeder ; in proof of which, 
a fatted yearling pig should weigh about 400 lbs., 
which, at 5Jd. per pound, amounts to ill Os. 5d. ; 
and tlie usual time for fatting such pig is six weeks, 
during which time it will consiune about 3(i0 tbs. of 
oatmeal, the present price of which is £\ 10s. ; and 
about '300 tbs. of potatoes, which cost at this time 10s. 
These potatoes are boiled to a pidp, mixed with the 
oatmeid, and made into balls, with a little wheat bran 
occasionally added, and plenty of clean water to drink 
durmg the whole time. Thus, the expense of feed- 
ing the pig is about .i'2 (is., to which add the ISs. 
which it cost at first, and deducting <£3 Is. from 
£\l. Os. 5d., it leaves a balance of nearly .4'S to the 
cottager. The best season for curing bacon is from 
November till March. M. Saul, GarsUmij. 



GOAT KEEPING. 

As you recommend cottagers only to hold a rood 
of ground, would you think it advisable for tliem to 
keep a goat ? I can assure you, fi'ora the experience 
of four years, that no animal will answer better for 
" house feeding." When I got mine she had had 
kids twice, and was parted with for being too mis- 
chievous. I have her now so trained that she woidd 
not remain out; in fact, last March, when within 
three weeks of her time, I wished to give her exer- 
ci.se by tethering her out, and she hurt herself in en- 
deavouring to get back to her cot, and cast her kids 
(!). but still gave milk throughout, but not so much 
as in the previous year. To this date slie is milking 
ajiintdaily. She takes a mash morning and even- 
ing : a bunch of Iccile and hay tied up tiglit, and left 
hanging within lier reach, by which she does not 
waste much ; she does not like any of the heading 
cabbages. 1 have a few drills of lucerne, which is 
greedily devom'od (this is a most valuable crop if 
properly cured, superior to any for green feeding ; by 
proper care it gives six cuttings IVom April to Novem- 
ber). The greater the variety ol' ibod you can have 
for goats the better; they will eat taini])s, mangold, 
carrots, parsnips, potatoes, &c. &c., iftheij are siqjpl'wil 
ill mtatioii. Two or three quarts of goats' milk would 
bo a most valuable acquisition to a cottager's family 
in tlie day ; tlio expense is only a i'ow shillings at the 
first; its cot takes up less room than a pig-sty; a 
dog's chain will keep it secure, and it would make 
no small addition to the dung-heap. J. M. 

[We think a goat, kept as recommended by our 
correspondent, would be an acquisition to any family 
not having sufficient conveniences for a cow. We 
know the excellence and value of the goat's milk, 
from being supplied by one, for nearly fom months, 
on board ship. — Ed. C. G.] 



AMERICAN BLIGHT. 

By this name is known that insect which appears 
in the spring and summer iqiou the stems of our 
apple-trees, covered witli a white, downy substance, 
so as to look like patches of cotton. It is called 
American, because introduced iqiou apple-trees im- 
ported fi'om the United States ; and is, really, a 
species of plant-louse, known to entomologists by the 
scientific name of Eiiosoma laniijcra. We shall give 
a di'a-\ving of it before long. On the subject of 
destroying this pest, we have been favoured with 
the following note from W. G. Cherry, Esq., of 
Buokland, near Leominster : — 

" At page 42 of No. 1 you recommend coal-tar for 
destroying American blight ; and I think it but right 
to state that, some years ago, I applied this to 20 
young apple-trees infested with tlie blight, and it 
totally destroyed them. When the stem was cut 
tln'ough, I found the gas-tar had penetrated nearly 
through the ti'ees. Common tai' woidd be beneficial, 
and equally destructive to the American blight. A 
wash of lime is equally destructive to the blight and 
beneficial to the trees." 

[If our coiTespendent applied the coal-tar exten- 
sively over tlie stems of his young apple-trees we are 
not surprised at its ktlliug them ; but we have ap- 
plied it ourselves to the patches of bliglit only, with 
perfect destruction to the insect, but no injury to the 
trees. Common tar, we think, would be equally 
effectual, but a washing of limo we have tried with- 
out success. — Ed. C. C] 



■ua 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



HOLLYHOCKS. 

In* No. 16 of The Cottage Gardeneb is an aiticle 
ou the propagation of liollj'hocks, from ^Fr. Rolierts. 
who states, "tliat from seed there is no dependence 
either in tlie colour or shape of the flowers." 1 beg 
to state that, for the last two seasons. I liave jiropa- 
gated by seed, and hare foimd them to come coiTect 
both in shape and colour, (they are of the Scotcli 
vaiieties, which are far superior to what liave been 
usually gi-own.l and, what is more surprising, all 
have come double ; two of my friends, to whom 1 sent 
some of the seed, have proved them the same. Tliis 
last season they have ripened but very little seed, 
although I have noticed the old sorts have ripened 
seed ft-eely. I am glad to see that the hollyhock is 
having that attention paid to it which it so richly 
deserves, and hope that no one will di^scnrd the pro- 
pagation of them by seed, but only bear in mind to 
purchase seed of good varieties. 

R. Hicivs, Hareliilh Xiaseri/, Leah. 



SCRAPS. 



Pio JIanthe. — -A.t a late meeting of the Frome 
Agi-icultural Society. Mr. S. Pocock, of Thoulstone 
Farm, made the following statement : — " ^\'ell know- 
ing the excellence of pig manure, live years ago 1 
was induced to try it solely for turnips. " 1 tested it 
against guano and hone dust. The result was quite 
equal to the guano, and beat the bone dust hollow. 
My faiTu is one jiart clay, and auother sand: 1 found 
tlie same result on hotii. 1 have also the manage- 
ment of a farm in Hampshire — a poor, thin soil, 
aiul there the manure was equally good. I have 
continued to use it ever since, with the same benefi- 
cial results. To cany out my plan, convenient farm 
buildings are necessary. I have a large ih'y shed, 
in which, first of all, 1 put a layer of dry coal-ashes, 
about a foot thick and four feet wide, to which the 
deposit of the pigs is taken, hotli liquid and solid, 
and as soon as it begins to ooze out 1 jmt on more 
ashes, and so on till it gets to about Ibtw feet in 
thickness. I then again commence a fresh layer, 
and so on ; after laying some time it is turned two 
or three times, and then it is fit for drilling. I have 
put in, this year, -to acres of turnips, with nothing 
but this manure, and the result is now open for the 
inspection of any one who may choose to see it. I 
find the droppings of three pigs, carefully preserved, 
to 1)0 ample for two acres, and quite equal to three 
sacks of bone dust per acre. I am not speaking 
theoretically, but from experience ; and I consider, 
if we can get such valuable manure for nothing but 
the labour, it will he much better than putting our 
hands in our pockets and paying 28s. or SOs. for 
ai-tificial manure." — Felix Farieijn Joiininl. 

[\\'e entirely coincide with all that Mr. Pocock 
has said in favour of pig ui.anure, and coidd add 
much more from actual e.xpeiience, if we did not in- 
tend to enter more fully ujion the suliject. We will 
only say, that whoever has room to keep a jiig may 
always obtain its manure as his clear profit, even 
under the most unfavourable circumstances of having 
to buy all its food and the straw for its bed. Tliat 
manure, too, is one of the best for kitchen-gardcu 
crops. — Ed. O. O.] 

Experiments on Potato-ghowinu. — Mr. R. Thomp- 
son, one of the superintendents of the Horticultural 
Society's gai-den, at Cliiswick, lias reported a number 



of experiments tried there under liis superintendence, 
having for their object to ascertain the nature of the 
potato murrain and its jireveution. We regret to 
find that the success has been mostly of a negative 
character. The ex]ieriments chiefly shewing that 
various suggestions which have been made are use- 
less. We may epitomize the results as follow : — 
1. The soundness of any variety in one season is no 
assurance that it will, next season, be equally 
exempt from disease. 
■i. Laying down the haulm of the potato, with its 
head pointing to the S. W,, and covering it with 
earth to within a few inches of the to]), veiy early 
in their growth, as proposed by Mr. Meyer, gave 
seven times more sound potatoes than rows on 
each side not so earthed up. 
3. Seedling potatoes ap])ear as liable to be attacked 

as the old kinds. 
I. Planting on hills, as recommended by Messrs. 

Hardy and Son. ])roved ihsadvantagoous. 
ij. Pinching off half an inch of the tojis of the 
luiulm, when from six to nine inches liigh, and 
repeating the stoi)ping in ten weeks, as recom- 
mended by Dr. Klotzsch, seemed slightly bene- 
ficial. 
li. Pulling up the luuilm, when much decayed, ou 
the !lth of Augmst, and consolidating the earth over 
the potatoes by beating and rolling it, jiroduced 
rather less potatoes, "but the quantity diseased 
was uot hidf so great in the rolled portions as it 
was in the unrolled." 

7. Dusting the leaves with sulplmr increased the 
amount of diseased potatoes. 

8. Amongst all the remedies, none appear to have 
b«en completely effectual. While the cause of the 
malady is involved in mystery, any remedial 
application must be considered as an alli\ir of 
chance. 

i). !Mr. Thoni])Son suggests that tlie cause of the 
disease may be some change which has taken 
place i)i tlie solar light. — Horlicultiinil Sueieti/'s 
Joiinuil. 

[There is no doubt that such c.ha.nges do take 
place : but before the theory can arise above a mere 
guess at a possibility, two questions must be 
answered in the affirmative. — Has uny such change 
occurred'.' Is such change inimical to vegetable 
health?— En. C. Cf.] 

BEAtrriFui. British Plants. — Ci.em.vtis Vitalba. 
— Traveller's Juij. — A beautiful half shrubby climb- 
ing plant, well adapted for covering arbours, old 
walls, or any other unsightly object in the flower 
garden. It is extremely iuteresting even after the 
flower is gone, because of the beautiful long white 
feathery awns attached to the I'ruit. It thrives well 
in almost any soil or situation, though in its native 
habitation it appears to luxmiate in a calcareous 
soU. This plant, though local, is not uncommon in 
many pai'ts of the country. 

Anemone Pcls.viilla. — Pasque Flower. — An in- 
teresting herbaceous plant, with doubly pinnated 
leaves, and — for the size of the plant, which is only 
three or four inches high — with large violet puiple 
Howers, the outsides of each bloom having a beauti- 
ful silky covering. It thrives in any soil of open 
texture, and is principaUy met with in dry upen 
chalky pastures. 

ANK>roNK Nejieuosa. — Wood Aiietiitiiw. — Who has 
not in an early spring ramble admired the beautiful 
leaflets and white or purpleish flowers of this truly 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



247 



interesting plant ? From its thriving so well under 
the shade and di'ip of trees, it is desirable for shrub- 
beries, and there is also a double variety, whicli is 
an ornament in the most select parterre. 

Anejioxe Afj'Ennina. — Blue Wood Anemone. — 
This plant, though only naturalized in this country, 
is pretty abundant in some woods and jjarlvs in the 
south. It should find a place in ever}' flower-garden, 
i'rom its beautiful bright blue flowers appearing at 
such an early season. 

Ranunodi.us Ficahta.— P(7«'«'o/-(, or Buttercup. — 
Of this early harbinger of spring there is a double 
variety in cultivation, which shoidd be in eveiy select 
collection ; also a single white variety, well worthj' 
the attention of the curious. 

liANL'NcuLus AcRis. — Uprhjld Meadow Crovfoot, 
or B utter Jioiver. — Of this jilant, which decks our 
richest jjastiu'es with its dazzling yellow flowers, 
there is also a double variety, locally known as yellow 
Bachelor's Button. It is of easy cultivation, and a 
beautiful plant for the edge of a shrubbery. 

Caltha Palusteis. — Marsh Mariffohl. — A splen- 
did plant with large yellow flowers, found adorning 
oiu' marshes and snndl watercourses in the early 
spring months. There is a double variety of this 
plant, which should be in every collection of early 
sjjring flowers. 

Trollius EtiROPiEus. — Glole Flmoer. — A splendid 
plant, growing about two feet high, witli palmated five 
parted cut-leaves, and large glol)ular yellow flowers; 
found occasionally in moist woods and damp moun- 
tain pastures, and makes an excellent jilant for a 
shady bonier in the flower-garden. 

Ekanthis Hyejialis. — Winter Aconite. — This fine 
early flowering plant, though only naturalized in 
England, seems to have taken such possession of the 
different localities where it is met with, as not to be 
easily eradicated. It should be grown in ever}' gar- 
den, as it is now, January ir)th, carpeting tlie ground 
with its briglit yellow flowers. It thrives under tlie 
shade and drip of trees. We have seen it blooming 
beautifully for two feet up the stems of trees among 
moss. 

Helleborus ViRiDis. — Oreen Hellebore. — An ele- 
gant eai'ly bloomiug plant, with gi'eenish yellow 
flowei-s, and digitate stalked leaves, well adapted for 
the shrubbery edge, and blooming in March. It is 
found in thickets on a gravelly soil. 

Aquileoia VuLGAi'.is. — Columliine. — An elegant 
plant of upright habit, found occasionally in woods 
and thickets, but rather local. It should be grown 
in every garden, from its sportive character in the 
colour of the flower, which it produces in every shade 
and variegation, from the clearest white to the darkest 
chocolate. — S. — Dwrluim Advertiser. 

Biographical Memoir of the Late Thojias 
GiBBs, Esq. — Mr. Gibbs, who died on the ;iUh of 
January, has been well known to the agricidtural 
world daring the last half century, in counc-don with 
the late Board of Agriculture, and tlie Sniithfiekl 
Club. He was born at Amptbill, in Beilfordsbire, 
on the 8th of August, 1771, and was the son of 
Robert Gibbs, of Dunferndine, N.B. Having re- 
ceived his education at tlie then well-luiowii Asplay 
School, he became a pupil of the lute Wm. Alton, 
Esq., of Kew, the celebrated botanist, and author of 
the " Hortus Kewensis," &c., under whom he studied 
botany and the sciences of agriculture and horticul- 
ture. He tlien founded the firm of Thomas Gibbs 
and Co., the seed-merchants, at Half-moon-street, Pic- 
cadilly, at the head of which firm he continued for 
fifty years. In conjunction with the late Lord Somer- 



ville, Sii' John Sinclaii-, Sir Joseph Bank's, &o., he 
took a prominent part in the ]iroceedings of the 
Board of AgTieulture, from which institution he re- 
ceived not only its honoraiy medal for his researches 
in conducting agricultural e:speriments, but also the 
appointment of seedsman to the Board. He was one 
of the original members of the Smithfield Club, of 
which he has been for some years past the father. 
He also co-operated with the present Wm. Alton, 
Esq., the late Mr. Dickson, and others, in the esta- 
blishment of the Horticidtural Society of London, 
and he, for many years, added much to the interest of 
tlie meetings of that society, by exhibiting lai-ge col- 
lections of apples and other fi'uits grown by him at 
Amptbill, in tlie cultivation of wlrich he took much 
interest. Most of the more imiiortant green crops 
owe their introduction for agrieiiltural cultivation to 
Mr. Gibbs' experiments and cai-e ; and the study of 
the grasses, imtil then almost entirely neglected, 
opened a wide field for his constant attention. It 
was I'roni the grass garden formed by him in the year 
1800 that the one at Woburu Abbey was supplied, 
and it was on its produce that the late Su- Hum- 
phrey Davy made his valuable e.xpej-iments on the 
nutritive properties of the various kinds. In 1799, 
i\fr. Gibbs mai'ried Sarah Prosser, the youngest 
daughter of the late Thoswihan Brandreth, Esq., 
.I.P., of Houghton House, Bedfordshire, who survives 
him, and by whom he had a large family. Most of 
these died in early life. His eldest son died at the 
age of ';.S, lieuig at that early period instnuuental, 
with the late John Frost, Es(]., iJr. Bree, and others, 
in establishing the Medico-Botanical Society of Lon- 
don, and which Society at his death placed a marble 
tablet to his nienioiy, iu the eluiucel of the parish 
church of Amptbill. Mr. Gibbs leaves fom- children, 
viz., Humjdirey Brandreth, the present High Slierifl' 
of Bedfordshire, wlio took the name of Brandreth in 
lieu of Gibbs on succeeding his uncle to his mother's 
family estates ; Robert Gibbs, of Compton, Surrey ; 
Rebecca, the wife of John B. Bergne, Esq.; and Ben 
Thomas Brandreth Gibbs. the Honorary Secretary of 
the Smithfield C^lub, and Dh-ector of the Royal Agii- 
cultural Society of England, and, since his fatlier's 
retii'cment, the head of the firm of seed-merchants to 
that Society. From what Mr. Gibbs accomplislied in 
agricultural improvement, it must be evident that he 
j)Ossessed great jierseverauce, and still greater talents, 
and although ill health has for some time jirevented 
his attention to his favourite j)ursuits — thatof agi-icul- 
tiu'al experiments — still the death of one who has iu 
Ibrmer years done so much to promote the agriculture 
of the couulry cannot be regarded in any other h'glit 
than a national loss." — BelVs Weekly Messenger. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Plums Good whrn Shrivelled {W. H. Ctiiselhurst). — The 
Alibuchai-i, a purple pluni, ripe in September ; Coc's late Red, not 
ripe until late in October ; White Iniperatriee, ripe in September ; 
Blue Inijjeratrice and Ickworth Iniperatriee, purple, ripe in October ; 
St. fltartin's Quetschc, yellow, also ripe in October ; Coe's Golden 
Dro|), yellow, ripe end of September. These are all good when 
-shrivelled, .ami will keep either on the tree or after gathering until 
late in October. 

Crops roii newly-planted Feuit-borders (R, M. R.). — On 
your ten-foot border, ne.\t the wall, you may grow all the salads ex- 
cept celery. Spinach, .ilso turnips and strawberries, in beds from 
annual runners. We grow these and many other things, but we never 
dig above three inches below the ordinary level. We grow all in beds, 
elevated many inches above that level. On the six-foot border, not 
near the wall, you may have similar crops. Such may be in a drill, 
about half way between the tree-stems and the edgings. Adopt 
similar culture, however, — no deep digging. Your newly-planted 
trees will require pruning : you will lind advice in our columns. All 
jiruning must be performeil within three weeks. Do not tie your 
espalier branches till the ground settles, or they will becomesuspended, 
and receive damage. Walk-making will be handled in due course. 



■US 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



Peas for a given space (nn-ims).— The statements nt p. 9, 
find at p. 185, are only apparently inconsistent. We sow Scimetar 
peas full an inch apart from seed to seed ; and then a pint ^vill be 
tnougli for 96 feet of rows. Mr. Kmngton sows them at about 
three quarters of an inch apart, and tlien a pint ^\\l\ only be enoufrh 
for 8f» feet. These statements are always only ntur the exact truth, 
for seed i)eas dilTer in size. 

Raspuf.rries (Ittid), — fllr. Barnes states that the raspberry canes 
of last summer's growth should be cut down to the trround in April ; 
and that the canes which succeed them will, if treated as he directs, 
bear fruit the same autumn. \^'e think that old raspberry planta- 
tions must bear similarly to those recently made, if similarly treated, 
but we will in(iuire of fllr. Karnes. 

Early Pea Sowino (FusfjoXy Blnninghmn). — It often happens, 
if the weatlicr which follows immediately after sowing early peas 
proves cold and wet, that those sown a month later, and followed by 
genial weather, produce a crop as early. But if the earlier peas have 
a mild month, after being sown, like the February now closing, they 
will have jiods ready for gathering ten days before those sown a month 
later. For example, Earlj' W'arwicks sown on the 14th of December, 
1844, were gathered from on Blay 18th following: hut the same pea, 
sown on the 4th of January, 1845 (21 days later), were not gathered 
from until Blay 28th. 

Arrangement of a small Flower-garden {A Subscriber from 
the cotmnfnrement). — The garden is a parallelogram (oblong square), 
with a narrow border under the four walls ; next to these borders a 
path, \\'ith another path down the middle, and between this and the 
other paths two long flower-borders. At the further end of the gar- 
den, against the centre of the wall, is a summer-house, with a 
circular bed in front.— You are right : a mass of low evergreens, on 
either side of your summer-house, would look well from any one of 
the walks : both sides should be planted with the same kind ot plants, 
s.ay a couple of laurnstinus at the back of each corner, and three 
l)l;tnts in front of them, the middle one to be of a darker foliage than 
the two side ones ; two variegated box, or hollies, and a low bushy 
philleria would do ; and we tliink an Irish yew, in the middle of each 
cluniji, would relieve and vary the outline of the whole. The borders 
next to the walls are so narrow that no effect could be produced by 
rutting or dividing them into shapes. The eight beds on one side 
the centre we would form into triangles, in place of the squares, and, 
in planting, fill each triangle with one kind of plant ; verbenas and 
yellow calceolarias would look well that way, and you have an excel- 
lent opportunity to contrast the colours properly. 

Geranium Cuttings, Portugal Grapes, and Hybridizing 
ft'H Fraiwais, Cbeitevhum).— It is full early yet to make cutrings of 
your oak-leaf geranium in a room ; the second week in March will 
"be time enough. The seedlings of the Portugal grapes will never pay 
for a tithe ofthc trouble. If you have space on a south wall, you 
might 7)otr plant out those in the cold room ; but the plants that are 
now budding will not stand out till the sjirhig frosts are over. It is 
questionable if ever they flill produce fruit in your room, and those 
against a wall would not ripen well at Cheltenham. Full directions 
for hybridizing will be given when plants come more into flower. 

Construction of a Pit (A. B., Ea-eicr).— You say that you arc 
feart'ul that we cannot, and will not, consider or advise on so many of 
your petty questions. On the other hand, we consider all your ques- 
tions of the very greatest importance to a large number of our 
readers as well as to yourself, therefore we shall endeavour to meet 
yo\ir wishes. First, then, there is no book, that we know of, which 
goes into such minute details. The best gardener in England, with 
the most comjilete pit and mode of heating, could hardly etlcct what 
you propose, viz., " rearing seedlings, and propagating in the sjiring," 
in a pit for wintering, calceolarias, cinerarias, verbenas, senecio, iS:c. 
K'C. A pit for such a purpose would require the lights to be pushed 
off for a few hours every fine day from the middle of February ; and 
you could hardly venture to turn out the plants till the middle of 
April. Nothing could be struck or reared, therefore, in such a pit 
till you could keep it close, after the middle or end of April. We 
would advise you to build one of Fortune's pits for keeping your 
plants in, and a one-light division at one end of it for j)ropagation. 
Tan well dried, then put together under some cover till it heats, and 
put into this division for bottom-heat, will be an excellent bed for 
cuttings and seeds, and for growing melons in summer. The size of 
the flue and fire-place we gave for a small greenhouse will be appli- 
cable for your pit ; smaller flues can hardly he managed, they choke 
up with soot so soon. Prices we cannot give. The best glass, and 
size of glass, we shall remark upon shortly. Have the pit on the 
surface by all means, and let the flue run round, as we advised for 
the greenhouse. We will give a plan of Mr. Fortune's pit. 

LiLiDM Lancifolium lluBRUM (H. S. S.).— You say you planted 
your bulbs and offsets of this in rough peat, mixed with loam and 
silver sand, towards the end of October, in No. 16 pots, in which you 
intend to bloom them ; you have protected them from excessive wet 
and cold, and have lately placed them in a cold dry frame. — 'I'his 
management is perfectly right. L. L. rubrum will push earlier than 
light-coloured ones some seasons, and sometimes it is later. The 
grand point in their management is to give them as little Abater as 
possible in the spring, yet the soil must be kept imiformly moist. 
We keep our pots of them plunged to the rim in coal-ashes, in a cold 
pit, with a slight covering of moss ; we potted at the same time as 
you did, and have given no ivater yet. Wlien the mould begins to 
get dry we water the ashes between the pots liberally, and, with the 
moss, this will do till late in April, when the roots will be strong 
enough to stand regular watering. 

Gladioli (f« Frntiniis). — Open the soil with your finger to the 
bottom of one of the bulbs, and if it is ]nishing roots give them all 
a slight watering. The reason of their slow growth is that the roots 
were probably too drv in the seed-shop; you need have no fears 
about them. " IVIany people have not yet finished planting the late 
gladioli, but thev ought to be in now. The first week in March will 



he time enough to sow your heartsease. Under your circumstances 
never think you give us trouble. 

Fuchsia Spectabilis {A Snbsrriber, M't^fnnshire). — There is 
no fear but you can keep the fuchsia s]tectabilis perfectly safe over 
the winter without a greenhouse. It will keep as easily as any of the 
Peruvian fuchsias, in a dry state, from November to March, in a room 
where frost can be kejit from it. 

Cacti (F. Giles), — Your cacti, which v.ill not bloom, should get 
no water from October to fliarch. The best thing you can do is to 
shake them entirely out of the present soil, and re]}lant them in as 
small pots as you can get the roots into, using from one to two 
inches of drainage, according to the size of the pots. Make the soil 
rather light for them, as their old roots cannot be in a healthy state, 
and add one-thinl old lime rubbish, or a brick poinided to the size of 
large jieas : water sparingly till you see the toji of the shoots turn 
greener ; they are then growing. Water regularly till the end of 
June, or till they have done growing, then more sparingly; turn 
them out of doors early in July, and place them in the sun, and house 
them early in September. A good sprinkling of dissolved bones will 
benefit your flower-borders. 

Australian Seed {Rev. Jas. Proctor^ Norfolk). — Your 15 varie- 
ties of flower-seeds are all hardy, except the balsam and amaranthus. 
The two latter we shall treat of soon, the other thirteen will do in the 
open borders, sown from the middle of March to the end of April. 
The rest of your list are greenhouse plants, with the exception men- 
tioned below. The best place to get them up would be a moderate 
hot-bed, and, as soon as the seedlings come up, to give them plenty 
of air, or to remove the pots to a greenhouse. Light sandy loam two 
parts, and one part sandy peat, is the best compost to sow them in. 
Use small pots, with an inch of cinder ashes for drainage, and no 
more water than will keep the surface soil moist. They are not all 
Australian seed ; they were taken to the Sydney Botanic Garden 
chiefly from the Cape, some also from India, and some from Italy 
and England [ The t«o Psidiums, or Guavas, and Laurus Indica, 
retiuire a stove, and are not worth much. Pinus longifolia is a tender 
Indian fir, that will not live out with us. Pinus halapensis, a hardy 
fir, and Pinus pinea is the Stone pine of Italy ; these two are useful, 
and will grow if sown in the open border any time in April. 

Pea Sticks (Brookland Gardens). — We have never yet seen any 
good substitutes for these, but we are having a string frame made, 
which we think will do. We will gi>'e a drawing of it. 

Creepers against a Tarred Wall (Ibid). — The heat accumu- 
lated by the black surface of the wall will not be too great for them. 
We are having some peach walls similarly blackened with coal tar, 
and anticijiate that, with projier screens, we shall have better and 
earlier fruit ; and we are quite sure we shall destroy legions of insects 
that harboured in the old nail holes and mortar cavities. 

Mulbf-rry-tree on a South Wall (H. E. M. 0.). — We should 
think that over luxuriance is the cause of this being unproductive 
and shedding its fruit. If the leaves are large, and the young wood 
abundant and gross, lay bare the roots at a distance of three or four 
feet from the stem, and cut through some of the principal. Guano 
for gardening purposes shall receive an early notice. 

Horse-Radisii Planting (L. R., Ipswich). — The horse-radish 
delights in a deep, rich, moist soil, therefore the side of a ditch is a 
good situation. You may plant now or in October. The crowns or 
tops of sticks of horse-radish are best for jjlanting, but the entire 
stick or root may be cut into lengths, each having two eyes ; insert 
these in a row 18 inches apart. Dig out a trench two feet deep, put 
the cuttings along the bottom, throw over them a little leaf-mould, 
or other well-decayed manure, and then return the soil, taking care 
not to tread upon it, but to leave it as light as possible. 

Fig-Tree Suckers (Ibid). — If these have roots you may remove 
them at once. They will require no other particular care than to 
plant them with their roots spread out, about six inches below the 
surface where you wish them to remain. Propagating by cuttings 
produces the most fruitful plants. 

Protecting Peas {J. B.). — Draw the earth up in a ridge, about 
six inches high, on each side the rows, and stick a row of fir, or heath, 
or furze twigs thinly on each side. You have done quite right to 
stir the ground and sprinkle coal ashes on each side of the rows. 
We have no doubt by continuing to do so, and giving the protection 
as directed, you will have a very early crop ; it will then be your turn 
to laugh. Your idea of a substitute for pea-sticks somewhat re- 
sembles our own. which we will publish shortly. If you intend to 
stick your early peas, put in the sticks at once ; this will give them 
additional protection. 

Black Currants (7Airf).— Your soil being sandy and dry will 
scarcely be made to produce this fruit without much care. Instead 
of making a pebbled basin round them to receive a mixture of the 
house-slops, as you propose, remove the soil for a yard all round, put 
into its place some heavier soil, and over that some mulch ; cover 
this over with a little earth, and make a hollow in it to receive the 
slops. This will probably make your black currants productive, and 
keep them from shedding their fruit. 

Historical Flowrrs (ReiK G. I. HI., A. 72.}.— We arc not ac- 
quainted with the author of this book, quoted by us ia our ];th 
Number. It may be obtained of Messrs. Orr and Co. 

Cucumber Shows {Homo).— Can any one inform our correspon- 
dent of any cucumber shows about to take place this season ? Mr. 
\\'ild, Tavern- street, Ipswich, will be able to tell you about that of 
the Ipswich Cucumber Society. 



London: Printed bv Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Marv-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kahiidav; and Published by William 
SoMEHViLLK OaR, at the OiUce, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— February 22nd, 184y. 



THE COTTAGE GARDEXER. 



249 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



1 

M 


w 


MARCH 1—7, 1849. 


Plants dedicated to 


Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon*s 


Clock 


Day of 


L> 


D 




each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


bef. Sun. 


Year. 


1 Th 


Da-rid. Heath Snail appeai-s | 


Leek. 


47 a 6 


38 a 5 


m24 


6 


12 35 


60 


2 F 


Chad. Botanical Society*s Meeting. | 


Mouse-ear duckweed. 


43 


40 


1 34 


3 


12 22 


01 


3(S 


Rooks build. [pears.; 


Golden fig Marigold. 


43 


42 


2 40 


8 


12 10 


62 


4' Son 


2 SnND. IN Lent. Lady-bii-d ap-, 


Common Chickweed. 


41 


43 


8 38 


9 


11 56 


63 


5, U 


Whii-lgig Beetle appears. 


Green Hellebore. 


38 


43 


4 27 


10 


11 43 


64 


6,Tu 


Linn, and Hort. Soo. Jleetings. 


Daffodil or Lent Lily. 


36 


47 


3 9 


11 


11 28 


65 


tIw 


Perpetua. Sweet Violet flowers. 


Single or early Daffodil. 


34 


48 


5 43 


12 


11 14 


66 



St. David, patron of ^^'ales, a son of a prince of Cardiganshire, 
was devoted from early life to the priesthood. His labours for the 
promulgation of Christianity were among the Britons ; and he retired, 
at length to solitude and penance in the Isle of Wight. Heie he 
lived upon the simplest fare, and became famed for his sanctity and 
learning — acquirements which rendered him a powert^ul opponent to 
the heresies of his age ; to oppose which he readily came forth from 
his retirement. Finally, he was raised to the Archbishopric of Caer- 
leon (now St. David's},' and died in 544. It is impossible to assign a 
positive reason for the leek being worn by Welchmen on this day ; 
but St. David, who, like all the early ecclesiastics, was fond of gar- 
dening, and the only introducers of new vegetables, may have first 
made his Welch flock acquainted with this native of the south of 
Europe. 

St. Chad, first Bishop of Lichfield, died in 673. It is an old 
verse : — 

*' First comes David — nest comes Chad, 
Then comes the wind as though it were mad." 

Perpetua, a Roman virgin, was martyred by order of the Emperor 
Severus, in the year 205. 

Phenomena of the Season. — "March many weathers" and 
" March ^nnds " are household proverbs descriptive of this month, 
whichseems to be the battle- time between advancing spring and winter 
unwillingly retiring. Dryness is the prevailing characteristic of the 
month, and renders it particularly favourable for the gardener sowing 
the seeds of the chief out-door plants that are to be either the ornaments 
of his borders during the year, or his chief harvest at its close. Last 
week we remarked upon the warmth required for the vegetating of 
those seeds, and we will now obsen-e upon the moisture^ which is 

Insects. — The Orange Under- Wing 
{Brepha Parthenins)* is a moth found 
during the whole of this month, but 
most abundantly towards its close, fly- 



equally necessary. As no seed will germinate unless a certain degree 
of heat is present, so also does it require that a certain quantity of 
wafer is in contact with its outer skin ; and this is required not only to 
soften this covering, and thus permit the enlargement of the cotyledons 
(lobes of the seedi. always preceding gr-rmination, but also to afford 
that water to the internal components of the seed, without which the 
chemical changes necessary for the nutriment of the embryo plant 
which the seed contains will not take place. As water is essential to 
germination, and only a certain quantity is required for its heidthy 
progress, so it is by no means a matter of indifference what matters 
that water contains. Until germination has commenced, no liquid but 
water at common temperatures will pass through the skin of a seed. 
So soon as germination has commenced, this power possessed by the 
skin to exclude foreign fluids ceases ; but the organs starting into 
activity, the radicle 'young root) and the plumule 1 young stem) are so 
delicate, that the weakest solution of any salt is too acrid and offensive 
for them. It may be noted as a warning to those who employ steeps 
for seed, with the hope of promoting the \-igour of the future plant, 
that they must keep the seed in those steeps a very few hours. In 
forty-eight hours, if the temperature be Gu° or more, putrefaction 
commences, and germination is weakened, or entirely destroyed. Bf . 
Vogel, of i\Iunich, has published an extended course of experiments 
upon this subject, and they fully confirm our opinion, that salts, which 
do no harm to a plant when it is of robust and advanced growth, are 
fatal to it at the time of germination. It is impossible to decide the 
exact amount of moisture most desirable to be in a soil for proraoring 
the healthy germination of any seed, but, in generrd, it is very small. 
The seeds of aquatic plants will endure exposure to water only; but 
a slight dampness in the soil is the state most congenial to the seeds 
of the great majority of our cultivated plants. 




IMabch 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1346. 


1847. 


1848. 


1 

Highest 

& lowest 

temp. 

2 


Showery. 


Bain. 


Frosty. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


41°— 27° 


51°— 34° 


40°— 23° 


55°— 36° 


42°— 28° 


60°— 45° 


42°— 24° 


46°— 30' 


Show'erv. 


Rain. 


Frosty. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 




49°— 3?= 


52°— 49° 


42°— 24° 


5-2°- 37° 


42°— 33° 


60°— 41° 


45°-37° 


46°-36° 


3 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 




50°— 29° 


57°— 41° 


42°— 30° 


50°— 37° 


44°— 25° 


60°— 47° 


43°— 24° 


49°— 23° 


4 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Snow. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 




46°— 33° 


48°— 29° 


41°— 18° 


4 1°— 28° 


45°— 19° 


52°— 40° 


43°— 37° 


48°— 32° 


6 


Ram. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Snow. 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Rain. 




50°-36° 


54°— 27° 


46°— 31° 


43°— 19° 


34°— 13° 


55»-34'° 


42°— 31° 


42°— 36° 


6 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 




52°— 41° 


54°— 26° 


440—20° 


43°— 30° 


31°— 23° 


53°— 41° 


41°— 34° 


46°— 28° 


7 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 




6l°— 42° 


54°- 46° 


46°— 2'4° 


44°— 26° 


39°— 26° 


53»— 28° 


45°— 32° 


46°— 22° 



ing about the blossoms of willows 
and sallows, especially in woods. It 
measures rather more than an inch 
across its upper wings when fully opened. These are brown, marked with seyeral obscure whitish streaks, but the two streaks furthest from 
the body are more distinct ; between these two streaks and the body is a whitish oyal spot, with a dusky margin. The hind, or under, wings 
are of a dull orange colour, Ayith black margins, and an imperfect streak in the middle, of the same colour. The horns of the males are set 
with bristles, in a comb form, on both sides (bi-pectinate), but the horns of the females are smooth. The caterpillars appear in May ; are yel- 
lowish-green, with a blackish line do\yn each side; and are often very destructive to the leaves of poplars and willo\V3. 

* Koctua Parthenias of some. 



If ever there was a self-evident axiom in gardening, 
it is that glass should intercept as few rays of light 
as possible from the plants which they protect. It 
is quite true that there may be periods of the day, 
season, and growth, when it might be beneficial to 
intercept the rays of light — that is, to shade the 
plants ; but shading is the exception, and as much 
light as possible the rule. All the plants reqiuring 
us to protect them with glass are from regions with 
brighter skies and longer days than we enjoy; and 
to imitate these sources of increased light as much 
as possible, we must employ squares as large and as 



good in quality as we can, within certain limits im- 
posed by price and the risks of breakage. The larger 
the squares, the fewer bars aj-e required ; and the 
better the quality of the glass, the fewer rays are 
reflected by it ; consequently, these circumstances 
render the house glazed with glass of good size and 
quality more light than if a greater number of bars, 
and glass less transparent, were employed. We be- 
lieve sheet-glass of the best quality, in panes 2 feet 
long and 9 inches wide, are those which in practice 
are found most advantageous. 
We ai-e quite aware that such good authorities as 



No. XXII.. Vol. I. 



250 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Mr. Mcintosh, gai'dener at Dalkeith Palace ; Mr. 
Speucer, gardener to the Marquis of Lansdowne; Mr. 
Drewett, gardener to Sir W. Heathcoate, and some 
others of equal merit, are in favour of " the good old 
plan" of small panes and crown-glass. But, if we 
examine the instances of injuiy arising from " the 
new order of tilings," we shall find such admissions 
as these : — " Houses, when glazed with large panes, 
and overlaps cross-puttied, become, as it were, her- I 
metically sealed, and may he considered as Wardian 
cases on a gigantic scale." Now, in such houses, 
no one need be surprised that scorching and blotch- 
ing occur to the plants within. Similar injuries 
would occur in such " Wardian cases on a gigantic 
scale," even if the glass had been inferior, and the 
jianes small. 

It is quite evident that, in proportion to the im- 
provement of the light in which our greenhouse and 
hothouse plants are gi'own — or, in other words, the 
nearer we approach to giving them the light of their 
native skies — so must we similarly approach nearer 
to an imitation of the freedom of air, and the degi'ee 
of moisture, the ready evaporation, and the tempera- 
ture, both to the roots and to the leaves, which they 
revelled in at home. Not providing, proportionately, 
these to the increased degree of light, has been the 
cause of the few cases of injury reported as being 
owing to the employment of better and larger glass. 
Its employment entails upon the gardener much 
more anxiety, and a much gi'eater amount of atten- 
tion — circumstances which ought to be duly consi- 
dered by their employers; hut they are ch-cumstances 
no gardener will shrink from who is desirous of all- 
attainable excellence in plant-culture. 

We might fortify our opinion in favour of the 
better and larger squares of glass, by quoting a long 
array of first-rate authorities ; but we shall content 
ourselves with the following extracts from letters 
now before us : — 

Mr. Appleby says, — " I am favourable to the use 
of large squares of sheet-glass, provided the glass is 
of good quality ; that is, perfectly even, without 
specks or wavy lines on it. Wherever it burns or 
scorches the leaves of plants, it is the fault of the 
glass being of indifferent quahty. I consider British 
sheet-glass better than foreign. I should avoid pro- 
fessed cheap dealers in this article. Every builder 
of hot-houses ought to buy his own glass. I do not 
think the weight, or thickness, or colom', has any- 
thing to do with the scorching quality." 

Mr. Barnes says, — " Respecting sheet glass made 
use of for horticultural purposes, I have had no prac- 
tical experience, as we have none of it here. I ob- 
served at tlie large new consei-vatory at Kew, and 
at other places, in October last, that the plants were 
scalded or scorclicd considerably ; but what is that 
more than was years ago observed where crown or 
the old-fashioned gi-een glass have been made use 
of, and where ventilation was insufficient, or had 
been neglected in due season. By all that I could 
ever observe in respect to tlie use of large squares of 
sheet glass, the real fault does not lie with the glass 



itself, but with those who have planned the buildings 
glazed with them : they being deficient in means 
for quickly and methodically giving proper ventila- 
tion to allow the condensed evaporation to escape; 
or in those who, where a sufficiency of ventilation 
convenience is provided, are not expeditious enough 
in applying it. This is where the real mystery 
and mischief of the matter lies, depend on it. Let 
the sun shine of a morning ever so early on a struc- 
ture of glass, it should have ventilation given pre- 
viously ; and those who are not early enough of a 
morning for attending to such matters, should, to be 
on the right side, leave air all night. The stagnated 
and condensed evaporations confined in those stnin- 
tures are sure to furnish, if not actual scorchings, 
certainly the origin of disease and vermin. That 
there is a great difl'erence in the quality and scorch- 
ing propensity of sheet-glass there can be no doubt; 
and the same has been well ascertained with other 
kinds of glass long since; but this is no reason why an 
invaluable and noble-looking article should be con- 
demned, and considered by some people a scourge 
on the improvement of hortieidtural structures. 
There may be a difference as to scorching effects in 
respect to various coloured glass, but in tliis I have 
but little faith ; for, possibly, if glass were coloured 
to the extent to prevent the scorching effects upon 
plants, an evil fully as extensive might occur in 
the obstruction of the natural light, so essential in 
good culture. The coloured glass so highly spoken 
of at Kew, as a sure preventive of the scorching 
effects, has proved as great a failure as any I have 
seen; and, as that occurred in a dark cloud}' summer 
like the last, what may be expected in future, should 
we have bright fervent weather for a considerable 
time together? I may observe, however, that there 
is more danger of scorching after a long occurrence 
of dull weather, when the sun makes a sudden fer- 
vid appearance, than there is after a bright spring." 

Mr. Errington writes thus, — ■" I feel tolerably per- 
suaded that the principal failure in regard of the 
British sheet-glass is owing to the want of a vastly 
increased amount of ventilation in tliose structures 
where it is used. I feel little doubt that, when it is 
free from foci, clear, and uniform, it will supersede 
all others. One thiug in addition: it will probably 
lead to tlie general adoption of shades, which will 
also constitute night-coverings, when these things 
are sufficiently understood. As to size of squares, it 
is a matter of convenience." 

The last authority we shall quote is Mr. Beaton, 
who says, — " The size of glass for plant-houses is 
merely a matter of fancy, provided you keep above 
six inches width between the bars, and make the 
laps of tlie glass as narrow as possible. The larger 
the size between the sash-bars — say above 10 inches 
— the more difficult the readers of The Cottage 
Gardener will find their plants to manage; but I 
would put no limits to the length of a pane, in order 
to get rid of laps ; and yet long panes are only safe 
in fixed roofs. Tlie front glass for a greenhouse, 
however, need be under no kind of rule : the larger 
it is the belter; even if each sash was in one pane, I 
thiuk it would be better. Side-light is always agi-ee- 
able to plants, without any danger to them. It is a 
great misfortune that some inferior glass has got 
into circidation, which, without doubt, scorches the 
foliage; and this scorching, or burning, or scald- 
ing, or whatever we may choose to call it, seems 
to liave no reference to the state of ventilation. I 
believe 1 have the best proof of this. A large con- 
servatory here has the roof-sashes screwed down a» 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



251 



close as possible ; the glass is let into grooves in the 
sash ; and it has a great improvement invented by Mr. 
Paxton, vrhioh renders it still more air-proof; the panes 
are forty-five inches long, and only six inches wide ; 
the roof a span — that is, with glass on both sides of 
the ridge. This I'oof is nearly air proof, with British 
sheet-glass, l(5oz. to the foot; and has been up seven 
years. Climbers with the thinnest and softest leaves, 
as those of japonicas, often get in contact with the 
glass on the roof; others, with the smoothest and 
most leatherly-textured leaves, as those of the stepha- 
notus, and every degree of texture between the two, 
come veiy close to this glass, and also at different 
distances from it, and not a single leaf has been hurt 
in this air-proof roof these seven years. But, one 
afternoon last May, a citron plant on the back wall 
had a line of scorching across its leaves, about half 
an inch wide and a yard in length. These leaves 
were 16 feet from the glass, and grew where a con- 
stant ventilation was going on. Therefore, any in- 
ferior glass that will burn leaves I think will do so 
with or without a cuiTent of air passing through." 



THE FEUIT-GARDEN. 

Peoteoting the Blossoms of Fruit Trees is 
one of the most important duties belonging to this 
department. The vicissitudes of our climate are so 
great and so frequent at this period of tlie year, that, 
had not the internal organs of the blossom, which 
appear so delicate and tender, been endued with a 
very considerable amount of hardihood, and furnished 
with calyx (flower-cup), and the corolla (blossom), at 
once their protection and embellishment, little would 
be the produce. When we take into consideration 
how little expense is incurred in protecting the 
blossom of fruits, especially those on walls or trellises, 
it seems astonishing that matters of this kind are 
not carried farther ; for a little manual labour is the 
principal part of the affair. 

There are various materials used for this purpose, 
Buch as canvas, bunting, woollen netting, &c. Many 
persons use the fronds, or large leaves, of fern, or 
boughs of trees, such as of the spruce fir, or of the 
beech or hornbeam. 

Canvas. — We have used this material extensively 
for the last twenty years, and we could never find 
anything to answer the purpose better, when rightly 
applied, and preserved with care. As, however, 
localities difl'er, and expediency in this, as in many 
other things, goes before principle, we will mnke a 
point of describing the whole of the materials enu- 
merated, with their mode of application. The canvas 
we allude to is made in many parts of Lancashire, 
and the character of it much resembles what is 
known by the name of cheese-cloth, only it is a much 
thinner and ligliter fabric ; it is most frequently 
fui-nished in widths of nine feet, which is sufficiently 
deep or wide for the majority of garden walls ; it 
may, however, be obtained of other widths. The 
price depends on the thickness of the material, but 
ranges from about three-pence to five-pence per 
square yard ; so that every yard of a wall ten or 
twelve feet high may be protected for a shilling or 
less. But, then, it must be remembered that, with 
due care, it will last for about seven years; so that to 
cover a yard of walling in this way may, as far as 
this material is concerned, cost less than two-pence 
a year. Who would loose a fine crop of peaches, 
nectarines, apricots, grapes, &c., for the sake of this 
small outlay? To be at once efiicient, and, we may 



add, economical in the end, it must be made to draw 
up and down. We use poles for this pui'pose, which 
are generally larch thinnings, being about three 
inches in diameter at tlie lower end, and tapering to 
about a couple of inches at the top. The walls 
being 10 feet high, our poles are required to be about 
11 feet, as they are placed sloping, 16 inches away 
from the wall at the base, whilst the upper part of 
the pole is flattened, and fastened to the facing of 
the coping; the end of the pole is let into the soil 
an inch or two, in order to steady it. These poles 
are placed about eight feet apart, and at the bottom 
of every pole, or rather at a foot above the bottom, 
an auger-hole is made, and a wooden peg driven in : 
this peg projects about a foot outwards towards the 
border, and when the canvas is lowered, in order to 
admit the sun's rays, the whole body of it rests in a 
line on these pegs ; this preserves it from becoming 
dh'tied, and from liability to rot in continued wet 
weather. The canvas being requu'ed to slide down, 
a staple becomes necessary at the top of every pole, 
or, ratlier, near it on the wall ; this, once driven, 
remaining there permanently. Cords are fastened on 
the edge of the canvas, opposite to each pole ; the 
ends of these cords are passed through the staples, 
putting them through the under side of the staple, 
and bringing them through on the upper ; and thus 
the canvas is made to slide up and down with the 
utmost ease. To uncover the trees, the canvas is 
lowered from the top of the wall ; and to cover them 
at night, it is re-drawn up to the top. It is necessary 
to make a noose in the cord, so that when the canvas 
is drawn up for the night the noose is merely hung 
over the wooden peg before described: thus all is 
safe from the wind, &c. Our practice is to fix up 
the canvas in the end of February ; indeed, this 
spring we put it on in the first week, the bud being 
so much advanced. There can be little doubt that 
very much harm is done to wall trees in early spring 
by intense sun light, by which the buds are hurried 
beyond their natural habit. It should be taken into 
consideration what a vast accumulation of heat takes 
place on a south wall in the beginning of March ; 
and this, coupled with an extreme amount of dryness 
in the air, has a tendency to exhaust the juices of 
tlie trees faster than the roots can supply fresh sap. 
We therefore suffer our trees to remain covered the 
whole day during weather of this extreme character. 

Woollen Netting. — This is too well known to need 
description. It is an excellent material for ooveiing 
trees in blossom, but is more expensive than the 
canvas. There is here another consideration bearing 
on the subject, which is, that covering of some kind 
frequently becomes necessary in summer to protect 
fruit from the wasps. Now, woollen netting is much 
recommended for this purpose, the wasps having an 
aversion to pass through it, probably on account of 
the numerous straggling fragments of wool which 
cross each other in aU directions. It is, therefore, a 
consideration with the proprietor whether he will 
use one material for both purposes ; the only objec- 
tion to the woollen netting being its cost, at least as 
far as we are aware, for we have never used this 
material. 

Bunting. — This is much used about the meti'opolis 
for protection purposes ; and a very good thing it is, 
when its price is taken into consideration. We have 
never used it, and can therefore say little about it. 

Fronds {Leaves) of the Common Fern. — These are 
used in some districts where the plant abounds; and 
a very good covering they make, when of strong 
growth, obtained at a proper period, and stuck in 



252 



THE COTTAGE GABDENER. 



properly. Such should be obtaiued of as luxuriaut 
a character as possible ; sJioiiM be cut in the end of 
August, when solid, but not ripe ; as the leaves shed 
iu the latter case with handling, and then their pro- 
tective character is lost. The}' should be perfectly 
dried, and stowed away in layers or bundles in some 
dry and airy place. In placing them over the tree, 
it is necessary to complete the priming and nailing 
first. They nnist then be stuck in by the stalk end, 
with the frond or leafy part downwards ; beginning 
at the bottom of the wall or fence, and continuing up- 
wards to place them in a regular series. They should 
not be put too thickly ; no two need scarcely touch 
sideways ; but the rows should slightly overlap each 
other, iu order to throw off rain or snow. Towards 
the middle of May they must be removed altogether. 

Boughs of Trees. — Of these, the best, according to 
our practice, is the spruce fir. These have long been 
recommended for protecting the fig during the win- 
ter ; for tbey possess a rather peculiar character iu 
this respect. The spray, or rather the leaves, fall 
ofi" progressively during the foliation (leafing) of the 
fig, thus inuring gi-adually the tender shoots to the 
liglit, and to a i'ree circulation of air. Where exten- 
sive fir plantations exist, these can generally be ob- 
tained during the tliinning season ; and they should 
be stuck iu (using small fragments) after the manner 
of the fern. 

Beeeh Spraij. — This we should think next in im- 
portance to the spnice for protection pui-poses, as it 
has the property of retaining its leaves until late in 
the spring, although a deciduous tree. 

The Hornheam, also, has been used for this pur- 
pose, and is a very usefid covering; but not quite 
equal to those before named. In placing these boughs, 
the same course may be pursued as with regard to 
the fei-n, beginning at the bottom of the wall, and 
placing them thinly. The shoots of trees must not 
be used of too thick a character, and the ends should 
be pointed with a knife before sticking them in, or 
fastening them to the wall. Care slioiild be taken 
that no loose dangling ends or points flutter in the 
wind, or they will whip and lash the blossom buds, 
to their gi'eat injury. 

We need scarcely add, that the boughs, or rather 
spray, will have to remain on altogether until finally 
removed ; this, therefore, is an argument for not 
placing them very thickly ; for we have known blos- 
som buds much weakened by their obsti'ucting the 
light when too thickly applied. 

A few words on the management of the canvas 
or bunting, when made to take off occasionally, may 
here be accejitable. As before observed, we have 
always found it good practice to put it on very early, 
iu order to somewhat retard the bud, in hopes of a 
more genial atmosphere with the increasing length 
of days ; and also, iu order to enable the bud gradu- 
ally to unfold itself, according to Nature's own course, 
which can scarcely be said to be the case when the 
buds are powerfully excited, after duU and cold wea- 
ther, by a bright March sun. Besides these argu- 
ments, let the amount of dryness iu the atmosphere 
thus occasioned be duly considered ; and the wonder 
will be, that our tender fruits do not, at such periods, 
receive a gi-eater amount of injury still. 

Dr. Lindlcy states, at page 131 of his valuable 
" Theory of Horticulture," that, " In this country the 
changes of moisture are said to extend from 1000, or 
satvu'ation, to '^SO, or even so low as ■ liO, luider a soiith 
wall, for a short space of time, — a state of dryness which 
is certainly not surpassed by an African harmattan." 
It will thus be seen that the ajiplication of coverings 



produces a compound effect. Severe winds are also 
exceedingly prejudicial to the blossom-buds. The 
covering or uncovering, therefore, must be conducted 
with reference to all these extremes. It should, 
however, never be suffered to remain on altogether j 
for above a couple of days at a time : the removing 
it for even two or three hours only will prevent the 
developing bud from becoming weakened. When 
the trees are actually in blossom, a great amount of 
sunshine should be permitted ; for the various bees 
and flies which then abound should have free access 
to the blossoms, as they much facilitate the impreg- 
nation. Whilst the blooming process is proceeding, 
great care should be taken to cover up, whil.st the 
sun is shining ou the trees, early iu the afteruoon — 
say tlu-ee to four o'clock. A vast amount of solar 
(sun's) heat is thus enclosed ; and the radiation or 
departure of it again to the atmosphere, is so much 
arrested by the covering, that the wall is warmer 
during the whole of the night than any uncovered 
walls can possibly be. Some caution is necessary as 
to tlie mode of uncovering when the young shoots 
begin to expand. All the sunlight possible now be- 
comes necessary, in order to elaborate the juices, and 
preserve a corresponding amount of action between 
the root and branch. 

Towards the middle of ^May, the canvas, or other 
covering, must be removed altogether, choosing a 
mild time, with a gentle south or south-west breeze, 
and a moist atmosphere, for the operatiou; and now 
care must be taken to get the material immcdintely 
dried thoroughly, when it may be rolled up, and [uit 
away in a dry place. We are aware that some very 
respectable authorities are against the covering of 
fruit-trees at all. We must, however, from a long 
experience, strongly advocate it ; indeed, if we could, 
we would cover every tree and bush in the garden. 

Protection of Dw.\rf FRrix-TnEES, Bushes. &c. — 
Where the thinnings of plantations, or of coppices, 
are available, they can be rendered of much service 
as protectors to ft'uit blossom. It was for this 
reason that we recommended, in an earlier number, 
the occasional planting of goosebemes in the line of 
dwarf standard fruit-trees, both in the garden of the 
amateur and the cottager ; for we have repeatedly 
known a crop saved by means of the overhanging 
branches, when those totally exposed were destroyed. 
Such a reserve, therefore, iu a small way, becomes 
very acceptable under these circumstances. We 
have a gi-eat many Flemish pears, trained on what 
we call table trellises, or, at least, trained horizon- 
tally, at about one foot from the surface of the 
ground. T\'e have, in trying periods, generally stuck 
boughs of forest trees through tliose which were 
most in esteem, and we have found the jirotection 
thus afforded worth consideration. Such boughs of 
beech or spruce as would he large eunugh to stick 
marrow-fat peas witli, are the sort of things we use, 
merely pointing the ends, and sticking them down 
per]>eudicularly. It must be remembered that our 
April frosts, which are calculated to injure tlie blos- 
som, are seldom accompanied with winds ; and tluit, 
for the most part, such frosts act iu a perpendicular 
direction. Tlie interposition, tlien. of such branches, 
placed thin enough to admit the flickering rays of 
sunshine, serve at once to break cold winds, to 
intercept the hoar-frost, and to prevent too rapid a 
radiation. 

Prunixo. — At the risk of being tedious, we beg to 
say that, whether with the amateur or the cottager, 
all" pruuiug must be closed forthwith, more especially 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



253 



with fruit-trees, which, iu the hmgiias'e of our mone- 
tary gentlemeu. are " below par" in point of strength. 

Planting. — What we have urged in regard to 
pruning may be said of planting, and, we may add, 
of Gr.\fting. All these matters must at once be 
carried out. or twelve montlis must be lost — a great 
blank in the gardening history of any person. 

Mulching, — "We must again advert to tliis most 
important process — so important, indeed, that we 
think a first rate system of fruit culture, specially 
adapted to our British clime, v/ill never be canied 
on without it. Let the immense benefits of this 
process to newly-planted trees, also, be taken into 
consideration. The time is at hand when "March 
suns and March winds" will tell with peculiar force 
on the latter. R. Erringio.n. 



THE rLOWER-GARDE:V. 

Small Villa Gardexs. Dwarf Roses. — In the 
last number we gave a pretty long list of desirable 
dwarf roses. If the garden will admit of it we would 
recommend a few China roses, such as Archduke 
Ch/irUs, ])ale shaded rose, changing to crimson ; 
Cramoisie Supcrieiire, I'ich velvety crimson ; Duchess 
of Kent, white, edged with rose ; jMadame Dcprez, 
pale lemon; and Mrs. Bosanquet, delicate, pale flesh. 
These roses are well worth growing, liaving a con- 
stant succession of flowers. Even the common 
monthly China rose is beautiful. 

Tea-scexted Roses. — Thou<:jh rather tender, yet 
this class of sweet-scented beautiful flowers ought 
not to be entirely omitted. Dm-ing winter they will 
require a slight protection. A i^"^ branches of fir or 
furze, or even the fronds of the common feni, will be 
a sufficient shelter fi'om the winter frosts. Stick 
three or four of them round each bush, so as to form 
a kind of rude tent, but removing them as soon as 
the weather becomes mild. The following are a 
very hv^ select kinds : — Adam, blush rose, beaiitifid, 
very sweet, large, and full ; Bride of Ahijdos, creamy 
white, tinted with rose ; Devonieiisis, pale yellow, 
very large and full ; Eliza Sauvage, yellow, centre 
orange, large and full ; Nina, blush rose, fine, lai-ge, 
and very double ; Fragrans, bright rosy crimson. 
])retty, small, very double, and sweet. We are afraid 
we have given too long lists of roses, but they are all 
good, and the piu'chaser cannot do wrong in taking 
any of them. 

Perennlvl FLOWER-RooTs.^In town gardens these 
plants, properly selected, are very desirable. The 
great consideration is to have such as will thrive 
moderately in a smolcy atmosphere. It is wise not 
to e.Kpect too much success in their cultivation. In 
the second number of this work you may see some 
remarks on this subject, to which we refer you. The 
selection is made with especial reference to town 
gardens. Tbere are a gi-eat number of beautiful 
plants that would not exist in such situations. 
These are, in consequence, omitted. 

Campanula persicifolia (Peach- 
leaved Bell-flower), 18 inches, 
blue, also white. 
Centaurea motitana major 
(Larger mountain Centaurea), 
blue, 18 inches. Plant this in 
quantities, as it is very pretty, 
growing under trees, and flow- 
ering abundantly and early. 
Ficaria rujiitnfu/oides phno 
{ Double ranunculus-like Pile- 
, wort), yellow. 6 inches. 
■ Ht/ianthifs vudtifloriis pleno 
I ( Double Many-flowered Sun- 



Aromtum miJgaris (Common blue 
Monkshood). 3 feet. 

Anemone Appenninn (Apennine 
Anemone), blue. 3 inches. 

An'kencum (Czackia) ItlUiistrum, 
white, 9 inches. 

Antirrhintun majns (Great Snap- 
dragon), various colours, 18 
inches. 

Aster amellns (Blue Star Wort). 
18 inches, blue. 

Cartha pulastris flore plena (Dou- 
ble Marsh Marygold), yellow, 
1 foot. 



flower), yellow, 3 feet, very 

handsome. 
HeineyuciiUis ceerutea (Blue Day 

Lily;, 1 foot. 
ftava (Yellow Day Lily), 

2 feet. 
^•utilans (Red Day Lily), 

6 inches. 
Ifin grtnnhtea fGrass-leaved Iris), 

18 inches, blue. 

Gtrm'inUa (German Iris), 

2 feet. blue. 

sambnc'ma (Elder-scented 

Iris), 2 feet, white. 

L'lthi/n/s- lati/ofiirs (Everlasting 
Broad-leaved PeaJ. This plant 
is very ornamental, and Arill an- 
swer well tn plant against paling, 
walls, or the stem of a tree. 

The 



Li/simac/iia verticUlata fWhorled 
Loosestrife;, yellow, 18 inches. 

Ptnt^temon ffentiunoidea .Gen- 
tian-like PenstemonJ, purple, 
■2 feet. 

cocciiiei f Gentian-likescar- 

let Penstemon), scarlet, 3 feet. 

P/ilfKc Brlghtoniana (liright's 
Phlox), red. 2 feet. 

Van Houtt'd (Van Houte's 

Phlox), striped. 2 feet. 

omnjfiora (All-flowered 

Phlox), white, 1 foot. 

Rhodiola rosea (Rosy Rhodiola\ 
6 inches. 

Sa.rt/raga rettisa (Retxise Saxi- 
frage), red, 3 inches. 

ped'it'jld'L (Foot-cleft 

Saxifrage), white, 3 inches. 

two last form green tufts, and thrive well 
under trees iu the very heart of towns ; we have seen 
them iu such situations in a smoky mauufacturiug 
town iu Yorkshire, growing in large patches, where 
almost no other plant would e.xist. 

Saj:ip-aga crussifoUa (Thick-leaved Saxifrage). 

Tins plant also thrives in the midst of smoke, but 
not iiuder the drip of trees or shrubs. 

Spir(£a tJtipcndHltL fiore pUno I TrolVms Europesus (European 
(Double Dropwort), white, 1 ft. | Globe-flower), orange, 1 foot. 

BfLEors-RooTED Flowers. — The above are quite 
sufficient for a small garden with the addition of 
some bulbs; the latter thrive pretty well in gardens 
situated as the one above described, especially Scilhi 
campitnulata (Bell-flower Squill). This plant will 
also thrive well in shady places, under trees, near 
large towns ; we have seen large patches of it flower- 
iug beautifully in such situations. Iu cultivating 
bulbs, such as crocuses, snowdrops, jonquills, nar- 
cissus, squdls, &c., you must always remember that 
the crop of flowers will be less or more iu proportion 
to the crop of leaves ; without fine large leaves, con- 
tinued on the bulbs till they gradually decay, they 
will produce little if any flowers next year. For the 
sake of neatness, too, mauy persons out oft" the leaves 
of bulbs nearly as soon as the flowers decay : this is 
a gi'eat mistake. Upon the maturity of the bidbs 
the ]iower to produce flowers the following season 
depends. The bulbs cannot mature themselves if 
the leaves — the gi-and organs of the plants, and only 
ne.x.t in importance to the roots — are prematurely 
destroyed. You must, then, bear with the rather 
untidy appearance of leaves turning yellow, in order 
to mature your bulbs, and so induce abundance of 
bloom. 

FfCHsi.is. — These most lovely plants are fit objects 
to ornament the beds or borders of amateur and cot- 
tage gardens. Mr. Beaton, in the 20th number, has 
given ample and judicious instructions how to 
manage them for the window or gi-eenhouse. The 
management for fuchsias to plant out of doors, and 
to propagate them, are exactly as Mr. Beaton de- 
scribes, but they will require inuring to the open air 
as soon as they begin to grow, by giving plenty of 
air, and even di-awing oif the lights of the frame or 
pit. Those that are just struck iu the cutting pot 
should be potted off singly into small pots, and kept 
pretty close in the frame for a foxtnight or three 
weeks, when they should be subjected to the same 
hardening process as the last year's plants. Fuchsias 
are exceedingly ornamental in gardens of all sizes 
aud descriptions, and are fit alike for the costly 
gardens of the nobUity, the neat viUa garden of the 
amateur, and the lowly cottager's flower border : they 
are not out of place in any of them. 

Chrysanthemums. — These very ornamental au- 
tumnal flowers will now require looking after. Such 
as have been left in the ground all winter, may now 



25i 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



be taken up and divided ; potting the divisions into 
as small pots as the roots will go into without 
crowding or cramping. Place them in a cold frame, 
or on a shady border, plunged in ashes ; and protect 
them from heavy rains and frosts until the warm 
weather arrives, when they may be repotted, and 
plunged in a more open situation, to cause them to 
grow bushy. To propagate them by cuttings, the 
method has been described at page 67 ; as also by 
layers, in the same place. 

Cott.\ger's Flower-garden. — We saw in a cot- 
tage garden, a few days ago, several plants in Hower, 
which, at this early season, delighted us greatly. 
Wallflowers, in goodly numbers, were shedding tlieir 
sweetness on the soft air, for it was a fine, sunny 
morning. Polyanthuses, too, were opening their 
pretty flowers ; they were but common ones, 'tis true, 
but they pleased the eye of the admirer of the beau- 
ties of the floral creation quite as much as the more 
highly cultivated florists' varieties. Crocuses, snow- 
drops, and a patch of the double pink liepatica, made 
this humble garden look really gay and joyous. The 
cottager, during his breakfast halfhour, was appa- 
rently as happy as his flowers. He was turning up 
the soil of one of liis beds, and the smell of the earth 
was quite refreshing. We hope a great number of 
our cottage friends are every day taking advantage 
of the fine weather, and diligently making use of 
their leisure minutes — for minutes now are of gieat 
value. Dig. sow, and plant all things in their 
proper season ; and the efl'eots of your industry will 
soon be seen, and will he a source of inward satis- 
faction to your own minds, and a delight to all your 
friends. Your example will also have the effect of stir- 
ring up your more indolent neighbours to imitate you ; 
and thus the circle of industrial habits will be extended 
more and more, till the Englisli cottage gardens will 
be the means of bettering the condition, habits, and 
gardens of every cottager in the three kingdoms of 
Great Britain ; and may extend tlieir good influences, 
under the Divine blessing, to every country of the 
world. So, you see, your industry may have agi'eater 
moral power than you may be aware of While 
you, perhaps, are only thinking of keeping your 
garden in good order, and making the most of it for 
your family, others, seeing tlie good effects of your 
industry, may be induced to forsake evil ways, and 
strive to be as good and happy as you are. Ponder 
these remarks over in your mind ; they are given in 
the heartfelt desire to increase the well-being and 
happiness of all cottagers. 

Aknual Flowers. — It will soon be time to sow 
these pretty plants ; such as are hardy, in the 
open border, and the more tender kinds in a gentle 
hotbed. If you have not purchased the seed for 
your annuals, do so at the earliest opportunity ; and 
if your hotbed is not in a state of forwardness, set-to 
in good earnest to make it, in order that the violent 
heat may have time to moderate previously to the 
seed time, which is fast approaching. This last 
paragraph is for both amateurs and cottagers ; and 
we trust they will attend to the instructions given in 
the 18th Number, about the methods of forming hot- 
beds. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

Anemones and Ranunculuses may yet be planted, 
but had better be thrown into water for a few hours 
previously to planting, to cause the bulhs to swell, 
and prepare to put out fresh roots as early as possi- 
ble. (See pp. 71 and 2iO.) 



Tulips. — We hope your choice tulips are now 
looking out of the ground, strong and healthy. Pay 
particular attention to preserve them from frosts and 
biting winds ; stir the earth occasionally when the 
surface becomes crusty. On warm, mild, sunny days, 
you may allow them now to enjoy a full exposure to 
the light and air, and also any gentle showers that 
may fall. " March lamb storms," as cold sleety 
weather is called in the north, you must especially 
guard against, or you will have, very soon, spotted 
sickly leaves, which will make the plants weak, and 
cause them to produce poor imperfect blooms. Pro- 
tect them, then, fi-om such weather with untiring 
assiduity, by all the means in your power. 

Pansies. — The choice ones, that have been kept 
in pots through the winter, may now be planted out 
in the place or places where they are to bloom. 
Unlike most other florist flowers, these favourites 
may be planted in patches in the borders amongst 
the more common flowers. In jdanting them in 
this situation, take care to make'the soil, for at least 
a foot diameter, and as much deep, rich and light : 
this is what they delight in. See p. 77, for the pro- 
portions of loam, vegetable mould, &c., that they 
require. Do not plant these good varieties on a 
north border, or other very exposed situation ; they 
love the light and heat of the sun in the spring 
months of the year, as you may soon perceive. If 
you observe the natural arrangement of the flowers 
on each plant or patch, you will see that every flower 
exposes its beauty to the rays of sunlight ; therefore, 
to plant in a situation where the sun cannot shine 
upon them is a great injury, and deprives them of 
tliat light which they enjoy. T. Appleby. 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GAEDENING. 

The next six weeks will be the busiest time in the 
year with gardeners, and writers on gardening; and 
also the time to try the temper, the patience, and the 
abilities of the new recruits, which the commissioned 
officers of "The Cottage Gardener" have been 
enlisting into our ranks all over the country for the 
last few months. The grand secret, to get on well at 
the beginning, and to keep out of the awkward squad, 
is, " not to be in too great haste about anything." 
A good servant is never in a hurry : and any one who 
does a thing properly at the proper time, and will 
not put off till to-morrow what can be done as well 
to-day, will never be far behind. The greatest dan- 
ger that I can foresee in tlie spring, likely to happen 
to my young recruits — of whom I am very thankful 
to be able to say, that I never exerted my pen for 
more grateful readers — is, that their hot-beds for 
raising seedlings and striking cuttings will be made 
in too great a hurry ; and if they ai-e, depend ou it 
we shall lose mucli time. 

Hot-Beds. — One-half long stable dung, and the 
other half oak, beech, or cliesnut leaves, mixed, and 
turned over and over and over again, till they are 
almost half-rotten, are the best materials for hot-beds. 
Make the bed a good tliicliuess at once, so that it 
will keep a steady heat for a long time. If you could 
get a good thick layer — say ten inches or a foot — of 
tanner's bark, in a dryish state, to put over this bed, 
it would add wonderfully to its efficiency, and effectu- 
ally keep down the rank steam of tlio dung, and also 
enable tlie bed to keep a steady lieat much longer. 
Besides, the tan itself is an excellent thing to heat 
mildly, and the best thing in the world to plunge 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



255 



pots in for bottom-lieat. If you keep it pretty dry 
on the surface it will last a long time ; too much wet 
will soon perish it. The nest best covering to keep 
down steam, and yet let up the heat, is any kind of 
sand, only it must not be more than three or four 
inches thick ; and the worst covering is sawdust, for 
when the first flush of dampness is driven out of it 
by the heat it gets quite diy, and is then a powerful 
non-conductor of heat ; and if you keep it wet, so as 
to be a medium for conducting heat, it soon rots. 
The most perfect way, however, to reai- a lot of young 
things, with little trouble, is by a small tank bed, 
covered with Welsh slate three-foiu'ths of an inch 
thick, which slate is sold from sevenpence to nine- 
pence per square foot. Slabs of stones ai-e the next 
best covers ; and wood is the worst, because it is, like 
the di-y sawdust, a non-conductor of heat, and soon 
rots. The cheapest way to heat such a tank is, by 
a small iron pan boiler, that would hold eight or ten 
gallons ; and that kind of boiler is sold at so much 
for every gallon it will hold. I had a very good one 
last autumn, with two flanges cast on it to receive the 
pipes, for less than a shilling per gallon ; and they 
are set like coppers for a wash-house or back kitchen ; 
and as they have wide open mouths, there is never 
any trouble about them, either as to cleaning or 
getting out of order. Stout wooden lids are made 
for them at an extra cost. It would occupy too 
much space at this busy season to go into details on 
this subject. Ahuost all ii'onmongers are well ac- 
quainted with the ways of an-anging this apparatus, 
and so are the different nurserymen all over the 
kingdom ; and there is hardly a good gardener any- 
where who would refuse to give his advice on the 
subject, for there are no secrets kept about these things 
now-a-days ; nevertheless, I shall return to the sub- 
ject some day, and go into all the minutiae on the 
whole subject. Meantime, let us suppose that a hot- 
bed of some sort is ready to receive seed-pots, cutting- 
pots, and newly-potted-ofl^ little plants — no matter 
how hardy they may be. 

It seems to be a universal law of Nature, that the 
young of all plants and animals are much benefited 
by comfort and wannth during the early stages of 
their existence; a mild hotbed, therefore, seems to 
be the best means to allow this warmth to young 
plants ; and it is well known to gardeners and nur- 
serymen, that young " stock," as they call then- nurs- 
ing plants, will make a better progi'ess in less time, 
in a gentle hotbed made of well-prepared dung, and 
covered with tan, than in any other stinicture or kind 
of heat whatever. You may have the same degree 
of heat, the same amount of light and air, and give 
exactly the same kind of culture in evei-y respect to 
your ])lants in any other kind of hotbed or pit, but 
the plants will never obtain that uniform degree of 
health and luxui-iance as they would in a close dung 
bed. The worst of it is, that without some experi- 
ence it is very difficult and dangerous for one to 
manage a hotbed of dung properly. A good cover- 
ing of tan, or sand, lessens this danger, it is true, by 
keeping down the strong ammoniacal gas, or steam, 
which is always disengaged from fennenting dung. 
When the bed, however, is just at the proper degi'ee 
of strength, this gas seems to be the life and soul of 
nursing plants, and no doubt it is the sole reason 
why they succeed best in that kind of bed. There is 
oue observation I often made on this subject, which 
may be worth recording while I think of it, as I never 
saw it in print, but I am sure it might lead to some 
curious experiments. It is this : whenever ammonia- 
cal gas, arising from a hotbed, or any other source, 



affects plants injm-iously — witliin certain limits — the 
youngest and most tender leaves svffer far less than 
the older leaves. Just as if an infant in the cradle 
could escape something that affected the little sister 
who rooked the cradle, and to which they were both 
equally exposed. This is a singular property in 
leaves. Any other kind of stimulating or scorching, 
as, for instance, from too strong a dose of tobacco- 
smoke, will afiect the yoimger leaves first. How is 
this to be accounted for ? I think I could explain it, 
but I would rather invite criticism on the question, 
which is perfectly original as far as I am aware of, 
and may be stated thus : How is it that a deleterious 
gas will kill all the old leaves on a plant, without 
affecting those leaves that are newly fonned on the 
same plant? 

Dung beds, when once you understand how to 
manage them, are the best contrivances for nursing 
young plants ; but for striking cuttings and raising 
seedlings a tank-heated pit is preferable, and more 
easy to manage at all times, and therefore better 
suited for young beginners. Now, instead of telUng 
you to do such and such things on certain days, as 
if I were noting a prediction of the weather, after the 
manner of Francis Moore, the physician, I shall 
rather teU you the plain truth, which is, that all 
seeds of greenhouse plants, and of such tender 
annuals as may do for a window or greenhouse, will 
succeed equally well, and be in right good time, if 
sown any day in March. So there will be ample 
time to prepare a bed for them; and I might almost 
say the same thing for cuttings in any department. 
Of course, such cuttings as are wanted for the flower- 
garden do not come under this comfortable rule. 
Before you sow any seeds from foreign countries, you 
ought to ask the advice of the nearest gardener as to 
their merits : a great deal of time and room is often 
taken up with such seeds, that would be better spent 
on old-established good kinds, that are to be had 
easily and in abundance at home. A plant is not at 
all the worse for being old, if it is really a good sort ; 
and novelty can never compensate the want of fine 
bloom in a new plant. Without attempting to name 
particular plants of which seed may be sown in 
March, it will be better to lay down a few simple 
rules for seedlings in general. 

Raising Seedlings. — Seed-pots should be perfectly 
clean ; and they require at least three times the 
quantity of drainage that would do for an ordinary 
plant. The reason is, that young seedlings are very 
impatient of too much wet or damp, and if the water 
does not pass off quickly through the drainage, it will 
soon turn the earth sour ; for the tiny roots of seed- 
lings cannot take up much of it. Coal-ashes make 
the best drainers for seed-pots, though not well 
suited for all plants. Small pots are better than 
large ones for seeds ; and, whatever the size, one-thnd 
of it should be filled up with drainers. No dead 
vegetable matter, such as leaf-mould, should be used 
in the seed compost for tender or delicate plants. Of 
course, cockscombs, balsams, orange gom'ds, and the 
like, may be said to be tender in regard to tempera- 
ture, but they are not so in respect to constitution, 
and sifted leaf-mould would be very good to sow 
them in. It is those of a delicate habit that require 
poor sandy soil to raise them in. Seeds that are 
very small will only require to be covered with earth ; 
and the pots for them should be watered before they 
are sown, as for calceolarias. Seeds of the sizes of 
turnip or onion seed should be covered one-eighth 
of an inch, and all above that size should have less 
sand in the compost, and be covered one-fourth of 



2J6 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



an iuch. The more uniformly damp the pots are 
kept, and the less water tliey get till the seeds are up, 
the hetter; and for tliis purpose, it is a good plan to 
place sheets of dry brown paper over a lot of seed- 
pots, till the seedlings are seen pushing up the soil, 
and then they must have light. Covering seed-pots 
is like killuig two birds with the same shot — it keeps 
the soil more uniformly damp ; and it is well known 
that seeds sprout readier in the dark ; and, although 
I have recommended a good hot-bed for them, I 
hardl}' know a gi-eenhouse-plant whose seed may not 
be reared in a good window. If it takes a longer 
time that way, it often is the safest plan after all, for 
the air is always more pure for them that waj'. 

Auotlier very good way of raising seedlings, is to 
sow the seeds in pots in which jjlants are growing, 
scattering them very thinly, and leaving a little part 
without seeds ; to give the watering over that 
part so as not to disturb the seeds ; aud the spare 
part might be marked off with two little pegs, 
so that you would not forget where the seeds were, in 
case the pots were turned round. I once knew an 
old gardener — a very honest man, as all gardeners 
are, or should be — and he made a regidar practice of 
stin'ing the sm'faoe-soil of all his pots about this 
time, and then scattered several kinds of seeds over 
them. His capsicums, tomatoes, and, indeed, many 
of the common kinds of plants, he used to get up 
that way ; and his philosophy was better than his 
practice in this respect, for he used to say that any 
packet of seeds contained some which would produce 
stronger plants than the rest, and that by sowing 
them in this rough manner the strongest ones would 
only succeed, and these were always easier to manage 
afterwards, just as is the case with self-sown seeds in 
the borders. He even went so far as to assert, that 
the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms would 
have dwindled do^^ii to mere abortions, had it not 
been for a wise law of nature, which ordained that 
each strongest of its kind would take the lead and 
keep down the weakest ; and I dare say he was not 
far wrong. Now these sorts of anecdotes are never 
out of place when we are giving long details of 
minute practice — if only on the principle that " all 
work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy ; " there- 
fore, to relieve this subject, I shall introduce another 
one without any apology, and very likely it will be 
new to most of my readers. 

That gifted young lady. Mademoiselle Jenny Lind, 
who is making such praiseworthj* use of the gi'eat 
talent entrusted to her care from above, is as fond of 
plants, and her garden, as any of our readers can be. 
She has a villa on the west side of London, which is 
regularly furnished with pot flowers by a nursery- 
man — a friend of mine : he says he never brings her 
a lot of fresh plants without her expressing her fear 
that he is taking too much trouble about her jilants, 
and charging too little for them. How different from 
the general rule ! Poor fellow ! he was taken very 
badly with the influenza a few mouths' since, and this 
charming lady would steal away from the great world, 
and sit in his lonely chamber, as if he were the great- 
est man in London; and after her soothing consola- 
tions, and other marks of her great kindness of heart, 
when he would tell her how such and such plants 
should be managed till he got better, she would 
express herself as the party most served. I hardly 
know how this simple tale will read in print, but it 
seems to do one good to write about it ; and yet it 
hardly exceeds the kindness which has been extended 
to myself, from many of our readers ; and of which I 
would only remark, that praise, even if well-merited. 



is a species of flattery : and flattery itself is the 
shar])est weapon, in the bands of the great enemy of 
mankind, to lop oft'om- best bearing branches. 

PoTTixG. — If the weather holds up fine in March, 
such as we have experienced through the month of 
February. potti-.:g of plants may become general ; but 
it is never a good plan to begin veiy early when the 
weather is against us. All our laboui's in the 
spring, and particularly potting, should be regulated 
by the state of the weather. To do justice to plants 
that have been a long time in the same pots, all the 
looser parts of the okl ball should be carefully shook 
off, the drainage crocks picked out from among the 
roots, and, if the roots themselves appear either un- 
healthy or dried up, portions of them must also be 
removed, even at the risk of giving them a temporary 
check; so that between one thing and another, the 
plant must be somewhat crippled for a time, and if bad 
weather intervenes, it will aggravate the case; there- 
fore I am not an advocate for very early spring potting 
among amateurs. With gardeners it is veiy diiierent : 
if the weather does not suit their operations, they 
have recourse to artificial climates; but we, in our 
quiet ways, must cut our coat according to our cloth ; 
and if we make a strait-jacket of it, we shall be ham- 
pered in our movements. It is a good plan to look 
over the different ]iots a day or two before shifting the 
plants, and any of them that may ajipear dry should 
be well watered, as it will never answer to put an 
old dry ball of earth into fresh mould. The water 
could not penetrate the diy soil afterwards, but would 
pass off through the new soU, without any benefit 
to the poor starved plant; neither would it do to 
water the plant, and then pot it the same day. lu 
that case, the water could not part freely from the 
old ball, aud might endanger tlie life of a delicate 
plant. No doubt there are many plants that can 
hardly be killed by bad treatment, but it is always 
the most prudent course to keep to the safe side of a 
question. The proper nde in this instance is, that 
the old ball be as near as possible of the same degree 
of moisture as the new soil; and that degree is a non- 
desci-ipt — neither wet nor dry, but something between 
the two, for which we have no proper name. 

GER.\xit;7is. — These are among the first green- 
house plants that should be potted in March ; but 
those that are to bloom early in May are usually in 
their blooming-pots early in October. If you have 
stopped some last January, to succeed the May ones, 
after aunt Harriot's jilan, they also should have 
their final shift before the middle of the mouth ; aud 
a few more might be stopped shortly for a thml suc- 
cession, but they ought first to be potted, and have a 
fortnight or three weeks in the fresh soil, before they 
are stopped. It is a very bad plan to pot and stop 
them at the same time. Give them very rich soil 
and good drainage : broken bones in a small state is 
excellent drainage for them. Give all your gera- 
niums a slight shower with the syringe, if you have 
one, about twice a week, all through the month of 
March, if the weather is fine and sunny. Early in 
the afternoon is the best time to give this shower, 
and shut up the house directly aftei-wards. This 
treatment will not hurt any greenhouse plants in 
March and April, when they are growing fast; but on 
all these occasions open the house very early next 
morning, to let out the damp before the sun will 
steam it uj), and thus force the jilants. Thei'e is 
a wide difference between assisting aud forcing 
nature. 

Gl.\dioi.i. — With plenty of air and sun, and a 
moderate degree of moisture, these will make a rapid 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



257 



progress after once they are well in motion. My own 
latest ones will be tbi-ee inches above the ground on 
the first of March, but I potted them early in 
November. I put them in a cold pit, plunged in 
coal-ashes, with a thin layer of moss over them; and 
they have had no water since, yet the soil is dampish 
still. I ought to say, however, that the pit faces the 
north, behind a garden wall; for I want them to 
flower late, say from the middle of July to September. 
But no doubt there are thousands of them not yet 
above ground, all over the country. D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDElSr. 

Parsnips being one of the most nutritious roots of 
the earth's produce, we know of no root at all so 
wortliy of cultivation for the amateur and cottager 
who has a cow or a pig. There is not a root at all 
e<jual to it in producing fine-flavoured bacon or pork, 
aud butter, or beef; it also is a most nutritious root 
for the table, and one of the best, if not the very 
best, substitute for the potato. An immense weight 
may be produced from an acre of gi'ound, if it be well 
trenched, ridged, forked, and surfaoe-stin-ed, in order 
to get it well pulverized previously to sowing the seed. 
The sowing should be in drills, one foot apart, any 
time previously to the 21st of Mai-ch, that the 
weather may he favourable for the operation, and 
the soil ])repared in proper condition. We prefer 
the first week in March, if all matters are suitable, 
for sowing this invaluable root. Shallow hoeing, 
with Dutch hoes, between the driDs, immediately 
tlie plants can be seen- — first scarifying, raking, or 
«mall harrowing, in a light manner the drills cross- 
ways, to break the scudd, or earth's smi'ace — is the 
first operation : and then thinning out the plants as 
early as possible, at the first hoeing, to a few inches 
apart ; after which, according to the staple of the 
soil, the manure applied, and health of the plants, 
we thin them from 9 inches to 1.5 inches, but 13 
inches, or thereabouts, is our average distance. The 
parsnip delights in a good, rich, loamy soU, and also 
is fond of a good portion of mamne, trenched in and 
well incorporated deep in the soil. If the ground 
is only dug, and the manure placed shallow and in 
lumps, it is most certain to produce a large quantity 
of forked and fibrous, instead of fine, long, tapering, 
single roots. Our practice is to hoe aud surface-stir 
as often as possible, in suitable weather, until the 
surface is covered with the foliage of the parsnips. 
Any kind of soil, if well trenched and prepared as 
above described, will produce a fine crop of them. 
The varieties most esteemed, are the Guernsey and 
Hollotv-crowned. 

Leeks. — ^The London Flag-leek is a famous va- 
riety. Sowing about the first or second week in 
March will be found the proper season for seeming 
sti'ong plants by July, which is a good time for 
planting out to succeed a summer croji. Leeks 
delight in a good portion of manure, and may be 
produced of a large size. Plant them one foot apart 
each way, in a shallow trench, thrown out simDarly 
to that we have recommended in a previous num- 
ber for celery. This is an excellent plan, as it 
furnishes the ready means of watering. If a di-y 
summer and autumn occur, watering will be found 
essentially necessary. Also the earth cast out will 
be convenient for earthing them to blanch. The 
rows should be planted cross-ways of the trench. 
The application of good liquid manure will very 



much add to the size aud colour of the leek, and of 
producing it of a fine mild flavour. It is a most 
profitable root for the cottager's garden, as it is 
capable of resisting the most severe winter, and is 
at all times handy to pull fresh, for making soup, or 
leek pies, so much esteemed in some jjarts. 

Letidce. — This is a very useful vegetable for any 
garden. In the summer season good lettuces may be 
produced in a very few weeks ; and sowing a pinch of 
seed occasionally on any spot or corner of ground 
will furnish sufficient plants for putting out for jjro- 
ducing good lettuces in succession. 'Though they 
may in the height of summer, if hot weather prevails, 
start, or run to seed, rather early, yet none need be 
wasted where a pig, cow, or sheep are kept ; for either 
of which animals the lettuce is a most excellent 
article. There is an endless variety, but none to be 
more esteemed for hardiness and general purposes 
throughout the year than the old Egyptian Brown 
Cos — a lettuce always crisp in eating, and of fine 
sweet flavour. If planted on well-prepared soil, it 
will gi'ow very large. The Brighton White Cos, and 
also the Brighton Oreen Cos, are most excellent spring 
and summer lettuces; and so is the White Cos, so 
much esteemed and cultivated by the London mai'ket 
gardeners. The Cilician is also a good summer 
lettuce for stewing purjioses ; but we know of no 
better vai'iety than the Victoria Cabbage Lettuce for 
the latter purpose, it beiug a handsome, firm-hearted 
lettuce, and will stand a considerable time before 
starting for seed, a projierty so essential in the mid- 
dle of summer. The old Hammersmith Hardy Win- 
ter Cabbage lettuce is also a famous variety for 
winter and early sjiring use. We need not here 
enumerate auy more varieties, as the above well- 
proved kiuds would, with a little management, fuiv 
nish good lettuce every day in the year. Lettuces 
delight in well trenched, rich pulverized soil ; and 
hoeing and surface-stirring cannot be too often per- 
formed about them in di-y weather. Their size may 
be very much increased by liberal soakiugs of liquid 
mainne. 

PbOuiiNE WoEK. — Trench evei'y spare corner ; fork 
and surface-stir all soils already trenched, and among 
the crops. See there are no gaps left among the 
autumn-planted cabbages, lettuces, &c. Ji'lant, in suc- 
cession, caidifloicers and beans, and sow late varieties 
olpea^. See that the surface of the asparagus beds 
are lightly forked, preparing the earth's surface in a 
friable condition for the buds to push through. Sow 
full crops of onions and Horn carrots ; di"Ul-sow 
them by all means. James Bap.nes. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Seeds of Lilicm Lancifolium (Rev. G. Griffiths and An Ama- 
teur), — These, if sown this spring, might produce bulbs which would 
flower five years hence ; certainly not sooner than in four years, even 
with the best management ; and they might not bloom for even seven 
years. The experiment is hardly worth trying, since small bulbs of 
this flower can be had for a shilling or eighteen-pence. 

Zeis Seeds (Ibid). — The seeds of all irises should be sown as soon 
as they are ripe, or any time in the autumn, preser^^ed in a cold frame 
through the winter, and they will come up in the spring. When not 
sown till the spring, they generally take twelve months to vegetate ; 
perhaps a sliglit hotbed would accelerate their germination. As to 
their treatment, that depends on what kind of iris they are. The 
Spanish iris (Xiphium), and the English iris (Xiphioides), are the 
two sorts generally grown from seeds. They are bulbous plants, and 
sport into endless varieties from seeds ; and the difi'erent varieties are 
increased from offsets of the bulbs, like the crocus. In dry light soil 
they are tjuite hardy, and should be taken up every third or fourth 
year, divided and replanted again immediately, setting them three 
inches deep. They are most beautiful plants, and flower in June. 

Heating a Pit (A. S., Gateshead). — Your pit, 21 feet long and 
6 feet wide, is heated by a tank ; you keep half-hardy plants in it 
through the winter, and ^ow melons and cucumbers in summer. It 
has a good caat-metal boder, 18 inches long by 16 inches wide, with 



258 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



about 6 inches rise for the flow pipe and the return one at the bottom, 
and 4 inches of water in the tank. It requires a long time to raise a 
heat if not in constant use, and you used to grou' melons on the hot- 
bed well ; but now with this tank you cannot, although you grow 
good cucumbers. Ytm find by placing the soil on the flags covering 
the tank, that it gets too drj' ; and. by requiring so much watering, 
the fruit all damps off. You propose to take out the tank, and fill 
the pit with hot dung, and a small flue in the front, to warm it enough 
for keepini; plants in winter. Upon this wc have to observ'e, that 
tanks are never desirable for preserving half-hardy plants. We have 
predicted your case in "The Gardeners' Chronicle" six years since, as 
to the effects of close tanks on the roots of melons. The best gar- 
deners can hardly grow melons over a close tank ; and when they can, 
they could grow them just as well without tanks. As you have a tank, 
it is best not to disturb it. but adopt the following plan for this season, 
and let us hear from you in the autumn : — Carry a flue from the boiler 
fire as you propose; and before you make up the bed for melons move 
the slates which cover the tank, so as to leave a half-inch space be- 
tween their edges ; then lay small pieces of broken bricks or round 
pebbles along these openings, but not quite close, and cover the whole 
of the flags with two inches of rough cinder-ashes ; on the cinders 
place rough turfy soil, or if you can get moss an inch or two of it over 
the ashes would be better; the object being to prevent the soil in the 
bed mixing with the cinders, as the vapoiir from the tank rising 
between the joints of the slates is intended to fill up the spaces 
among the cinders, to give a regular moltt bottoni-hfut ; a foot or 
fifteen inches of good soil over this ought to grow melons well. We 
have grown excellent melons exactly on the same plan, barring the 
flue ; but we know there is a great economy in using the flue; and to 
counteract the dry heat caused by the flue, place three draining pipes 
of two-inch bore in the bed, one in the middle and one near each 
end, placing the lower ends directly over the open seams between the 
slates ; the warm vapour will rise through these pipes to tlie pit, and 
be very congenial to the plants ; and in dull weather, or when the 
fruit is getting ripe, you can cork the pipes with a handful of moss, 
so that you can have a dry or damp atmosphere at pleasure, and also 
a great addition to your top-heat. 

Name of Plant (H. H. //.).— From the half of the flower-head 
sent we cannot tell the name. It is something like that of an Ama- 
ranth, but in other respects it resembles that of a Sumach. Is your 
plant a shrub, or herbaceous plant? Is it hardy, or a greenhouse 
tenant ? When did it bloom ? Send us these particulars, and a leaf 
or two. 

Vermin in Pigs (A Suhscriber). — If you mean lice, rubbing the 
pigs over with Scntch snuff will effectually destroy the vermin. If 
some escape the first rubbing, a second will be effectual. Keep your 
pigs clean, and change their litter fi-equently ; you will not then have 
them thus troubled. 

Raspbekry Training (Ibid). — The best models to train the canes 
in a fan-form against a trellis, like that for espaliers. The next best 
mode is to make a hoop, about a foot across, and to fasten the canes 
fnot more than three) at equal distances round it. A stake driven 
into the ground, and tied to one side of the hoop, will keep it firm. 
Your other question does not relate to any object connected with 
The Cottage Gakdenee. 

■\A'iSTARiA AND JIagnolia (Au Amutpur, Nottingham). — These, 
though eight years old, may be moved at the end of September, when 
their o«ner has to leave the house. Great care must be taken to in- 
jure or reduce the roots as little as possible, and that they be kept 
from dn-ing by covering them thickly with wet moss. Plant them 
again as soon as possible, and cover the surface over their roots with 
niulch. If October be dry, the roots should be watered daily ; and we 
would shade the magnolia by means of a mat from the mid-day sun. 
Your apple-tree on a hill-side will not be injured by the water-pit 
made near to it. 

Fuchsia .Spectabilis (R. Hoblet/).— You will find your question 
answered at p. 24S. 

Smooth Svrface foe a Pond-bottom (C. E. W.). — Your pond 
being formed in a stitf clay, will hold water without any assistance. To 
give a smooth hard surface at the bottom and sides, cover them with 
the following mixture, putting it on when they are dry. and during 
dry weather : — two parts very dry lime in fine powder, and one part 
equally fine, dry, coal-ashes ; mix them, as bricklayers do their mor- 
tar, into a paste with boiling coal-tar. Put it on to the bottom and 
sides of the pond with a shovel, about three inches thick. The bottom 
and sides should have been made smooth before applying it. In a 
few days it will become hard. 

Compost Heap (Ibid). — This, which you made last autumn of the 
following layers, common soil, couchrgrass, soot and night-soil, and 
stable manure, will be ready for use this spring. But we fear the 
couch-grass will not be killed. Fork it out, and make it into a heap, 
with alternate layers of common salt. This will kill it, and make it 
into a capital application for your potatoes to be planted next autumn. 
Double Sweet-william f.4 Cottager). — There are thirty or 
forty varieties of this flower. The best mode of propagating them is 
by layering them in June or July. Peg down the side branches, 
giving them a slight nick with a "knife underneath the part covered 
by the soil, and give water plentifully in dry weather. The layers 
will be rooted in se^en weeks ; they may then be cut away from the 
parent plant, and potted into a light rich soil, and the pots plunged 
in a north border. They should be moved in October into some place 
where they can be sheltered from severe frost. 

Clisibkr to Cover an Ovtiiol'se (R. Smith). — By all means 
use the Irish i^7■. This is always green and ornamental. The hop 
will not flourish except in particular soils, and has to be cut down 
every autumn. 

Mancre for Roses (ii.C.S.. Cheltenham''^. — The best compost for 
your rose-beds will be a mixture of one part guano, three parts charred 
turf, one part super-phrsphate of lime, and six parts cow -dung. They 
should be thoroughly mixed, and an inch in depth spread over the 



border, and slightly pointed in early this month. The best liquid 
manure for roses is formed by mixing one pound of Peruvian guano 
in twelve gallons of water. 

Canker in Apple and Pear Trees {M. fi.).— The very fact of 
your young trees bemg planted in an old orchard, is enough to account 
for their being cankered ; but its being rather a heavy sud. and the 
leaves of the peaches blistering, shew also that another cause of canker 
is present — too much moisture. We recommend you to drain vour 
garden immediately ; and to give it a good manuring, especially your 
fruit-tree borders, with charred refuse and super-phos])hate of lime, 
(dissolved bonesl, four parts of the first, to one part of the second. 
Cutaway all the cankered branches at once. 

Prtning a Peach-tree's Roots [E. B. W.). — Do not take it 
up to do this. Dig a trench round it at about two feet from the stem, 
and cut through the roots at that distance. From this trench you 
may also get at any tap-root, by scooping the earth awav on one side, 
sn as to get quite underneath. Is your peach-tree, which you say is 
eight years old, very luxuriant? if not. we fear that root-pruning will 
not ])revent its shedding its fruit. If the tree is not luxuriant, take 
out three inches of soil, to a distance of three feet all round from the 
stem J put in two inches deep of mulch over the whole of the space 
excavated, and then return the earth over it. 

Cutting down Autum.n-bearing Raspberries (C/frints). — 
You ask, " are the young canes of last summer's formation to be ab- 
solutely cut down to the ground in April, and will yoimg canes rise 
up the same summer time enough to bear fruit in autumn ? Will 
this apply to old raspberry ground as well as to suckers recently 
planted ?" — IVIr. Barnes says. " In answer to your enquiries respect- 
ing the irntinnJi-benring raspberry, I beg to state that the canes of 
this year's growth are those which will produce the fruit in abundance 
from July to November next, */ the true autumn-bearing raspberry 
is cultivated and managed as previously directed. The same holds 
good equally with old stools as with young, or fresh plantations, but 
I could never observe the old stools of this raspberry worth cultivating 
after they were two years standmg on the ground. With other 
varieties of raspberries the case is widely difl^erent. as they are known 
to stand well, and produce abundance of fine canes and fruit for 
several years on the same spot, if judiciously pruned, trained, and 
manured. Still, we find, to keep up good and vigorous plantations 
of any variety, we do best to select a few of the strongest canes 
annually j thus planting a fresh row or two, and grubbing up an equal 
portion of those most worn out." 

Kvergreen Creepers {M. T., Glourestershire) . — Cotoneaster 
microphylla, a plant that has the peculiar habit of creeping towards 
the north; Caprifolium sempervirens {evergreen honeysuckle.' ; Vinca 
major (large periwinklej ; Vaccinium decumljcns ^railing whortle- 
berry) ; A'accinium buxifolium tbox-leaved whortlebenyj ; Polygala 
chamttbuxus (bastard box) ; Genista decumbens (trailing brobmj ; 
and Gaultheria procumbens. 

CAi\iPANULA Pyrasiidalis (An Amateur). — You do not say 
whether you have a garden or not ; we will suppose you have. This 
plant may be propagated f>y seed, but it is a tedious method, and 
requires a great deal of attention. Proceed as follows : — Fill a wide- 
mouthed pot with light sandy earth, very nearly full ; then, with a 
round flat piece of wood, or an empty flower-pot will do. press the 
earth gently down level; then sow the seed evenly all over the pot, 
rather thinly. It is very small seed, and will require some finely- 
sifted earth to cover it. It must be covered very thinly ; the tbicit- 
ness of a shilling will be enough. M'ater with a fine-rosed watering- 
pot ; and set the pot in your window, facing the morning sun : water 
whenever the surface becomes dry. If the seed is good it will soon 
come up. and will require attention in watering, or the plants will 
fog off' if kept too damp. As soon as the plants have four leaves each, 
transplant them into pots five inches diameter; five or six plants in 
each. Allow them to remain in those pots till they become nice 
stocky plants ; then, if you have a garden, make a small bed of rich 
light earth. Plant them in it, four inches apart every way. Let 
them remain in this bed till the autumn, when they will be strong 
plants ; and several of them will flower the following spring. Take 
the strongest, and pot them in a rich light soil, in pots 7i inches 
wide. The weaker plants may remain in the bed, and should they 
show^ flowers, nip off the stems, and the plants will fnrm three or four 
heads each ; and if put into twelve-inch pots the following autumn, 
will form splendid specimens. Keep those flowering plants, whether 
one or two years old. in a cold frame, sheltered from frost with mats ; 
or, if you have no frame, place them in your window in pans, and 
give moderate waterings through the winter, increasing the (juantity 
as the flower stems advance. By Cuttings. — Take these oft the old 
plants as soon as you can ; put them in five-inch pots of light sandy 
earth, three or four in a pot. If you have such a thing as some light 
silver-sand, put about one inch on the surface of the soil. This will 
help to prevent the cuttings damping off. As soon as they arc 
rooted, pot them singly into three-inch pots, or plant them out in 
your garden, as directed for the seedlings. If you have no garden to 
"plant them in, let them remain in the three-inch pots till they have 
tilled the pots with roots ; then pot them at once into their blooming- 
puts, eight-inches wide, in rich earth, and manage as dcj-cribi-d 
above for the seedlings. These plants are easy to grow, with moac- 
rate attention ; and are as handsome window plants as any. 

Early Ki.\d of Potato { J ■ A. Brcicty;.— Plant A*-h-U-avtd 
Kidneys, and London Early round. If there is any otlu^r variety 
in your neighbourhood that ripens very early, you cannot do wrong 
by planting it. 



London: Printed by Harry Wooldbidge. 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Ulafy-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish uf St. Mary Kalendar; and Pub!i>hcd by William 
Somerville Orr. at the Otfice. 147. Strand, in tlie Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— February 22nd, 1849. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



259 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M 
D 




MARCH 8—14, 1849. 


Plants dedicated to 
each day. 


Sun 
Kises. 


Sun 

Sets. 


Moon H. 
and Sets. 


Moon's 
Age. 


Clock 
bef. Sun. 


Day of 
Year. 


8 


Th 


Frog croaks. 


Ever-blooming Rose. 


33 a 6 


50 a 5 


6 12 


18 


10 59 


67 


9 


F 


Gossamer floats. 


Petticoat Daff'odi]. 


30 


52 


rises 


@ 


10 43 


68 


10 


S 


Brimstone Butterfly appears. 


3-leaved Chickweed. 


27 


54 


7 a 46 


15 


10 28 


69 


11 


Sto 


3Sun.inLent. Creeper'sspringnoteheaid. 


Cornish Heath. 


25 


55 


8 52 


16 


10 12 


70 


19, 


1\T 


Gregory. 


Spring Bulbocodium. 


23 


57 


9 56 


17 


9 55 


71 


ia 


Tn 


Peach blooms. 


Pansy. 


20 


59 


10 59 


18 


9 39 


72 


14 


W 


Peacock screams. 


Mountain Soldanella. 


18 


VI 


mom. 


19 


9 22 


73 



Gregory, named The Great, was made Pope in the year 590. He 
deserves to be remembered by every Briton, for by him was the monk 
Augustin sent to England, for the purpose of evangelizing our ances- 
tors. These are not the pages to examine religious errors ; therefore 
we need do no more than remind our readers of the gratitude due to 
the pontiff, who was instrumental in imparting to us islanders the 
tidings of salvation. May his words be abundantly prophetic — "It 
becomes such to be co-heirs with the angels in heaven." 

Phenomena of the Season.— Some of our readers, upon seeing 
the statement above, that the gossamer floats this month, may re- 
mark, that autumn is the season for its appearing; and it is quite 
true that in the autumn gossamer is most abundant ; but it is to be 
seen gliding away upon the air in this month also. It is so charac- 
teristic of autumn's arrival, that in Germany they poetically call it 
" the departing summer." It is curious to think that even men of 

Insects.— The March Moth {Ani- 
sopteryx aseulaiHa) is called Geometra 



science, in by-gone years, have thought the gossamer to be "scorched 
dew;" or, that "those great white clouds which appear in summer 
may be of the same substance." Passing by these and other errors 
we will state, for the information of such of our readers as are not 
acquainted with the fact, that the gossamer is voluntarily darted forth 
by a particular spider (Aranea obtestrh), for the purpose of being 
borne by it speedily aloft, and to a distance. Ulyriads of these little 
voyagers in the air have been taken during their passage ; and many 
naturalists have seen them throw themselves upon their backs, " spread 
their light sails," and pass away. We may also observe, in explana- 
tion of the " Peacock's scream" we have mentioned, that this does 
not refer to its ordinary cry, but, as Mr. Jenyns observes, to a pecu- 
liar note uttered only by the male bird at this time of pairing ; and 
which note, or scream, is very characteristic of the first warm weather 
occurring in early spring. 




Maech 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


1848. 


8 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Snow. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Highest 


















& lowest 


61°— 35° 


B7°— 35° 


45°— 28° 


49°— 35° 


41°— 30° 


54°— 24° 


49°— 35° 


50°— 41° 


9 


Fine. 


Showerv. 


Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showerv. 


Cloudy. 




6o°— 30° 


48°— 37>= 


38°— 24° 


58°— 34° 


45°— 32° 


56°— 27° 


42°— 22° 


53°— 36° 


10 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Showerv. 


Fine. 


Frosty. 


Showery. 




63°— 27° 


47°— 31° 


44°— 28° 


44°— 31° 


45°— 32° 


58°— 29° 


40°— 7° 


49°— 38° 


11 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Frostv. 


Fine. 


Cloudv. 


Showery. 




64°— 30° 


50°— 27° 


47°— 40° 


63°— 35° 


40°— 24° 


57°— 28° 


36°— 26° 


47°— 35° 


12 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showerv. 


Frostv. 


Cloudv- 


Fine. 


Showerv. 




67°— 31° 


58°— 40° 


50°— 32° 


47°— 31° 


4.3°— 21° 


48°— 26° 


46°— 25° 


44°— 34° 


13 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Showery. 
51°— 39° 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 




59°— 37° 


57°-37° 


52° — 13° 


47°— 32° 


25°— 13° 


47°— 25° 


44°— 36° 


14 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 


Frost. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fme. 




57°— 33° 


49° — 15° 


56°-45° 


49°— 39° 


36°— 18° 


S6°— 47° 


52°— 24° 


49°— 24° 



by some naturalists. It appears about 

the middle of the month. The females 

are wingless, as represented in the annexed drawing ; but the males have wings, and measure nearly 1^ inch across them, when fully opened. 

The fore- wings are pale, glossy, ashy-brown, A\-ith a central, broad, slightly dusky band across them, edged outwardly with a white toothed line, 

and an oblique brown line extending to the tip of the wing from the outer angle of the band next to it. The hind-wings are paler than the 

fore-wings, with a dusky central dot, and indistinct bands. The caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the horsc-chcsnut and other trees; it is green, 

with pale lines lengthwise of the body. It is to be found in June. — Humphrey's and Westwood's British Moths. 



A LOVE of one's home and a love of one's country are 
the same blessed feeling ; the golden band is identi- 
cal, only more extended in the one than in the other. 
On the existence of this feeling, deeply and generally 
in the hearts of a people, rests the best and only 
enduring strength of any national government. 

Our forefathers understood this better than we do ; 
or, at all events, they acted as if they felt and ac- 
knowledged the importance of strengthening and 
riveting on of that " golden band." They knew that 
before a thing could be loved, it must be made love- 
able ; therefore, they endeavoured to secure that the 
peasantry of England should have good and gardened 
dwellings. Many laws, now either repealed or neg- 
lected, appear in our Statute Book having that 
object solely for their aim. Among them was one 
as far back as the year 1276, in wliich, among other 
things, an enquiry was directed as to the state of all 
the cottages of England, the extent of ground at- 
tached to them, and the rents paid ; and in 1489, 
another law was passed inflicting penalties upon the 
lords of the soil, for allowing cottages to decay, and 
for not appropriating to them " convenient lands." 
This was enforced by other laws, needless to quote, 
until we come to that passed in the reign of " Good 
Queen Bess ;" which enacts, that no one shall build 
a cottage without attaching to it " four acres of 
ground at the least, to be continually occupied and 



manured therewith." Other statutes might be quoted, 
all sustaining as their object the maintenance of 
respectable cottages ; and without ofi"ering as our 
opinion that those statutes were wise, yet we applaud 
and admire, to the fullest extent, their object and 
their intention. 

If that object had been kept in view in England, 
to say nothing of the events lately and for centuries 
disgracing Ireland, wo should have had none of 
those painful details which have rendered " Dorset 
labour" a synonyme of misery and neglect. We are 
no advocates for statutes like that of Elizabeth, or 
for inquisitorial visits like those sanctioned by the 
other laws we have mentioned ; but we are advocates 
and agitators for the erection of neat, comfortable, 
well-lighted, well-drained, well- ventilated, and well- 
gardened cottages ; — such cottages as then' tenants 
may be proud of, and may take a pleasure in adoi-n- 
ing; cottages at least as comfortable as a beer-shop, 
and more profitable. If cottages were oftener such 
as we have described, their tenants would be far 
more healthy, more domestic, and more thrifty than 
they are. 

This is no mere vision of things to be wished for, 
but never to be realized; for we challenge contradic- 
tion to the assertion, that every district remarkable 
for its superior cottages, is as remarkable for supe- 
rior cottagers. We could go farther, if we chose to 



No. XXIII., Vol. I. 



2 a 



200 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



state other resiilts of our observations ; for we could 
point to adjoining parishes, where in the one the 
cottages are well-built, and the tenants respectable 
and well-to-do ; and where, in the other, the cottagers 
and their dwellings are correspondingly bad. 

Entertaining these convictions, we are glad to 
welcome such a publication as Weaver's Cottage 
Architecture.* If our space pei-mitted, we would 
extract fi-oni it a large portion of its sensible preface ; 
and especially that portion which presses upon at- 
tention, that education loses half its efficacy since, 
under the present system of building labourers' 
hovels, "the instructor of youth inculcates lessons 
of morality and habits of modesty at school, which 
an overcrowded, inconvenient, and filthy dwelling 
precludes the possibility of practising at home" — 
that " comfortless dwelling which furnishes the ale- 
house with its victims." 

The object of the work, and the way in which the 
author, with great judgment, has endeavoured to 
promote its attainment, are told in two sentences. 
He "shews that dwellings, with many modern con- 
veniences, combined with some degi-ee of picturesque 
effect, may be erected at but little greater cost than 
those uiion the old and imperfect plans hitherto 
usually adopted ;" and " his plans and designs are 
made so jjlain and distinct, that a comitry builder, 
of avei'age intelligence, may be able to work to them, 
imder the instructions of any gentleman who may 
employ him." This is literally ti-ue, and we can, 
without any reserve, recommend this veiy praise- 
worthy volume, not only to be placed on the desk of 
every landed proprietor, who, in the best sense of the 
phrase, desires " to improve his estate," but also on 
the table of the ch-awing-room ; for its extremely 
neatly -lithographed sketches ai-e pleasing to the eye ; 
the brief account of the structures, and for whom 
erected, are not devoid of interest; and we would 
have it on that table, because it would thus gain 
more attention fi"om those best of all advocates — the 
ladies of many households. 



THE FKUIT-GARDEN. 

The ApnicoT. — This is one of the most usefid and 
luscious of fruits in cultivation ; and as its proper cul- 
ture equally concerns the cottager and the amateur, 
we must endeavour to make our information con- 
cerning it fuU and complete. No tree is more profit- 
able to the cottager ; none so extensively planted 
against the house-fi'ont or end, when presenting a 
good aspect; at least, in this part of the kingdom 
(Cheshu"e). 

Some twenty years since, when the question of 
over-luxuriance in fruit-trees began to be busily 
mooted (very much, as we think, in consequence of 
a bold and solid-reasoning paper, which appeai'cd in 
Loudon's Magazine, by a Mr. R. Hiver), we could 
not help being struck with the contrast which ex- 
isted between these pampered gluttonsof our kitchen- 
gardens, and tlie lean yet fruitful apricots of the 
cottager, which had stood, it may be, for more than 
a score of years against the chimney-end of his 
house ; seldom missing a crop, and seldom requiring 
to be pruned. As for digging over their roots, that is 
out of the question ; most of the cottagers' trees 
alluded to are bound down with a stone pavement. 
What inference coidd bo di-awn fi'om such facts, 
otherwise than that gardeners over-cultivated their 
trees ; and that this over-cultivation had been in- 
duced, in the main, by the supposed necessity of 

* Hints on Cottape Architecture, by H. Weaver, Architect. Pub- 
lished by H. Pope, Budge-row, London. 



growing vegetables on the borders which ouglit to 
be appropriated to the roots of the ti'ees ? Kot only 
were a host of luxuriant shoots engendered, which 
had to be cut away, but also a serious inequality in 
point of strength of the shoots produced ; to which, 
we do think, may principally be imputed tlie dying 
away of whole shoots, to which both the apricot and 
the red cm'rant are equally liable, when they have 
originally been planted in veiy rich soil. Another 
consideration comes in question, as afl'ected by the 
over-luxuriance of fruit-trees, viz., how far it affects 
the " setting," or, in more scientific language, the 
impregnation of the blossom ? We have taken much 
pains, for many yeai's, to investigate these things; 
and we have very fi-equently found the blossom pro- 
duced by gi-oss apricot-trees, either totally deficient 
in the female organ of fructification, known by the 
name of the pistil, or tlie same partially existing, 
but in a much debilitated state. This is, probably, 
neither more nor less than what our learned bota- 
nists term a raorjihological case, in whicli the pistil 
has become transformed, or merged, into the corolla 
or blossom part; for we have very frequently foimd 
a kind of monstrosity in that part on such occasions. 
Be that as it may, barrenness is now very geuarally 
known to be one result of over-luxuriance ; and we, 
therefore, beg to warn om- apricot cidtivators on this 
head. We wiU now ofler a descriptive list of kinds ; 
and then make some remarks on soil and general 
cultin-e : — 

1. Early Masculine. — End of Jidy. This is the best 
of the very early apricots, which, be it understood, 
are not the most profitable kinds. Fruit rather 
small, round, and of a yellowish colour, tinted with 
red on one side. 

2. Large Early, or Precoce. — This ripens next in 
order, and is usefid as a connecting link in tlie 
chain of the dessert. An oblong ii-uit, of a paUsh 
orange colour, with a very agreeable juice. 

3. Blenheim, or ShipUy's. — This we consider one of 
the most useful apricots in the kingdom ; for, 
although inferior in flavour to the Moorpark — as, 
indeed, which is not? — it is a much greater bearer, 
and a sure ripener. The latter is an important 
quality ; for slow ripeuers are liable to a host of 
depredators, in the shape of earwigs, wasps, bees, 
and even ordinary flies: these, piercing a little 
hole, furnish an opportunity for water to lodge ; 
and then the decay of this luscious fruit is most 
rapid. An oval fruit, middle-sized, and of a palish 
lemon colour ; ripening about the first week in 
August. 'This kind is doubtless allied to the 
celebrated Moorpai-k apricot ; possibly, a seedling 
from it. 

4. Heinshirhe. — Another of the Moorpai-k section, 
but ripens somewhat earlier. This fruit is of very 
old standing in England ; yet little, in general, is 
known about it. One thing is certain, it ripens 
safer than the Moorpark, and this is a weighty 
consideration, especially with northern horticultu- 
rists. A roundish fi-uit, somewhat flattened at the 
crown ; colom-, orange and red. 

5. Breda. — A well-known preserving fi-uit, and the 
most eligible of any in oiu' list for growing as an 
ordinary standard, or on any ti'ellis device, for 
which we should think it well adapted. 'This fniit 
is also called " Brussels " by some. It is a small 
fruit, generally of a cramped or angled appear- 
aiice ; of an orange colour, and very rich flavoured. 

0. Royal. — A good fruit, of very rich flavour, ripen- 
ingjust a little before the Moorpark. Of a large 
size, and of an orange complexion. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



261 



7. Moorparh. — This we may term the first apricot in 
the kingdom, taken altogether. It is so well 
known as to need little description from us. 
We have now given a list of all that are truly- 
essential, ia the present position of horticulture, 
whether to the amateur or the cottager. For the 
amateur who, in a small garden, has room for tlu-ee 
only, we recommend Nos. 3, 5, and 7. If four, then 
take Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7. If five, then Nos. 1, 3, -5, 6, 7. 
Four cottagers, we say Nos. 3 and 7. Above aU, we 
would recommend the " Shipley's" to the cottager, 
as being a hardier and a larger tree, and a much 
si.u'er bearer. Of course, when addressing ourselves 
to the cottager, we think of profit only; for we know 
those who make a considerable retm-n annually out 
of a single tree. 

Soil. — Apricots do not love a fluctuating character 
of soil ; whether through its innate hghtness, or dry- 
ness, or through the action of spade culture, allowing 
them to form nice young fibres at one period, only 
to be destroyed in another. A good sound loam be- 
fits them best, — o-6 which, although somewhat ad- 
hesive or greasy, wUl yet, by the action of weather, 
readily crumble to atoms. Indeed, there are few of 
our fruit-trees but will thi-ive in a soil of this 
character. Much more may be said on this head, 
but our weekly limits will not permit it ; we there- 
fore promise to return to all such matters in due 
time. The soil, of whatever kind, must be prepared 
about half a yard deep ; or, if a light soil, let it be 
two feet. Let a substratum of brick, or other im- 
perishable material, be placed below each ti-ee, 
according to our platform directions ; and see that 
the soil has some turfy matter mixed with it. As for 
manure, we prefer using a few half-rotten tree 
leaves, in the proportion of one part leaves to four 
or five parts soU. 

The Choice of Teees must be ruled by the same 
principles as those for the peach and nectarine, in 
the first instance. Like them, they may be pur- 
chased from our nurseries in the character of either 
" maiden " or " trained tree ;" and, again, the same 
criterion, as to the disposition of the shoots, the 
absence of gum, &c., must also guide the judgment. 
More must, hereafter, be said on all these points, 
some of which have a special bearing ; in the mean- 
time, we shall render more service by oftering a few 
remarks on spring pinaning, which, it will be remem- 
bered, we advised to be left until the blossom-buds 
were advanced, in order to be able to distingiush 
them with ease ; for the apricot does not suti'er so 
much loss by spring pruning as some other fruits. As 
off-hand maxims, then, we advise the same tying down 
of those young shoots wliich are eligible, precisely 
as in the case of the pear and the plum. All fore- 
right " snags," of a watery character, must be 
pruned back to natural or embryo fruit spurs, for 
such will only produce shoots of a wild character, if 
suffered to remain. No part of the principal slioots, 
which were trained originally, should be left bare, if 
any lUiely spray is at hand to tie down. Above all, 
let them have some protection from our spring 
frosts ; for no fi'uit sutlers more than the apricot 
during hard weather in spring. They are somewhat 
precocious in habit, and thus become particularly 
liable to such damage. 

The Gooseberry. — We will suppose that all the 
gooseberry and currant bushes are pnined ; and now 
the nest thing is to see if they requne top-dressing. 
It will be well for those amateurs, who have a little 
leisure time occasionally, to pay some regard to the 
visits of the Gooseberry saw-fly, caUed by om' ento- 



mologists, Nematus trimaculatus. It is scai-eely ne- 
cessary to state, that the caterpillar produced by the 
larva of this fly is a great pest in our gardens ; and 
it is not uncommon to see whole plots of both goose- 
berry and currant bushes completely stripped of 
their leaves; on which, we need scai-oely add. all de- 
pends, both as to the present and the ensuing crops, 
as also the stability of the bushes. 

Perhaps a few words on the natural history of this 
insect may not be out of place. The fly escapes 
from a cocoon (which, in general, is imbedded in the 
soil beneath the bushes,) about the end of March, or 
the early part of AprU. The female directly pro- 
ceeds to deposit her eggs along the midrib of the 
leaves. In the course of a week or two the larvte 
(caterpillars) are hatched, and great is the devastation 
produced by them in a short time. After the lapse 
of a few weeks, and when they are become nearly 
an inch in length, their seems to occur some little 
change in their character, or a crisis in their history. 
However, successive broods make their apijearance 
even until the month of October. When arrived at 
maturity, then general appearance becomes some- 
what altered, and after a sort of rest they descend 
into the soil, spinning yellowish cocoons ; fifom these 
the broods of flies spring forth in a few weeks ; but 
it must be home in mind, that another batch re- 
mains in the chrysalis state, waiting the return of 
spring, when they in their turn produce flies. 

And now for remedies against these depredators. 
The ordinary mode is, to shake the bushes and col- 
lect the caterpillars. Some persons use hellebore 
powder, which is said to be very eflicient ; others use 
foxglove, or digitalis, which, at the time the fly 
pi-evails, is abundant on our lane or road-sides. 
This is made into a strong tea by boiling it in water, 
and the bushes are watered or syringed with it. It 
is also stated, that fresh slaked-lime is completely 
destructive of the caterpiUar, if the leaf be wet at the 
time of applying it; some persons, as we have 
known, applying it as early as three o'clock on a 
dewy morning. Hunting for the flies, and searching 
for the eggs, also is practised : likewise hand-picking 
the caterpillars when very small. Prevention, how- 
ever, is allowed to be better than cure ; and we would, 
therefore, advise as a precautionary measure, the 
opening a trench one foot in depth at the extremity 
of the roots, and then scraping or shovelling the sur- 
face soil from over the roots, for nearly three inches 
in depth, into the trench, in the hopes of buijing 
and destroying the chrysalis, which probably are 
not imbedded much deeper. The paring of soil 
should be well trampled down, and the occasion may 
be seized for manuring the roots in the cu-cle or line 
excavated. Salt and soot might be used to cover the 
parings before ti'ampling them down, or other sti'ong 
matters, which are at once fatal to insect life and a 
manure to the bushes. We throw out these hints 
with a view to induce the ingenious amateiu- or ootr 
tager to try their hands still further ; as we tnist the 
time will arrive when this destructive pest will be as 
easily removed as the ordinary green-fly, by the 
fumes of tobacco ; more especially as its ravages 
very frequently dishearten the cottager, and, indeed, 
much aflect his profits. R. Erbington. 



THE FLOAVER-GAEDEN. 

Layi.n'g out SuBrRB.\N Villa Gardens. — In the 
21st number we described these gardens as they are 
generally laid out, but we would not have our readers 
run away with the idea that we think they cannot be 



263 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



improved. Gardens in such forms are generally 
doae by a builder's gardener, and the cheapest and 
simplest method of doing the job is what is mostly 
aimed at. Now, all this is decidedly wrong, and the 
occupier of the dwelling is often obliged to be at 
more than double the expense, to make his garden 
at all passable. We shall endeavour, this week, to 
give a few general principles that should be attended 
to and acted upon, in forming villa gardens, whether 
large or small. The first grand point is, to make the 
garden dry. Without this, your garden will lose half 
its compost; your trees, shrubs, and flowers, will be 
unhealthy, and stinted in growth and bloom. What- 
ever you do, then, have your garden well drained. 
Employ a man of skill and integrity, that has been 
used to the business, to do this important work for 
you. If the ground is strong wet clay, the centre 
drains, if the outlet for the water will allow it, should 
be fully three feet deep, and the cross drains to com- 
mence at their exti'cmities with two feet, and gra- 
dually slope down to the main drain. These cross 
drains, in extreme cases, should be placed within 
four yards of each other ; if the ground is not very 
wet, they may be at greater distances. In whatever 
state the garden may be, whetlier not formed at all 
or laid out ever so neatly, if imperfectly drained, this 
operation is imperatively necessary. Proceed, then, 
at once to have it done. The first expense will be the 
least, as, if it is well done, it wUl last a lifetime. 

Walks. — After the drainage is completed, and the 
ground levelled, the next grand point is the direction 
of the walks. If the garden is of small dimensions, 
the main walk should lead straight up to the entrance 
door. Nothing can be more ridiculous than to at- 
tempt a winding walk in a short distance. All 
natural paths, where the surface is level and no ob 
struction in the way, are straight. In staking out a 
walk, if the distance is short, you cannot put any- 
thing in the way without manifest impropriety ; 
therefore, in small gardens, let your main walks be 
straight. In large gardens, such as are 80 or 100 
feet in length, winding walks may be introduced 
with good eftect, but for every bend there ought to 
be a reason. . The projecting part of the bend ought 
to be planted with shrubs, pretty close to the margin, 
so that if you would attempt to go straight, those 
shrubs would prevent you. The shi-ubs, also, will 
be useful to prevent the walk, in its entire length, 
being seen at once, thus causing the garden to ap- 
pear much larger than it really is. Whenever there 
is a walk branching out of another, the three points 
should also be planted in such a manner as to con- 
ceal the turning off of the branch, and to conceal 
also the entrance to the branch walk from the win- 
dow. In such a garden as we are describing, at a 
distance fi-om the liouse, there may be introduced a 
straight walk, with an avenue of shady trees, to walk 
under in the shade, sheltered from the burning rays 
of a summer sun. This walk, in such weather, is 
cool and pleasant; and, if there is a seat or two, wiU 
be a comfortable retreat in the hot days of June, 
July, and August. It should always be remembered, 
in laying out walks in level situations, to form them 
even. The straight walk either level, or on an in- 
clined plane, and of an equal breadth the whole 
length. The winding or serpentine walk should 
have its curves of an easy graceful turn, excepting 
you have a rustic corner formed into rock-work, a 
small sheet of water, and a grotto. Here the curves 
of the walk may be more sudden, as the rock-work 
and water will be a reason to prevent the lounger 
from going straight, even for a short distance. The 



manner of forming and draining walks was described 
very full at the 200th page, to which we refer you ; 
and the subject will be continued in a future number. 
Routine M.^nagejient. — By the time this paper 
comes into our readers' hands, a week of the bluster- 
ing month of March wUl have passed over, and 
during the week following, if the weather is at all 
moderate, a good deal of work ought to be done. 
Winter shelters, used to protect plants nearly hardy, 
may now be removed, and put by, in a dry place, for 
the next season's services. Of course, reference must 
be had to the weather before this is done ; should it 
be frosty, they must be replaced during the night. 
The sooner, however, they can be dispensed with the 
better. 

Rose Pruning. — Pillar roses, and those against 
walls or trellises, must now be pruned in the manner 
before described. Should any standards or dwarfs in 
the open borders have been neglected from any 
cause, do not delay a single day longer to perform 
this necessary operation. Ample dii'ections how to 
prune all the different classes of roses are given in 
the 6th number, pages 5(5 and 57. Study these 
instructions carefully, and put them into practice, 
especially with the climbing roses. Those that have 
been planted lately had better not be pruned until 
the sap is in motion, wliich you mny easily' know by 
observing the buds. If they are swelling boldly, and 
preparing to shoot strongly, you may be sure the 
roots are drawing up food for the plant ; you may 
then safely prune, according to the foregoing direc- 
tions. It occui's frequently that roses newly planted, 
and late primed, produce late flowering plants, pro- 
longing the season of blooming of the summer-blow- 
ing roses. 

Mulching. — By this term is meant the laying 
over the roots, as far as they extend, a coating of 
littery short dung. Tliis was necessary and useful 
even to trees and shrubs planted in autumn. It 
served, during winter, to keep the fi'ost fi'om the 
roots, and encouraged them to keep on growing, and 
gathering nourishment for the buds to push forth 
strongly, when the wai-m days of spiing ai'rived. If 
it were useful to apply miuching to early planted 
things, how much more needful is it to apply it to 
late planted ones ! It serves now to keep the soil 
moist, and to pi'otect the roots from the sudden 
changes of spring weather. That laid on in autumn 
may now be removed, at least in grounds that are 
kept neat and dressy ; but the somewhat slovenly 
appearance of litter on late planted trees or shrubs 
must be borne with until they are fairly established. 
General Neatness. — All gardens that have been 
well managed in autumn — that is, that have had the 
shrubs pruned, the gi-ass edged, and the beds and 
borders dug — should now have a spring dressing. 
First, look over all the trees and shrubs, and cut off 
unsparingly all dead branches. See that all your 
stakes and their ties are right, and if not, make them 
so. Fill up any gaps in your borders if any plants 
are dead, then remove all the rubbish or litter you 
may have caused. When all this is finished, choose a 
fine morning after three or four dry days ; go out with 
your rake in hand, and a basket by you; take a deter- 
mination with you to do a good day's work, if the 
weather permit; commence raking your beds and bor- 
ders, those that are nearest to the house, beginning at 
that part of the bed or border the fai-thest from the grass 
or walk, bringing the small stones, leaves, and twigs 
(if any), with the rake, to the edge of the border. Take 
these up at once into the basket, and finish one bed 
neatly off as you go on. Lay it down as a law, like 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



263 



those of the Medes and the Persians, " that aJtereth 
not," never to leave any heaps, however small, of 
rubbish on the ground behind you. Leave your 
work, then, when you will, you leave all tidy — to use 
a comfortable old Enghsh word. Proceed fi'om day 
to day, as the weather permits, till all the beds and 
borders are put into nice spring order. 

Gkass Lawns. — After the borders are raked, pay 
attention to the state of your lawn. If any part of it 
is bare of grass, and you can procure some good 
short turf, now is a good time to obtain it. Remove 
the old turf, and sprinkle a little fresh earth on the 
surface; then lay down the new turf, packing it closely, 
to prevent the joints being visible ; beat the new 
turf well down with a turf-beater, to make it smooth 
and even. A turf-beater is a flat thick piece of heavy 
wood, with a handle three feet long — a most eiScient 
tool for the pui'pose. If you cannot jjrocure turf, 
proceed as follows : — Rake your plot over, and in the 
places that are bare of gi'ass, make a pi'etty strong 
impression with the rake-teeth, so as to leave it 
rough ; then procure a sufficient quantity of the grass- 
seed mixture mentioned at page 62 ; sow it rather 
thickly over the bare places, and then sprinkle some 
fine-sifted soil over it, just enough to cover the seed ; 
level it very gently with the rake, and when it is 
sufficiently dry, roll the whole plot over with a heavy 
roller. Nothing more is wanted but warm weather 
and gentle spring showers, with frequent rolling and 
mowing, and your lawn will soon be in excellent 
order, exhibiting that beautiful gi-een so pleasing 
and refreshing to the eye. 

FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

Of all the seasqns of the year, the pleasant cares 
of the florist are most caUed into requisition during 
the cheering season now approaching. Every class 
of these beautiful flowers are either shewing flowers 
or producing cuttings, the one to be sheltered from 
spring frosts and cold easterly winds, and the others 
to be propagated either by, division or cuttings. The 
amateur- and cottager must be on the alert, as a 
single night's neglect in protecting the auricula, 
polyanthus, and tulip, would gi-eatly injure, if not 
totally destroy, the bloom this year. In propagating 
verbenas, fuchsias, petunias, and dahlias, no time 
must now be lost, as the finely flowering of these 
lovely ornaments of the summer and autumn flower- 
garden chiefly depends upon obtaining early strong 
plants to be ready to plant out as soon as the mild 
weather arrives, to allow us to place them in their 
blooming situation. 

Dahlias. — If the directions given at page 233 
have been acted upon, some of the shoots will be 
pushing forth. Keep a good look out, and be ready 
to take oflp the cuttings as soon as they are three or 
four inches long. Have some pots ready fiUe.d to 
within one inch of the top, with light compost of 
loam, leafmould, and sand. Fill up the other inch 
with silver sand, or the purest sand you can get. 
Give a gentle watering previously to putting in the 
cuttings. This will settle the sand, making it firm, 
so as to hold tlie cuttings steadily in their place. Then 
take off the shoots, as soon as they are long enough, 
with a sharp small knife. Do not cut them off close 
to the bottom, but leave the two lowest buds to shoot 
again. If, however, you observe a great number of 
buds clustering round the present shoots, you may 
then gently puU off the forward yoimg shoots, leaving 
the others to spring forth. Smooth the bottom of 
the shoots so pulled off with your knife. Then put 
in the cuttings with a small stick, pressing the sand 



to each cutting ; place them close to the edge of the 
pot. Fill up any holes you may leave with some 
dry sand. Put the proper number to each kind as 
you go on; then give a very gentle watering, and 
plunge the cutting-pots into your hotbed, where tliey 
will soon put forth roots. T. Appleby. 



GREENHOUSE AJVD WINDOW 
GARDENING. 

I BEGIN this letter with a full conviction that our 
lady readers will not thank me for my subject to- 
day, when nothing else is thought of in the garden- 
ing way but flowers. This is a sad damper. But 
The Cottage Gardener has made such a stir 
among a new class of readers, that thousands of our 
rouglier sex have consented to incur the expense of 
erecting suitable pits to keep plants in over the 
winter ; and, as I have abeady said, the spring is 
the best time to do such woi-k, I am urged, on all 
hands, to give some directions about the best way 
of arranging and heating these pits. It is only 
natural enough, then, to suppose that I am in duty 
bound to respond to these calls. I may ask, how- 
ever, can all these gents have come forward of 
theii' own accord, and proposed all this outlay? I 
very much doubt it. Indeed, I know too well how 
these things are generally brought about, not to be 
aware that much coaxing and persuasion have been 
expended before many letters on the subject reached 
me ; therefore, having got them so far in the hu- 
mour, if we do not hit the nail at the right time, 
perhaps we may go without our pits for another 
year : besides, these letters have been couched in 
such kind and friendly terms, that they are irresist- 
able. Sam Slick would call them " soft sordur;" but 
depend upon it, if we are ill at ease with ourselves, 
or with those around us, we cannot wiite very softly. 

One of the most economical and useful pits for 
wintering small plants, that I recollect to have seen, 
goes by the name of " Fortune's Pit ;" a figure and 
description of it, as annexed, are given in the Gar- 
dener's Chronicle for 1842, page 53. 




a, stages, and back and front shelf; b. passage along the middle ; 
c, proposed bank ; d, proposed ventilators. 

" The width of the pit is nine feet ; and, as the 
sketch is drawn fi-om measurement, any one may 
easily ascertain the different proportions. 

" The two stages are made of wood, having cross 
bars, as seen at a, and upright bearers on each side 
of b. The small shelf in front is supported by a 
bracket, which also supports the hot water pipes; 
and the back shelf might be supported in the same 
manner, although, in this instance, it is formed out 
of the thickness of the back wall. The only improve- 
ment in its constiTiction is, to have a large tank in 
some convenient place in front, as at c, to receive 
the rain which falls on the roof; and also some 
wooden ventilators in the back and front waU at d, 
wliich could be opened at those times when it is not 
prudent to draw down the sashes. By having the 
door in the back wall, and the passage along the 



264 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



middle, a person can go in at any time without 
pushing down tlie sashes; and by reaching from tlie 
hack to the front, he can water or do anything else 
the plants may requii'e. 

" This pit is extremely useftil for raising seeds, or 
for growing small greenhouse plants, and keeping 
such things as verbenas, petunias, and scarlet pelar- 
goniums, for turning out into the flower-garden during 
the summer months ; or by dividing it into two 
paits by a partition, having a door in it, one half 
may be used for striking cuttings, raising seeds, or 
keeping plants which have been newly potted off, 
and the other filled with well-established plants, 
requiring more light and aii'." 

All greenhouses and pits of this description shoiild 
be built on the surface of the ground, not sunk as 
those for forcing generally are : the best aspect for 
them is due south, but south-east or south-west will 
do ; and where neither of these can be had, a west 
aspect is the next best. Indeed, an east aspect can 
hardly answer at all, as in the spring, when much 
air and moisture is needed by the plants, the cold 
easterly winds, prevalent with us at this season, 
woidd chill and i-uiu many plants. If the situation 
is at all damp, I would strongly urge the necessity of 
cutting off the damp fi-om below, as recommended 
for the greenhouse ; and also a good di'ain under the 
path, into which the surplus water from the rain- 
water tank should be discharged by a waste pipe. 

The situation of this tank is shewn by Mr. Fortune 
imdtr the front stage, but that is not the best place 
for it, as it would there interfere with the flue, and 
even \vith hot water pipes, unless placed so low as to 
be awkward to get at it : indeed, it would be incon- 
venient at all times to stoop down so low for every 
potful of water : but a good rain-water tank in a con- 
venient place, inside any plant stinaotm'e, is half the 
battle over in growing plants. When hot water 
pipes are used, the best place for the tank is at one 
end of the passage, and sufficiently high to get out 
the water without stooping, and wide enough to 
allow the largest-sized watering-pot to be used, if 
necessary, without inconvenience. The boiler, in 
that case, would be at the other end of the pit ; and 
the pipes would reach to the side of the tank at the 
front, and there return. Where a flue only is used, 
the fire-place would of coui'se be placed at one corner 
of the back wall outside ; tlie flue passing across 
the end with a gentle rise to the front wall, then on 
a level under the front shelf, and within three inches 
of the front wall, and across the other end, to a 
chimney in the corner of the back wall ; a door 
from behind should be placed at this corner, as near 
the end as the flue will allow, so as not to interfere 
much with the back shelves; therefore, the only place 
left for the tank, by this ai-rangement, is under the 
back shelf or stage. 

Here I must regret that I cannot give the difier- 
ence in price between a tank made with bricks and 
cement, and one made with Welsh slate ; b\it the 
slate one is by far the best ; and they are made so 
firm now, that they will last for ages, and they are in 
general use about London. All that I can do on 
this head is, to recommend to any one who contem- 
plates the erection of a slate tank, to write on the 
subject to Mr. Beck, of Worton Cottage, Isleworth, 
near London, who manufactui'es slate tanks very 
largely ; also plant-tubs, shelves, paths, walk-edgings, 
and many other things useful iu a garden, out of 
slate. Mr. Beck is also one of our keenest garden 
amateurs, and would, therefore, be a safe guide to con- 
sult on such matters. 



In the case of any change or removal, then slate 
tanks might be undone, and carried anywhere, like 
the sashes of a pit, where brick and cement ones can- 
not be removed. The back wall of this pit is built 
nine inches thick as far as c, where it breaks ofl" to 
four and a half, leaving a nice shelf The bottom 
of this shelf should be " headers," that is, a course of 
bricks laid across the wall, and set in the veiy best 
mortar, and very close in the joints ; or, what would 
be better, laid in cement : the reason is, to keep the 
wall from getting damp by watering the pots on the 
shelf That would be the shelf to summer the ama- 
rjdlises on. The wooden ventilators at d, in the back 
wall, should stand immediately under the wall plate, 
and be hinged into it, with a good wide ledge iu the 
frame for tlie lid to fall against, so that there would 
be no tight fitting, or anything to get out of order; 
a wooden button would fasten the lid ; and for hold- 
ing it ojien, nothing is more simple than a piece of 
wire, of the size of a pen-holder, fastened to the 
lower side of the frame with a small staple, and long 
enough to open the hd ten inches or a foot wide, and 
with a hook-end to fall into another staple in the 
lower part of the lid — all inside; or thus — when 
you wish to open the ventilator, you first turn the 
button, ojieu the lid, and place the hook-end of the 
holder in the staple, and the thing is as finn as 
Gibraltar. 

As the rafters wOl stand four feet, or thereabouts, 
apart, you may allow two feet or 30 inches in length, 
and a foot wide, for each ventilator at the back ; half 
that size wiU do for the fi'ont ones, as we always 
reckon an inch of air in the front equivalent to two 
inches at the back, in rough calculations. To open 
and shut the fi'ont ventilators, nothing is more sim- 
ple than what I mentioned for gi"eenhouse front lights ; 
and all that is said about the flue and fire-place will 
do here also; no smaller flue than that should be 
made where there is room. 

As the pit is given nine feet wide, and as it is the 
cheapest and the best way to have the rafters and the 
sashes as liglit as possible, I woidd advise that a sup- 
port should be placed under each rafter, and resting 
on the edge of the back shelf, which must be sup- 
ported from below at the same place; these supports 
to be round, and two inches in diameter. Besides 
supporting the roof very firmly, they would be 
capital to train delicate climbers to ; and by running 
a small copper wire between them, the whole length 
of the pit, and a foot or so from the glass, these 
climbers might be ti-ained a long way. A Maurandya, 
or Eocremocarpus, or Passion-flower, or indeed any 
half-hardy climber, that woidd do out against a wall 
in the summer, might be taken up and potted at the 
end of September, and trained along this wire its 
full length, without taking up more room than was 
necessary for the pots ; and no one need be told how 
handy it is in May, when we are planting out our 
store plants, to have a full-grown climber at our 
elbow, to train up at once by the side of a door or 
window ; whereas, by the ordinaiy way of planting 
little young things in such places, the half of the 
season is over before they come to anjlhing. 

!Mr. Fortune speaks of parting this pit, if neces- 
sary, into two divisions ; but that would never do. 
He is one of my personal friends, or I would not use 
this liberty with him; but he was too much accus- 
tomed to gi-ow jilauts on a large scale, and was never 
put to hard shifts, like many of us, and, therefore, 
not always the safest guide iu matters of close detail ; 
but, between us, I fully believe his pit may be made 
the best and cheapest that has ever been recom- 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



265 



mended to an amateur, and in many cases will be 
found as useful as a greenhouse. There is a large 
room for stowage below the back shelf; dry fuchsias, 
soai'let geraniums, dahlias, and many other things 
might be kept there through the winter : the little 
water that would be spilled, in watering the plants 
above them, could hardly effect them much. 

Instead of dividing off a part of this pit for propa- 
gation and nursing, by far the best plan would be 
to make a one or two-light pit at one end of it, six 
feet wide, and half that in depth : or, say a two-liglit 
brick box : the glass of the two should range on the 
same slope, so that the end rafter of the large pit 
would do for the smaU one, and the brick end would 
form one side of the smaller pit — so that this would 
be a cheap and very convenient one ; but I lay more 
stress on the arrangement, as I j)ropose to make it. 
The thing is as familial' to me as cracking nuts ; and 
I am well satisfied that in all our books and maga- 
zines on gardening, you will not meet with a better 
arrangement, or a more simple and easy one to 
manage; and, as for the dm-abUity and cheapness of 
the whole concern, I shall venture a prediction, that 
nothing to excel it in aU these points shall be 
brought forward for the next ten years ; and I am 
fuDy aware of the responsibility of the assertion. 

It will be seen below, that I have discarded the 
tank system altogether for plant culture, such as the 
generality of amateurs may be supposed to possess. 
I may say, however, that I think as highly of the 
tank system as any one, notwithstanding all the 
blunders it gave rise to. The gi-eat difficulty about 
tanks, is the almost impossibility of getting common 
bricklayers to consti-uot them properly. 

If Fortune's pit is made nine feet wide, according 
to the plan, and a small pit at one end of it, as I 
suggest, a recess of thi-ee feet wiU be left behind the 
small pit. In the angle of this recess I propose 
the fire-place to be ; and to have an open pan boiler 
over it, large enough to hold eight gallons of water. 
These boilers are cast at almost aU the iron foimderies, 
and cost fi'om 9d. to Is. per gallon. I believe, for a 
shilling per gallon, you may get one cast to order 
with two flanges ; one of which to be at the top for 
a flow-pipe of two inches diameter, and the other 
flange as near the bottom as they can get it, for a 
return pipe. The boiler is intended only to supply 
a constant and uniform bottom-heat for the small 
propagating pit, by means of a circuit of two-inch 
ii-on-pipe, under a covering of slate half-an-inch 
thick. This way of supplying bottom-heat is fully 
as good for propagation as a tank ; much cheaper, 
and ten times more simple, for it is impossible it can 
get out of order. The only question, therefore, with 
the public will be, will the slate bear- this heat ? and 
will the dry-heat so produced be as congenial to the 
plants as that from a water-tank? There is not the 
shghtest danger on either of these heads, as I shall 
presently shew. But first let us take a glance at the 
history of the tank system. 

In May, 1842, plans and sections of two contiguous 
houses, which I had heated by the tank system here 
(Shrubland Pai-k), were inserted in the Oardener's 
Chronicle ; and six weeks afterwards, a paper on the 
tank system was read before the Horticultural Society 
of London, from Mr. Rendle, nurseryman, Plymouth ; 
both of us having hit on the plan about the same time. 
Mr. R. wrote a nice book on the subject soon afterwards, 
and the thing soon spread over the country like wUd- 
fire. The nurserymen took advantage of the tank 
system for their propagating-houses, using the tanks 
with steam-tight covers ; and the gardeners applied it 



for bottom-beat for all their forcing; some using close 
covers, and others allowing a little vapom' to arise be- 
tween the joints of the slates which covered the tanks; 
and the two parties carried on a rattling cross cor- 
respondence in the papers and magazines for the 
next year or two ; and the bricklayers increased the 
confusion by leaky tanks. Cast-iron tanks were then 
substituted, also wooden ones, some of which were 
lined with lead ; then galvanized iron tanks, which 
brings down their history to the present hour. In 
all these cases, hot water was made to cu-culate in 
covered troughs or tanks, divided into two parallel 
divisions, to represent two pipes ; but in no case 
could the heat from these tanks be used for heating 
the atmosphere of a house or pit and for bottom- 
heat at the same time, because, if the tanks were 
heated so as to be sufficient for the house, they must 
needs be too hot for the pots. Bottom-heat is never 
wanted above 90 degi'ees ; and even to keep out the 
frost, an ordinary tank would require to be much 
hotter than that at the surface ; therefore, flues or 
hot water pipes must always be used where the tank 
is a medimn for bottom-heat. I wish to lay pai-ti- 
cular stress on the above explanation about top and 
bottom-heat from tanks, as thousands of pounds 
have been squandered away on tank experiments. 
To my own Iruowledge, a vei-y good new tank was 
covered with a close wooden cover this very spring; 
good mould placed on the boards, and good cucum- 
ber plants put in at once ! ! ! Of com'se no heat 
could pass through deal-boards. 

If this number of The Cottage Gaedenee had 
been in existence last December, my fiiend might 
have saved ten pounds by sim))ly reading this letter; 
for he intended to clear that sum with selling early 
cucumbers, after paying for the expense of his new 
house, which is an excellent one, with a span roof; 
for I went to see it, and prescribed the necessary 
alterations for another stai't. 

Now, I think I shall be able to make my plan more 
clear to those who know nothing of these matters, 
for that is the point that I have been aiming at by 
this digression. It will be plain enough, therefore, 
that, if bottom-heat is quite regular aU over a hot-bed 
(and seeing that, for the pm-poses of propagation, the 
bottom of that bed may he hermetically closed with- 
out in any way diminishing its usefulness, but rather 
the contrary) — it does not signify in the least degree 
how that heat is supplied — a diy-baked flue would be 
just as good as an open tank of water under a sealed 
slate covering; as the eft'ect of diy or moist heat 
woidd be the same after the heat passed through the 
slate. But would the flue be as effectual as the 
tank? It would not, because the flue would be 
hottest at one end, whereas the tank would give the 
heat unifonn, or nearly so — besides the inconveni- 
ence of getting it cleaned ; therefore, a tank is better 
for bottom-heat than a flue ; but any other mode that 
will supply bottom-beat uniformly, and with as little 
trouble and risk as a tank, wiU surely be as efficient 
in every respect as a tank. The question, therefore, 
is reduced to this, what is the cheapest mode to 
supply bottom-heat, which at the same time will be 
as uniform and efficient as a tank. 

I have answered this question in 1S43, but not 
quite in so simple a form ; I had no chance, how- 
ever, of proving the thing experimentally till last 
autumn, when a boiler which heated two of om- 
stoves here had worn out, and it was resolved to re- 
model the houses under a new boiler — if you will allow 
the phi-ase. The two houses were converted into one, 
and a bed in the middle, about 40 feet long and 6 feet 



266 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



wide, tbat was formerly filled with leaves or bark for 
bottom-heat, was to be heated from the new boiler in 
any way I chose. A tank was suggested ; but I said 
no, all I want is steady bottom-heat ; I have ample 
means already for moisture or damp heat when 
wanted ; tanks often leak, and sometimes sediment 
or dust gets into them, and fi-om them into the 
boiler (which in this instance is a close one, and 
cannot be cleaned out every day) ; so, if you please, 
I should prefer hot water pipes. But the diy heat 
will crack your slate coverings, "wont it?" No, if 
they are not hotter than I want for bottom-heat ; and 
I must keep that down to my own standai'd by stop- 
cocks. And sm-e enough, there they are ; and nothing 
in the world answers better. The flow-pipe is about 
sis inches below the slate, and two inches fi-om the 
earth ; the return pipe dips a little towards the bot- 
tom of the boiler, and may be a foot or so from the 
slate at one end ; the slate is an inch thick, to stand 
the weight of large pots, and is laid across the pit, 
each end resting on a course of bricks ; a pier, made 
with three or four bricks, is set under the centre of 
each slate. There is no mortar used to set the slates, 
but merely laid on dry ; and they are a quarter of an 
inch apart on the edges. Heat rises through these 
openings as well as through the slate ; and to get 
this heat diHused under the pots, a layer of rough 
cinders is laid all over the slates, two inches thick : 
then nine inches of sand to plunge pots in ; the sand 
is watered occasionally, as the heat passes through it 
readier when damp. Nothing can answer better, 
and in simplicity beats all the tanks that ever were 
thought of; for there is nothing to get out of order, 
and the pipes are a good deal cheaper than a tank of 
bricks laid in cement. 

Now, this is the sort of thing I wish to introduce 
into amateur's' gardens, for raising their seeds and 
striking then- cuttings, and for nursing all their 
little pet plants till they are strong enough to stand 
the greenhouse; two-Lnch pipes, and half-inch slate 
for a bottom, will be quite sufficient. That sized pipe 
will cost about 9d. per foot, and the slate 6d. or 7d. 
per square foot; and with an eight gallon boiler, at 
9d. per gallon, you may heat a much larger pit 
than I contemplate; and by leaving a couple of 
inches not covered at the back and front of the pit, 
heat will rise sufficiently for top use ; besides, the 
boiler being in the angle behind the bricks wiU be 
hot there more or less, and the division wall between 
the two pits will always be hot when the flue is 
going; and when heat is not requii-ed in the larger 
pit, it must be turned into a shaft over the boUer. 
All this, or any part of it, may be so modified as to 
suit any situation. D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. 

S.woTS. — A sowing of this most useful winter 
vegetable should be made about the middle of JIarch, 
and again in the first week of AprO, so that a succes- 
sion of good plants may be secured for pricking out 
when the early potatoes, peas, &c., have been cleared 
away. The hardiness of the savoy, which defies the 
severest frosts, and its excellency for the table, at a 
season when other white-hearted cabbages are scarce, 
render it one of the most useful of the winter vege- 
tables. It is also excellent food for the cow; and 
swine are remarkably fond of it. For brood sows 
and store pigs, mL\ed with a little warm pollard or 
meal, it makes a most substantial food. There are 
several varieties: — the Drumhead (excellent for 
cattle) ; the Glohe and Yellow vai-ieties ; the Green- 



curled, very dwarf; and the Sprouting, or Feather- 
stemmed. The last named, we succeeded in raising 
by crossing the dwarf Green-curled savoy with a good 
variety of Brussels sprouts, wliich has proved a very 
superb, hardy, prolific vegetable; producing a thicket 
of little firm-headed sprouts upon the stem or stalks, 
and a good-sized savoy kind of head on the summit. 
We recommend the extensive culture of the savoy 
to both amateur and cottager. T)ie dwarf curled 
Green, and the sprouting-stemmed, are the two 
varieties to which we have of late years confined 
ourselves, on account of their- hardmess and prolific- 
ness. 

SpiN.icii. — The round-leaved spinach is a good vari- 
ety for spring and summer sowing; the prickly-seeded 
and Flanders' vaiieties for winter sowing. Where 
spinach is only required in small quantities, the 
Flanders' variety will answer for botli summer and 
^vinter. All these varieties are fond of well-pulve- 
rised, rich soil, and should be sown thin in di-ills, 
from one foot to eighteen inches apart. Keep the 
rows well thinned out, and if the surface of the earth 
is kept well stirred with the hoe between the rows, a 
fine and abundant crop of leaves will be produced. 

Tetraijonla, or New Zealand spinach, is also a 
useful article where spinach is required in succession 
throughout the year. One or two plants raised in 
heat, and potted in AprO, when the ridge cuoiunbers 
are sown, and put out the first week in May, and 
treated in the same way as the ridge cucimibers, will 
produce an abimdance of healthy leaves, all through 
the summer and autumn — heat and drought exactly 
suiting this variety ; whDst the other varieties are 
troublesome to produce fine in dry hot weather, 
on account of their inclination to run to seed at an 
early period. 

Tomatoes, capsicums, chillies, sweet mai-joram, and 
sweet basil, should be sown on a gentle heat ; bumet, 
winter savory, and thyme, should be sown in any spare 
corner or border ; and new beds of tarragon, spear- 
mint or peppiermint, should be planted as soon as the 
shoots of tlie old beds have made stems above ground 
from two to three inches high, wliich may be pulled 
up : these breaking off with young fibrous shoots wiU 
ensure their gi'owth, if planted on well-pidverised soil 
six inches apart each way, in rows ; and will esta- 
blish beds of luxuriant plants in a few months. 

General Work. — Do not allow winter vegetables 
to gi-ow at random at this season, to rob the soU and 
prevent more useful summer crops from being sown 
or planted, for the sake of a few spring sproutings, 
&c. If coleworts or early cabbages are not plentiful to 
succeed such ai-ticles, they may easUy be removed and 
laid in thick by the heels in any odd corner, to produce 
sprouts till they can be spared. Full crops of carrots 
may be sown where the soU is at tlus time properly 
pulverised ; the seed should be well mixed and 
parted by the ajiplication of dry wood-ashes or 
chaiTed dust of any kind, and sown thin in drills 
one foot apart at least ; with lime slaked by exposiu-e 
to the air also drilled separate from the seed. 

CucDMBEEs AND Melons IN Frames or pits sliouH 
now be well encouraged, by maintaining a brisk, 
kindly heat. By whatever means applied, it should 
be augmented as the season advances and light in- 
creases. Caution is necessary in the application or 
admission of external air ; cold cutting draughts 
must be carefully avoided, as sudden checks lay most 
sm'ely the foundation of disease and vermin. The 
admission of external air may be softened by various 
means ; by placing strips of very thin coarse canvas, 
woollen netting, coai'se bunting, dry fei"u, heath, 



THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



267 



furze, spnice-flr, or other boughs or mats, at or near 
the aperture where the ah' is admitted. We like to 
maintain for the next fortnight, for gi'owing plants of 
either cucumbers or melons, a temperature of from 
68^ to 72° ; and for either, that is setting and 
swelling fruit, from 72° to 76°, or thereabouts. I 
need not state how necessary it is to keep up a suc- 
cession of healthy young plants of both, where there 
are means for gi-owing them after early potatoes, 
forced asparagus, &c., &c. 

Potato Dise.\se. — Those who have an idea that 
this pest is caused suddenly by atmospheric influence 
and electricity, &c., &c., as we often observe by the 
public press, and may have any suspicion that their 
crops have been affected, may convince themselves 
by now searching the base of the young shoots — 
where they may readily discover the commencement 
of this, as some would state, mysterious pest (though 
not exactly mysterious to us), by observing brown 
punctured spots, which have swelled and burst ; as 
the shoot proceeds, it puts forth young roots, is again 
attacked, swells and bursts. It is the sudden change 
of atmospheric influence afterwards which causes so 
many to suppose their potatoes to have been in the 
most perfect health up to a certain day or night, and 
then to have been suddenly struck seriously with the 
disease : these facts we have for several years been well 
acquainted with. Though this season, we are happy 
to state that, the in-door early crops have not been so 
free from disease for these four years ; but by close in- 
spection, among the crops now coming on under the 
pi'otection of mats or slight hotbeds, and among those 
in the borders or field, I find, to my sorrow, the old 
enemy ; but not, at the present time, an eighth part 
so serious as I have observed it for the last thi'ee 
years, in the month of Februaiy. It is certain that 
we shall again be visited by this serious pest ; but to 
what extent, the variation of atmosjjheric influence 
will decide. Ja:mes Babnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTOEMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 19.) 

As little delay as possible should be permitted in all 
planting operations now, as the vigour and strength 
of ti-ees and shi-ubs will be materially checked, and 
their beauty injured, by being moved when vegeta- 
tion is much advanced ; and we cannot expect that 
such mild and open weather as we have hitherto 
revelled in can continue through the ever-ungenial 
month of March. The dry, nipping winds of spring — 
so wholesome in their general efl'ects, and so merci- 
fully given to disperse noxious vapom-s and purify 
the atmosphere — are not favourable to newly-planted 
shrubs, which require moisture at their roots until 
they have seated themselves securely in their new 
residences; and water given by the hand is never 
so enriching and beneficial as that which the soil 
and clouds convey. Let everything be now done 
that has been left undone, therefore ; or else wait 
patiently until the autumn, for little good wUl arise 
from disturbing the roots late in the season. 

The hornbeam is a very useful and beautiful tree 
in gai-dens, and not much considered. There are 
some situations that might be improved, and made to 
appear more extensive than they are, by the judicious 
introduction of this tree, planted and clipped in the 
form of hedges, and allowed, at the same time, to 
grow to any height required, with more ease and 
grace than hedges usually do. I have seen a most 
beautiful pleasure-ground laid out in this way, and 



consisting only of a wood of hornbeam, through 
which straight walks were cut, crossing each other, 
and all terminating in one broad walk, which ran 
round the enclosm-e. The description sounds formal, 
but the appearance was almost perfect: the walks 
were covered with a kind of short grass, that seemed 
never to need the scythe ; the shade and shelter 
appeared to keep evei-ything in order ; and there were 
no rank weeds or luxmious briers to be seen ; all was 
neat, and close, and beautifid ; and it seemed to me 
that neither eye nor foot could tire of those verdant 
secluded walks. The ground thus planted was a 
three-cornered piece, and could not have been made 
into anything bearable without the hand of unusual 
taste; and very probably, for the first few years, it 
may have been the ridicule of the neighbourhood ; 
but now it is indeed lovely, and shews what may be 
done with a little time, a little taste, and a little 
trouble. 

Layers may now be made of roses, evergreens, &c. 
It is well to keep up a constant succession of useful 
and beautilul plants, when it can be done with so 
little trouble ; and if we do not ourselves require 
them, we shall often find neighbom's who will be 
glad to possess a few young plants. Cottagers would 
sometimes Uke to decorate their little gardens with a 
laurel, box-tree, or laurustinus ; and they cannot do 
so tmless these plants are given to them ; for the 
poor have nothing to spend upon pleasures; at least 
every penny ought to be very differently employed in 
these times of poverty and pressure. If a space in 
a lady's garden can be spai-ed for the purpose, she 
might remove the layers, when rooted, to remain till 
wanted, and there would then be a little nursery of 
stout, healthy plants, always ready for use. 

Perennials and biennials may now be planted for 
flowering this season. Among the most showy of 
these useful and beautiful tribes is the hollyhock. 
In borders, among shrubs, to screen unsightly walls, 
to fill up spaces where height is wanted, to stand 
grouped together in a conspicuous spot where 
sti-iking efiect is desirable, these tall, gay, richly- 
flowering plants are of great value ; plant, therefore, 
judiciously, as many as you can. The colours are 
bright and various. Crimson, and pink, and prim- 
rose, look lovely when clustei-ed together, with here 
and there a deep, rich, dark variety, to give tone and 
contrast to the group. They should never stand 
singly, nor should they be placed m little beds, or 
among smaller plants ; but let them enrich and beau- 
tify the back ground, and glow among evergi-eens 
and trees. Select the colours well : some are fi'ight- 
fully nondescript in hue ; but the more decided the 
colour is, the more pleasing and striking will be the 
effect. I have frequently been disgusted with holly- 
hocks ; but I know it has arisen from their being 
stuck in anywhere, without regard to situation, never 
properly staked, and left to straggle and blow about 
in wretched desolation, giving an air of wildness and 
disorder that affected the flower itself. When stand- 
ing erect, in full leaf and bloom, there is dignity and 
grace in the hollyhock. 

The scarlet lychnis is another gay autumnal 
flower. It should be planted too. The rose-campion 
is a very brilliant httle flower, and well deserves 
honom-able mention, especially as it blooms kiudly 
in my cold garden, and cheers me when many others 
refuse to blow. I love its bright blossoms and 
downy leaves, and recommend it to all who do not 
disdain the more simple treasm'cs of the border. 
Sweet-williams, rockets, campanulas, waUfiowers, 
&c., should also be planted now; pinks and carna- 



268 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



tions too. These last are generally considered so 
much as florists* flowers, that ladies sometimes feel 
fearful of attempting their cultivation, unless they 
can produce fine flowers ; hut let them not deprive 
their gardens of these fragi'ant ornaments in their 
simplest form. A large tuft of the common white 
pink, and a group of the rich and spicy clove-carna- 
tion, may stand fearlessly in any border. Nothing 
can be more fragrant, and they need little culture. 
A cottage garden sparkling with these simple but 
exquisite flowers ever delights the eye; and my 
untutored taste enjoys a rich cluster of common 
pinks and carnations far more than the rare speci- 
mens I see, treasured singly, screened first from sun 
and then from rain, too precious to be gathered, and 
too delicate to touch. I delight in looking at the 
wonders of distant climates, displayed in the stove 
and greenhouse ; they give enlarged ideas of the 
splendour and multiplicity of the works of God. 
The hand that has *' weighed the mountains in 
scales, and the hills in a balance," has moulded eveiy 
bud, and painted eveiy flower; and the rich and 
gorgeous creepers and plants of every size and shape, 
that are cherished in our hothouses, astonish and 
delight our minds, as the varied gifts of an Almighty 
Parent. Still I turn to my own simple flowers — to 
those of The Cottagk Gardener too — -and I never 
feel one wish to give them up for the brightest 
beauty the hothouse can afford. No ! let us cultivate 
the O'easures of our own dear Biitish soil, with 
thankful and contented hearts. We may, perhaps, 
see a smile on the countenance of some man of 
** science," but a rose, a honeysuckle, a clove-carna- 
tion, and a sweet pea, will, I am sure, in an instant 
soothe and silence him. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Erection of a Greenhouse {E. H. J., Gravelye). — Our corres- 
pondent wishes to know the name of acme one who will undertake to 
put him up a greenhouse, in Sussex, at a cheap rate. Our columns 
are open for an advertisement in reply. 

A Novice will find his wishes met. as much as we can, by a Calen- 
dar for the ensuing month being printed on the cover of each of the 
future parts. 

Labels {Amy), — Wooden labels painted white, and written upon 
with a lead pencil, are the cheapest at first ; but sheet-zinc is 
cheap, and we recommend the latter as much neater, far more 
durable, and accompanied by no difficulty. We shall give more 
information next week. 

Large Rouen Leek Seed {Ibid). — Has any seedsman this for 
sale? 

Size of Flowee-pots {Ibid). — When we speak of a nine-inch 
pot, or a three-inch pot, or of any other size in inches, we mean that 
that is its diameter across the mouth. Thumbs are the smallest pota 
made, and are about 14 inch in diameter. 



3-inch pots are the old 60s 

5 — — 48s 

6 — — 32s 
8 — — 24s 
9 



] 1-inch pots are the old 12s 

12 — — 83 

13 — — 6s 
15 — — 49 
18 — — 28 



Fuchsia Coccinea {Aynietis). — Our correspondent wishes to 
know where " this first of the family introduced into England can be 
obtained." We should think of any London florist. 

Index {W. R. Smith). — You are quite mistaken as to this. We 
are thinking of having half-yearly volumes, and shall give a fresh and 
uniform index for each. 

Coping of Walls (T. /f. ;i/.).— Two or three inches is a sufficient 
distance for this to project beyond the face of the wall. Much that 
we have said about the peach-tree applies to the apricot ; but you 
must be more particular in your questions before we can answer 
decidedly. 

Raspberkies {Arthur Greenhorn). — Your heavy soil will be im- 
proved for this fruit by mixing it with coal ashes. Your gardener 
is right in saying the raspberries should be planted forthwith. Cab- 
bage leaves, or any other vegetable refuse, when thoroughly decayed 
in a dry place, will form leaf-mould. Sow calceolaria seed now. 

Convolvulus Major {M. T., Glnwestershire). — To grow the 
best varieties in perfection, the seed should be sown about the middle 
of this month, in a gentle hotbed; the secdiiii-s pricked out three 
or four together in small pots, and placed in l cAd frame, or other 
shelter, to harden them for finally planting in a warm border at the 
end of May. They like a rich, light soil, and plenty of water to the 
roots in dry weather. 

Buck-wheat and Canary {Ibid). — Tlie proper time for sowing 
the first is early in May, and for the canary early in March. 



Longest Cucumber (G. M., Gateshead).— Duncan's Victoria, 
and Allen's Victory of England, have both been grown more than 
two feet long. You can get them of any London seedsman. 

Soap-boiler's Ashes (J. L., Preston). — There is not much 
good in these as a manure. They contain a iittle charcoal, less saline 
matters, and much earth. Spread it over your ground thickly, and 
dig it in, chielly to add to the staple of the soil, but thickest where 
you purpose planting potatoes. 

CupHEA Platycentba {An Amateur). — You may cut down your 
plant, taking care to leave a few young branches, with leaves on, 
towards the bottom. The cuttings you may put in pots, in the same 
manner as the cuttings of the campanula ('see p. 258), only they will 
require a bell-glass over them ; a goblet, or tumbler glass, would 
answer nearly as well. You might try a few in glass phials, in the 
manner described by Mr. Beaton, in the 20th number of this work. 

Coal-Ashes (0. /., Hampstead). — Your clay soil will be greatly 
benefitted by the application of coal-ashes, if they be thoroughly 
niLxed with it. They certainly have no tendency to promote canker 
in fruit-trees, and are not prejudicial to vegetables, if incorporated 
with the soil. Coal ashes are composed chiefly of sandy matter 
(silicia), chalk, gypsum, oxide of iron, with salts of potash, soda, and 
magnesia, most of which are beneficial to plants, and all help to 
render heavy soil more open and friable. If you drain your garden 
you will adopt one of the best preventives of canker, and one of the 
best means of securing good crops. 

To Cover A Tabbed Paling {U71 Ami, Deptford). — You cannot 
plant anything against this that will look so well all the year as Irish 
ivy. You need only put in some plants close to the fence, and about 
three feet apart, and nail them to it at first. Afterwards they will 
take care of themselves. You cannot grow anything between your 
rows of potatoes, which are 18 inches apart; but you might put a 
broad bean here and there, not nearer than two feet from each other, 
in the rows. Between your rows of peas, 30 inches apart, you might 
put a row of spinach. 

Spade Husbandry {W. T.). — You will find, we think, the pith of 
Dr. Ycllowly's statements in the British Farmer^s Magazine^ No. 4, 
New Series. 

Rhododendron Cuttings {An Enquirer). — These will not always 
succeed — it is the worst mode of propagating the rhododendron. The 
wood of the cuttings should only be half ripe. Plant them in a large 
pot, only two-thirds filled with sand, and the leaves so deep down in 
the pot that they may be covered with a sheet of glass placed over 
its mouth. Put the pot mthin a frame, or other place, where there 
is a gentle heat. Wipe the glass dry every morning, and keep the 
sand moist. If this be neglected, the cuttings alwiiys perish. Layer- 
ing is a much safer mode of propagating the rhododendron, but graft- 
ing the best of all. 

Climbers Round Tree-stems {L. B.). — At the foot of each of 
your two trees on your lawn plant two climbing roses. At the foot 
of one put Ruga and Felicite perpetuelle ; and at the foot of the 
other Inermis and Princesse Louise. Graft your crab-tree with the 
Kerry Pippin and the Lamb Abbey Pearmain. They are two of the 
beat flavoured and best keeping apples, and are good croppers. 

Lime (S. M.). — Do not mis this with your compost; it decomposes 
the ammoniacal salts contained in all dungs, and thus drives off some 
of their most valuable coaiponents. Lime mixed with tanner's spent 
bark will hasten its decay, and help to break it down into vegetable 
mould, which will be a good manure. Mix the lime and bark well 
together : one bushel of the lime to four bushels of the bark, and 
turn the heap over three or four times. 

Evergreen Roses {A Mendiponinn Subscriber). — As you wish to 
cover the sheltered east end of your house with these flowers, plant, 
close to the wall, Brunonii, reddish crimson; Felicite perpetuelle, 
and Princesse Louise ; the two last have creamy white flowers, but are 
very different in character. Very fragrant roses, suited for the border 
before your windows, are Riego, a hybrid China, carmine; Rose du 
Roi, a damask perpetual, crimson ; Prince Albert, a hybrid perpetual, 
red-lake ; Jaune Desprez, a noisette, reddish yellow. Do not be mis- 
led by the name to think '* evergreen " roses have their leaves on all 
the year ; and do not expect, with an east aspect, to have roses in 
such perfection as when they enjoy a better exposure. 

SoW-BREAD AND M ANGOLD- WUBTZEL {A Dutch Tlllip). — OuT 

correspondent says, that " Sau-brod " — for our name appears to be a 
corruption of the continental one — is sometimes called by our north- 
ern neighbours Wa/d-rubi, or Forest-root; and that Mmigel-umrzet 
means "poverty, or want-root." If "A Dutch Tulip" knew the 
kind-hearted gentleman who sent us the brief comment he refers 
to. he would never have fancied, for a moment, that he wrote 
sneeringly. 

Don's Gardener's Dictionary (Cniciferts). — It is imperfect. 
Paxton's Botanical Dictionary will be of more use to you, and is 
cheaper. It is not the largest book that always has the most useful 
information in it. We will consider about the vitality of seeds. 

Super-phosphate of Lime for Roses {Art Enquirer). — You 
will have seen an answer as to the proportion of this salt you should 
use in compost. By itself, a tablespoonful sprinkled round each 
bush will be enough. 

Lancashire Pig-feeding {W. X. Gtpnde). —The statements 
relative to this subject, at p. 245, were sent to us by Mr. Saul, of 
Nutby Cottage, Garstang, Lancashire ; and we believe him to be a 
practical man. We have communicated with him on the subject, and 
wc will publish his reply. 

Many Other Questions have their answers ready, but must be 
postponed, from want of room, until nest week. 

London : Printed by Harby Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 

Parish of Saint Mary-le- Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
SoMERviLLE Orr, at the Office, 14", Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— March 8th, I849. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



209 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



M 


w 


D 


D 


15 


Th 


16 


F 


17 


S 


18 


Son 


19 


M 


20 


Tu 


21 


W 



MARCH 15—21, 1849. 



Red Ant appears. 

Frog spawns. [heard. 

St. Patrick. Pied Wagtail's spring note 
/ 4 OR Mid. S. Prs. Louisa born 1848. 
\ Edward K. W. Saxons. 

Black Currant leaves. 
Linn. &. Hort. Soc. Meet. 

Benedict. Snn's declin. 0° 19' N. 



Plants dedicated to 


Sun 


Sun 


Moon R. 


Moon's 


Clock 


Day of 


each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


hef. Sua. 


Year. 


Coltsfoot. 


16 a 6 


aa6 








20 


9 


5 


74 


Sodding Daffodil. 


14 


4 





57 


21 


8 


47 


75 


Shamrock. 


11 


6 


1 


51 


(!T 


8 


30 


76 


Great Leopard's Bane. 


9 


7 


2 


39 


23 


8 


12 


77 


Yellow star of Bethlehem. 


7 


9 


3 


23 


24 


7 


54 


78 


Dog Violet. 


5 


11 


4 


2 


25 


7 


36 


79 


Bulbous Fumitory. 


8 


12 


4 


37 


26 


7 


18 


80 



St. Patrick, the tutelar sjdnt of Ireland, was by birth either a 
Welchman or a Scotchman ; but being seized and carried into slavery 
by some Irish chieftain, he by that means became acquainted with 
the ignorance and heathenism of " the green island." Escaping by 
the aid of certain sailors, he was by them landed in France, and thence 
travelling into Italy, he was admitted into holy orders by Pope Celes- 
tine about the year 430. He was commanded to evangelize Ireland, 
and no man ever addressed himself more earnestly or unwearyingly 
to his allotted work. He ordained clergy, preached in every district, 
founded schools, and was charitable even beyond his means. He died 
on this day about the year 464. The legend accounting for the sham- 
rock being worn on this day is, that when St. Patrick could not make 
the Irish believe in the unity of the Trinity, he plucked a sprig of 
shamrock, and won their assent by asking — " Is not the unity of the 
Trinity as possible as for these three leaflets to be united on one 
stem ?" It is usually believed that the trefoil or clover is the sham- 
rock, but we rather incline to consider it identical with the wood- 
sorrel. This is gratefully acid and eatable, but that is not the case 
with trefoil; yet Spencer, writing in 1596, says, when the Irish 
" found shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time." 

Edward, King of the West Saxons, was stabbed on this day, 
in the year 978, at Corfe Castle, in Dorsetshire. The murder was 
perpetrated by command of his step-mother, but her " sin found her 
out" whithersoever she fled; "her days brought a aeries of mental 
horrors, and her nights were more fearful than her waking hours." 

St. Bennet, or Benedict, was an Italian ecclesiastic of great 
austerity, chiefly famous for founding the order of Benedictine Monks. 
He died in the year 543. 



Phenomena of the Season.— Resuming our notes upon the cir- 
cumstances attendant upon the germination or sprouting of seeds, 
and having shewn how essential for this are warmth and moisture, we 
will now proceed to shew how equally necessary is the presence of air. 
No seed will germinate if so enclosed that the air, or at least one of 
its gases, oxygen, cannot get to it. When healthy seed is moistened 
and exposed in a suitable temperature to atmospheric air, it absorbs 
from it the oxygen only. This power of separating one gas from the 
others appears to reside in the skin of the seed, for old seeds lose the 
power of absorbing the oxygen, and, consec^uently, of germinating ; 
yet they will frequently germinate if soaked in a solution of chlorine 
in water;* chlorine being a gas which has the power of attracting 
hydrogen from water, and releasing the oxygen, doing so in the case 
of seeds within their skin, as well as withoutside. Humboldt and 
Saussure have also shei,vn that the application of chlorine to seed 
accelerates its germination ; and cress seed, which, under ordinary 
circumstances, requires some days to complete the process, they 
found effected it in no more than three hours, when moistened mth 
chlorine. This absolute necessity for the presence of oxygen is the 
reason why seeds will not germinate if buried beyond a certain dis- 
tance from the earth's surface ; and why clayey soils often fail of 
having a good plant, an impervious coat of clay enveloping the seed, 
and preventing the air's access. How oxygen operates in aiding the 
seed to develop the parts of the embryo plant we cannot even guess 
— we only know that most seeds have more carbon (pure charcoal) in 
their composition than other parts of their parent plant ; that the 
oxygen absorbed by the seeds combines with a portion of that carbon, 
and is emitted in the form of carbonic acid. These are the attendant 
phenomena ; but we can penetrate the mystery no farther. 




March 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1846. 


1846. 


1847. 


1848. 


15 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Frost. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Highest 


















& lowest 


66°— 30° 


64°— 46° 


65° — 15° 


63°— 30° 


36°— 27° 


57°— 15° 


58°— 34° 


52°— 30° 


temp. 


















16 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Snow. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Rain. 




65°— 35° 


56°— 44° 


57°— 29° 


53°_38° 


34°— 19° 


55°— 31° 


59°— 12° 


44°— 36° 


17 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Frost. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Rain. 




56°— 41° 


56°— 43° 


64°— 31° 


44°— 30° 


42°— 16° 


48°— 26° 


61°— 26° 


42°— 36° 


18 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Pine. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Fine. 




56°— 40° 


52°— 35° 


67°— 36° 


46°— 35° 


43°— 27° 


47°— 23° 


6l°— 27° 


54°— 27° 


19 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Cloudv. 


Cloudy. 


Frosty. 


Frosty. 


Fine. 


Showery. 




54°— 34° 


46»— 40° 


55°— 41° 


51°— 36° 


44°— 25° 


47°— 23° 


59°— 37° 


6S°— 29° 


20 


Showery. 


Showery. 
48°— 38* 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Frosty. 


Snow. 


Cloudy. 


Rain. 




57°— 39° 


63°— 45° 


48°— 23° 


40°— 16° 


4j°— 20° 


67°— 41° 


53°— 30° 


21 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Showery. 




54°— 48° 


49°— 34° 


59°-47° 


60°— 31° 


49°— 31° 


46°— 35° 


69°— 26° 


50°— 25° 



Insects. — Let our readers take a candle and lantern, and look out late of an evening during the 
remainder of this month, and in April, for the Red-legged Garden weevil {Otiorhynchits tenebricosus), 
by some naturalists called a Curculio. They are found feeding upon the blossom-buds of apricots, 
nectarines, peaches, and plums. They devour the centre of those buds ; and then, if numerous, which they frequently are, and pressed for 
food, they will eat the leaf-buds, and even the bark of the young shoots. They bury themselves by day in the earth, close to the foundation of 
the wall to which the trees are trained, likewise round the stems of the trees, and, most probably, in chinks of the bricks, and other dark 
hiding-places. When recently hatched they are clothed with a delicate vellow down, formmg little irregular spots upon the elytra or wing- 
cases ;t but the spots soon disappear, when the weevils become of a shining black, inclining to a pitch-colour. The antennae or feelers are 
twelve-jointed, long, thin, and bent so as to form a knee or angle ; the feelers have a slender club at their ends, formed of four downy rusty- 
coloured wings. The thorax or breast part is sometimes of a dark chesnut colour, and covered with fine granules or bumps. The legs are of a 
reddish-browD colour. Our cut represents this insect of its natural size (five or six lines long), as well as much magnified. The larvfe, or 
maggots, of these weevils are nearly as destructive as their parents. They are buried at the foot of the fruit-tree walls, and especially in the 
earth just round the stems of the trees. This earth, and that along the foot of the wall, should be stirred with a fork in the autumn, covered 
thickly with salt, and then well soaked with ammoniacal liquor from the gas-works. Mr. Curtis, in his British Entomology, says that these 
maggots were so abundant in 1836, in Lord Eldon's garden at Encombe, in Dorsetshire, that they extended their ravages from the roots of the 
wall-fruit-trees to those of every vegetable ; as well as those of the currants, gooseberries, strawberries, and raspberries. 

* Chlorine is an unbreathable gas, obtained by pouring oil of vitriol upon common salt. This gas has the power of taking hydrogen gas 
from water, and thus producing oxygen ; for water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen united together, 
t This insect has no wings ; and the wing-cases are united together by a fine membrane. 



The insect world is much more active than is usual 
at this early period of the year. Some weeks since, 
we saw the Peacock and Sulphur Butterflies gamhol- 
ing in the sunbeams, and in a few weeks we may 
find their caterpillars — those of the first-named 
upon the leaves of the stinging-nettle, and those of 



the Sulphur Butterfly upon various species of the 
buckthom. The Skipjack Beetles (Elater sputator 
and Slater lineatusj have also been seen — those 
parents of some of our worst garden foes, the wire- 
worms ; and the young shoots of some of our China 
roses, on a south aspect in Hampsbii-e, were thickly 



No. XXIV., Vol. I. 



270 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



infested with the Green Fly (Aphis rosa) as early as 
the last week of Febniary. Now, these are all admo- 
nitions to us that we must be more than ordinarily 
watchful, and early in adopting measures to meet 
and vanquish our insect foes ; but before we pro- 
ceed to give some directions on this point, let us 
record that God has set us an example even here, 
and well illustrating Paley's observation, that "our's 
is a world of compensations." Though the Aphis 
has been pennitted to be with us thus early, equally 
unusually early in its coming has been the Lady- 
bird (Ooccinella). This friend of the horticulturist 
— this devourer of the Green Fly — was rather nu- 
merous in our garden on the 22nd of February. 

For one of the modes of getting rid of the Green 
Fly, we refer our readers to Mr. Errington's direc- 
tions under the head " Fruit G.ieden," in our this 
day's columns. It is a mode equally applicable to 
plants in stoves, greenhouses, and frames. In these, 
however, it has the disadvantage of causing much 
extra labour, by the cleaning afterwards required for 
the glass, which is sprinkled and stained, unavoid- 
ably, by the liquor employed. 

Fumigation is the remedy to destroy the Green Fly, 
the Red Spider, and the Thrips, usually adopted under 
glass stnictures ; for in these the smoke or fumes 
employed for the purpose can be confined and kept 
about the insects until it has done its work of death. 
The same may be effected, though less perfectly, with 
plants gi-owLng out of doors, if these are covered 
closely with matting down to the ground, and the 
fumigating matters are then placed underneath the 
covering. In all fumigating operations it must be 
borne ever in mind, that if carried to excess they 
wlU kiU the plants as well as the insects. This 
warning seems to be particularly necessary to enforce 
on our readers just now, since one amateur, in a let- 
ter just received, informs us that he considered fumi- 
gating with sulphur (brimstone) meant burning it, 
and confining its smoke within the hothouse. He 
has jHirchased more accurate knowledge dearly, for 
he adds, " The gi-apes had set very well, and had 
attained some size, but the leaves shewed symptoms 
of the disease we had last year. Supposing this 
disease to be caused by some insect, I thought fumi- 
gating would prove a remedy. Accordingly, we gave 
them an atmosphere of the best sulphm-ous acid ! 
It has killed every leaf and bunch ; destroying, be- 
sides, all the tender plants I had in the house. I 
have heard since of more than one person who has 
done as I did, with the same result." We certainly 
did not think this possible; however, so it is, and we 
can scarcely add more to the warning afforded to the 
above record of the error. Our con-espondent is 
quite right in stating that, by burning brimstone in 
his vinery he placed his gi-apes in an atmosphere of 
sulphurous acid; and if any one wishes to see its 
consequences upon vegetation, let him put a few green 



leaves and a red rose under a tumbler, and then put 
within it a common brimstone match previously 
lighted. The leaves will speedily have their colour 
changed to a yellowish brown, and the rose will be- 
come white. Even dead vegetable matter is violently 
acted upon by the acid thus produced ; for we all 
know that straw bonnets are bleached by shutting 
them up in a box in which some sulphur is burning. 

Sulphur fumigation is employed chiefly for the 
destruction of the Red Spider, and it is the most 
effectual remedy known at present. In the vinery, 
peachery, or other houses liable to the appearance of 
this insect, sulphur fumigations should be applied 
three or four times annually. For a house thirty 
feet long and sixteen feet wide, six ounces of flowers 
of siilphur are sufficient for one fumigation. The 
best mode of proceeding is to dissolve a lump of 
soft soap, about the size of a walnut, in warm water ; 
adding to this some clay-water, made by working a 
lump of clay in wai'm water until it becomes of the 
tliickness of thin paint, and then mixing in the 
sulphur. When aU are well blended together, apply 
the mixture, by means of a brush, upon the side of 
the flue, or over the return pipe, if hot water is used 
as the means of warming. This must have been 
previously heated. The best time to apply it is late 
in the afternoon, just previously to closing the house 
for the night. 

Tohacco Fumigation is adopted to destroy the 
Green Fly and the Thrips. The two best modes of 
proceeding we have found to be the following — the 
one being the suggestion of Mr. Mills, the excellent 
gardener of Baroness de Rothschild, and the other of 
an innkeeper at Ipswich : — 

" According to the size of the place to be fumi- 
gated," says Mr. Mills, "one or more pieces of cast 
iron, one inch thick and three inches over, are made 
red hot (pieces of old tiles, such as are used for 
covering smoke flues, would probably answer equally 
well) ; one of these is placed in a twenty-four sized 
pot, on which is put the quantity of tobacco con- 
sidered necessary to charge the structure with smoke 
sufficient to destroy insect Ufe. To fumigate an 
ordinaiy-sized eight-light house, I use three heaters, 
and thi'ee twenty-four sized pots, which I have placed 
on the front flue or walk ; one pound of strong to- 
bacco is put on the three heaters in equal parts, and 
this I find sufiicient to fill the house, so as to destroy 
all the kinds of insects that perish by fumigation. 
The system has these advantages : the tobacco is 
so quickly consumed, that the house is completely 
filled in a veiy short time, and but little smoke can 
escape before the insects are destroyed ; the pure heat 
from the iron heaters prevents injury from gas, and 
as no blowing is requu'ed there is no dust, it being 
only necessary to put the tobacco on the heaters, and 
leave the house." — Gardeners Chronicle. 

The irmkeeper's is a very simple mode of fumi- 
gating jilants, and especially adapted for those in 
frames, and under hand-glasses tiu^ied over them 
for the purpose : — 

" Dissolve a table-spoonful of saltpetre in a pint 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



271 



of water ; take pieces of the coarsest brown paper 
six inches wide and ten inches long; steep them 
thorouglily in the solution ; dry them and keep till 
wanted. To fumigate, roll one of the pieces into a 
pipe like a cigar, leaving the hollow half an inch in 
diameter, which fill with tobacco; twist one end, and 
stick it into the soil ; hght the other, and it will burn 
gradually away for an horn- or more.'' 

Tobacco smoke should not be admitted to fruit- 
trees when in bloom, nor when the fruit is ripening, 
as it imparts to them a flavour. 

Another excellent authority, Mr. Cameron, has 
given the following very useful directions how best 
to proceed in using this fumigation : — 

" If the house is not filled too rapidly with smoke, 
and is allowed to reach the glEiss without coming in 
contact with any of the plants, it then descends as it 
cools, without doing any injury. Plants fumigated 
in frames, or under hand-glasses, are most Hable to 
be injured by the heat of the smoke, if not done 
cautiously. Fohage should be perfectly dry when a 
house is fumigated, and should not be syringed till 
next morning. If plants are syringed immediately 
after fumigation, many of the aphides wiU recover 
even where they have dropped off the plants, a fact 
which any one may soon prove after fumigating a 
house." 

Several correspondents having complained that the 
ink for writing on zinc labels, of which we gave the 
recipe, washes off, we think it best to state thus 
prominently, that the fault must be theirs, for we 
know it to be indelible. The fijst thing to be done 
is to scorn- off all the oxide from the face of the zinc 
to be written upon : the best mode of doing this is 
by means of sand paper ; and the scouring should be 
continued until the zinc is quite bright : it is then 
ready for the writing. A correspondent (S. C, Pres- 
ton,) describes, as follows, the mode in which he 
brightened his zinc for labels ; and the one he in- 
closed had the name of a flower upon it, in slightiy 
raised characters, as black as printers' ink : — 

" More than two years ago I was using several 
galvanic batteries, and wrote upon some of the zinc 
for labels with ink similar to yours, but the writing 
soon washed off. It then occuned to me that the 
zinc was used as it came from the shop, and the 
writing had been upon the oxide that covered the 
surface, and not on the zinc itself. I then held 
the heads of some of the labels in one of the battery 
jars, containing sulphuric acid vei-y much diluted, 
until they were well cleaned ; shook them in a Httle 
clean water, and when di-y wrote upon them. In- 
closed is a piece of one of the labels, which has been 
exposed two years in the open air : on scraping it 
with a knife, you will find a chemical action has 
taken place between the zinc and ink, and produced 
a raised manuscript, which would probably be legible 
for ten or a dozen years. The only secret, is to have 
the zinc perfectly clean when written upon." 



in cheap abundance. A very different condition of 
affairs exists in the neighbourhood of many great 
towns, and even in some rural parishes. We have 
known the pea-sticks for a moderately-sized garden 
cost thirty s hilli ngs ; and these, we know, will be 
only in part available for a second season. 

For the pm-pose of obtaining a more durable, and, 
therefore, less expensive supporter for peas, we 
have had a kind of hurdle made, with only a top and 
bottom bar, and these bars pierced with holes, six 
inches apart, as represented in the annexed drawing, 
No. 1. To prevent confusion in this, we have only 




NuMEBOus have been the inquiries made of us for 
a substitute for pea-sticks. To the dwellers in most 
cormtry districts such an inquiry may appear very 
unnecessary ; for in these, the underwood of hazel 
plantations (the best of pea-sticks) may be obtained 



shewn one of the hurdles as pierced with holes, and 
with string passed through them, but in practice 
both are strung alike. 

Each hm-dle is five feet long, 
and three feet wide between 
the two bars; for taU-growing 
peas the width might be more. 
The upright ends are made of 
deal, and are four feet long and 
two inches square. Eight in- 
ches of the lower ends are 
charred and pointed, because 
they have to be fixed in the 
groimd. The side bars ai'e two 
inches wide and one inch thick, 
also of deal, sunk into the up- 
rights, and then nailed. The 
peas are sown in double rows, 
with a space of nine inches be- 
tween the rows. The hurdles 
are strrmg with stout wetted string, because when 
dry it becomes tighter, and rain does not slacken it 
afterwards. A hurdle is put outside of each row of 
peas, and is made steadier by being tied to the one 
next to it, and the whole made firmer by being 
united to those opposite, by pieces of wood about 
one foot long, tied as shewn at No. 2. 

The plan may not answer, or the string may re- 
quire to be put on differently, so as to support the 
peas more effectually ; but we state the experiment 
we are tiying to enable others to do the same this 
season if shey please. We pay sis shillings per 
dozen for our hurdles, unplaned; and we have 
painted them over with coal-tar. 

We are glad at being obliged to give four extra 
pages this week, for the purpose of answering our 
numerous correspondents. 




THE FEUIT-GAEDEN. 
Peaches (Dbessings for). — We hope that those 
of our readers who cultivate the peach have attended 
to spring-dressing the shoots, as advised at P- 157 of 
this work. We deem it necessary, in addition, to 
apply a Mttle sulphur at this period ; and om- prac- 
tice is, to beat up three ounces of soft-soap in a 



272 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



gallon of warm water, and thicken it with as much 
sulphur as it will carry, or nearly so. With this, by 
the aid of a bnisli, we draw a band or stripe on the 
wall between every two shoots, or, at least, up every 
vacancy, fi'om the bottom of the wall to the top ; 
taking care to apply a very broad band at the foot 
of the wall all the length. Now this, although 
appearing tedious, is soon accomplished. One man, 
in half-a-day, vriJl go through the trees of most ama- 
teurs, which, in general, do not extend beyond four 
or Ave. This treatment we have proved, for several 
years, to be an almost complete antidote against the 
red spider ; indeed, we may safely affirm that this 
destructive pest has never been worthy a consider- 
ation after carrying out this plan. 

Green Flt. — Whilst on the subject of peaches 
and nectarines, we may as well advert to the period 
of foliation (leafing) which is fast approaching. We 
mean not here to discuss the process of disbudding ; 
that must be defen-ed for a week or two ; but it is 
to the approach of another insidious enemy, which 
is at once to be dreaded and most cautiously giuu-ded 
against, viz., the Aphis, or green fly, as it is more 
commonly called, to whicli we would now draw 
attention. People often make great lamentations 
over the nakedness of their peach or nectarine trees ; 
and often we may see some long, stalky, besom-look- 
ing things called peaches, with nothing but a lettered 
label to give them significance. The idea immedi- 
ately strikes the mind, that it is scai'cely worth while 
to build such an expensive thing as a wall for the 
purjjose of producing a few terminal clusters of fi'uit. 
Now, if the manager happens to be a mere rule-of- 
thumb practitioner, people say that his proceedings 
have not been conducted on scientific principles ; if 
a bookish person, why then, of course, theory has 
I'liined his peaches. However, " wisdom is justified 
of all her children." About two summer's since, we 
were looking over some of the best gardens near the 
gi-eat metropolis; and, in the course of our trip, 
called on an old friend — a practical gardener of some 
forty yeai's' standing. Now, tliis man was, in most 
respects, a good gardener ; yet, strange to say, had 
not learned fully to recognise the immense amount of 
mischief of which the aphides are capable, as to the 
peach and nectarine. On our remarking to him that 
his peaches and nectarines were very foul, he, to our 
gi'eat astonishment, answered that it was only the 
common green fly. We coidd scarcely bring ourselves 
to believe that such an experienced person, as we knew 
him to be in most other respects, could so lightly 
esteem so powerful an enemy. For our own parts, 
we can say, that we have known several cases 
in which a fine wall of peaches and nectarines 
were so injured by the aphides in three or four days, 
that not even the most experienced gardener could 
restore them, and clothe the nakedness caused by 
this insect's devastations, without having recourse to 
budding. Now, it is pretty well known that this 
insect is sure to make its appearance, in a greater or 
less degree, at the time the young wood shoot begins 
to fully develope itself. This, then, occurs immedi- 
ately on the heels of the blossoming period. To- 
bacco, either by its smoke, or in the form of tobacco- 
water, is known to be totally destructive of this fly, 
if applied judiciously. Tobacco is somewhat expen- 
sive, and this is a misfortune for gardeners, for in 
the present imperfect state of horticulture we grieve 
to admit that nothing more efficient is known ; for 
great is the grievance of a thorough fumigation to 
the ladies of an establishment; their organ of smell, 
somehow or other, being more sensitive than that of 



the male sex. But we must give some good points 
of practice in this critical juncture. We have for 
years adopted a practice of applying tobacco-water 
the moment we can discern one green fly. Half a 
pound of strong and fi-esh shag tobacco will make 
one gallon of poweiful liquor, provided some soap- 
suds, instead of water, be used. We dress our trees 
two days successively, and, to this end, we brew 
enough at first to carry out the two applications. 
The tobacco-water, then, is made with as small a 
quantum of water as can be managed; the remainder 
is made up with common soapsuds, when the liquor 
is cooled down, and strained. As to the mode of 
application, we merely choose a still afternoon, if 
possible, but, above all, a dry one, for rain would 
caiTy away some of the properties of the mixture. 
Read's syringe is the instrument touse, and it requires 
some nicety of handling to economise the liquor, and 
to dispense it equally to all parts of the ti-ees, taking 
care that the shoots near the collar ai-e well soaked, 
for the fly is generally most injiu-ious here ; and this 
point, the collar, constitutes, as it were, a niu-sery of 
succession gi-owths, whereby the fabric of the tree, in 
case of damage, is repah'ed. The liquor, then, is 
darted right and left, until every portion of the tree, 
or nearly so, is wetted ; but, as some portions will of 
necessity escape, we repeat a similar dose on the suc- 
ceeding afternoon, with equal care ; and few are the 
portions that escape by this practice, as we have 
proved by many years' experience. 

This, then, with the sulphur mixture previously 
described, will secure any peach and nectarine trees 
from their two greatest enemies, during a whole 
summer. It must not be inferred, that these things 
are of necessity very tedious, — the tedium will be 
found principally in om' long detail ; but we were 
unwilling to leave any point open to misconception 
on a subject of such great interest to thousands as 
well as ourselves. 

Apricots. — We trust that every protection has 
been aftbrded to the apricot blossom, as well as to 
that of the peach. It is now high time that all 
pruning of this valuable fruit (which had not been 
comjjleted on account of the difficulty of distinguish- 
ing the blossom-buds) should be completed. We 
find it the only permanent plan to tie down on the 
main shoots all short-jointed young wood, instead of 
the old plan of spurring hack, which is notorious 
for causing barrenness in the end. On examining 
the older shoots of the apricot at this period, with a 
searching eye, small circular patches of eggs, about 
as large as the middle section of a mariow-fat pea 
cut in two, may be found. These, we have always 
understood, are the eggs of that most destructive 
caterpOlar, which gathers the apricot leaves in 
bunches to form a shelter, and thence commits great 
devastations, doing more injury to the apricot, pro- 
bably, than all other causes together. Everybody 
must be familiar with this cateiiiillar ; and we advise 
the trees to be closely searched directly, and the eggs 
crushed. They ai-e of a whitish cast, about the 
colour of the materials of a wasp's nest ; and they 
look precisely as if they had been pasted on. 

DouBLE-BEARiNo RASPBERRIES. — Thoso who have 
not spring-dressed this useful autumn fruit should 
do so forthwith. Such dressing consists in weeding 
or spudding out all superfluous suckers which are 
spreading too far from the original stool, taking away 
all the weakest. Indeed, a couple of strong shoots 
are enough for this kind ; for as these have to be cut 
dosvn witliin about fom' inches of the ground, each 
will produce a strong sucker or more ; and out of 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



273 



these suckers, in May, about a couple of the strong- 
est must be selected to produce the autiunnal crop. 
Of this course we shall speak in due time. They 
should receive a slight top-dressing as soon as the 
pruning is completed. 

Strawberries. — Those who have not yet dressed 
their strawberry-beds must immediately do so, out- 
ting away aU dead or decaying leaves, in order to 
permit the new crown to develop itself in freedom. 
Any weeds which may have become mixed up 
with the crown should be carefully cut out with 
an old knife ; and aU waste runners which may 
have escaped last season's operations must be 
cleared away. If weeds exist between the rows, let 
them be hoed and raked off; but on no account 
dig between them. This is always wrong in spring, 
and but a doubtful operation, at the best, in the 
autumn. Our plan is, after thoroughly cleaning 
them, to give a good dressing, two inches in thick- 
ness, of half-decayed leaves between the rows ; and 
if the plants are rather wealdy, some soot wUl be of 
great benefit : this might be strewn among the leafy 
material previously to application ; and the mass 
turned and broken thoroughly. 

Alpine Strawberry. — Some prefer raising and 
treating this autumn fi-uit as an annual; for our 
parts, we think it quite as eligible to gi'ow them by the 
runner system, prorided the runners are very young, 
and receive high cultivation. An elevated bed or row 
should be selected, in a thoroughly open situation ; 
and as permanency of moistui-e is one of the great 
essentials in their cultiu'e, some old cow mamu'e 
may be incoi-porated with theii- soil. If the soil is 
sandy, it will be well to apply some sound loam also. 
They should by no means be planted too thickly, or 
the fruit wDl not be worth eatiug : much prejudice 
has been created against them in this very way. 
To have them fine, no two plants when full grown 
should touch ; they will, therefore, require to be at 
least fifteen inches apart. We plant three in a 
patch, six inches apait each way, and then allow 
half a yard between the patches. 

Apples : The American Blight. — All applications 
of a general character, that is to say, administered 
by the engine or syringe, should cease after this 
period, provided any strong materials are used in 
the liquor. We have some trees infested with this 
insect, and we have applied, by means of the syringe, 
a mixture composed of soft-soap (six ounces to the 
gallon), plenty of sulphur, and as much lime as it could 
carry, adding plenty of urine. Every chink in the 
trees appears to be filled quite fuU with the mixtm-e ; 
and having given three distinct appUcations, we 
feel flattered that these insidious enemies have all 
died in prison. We now cannot see the least vestige 
of them, but if any should accidentally peep forth, 
we shall at intervals use a little train-oil on the top 
of a narrow-pointed brush, and this we trust will 
exterminate them. 



THE FLOWEE-GARDEN. 

Laying-out Villa Gardens (continued). — Third 
principle — Appropriation. By this word is meant, in 
laying out grounds, the making use of scenery in the 
immediate neighbourhood of the garden, but not be- 
longing to it. In the country, this principle may be 
made use of to a considerable extent, with the hap- 
piest effect; especially where the villa is situated on 
rising ground. A part of the gi-ound of the garden, 
the farthest from the house, should be considerably 
raised, and a covered seat placed on it, so as to com- 



mand the best and most pleasing views. At the 
same time, the observers of such views should not 
be exposed to the gaze of neighboui-s or passers by ; 
therefore, the rising ground should be planted with 
shady trees and shrubs, leaving open only such 
points as will display the desired objects to the best 
advantage. This principle of appropriation may, in 
such happy situations as wiU admit of its use, be 
applied so as greatly to increase the attraction of the 
garden, by appropriating the surrounding scenery 
and objects to your own gratification. Bear in mind, 
also, in planting, to make the most of the views from 
the windows of the dwelling-house, as well as fi'om 
the seat on the mound; concealing, by planting, all 
unpleasant objects, and leaving opeu the views that 
are pleasant and agreeable. An old tower, the dis- 
tant village church spu-e, a peep at some man- 
sion embosomed in woods, a noble single tree, or 
a lofty moimtain, — and, above all, a view of the 
ocean, a river, or a lake. These are all objects, a view 
of which ought to be religiously preserved open as 
much as possible. The eye of true taste will never 
be weary of dwelling upon them, varying as they do 
under the different lights and shades. Some of these 
objects look best during the rising of the sun ; others 
when he is in his meridian glory ; whilst a thii-d class 
delights us most during the mild lustre of the decline 
in the heavens of that som-ce of Hght and heat. For 
ourselves, we most admire scenery bathed, as it were, 
in the beams of the setting sun, burnishing as they 
also do the mountain tops, tlie windows of the 
mansion, and throwing a refulgence over the whole 
appearance of Nature ; leading the mind to look up 
with thankfulness to that Divine Being who has 
given us such a beautiful world to Uve in. To 
realize such scenes, and to make the most of them, is 
an ai-t well worthy of yom- careful study. Observe 
them well from every point before you plant a tree, 
and arrange accordingly. 

The above observations relate chiefly to villas in 
the counti-y, far from noise and smoke. In or near 
large towns, alas ! the great object is, generally, to 
shut out all views whatever; and for a very good 
reason — because the views are too often so confined, 
blocked up, and inten-upted, tliat the eye is glad to 
rest upon the more pleasant sights at home in the 
garden. In such cases, seclusion must be the order 
of the day. Yet there are exceptions ; as, for in- 
stance, where a viUa is so situated as to command a 
view down a street, or into a square, or of a hand- 
some chui'ch. It would be unpardonable not to take 
advantage of such favourable situations. 

Fourth principle — Lawn : its extent and form. 
Though the use of a grass lawn in very small garden 
plots was objected to, on account of the trouble and 
expense of keeping it in good order, yet, in large 
gardens, it should be introduced pretty freely. The 
owner or occupier of a moderately-sized villa gai-den 
is supposed to have the means to keep his flower- 
garden and the lawn, forming the greater portion of 
it, in perfect order The extent of it depends partly 
upon the taste of the occupier and the situation of 
the garden. If the owner is pai-ticularly delighted 
with shrubs and beds of flowers, the lawn may, with 
perfect propriety, be reduced to meet that requii-ement. 
On the contrary, if he prefers a more open space, the 
breadth and length of the lawn may be extended 
with equal propriety. In both cases its extent may be 
apparently made greater, by judiciously concealing 
its extreme boundary with clumps of shrubs, beds of 
roses, or other flowers; causing it to steal away out 
of sight fi-om different points of view. To do this 



274 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



well, requii-es considerable tact and foresight in the 
designer of the plan. The foiTa of the lawn, to have 
the best effect, should be iiTCgular ; leaving the walk 
here and there, and running into and under the 
shrubbery. In other places it should be brought 
close to the walk — nay, leave it entirely to allow the 
shrubbery to jut out boldly into it ; thus breaking 
its monotony, and concealing it from the eye of those 
walking round the grounds. 

Next week we propose concluding our remarks on 
laying out villa gardens, and shall afterwards give a 
few hints on laying out cottage flower-gardens, 
whether those close to the cottage, or those in allot- 
ment gardens. We shall also give some instructions 
on the best mode of forming a gai'den for florists' 
flowers, all of which we tnist wiU be acceptable and 
useful to some of our readers. 

Haedy Annuals. — Should the weather be favourable 
— that is, warm and di-y, and you have got your beds 
and borders nicely trimmed — you may venture to sow 
some of the hardiest annuals, such as those of which 
we give a Ust below. Proceed thus to sow them : — 
With a small rake draw a portion of soil from the 
places where you intend to sow, commencing at the 
farthest side of your borders, or in the centre of the 
beds. Make as many of these hollows as you can 
conveniently reach to sow at once, without unneces- 
sarily treading upon the ground; for the less it is 
trodden upon, the better your flowers will thrive. 
For large seeds, such as sweet peas, lupines, and the 
like, make the hollows a full inch deep ; for smaller 
seeds, a quarter of an inch will be a depth sufficient. 
Having made as many hollows as you think right, 
then take two papers of the tallest annuals of different 
colours, canyiug also with you as many short pieces 
of wood as you judge there may be patches of flowers 
in the two packets of seeds. The two sorts may be 
sown near to each other. Sow of large seeds from 
four to half a dozen seeds, and of those that are 
smaller from 12 to 20 in each place. Stick one of the 
short pieces of wood in the midst of the seeds, leav- 
ing them uncovered till the whole of the tall kinds 
are sown. Then with the rake cover them in, and 
put out all footmarks, making the ground neat and 
level. Proceed then to open other hollows with the 
rake, and, if your beds and borders are not veiy 
wide indeed, you may with this second batch finish 
the sowing for this time. If yoiu' soil is heavy and 
wet (which it ought not to be, if you have been 
able and willing to follow the instructions previously 
given), you had better, for the small seed especially, 
have some light soil sifted moderately fine, and cover 
those small seeds with it. Do not forget to leave 
spaces for the half-hardy annuals you are raising in 
your frame or pit. 

Hardy annuals to be sown in March, in the open 
gi-ound : — 

1. — Such as grow from 2 to 3 feet high. 

Bartonia aurea (Golden Bartonia), orange, branching, 2 to 3 feet. 
•Clarkia elegans rosea (Rosy Elegant Clarkia), ligHpmk, branching, 
2 feet. 

Chrysanthemum, double yellow (new variety), 3 feet. 
•Larkspur, branching, blue, 2 to 3 feet. 

Lavatera, white, 3 feet. 

Lupines (large Dutch), blue, 2 to 3 feet. 
* „ rose, 2 to 3 feet. 

,, yellow, 2 feet. 

Malra Zebrina (Striped Mallow), striped blush and crimson, 2 feet. 
*Poppy Carnation, various colours, 2 feet. 

French, ditto, 2 feet, 

Persicaria, red, 4 feet. 
*Peas, Sweet, either in mixture, or the varieties may be had separate. 

2. — Such as grow 1 foot high. 

*Clarkia pulchella (pretty Clarkia), deep pink. 
-^^— ^— ^— „ alba white. 



Eutoca viscida (Clammy Eutoca), blue. 
♦Candy Tuft, purple Normandy. 

-^-^ white. 

Godetia rubicunda (Ruddy Godetia), light rose, with pink eye. 

Lindleyana (Lindley's Godetia), various colours. 

•Larkspur, dwarf. 

Leptosiphon densiflorus (Thickly-floweTed Leptosiphon), rosy lilac. 

Lupinus nanus (Dwarf Lupine), blue. 
*Nemophila insignis, deep blue. 

(Enothera, white. 

Evening Primrose, bluish, with white centre. 
•Viscaria oculata (Eyed Viscaria), pink, with dark eye. 

Burridgii (Burridge's V.), wljite. 

3. — Such as glow less than 1 foot ; to be sown in 
fi'ont of the others. 

•CoUinsia bicolor (Two-coloured C), white and lilac. 
*Kaulfussia amelloides (Amells-like K.), deep blue. 
•Leptosiphon androsaeea |Androsace-like L.), rosy lilac. 
•Convolvulus minor, new dark variety ; dark blue, white, and yellow. 

If your garden is small, choose those marked with 
a star only. Mignonette sow in quantities where- 
ever you have room. You can hardly have too much 
of this sweet favourite. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

Auriculas and Polyanthuses will now be shewing 
their trusses of flowers. Cover them well up every 
night, and keep them rather warmer during the day 
than you kept them before the trusses appeared, 
giving air only on very fine days. This will draw 
up the foliage and blooms strong. Water freely now, 
but do not wet the leaves of auriculas. 

Carnations and Picotees. — Prepare your com- 
post for potting into their blooming pots; it is time 
to perform that operation. Place the soil for them 
in some place where it will become moderately dry. 

Protection. — Take care to protect all kinds of 
florists' flowers from cold rain, sleet, and night frosts. 
We are obliged, for want of room, to omit any further 
remarks this week. T. Appleby. 



GREENHOUSE AINTD WESTDOW 
GARDENING. 

Cockscombs, Balsams, &c. — No one knows to a 
certainty, I believe, of what country the cockscomb is 
a native. In our catalogues, it is said to be a native 
of the East Indies, but real cockscombs of the vegeta- 
ble kingdom are only met with in gardens in the 
East Indies ; and it is more probable that they came 
originally ft-om China or Japan. Very likely the 
Chinese system of dwai-fing plants, and teasing them 
into strange contortions, has given rise to the pecu- 
liar-crested flattened appearance of the inflorescence, 
for which we call them cockscombs. The wild 
cockscombs have flowers like the Prince's-feathers 
and Love-lies-bleeding, — two plants that are hardy 
annuals, known everywhere, and very nearly related 
to the cockscombs. It was from such flower-heads, 
which we call pannicled spikes, that the crested form 
has been stamped on the cockscomb, either by some 
strange way of culture, or fi-om accidental mon- 
strosity, or perhaps by both. In regard to stature, 
cockscombs vary fi-om two feet high down to sL\ 
inches; and the more dwai-f they are, the more 
highly they are prized by fanciers; for, as in other 
things, there are keen fanciers of cockscombs : and 
why not? They require as much heat, attendance, 
and even skill, to flower them in perfection as the 
large Indian moth-Uke air plant, which is deservedly 
reckoned the finest plant in England ; and for which 
one of oiu' noble dukes paid one hundred pounds a 
few years' since, being then so rare that it could not 
be bought for less money. Now, the cockscomb is 
every whit as good a thing as this aii' plant, for those 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



275 



who like it. A cot, with three or four frisky rabbits 
in it, is as gi'eat a preserve in the eyes of a school- 
boy as the largest game-cover is hi the estimation 
of those of maturer age. Let no one, therefore, 
despise those beautiful and useful summer plants ; 
but let all those who possess the means set about 
their cultivation, by sowing the seeds any time 
between this and the middle of AprU ; for I have no 
gi-eat faith in the old rules, which prescribe certain 
days for particular operations. Any rich light com- 
post wiU do to sow the seeds in : but one-half rotten 
leaf-mould, with the other half equal parts of good 
garden loam and very old day cow-dung, will make a 
better compost when it is desired to bring them to an 
extraordinary size. 

If they are intended to produce the largest combs 
that high cultivation can obtain, and that in a few 
months, there is no time to be lost ; and they ought 
to receive the highest stimulus ft-om the first moment 
of then- existence. Yet very good combs can be 
reai-ed without all this trouble, a good deal depending 
on the seeds. All the gardening in the countiy will 
fail if the seeds are not of the very best sort. 
They have already reached the highest degi-ee of 
perfection, and, like many other plants under simi- 
lar conditions, they evince a strong tendency to 
degenerate. Seeds should, therefore, be saved only 
from the best flowers ; and of these we shall speak 
when they are in flower. Sow the seeds thinly in a 
small pot, and cover them slightly; place the pot 
in a sti'ong bottom-heat — a cucumber-bed wiU do ; 
and as soon as they ai-e up, keep them within a few 
inches of the glass ; the nearer they are kept to the 
glass without touching it until the flowers appear, 
the dwarfer they will be in the stems, and the wider 
across the combs. Plenty of air and a strong moist 
heat are also necessary to their full development. 
When the seedlings are two inches high, they will 
require to be most carefully parted, and to be each 
potted in very small pots in the richest compost, to 
be watered with warm water, and to be shaded from 
the sun the first three or four days, till they take a 
fresh hold : veiy little air, indeed hardly any, is 
necessary for them during these few days ; after 
that, if all has gone on well, they will stand the most 
nutritious diet in the shape of strong liquid-manure, 
wliich had better be kept in a little watering-pot, or 
bottle, inside the frame, to be always ready at the 
same temperature as the bed. 

It is found in practice that liquid-mamtre made 
by mixing three or fom- kinds together, is better 
than either alone : say pigeon or fowl-dung, cow 
and horse-dung, a handful of guano, and two 
handsful of soot — all gi-eat stimulants singly, but 
much better when mixed. Of course it is not 
necessary to get all these for one mixtm-e to 
water any plant; I only mention the articles in 
a general way, to shew that gardeners put much 
stress on a variety of diet for particular pet 
plants. A small cask for holding liquid-manure 
would be of the greatest use for many garden water- 
ings ; and if the sti'ong odoitt were kept down by a 
little sulphuric acid, as mentioned at page 189, it 
would be both more agreeable to use and richer for 
the plants. The strong pungent smell produced 
from manures is then- spirit, just as alcohol (pui-e 
spirit) is that of wine. This dung-spirit they caU 
ammonia ; and it stands to reason, if the spirit is 
retained it wiU make the manure so much the 
stronger. Therefore, they salt down this ammonia 
with the sulphuric acid, as we do the bacon with 
common salt ; and this they call fixing the ammonia. 



This is a beneficial discovery of recent date, and of 
which there is no doubt at all about the result. 
Now, liquid-manm'e, with the spirit retained in it, 
wUl make cockscombs grow as large again as if 
these were grown with rain water only. But 
here a great difficulty arises, for no one can say 
how sti'ong liquid-manure should be, because there 
is no standai'd for comparison, and some plants 
take it as strong again as others. Cockscombs 
and balsams, after once they are fi-eely gi'ow- 
ing, will take it as strong as most pot plants ; 
but, to be on the safe side, it is best to reduce the 
strength by adding one-half rain-water to it, and to 
let it first settle, so that no thick sediments get into 
the watering-pot ; and it should be of the colom- of 
weU-made coffee, which is perhaps the best criterion 
that can be given of its strength. The colouring 
matter is part of the dung used in a finely-divided 
state, and wUl add much to the richness of the soO, 
after the effect of watering is over ; and to prevent 
an accumulation of this small sediment from clog- 
ging the sou too much, the general rule is to give 
alternate waterings with plain soft water. This is a 
good rule, but, like many other good i-ules, it has been 
of late years earned rather too far, by drawing off the 
liquid-manure in a clear state, and leaving some of 
the best parts of the nourishing matter along with 
the thick sediments ; as if the cleai-est could not be 
made strong enough to IdU any plant. It is not the 
colouring matter of liquid-manure that is apt to hurt 
the roots of plants, but the essence or salts of ammo- 
nia, when in excess ; and these may be drawn off as 
clear as you please, and yet be more dangerous than 
the brown liquor. Anotlier wi-ong idea has got 
abroad on this subject, owing to some Hi-directed 
experiments, as to the capabUity of plants to take up 
oolouiing fluids by their roots. Some are of opinion 
that roots can only take up water in a clear state ; 
but there never was a greater mistake. Some plants 
have an extraordinary capacity in tliis respect, and 
wUl take up water in such a thick muddy state, as 
no one could believe who has not tried the experi- 
ment. To prove tliis, take a balsam full-grown, a 
gourd, or, indeed, any thii'sty coarse-growing plant 
in a pot, and in the height of summer withhold water 
fi'om it till the leaves will di-ain it of all its previous 
fluids, which you may know by their drooping for 
want of the necessary supply ; for it is of little use 
to ti-y to get water into a plant or vessel that is 
already full. Then give it a good dose of muddy 
water, or water colom'ed with some dye, and watch 
tin the leaves ai-e distended and quite erect — a sign 
that they are in possession of your fluid, whatever it 
may be. Now cut off a branch, and ten to one, if 
the wound will bleed at all, but it will drop fluid 
of nearly the same colour as that just given to the 
roots. This I have seen over and over again ; and, 
therefore, I am quite satisfied coloured liquid-manure 
is highly useful to plants ; and no refined philosophy 
will ever make me act, or advise others to act, 
against the evidence of my senses. So let our 
cockscombs be watered in the good old-fashioned 
style at any rate, and you need have no misgivings 
about using nothing else tiU the combs are fuU- 
gi'own. You win then have arrived as far as art can 
go with them ; and after that, plain soft water wUl do 
to keep them on their legs. 

But we have got them only in their first little 
pots yet, and just strong enough to stand the sun 
without a shade. As soon as theii' roots appear on 
the outside of the baU, they must have another 
shift immediately into the next sized pot. If their 



276 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



roots are once aUowed to mat together before they 
are shifted, they will push up thek flower-heads pre- 
maturely, and come to nothing. The grand secret 
to get them to full perfection is, never to allow them 
to suffer any check. A chill from cold water, or too 
much cold air, or to suffer from want of water, if 
only for a few hours, to stand too far from the glass, 
or their roots getting too confined, will assuredly 
prevent a full development of their crested heads, for 
which only they are admired. To guard against ac- 
cidents, therefore, it is a good plan, where there is 
room for them, to grow a lew more than you intend 
to flower, and keep the hest only. 

Balsams. — These do not require half the care 
needed for the cockscomb. If you have seeds of 
good varieties, they are as easily reared as any plant 
we have ; and in a good window as well as anywhere. 
They will come into bloom sooner in a hotbed, and 
make larger plants if grown in a warm pit till they 
come into blossom ; but there is no occasion to put 
off their growth for want of such conveniences. 
Besides, they are apt to get up weakly in a close 
warm pit ; and if the seed-pots were put into a 
cucumber-bed, they would require to be removed as 
soon as the balsams came up, or, which would be 
better, to be placed behind where the air is admitted. 
They are great feeders, and, after they are half-grown, 
wUl take rich liquid-manure three times a week ; and 
should be shifted into larger pots as soon as they fill 
their present ones : but they are not so particular in 
this respect as the cockscomb. 

Balsam seeds are of the medium size, and may be 
covered oue-fourtli of an inch thick. They will come 
up in any light rich compost, and ought to be thinly 
sown, say an incli between the seeds each way, 
otherwise the seedlings woidd be too much crowded 
before they were fit to bo potted separately into 
small pots. A kitchen window will be a good place 
to get up seedlings of many plants, after this time ; 
and the balsams will do very well that way. By 
sowing them early — that is, before the month is out — 
tliere will be full time for them to make fine plants ; 
and the slower they gi'ow at first, provided they do 
not want for nourishment, the more likely they will 
be to make good specimens. When the seedlings 
are two inches high is the time to pot them into 
single pots. The soil for the first potting ought to 
be one-half very rotten dung or leaf-mould, and the 
rest loam. At the other pollings they may have the 
dung not so rotten : and I have seen beautiful bal- 
sams and cockscombs grown in almost one-half fresh 
horse-droppings, and green turf chopped quite small 
with a spade. However, without strong heat to keep 
them fast growing, such very rich compost would he 
too strong for them. Therefore, the best way is to 
give them high feeding with liquids alter they fill 
their pots with roots. Thei'e is another way of as- 
sisting them, which would kill many plants, and 
that is, to pot them each time one inch deeper than 
they were before ; and the stem will push out fresh 
roots each time, and so feed these stronger, and take 
larger pots. Cockscombs would do the same under 
very good treatment, but they are so easily checked 
that I did not recommend it ; and it is never a safe 
plau to try experiments with plants that are of this 
ticklish nature. 

Potting Plants. — After this time, all plants that 
require it may be potted with safety. Spriug-])otting 
is done very difl'erently from summer-potting, for 
now the old soil is to be shaken off, the roots looked 
to and pruned, &c. ; whereas, in summer, we merely 



turn a plant fi-om one pot to another. But on both 
heads I shall enter more fully in my next. 

D. Be.^ton. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 

The Turnip. — Any one having a small warm 
sheltered spot to spare, may obtain early tunips 
by now sowing some of the small-grov.'ing sliort-top 
varieties ; such as the early Dutch and early Stone, 
or American Red-top, the latter being generally con- 
sidered the best, and coming on the quickest at this 
season of the year. 

For succeeding as a second crop any of the sum- 
mer crops, such as peas, beans, &c., those who have 
a pig to feed should always sow in May, on any spare 
spot of ground, a good variety of Swedish turnip, as 
a seed bed, to transplant from. It is a most valuable 
food for either jiig, bullock, or horse, particularly if 
boiled before it is given to them. There are many 
other good varieties of turnip for those who have 
stock to feed; but for the amateur and cottager there 
are none better for general purposes than those we 
have named. 

Salad Herbs : American Cress. — A prolific, hardy, 
wholesome annual, worthy the attention of all who 
are fond of a well-flavoured salad. A small spot 
sown about the middle of August wOl furnish abun- 
dance of leaves all the autumn, winter, and the 
following spring. 

The Normandy Cress. — A good curled leaf, hardy 
variety, also succeeds well in the open air ; and, if 
sown in a sheltered spot about the middle of Septem- 
ber, will produce leaves throughout the later months 
of autumn, the winter, and early spring. Both this 
and the American varieties should not be cut like small 
salad, but should be gathered by picking the leaves. 
The seed should be sown thin, and the bed kept well 
hoed out. The American is a very wide-spreading 
variety ; on a good soil from six to nine inches should 
be allowed from plant to plant ; and the Normandy, 
from tlu-ee to four inches apart. 

The common mustard and cress are so easily culti- 
vated, and so well known, that it is hardly necessaiy 
to mention them. Persons without any garden at all 
may grow salads for the table all the year round, by 
sowing the seeds of these in small pans, or even on 
flannel or cloth, and jjlaoed anywhere, so that it is 
kept moist, and brought to the light when about an 
inch high to gala its natural colour, without wliich 
it would have but little flavour. 

Badishes, in addition to the foregoing, may be pro- 
duced both in spring and autumn, by sowing first 
the early short-top frame radish, and then the red 
and white turnip radishes to succeed them. 

Endive, too, is a plant of easy culture, and worthy 
the attention of those who are fond of winter salad 
ing. If a pinch of seed is sown in July, and another 
in August, it will furnish plants to put out in suc- 
cession, at intervals, until the end of October. The 
close short-leaved curled variety and the new hardy 
Batavian are the best; the latter seems to stand 
through any winter, and turns in close and white- 
leaved, like a Siliciau lettuce — indeed, we find it a 
good substitute for lettuce in winter and the eaidy 
sju'lng mouths. 

The red beet, as an addition to salads, is also much 
esteemed by many on account of its saccharine 
flavour, either baked or boiled. It may be eaten 
with other salads, or alone. It is a root of easy cid- 
ture ; but should not generally be sown eaa-Uer than 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



277 



tlie midJle of April, on account of its liability to be- 
come sticky and of a bad colour. 

We are now fuUy entered on a most busy and 
interesting pai-t of tbe year ; much of the future 
season's produce from the earth depends upon the 
energy and persevering industry of the present time. 
We must adopt a good systematic plan, and con- 
tinue it on the most favourable opportunities. 
Delays are dangerous when once all matters are pretty 
well prepared for sowing and planting. We always 
find there is a time or opportunity for performing 
all things, if it is duly embraced. Some degi-ee of 
watchfulness is now necessary for insming a healthy 
prohfic produce. The depredations of birds, slugs, 
snails, wire-worms, and other vermin obnoxious to 
the cultivator, must be duly attended to, or disap- 
pointments will take place, although a good prepara- 
tion has been made, by procuring healthy seeds or 
plants. 

Sow successions of caulifloivers and celery ; the 
main crops of onions, parsnips, carrots, parsley, and 
pot-herbs. 

Re-plant and re-arrange herh-heds, earth up and 
stick peas, embracing evei7 favourable opportunity 
of hoeing and scarifying the surface of the earth. 
Sow everything in drills, which tends to much conve- 
nience for early surface-stirring. 

Capsicums sow in a gentle hot-bed, under a frame ; 
they will even do under a hand-glass on a warm 
border, but then the seed must not be sown until 
tbe beginning of May. The seed must be covered 
a quarter of an inch deep. When the plants 
have attained six leaves, in about a month after 
sowing, they must be thinned to four inches apart ; 
and those removed planted also in a moderate 
hotbed at a similar distance, being shaded fi'om 
tbe meridian sun, and moderately watered until 
tliey have taken root. During tbe whole of their 
continuance beneath a frame, air must be admitted 
freely ; and, as May advances, they must be accus- 
tomed gradually to an uncovered situation, by length- 
ened absence of the glasses dm'ing the day, and by 
degrees leaNdng them open of an evening: this pre- 
pares them for their final removal at the close of 
tliat month or early in June. Those raised in a 
border, beneath hand-glasses, must also be thinned 
as dii'ected above ; and those removed planted in a 
simOar situation, or, in default of hand-glasses, be- 
neath a paper frame or matting. The same may be 
adopted for the plants from the hotbeds, if all other 
conveniences are wanting. When planted out finally, 
they are to be set two feet asunder, screened from 
the sun, and watered every other evening until they 
have taken root. The watering must be continued 
in dry weather throughout then- growth, which 
greatly improves then- vigour and the fineness of 
the fruit. Liquid manure is highly beneficial to 
them. In hot weather they can scarcely have too 
much moisture. G. W. J., & Jajies Babnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INEOEMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 20.) 

However cold and comfortless the month of March 
may be, we know that spring has opened ; and we can 
wait with hope and patience for the soft showers and 
balmy gales that come with this cheering season. 
We know that sunshine — delightful as it is — wUl not 
bring forward the bud and bloom, without some 



clouds and storms, some drenching rains to reach the 
deepest roots, and thereby to enrich and beautify the 
highest bough. How often we stand at the window, 
enjoying the rushing sound of heavy rain, wliile we 
listen to the wild note of the blackbii'd, and feel the 
delicious scent of the moistened eai-th ; and we say, 
" Oh ! what a beautiful rain this is for my garden ; 
how my plants wUl grow ; and I am sure I shall find 
my seeds up in the morning." We see and feel the 
benefit of the stonn among our plants and trees ; 
let us reflect that tee also are trees in " a garden 
enclosed;" that we also need dark and cloudy days, 
and pelting storms ; that continued sunshine would 
perU our souls ; and that the wisdom of the great 
Husbandman caUs forth the north wind and the 
south to blow upon his garden, "that the spices 
thereof may flow out." 

The lovely blossoms of the nut-trees have come 
forth very early this season. The female blossoms 
are so small, that unless we look closely we can 
scarcely see them ; but the little scarlet flowers ai'e 
bright and glowing on the dark brown leafless twigs, 
and they give an early interest to the copse and hedge- 
row. Every hour we see something new and beau- 
tiful springing up around us ; and we can scarcely 
step without pressing down a sprouting herb or 
plant. The soft silky buds of the " palm " (sallow) 
are beginning to glitter ; and there is a peculiar red- 
ness in the appearance of the woods and planta- 
tions, that foretells the opening of the buds. 

In all open, sunny, dry situations, hai-dy annuals 
may be sown. My garden is so dai-k and damp that 
I cannot touch it yet with spade or rake ; and even 
the commonest annuals never thrive kindly in it. 
But the time is come to prepare the gr-ound, to 
refi'esh the borders, trim tbe edges, and give a neat 
and pleasing look to each department of the pleasiu-e- 
ground. The soil should be raked finely where seeds 
are to be sown ; there shoidd be no rough lumps of 
earth ; it should be opened with a small hand-fork, 
so that the under soO may not be hard and dry, and 
then the surface broken as small as possible, and 
raked tOl it is smooth and even. In cold situations) 
annuals had better not be sown till April; little is 
gained by putting them into the ground before it is 
wai-med by the sun; and they are frequently de- 
sh'oyed by slugs, if they lie long in the gi-ound. I 
have often been so anxious to get my seeds in, wheil 
other friends were thus employed, that I could not 
wait till the proper time amved, and my seeds con- 
sequently seldom grew ; and when they did, they gave 
birth to seedlings poor and weakly. Even now I 
have little inducement to cultivate these lovely' 
varieties, for they requu-e sunshine and waimth 
much earlier in the year than I possess them, and 
this I ever regret. 

With the new and beautiful annuals, whose Latin 
names I can neither pi'onouuce nor understand, I 
have nothing to do. Mj deUght is in the old- 
fashioned, sweet, and glowing flowers of my child- 
hood, whose names are as simple and familiar to us 
as those of our brothers and sisters ; and whose real 
and genuine loveliness and fi-agrance few of the more 
lughly-prized varieties can possibly exceed. 

Sweet peas and mignonette should abound in 
every garden; their sweetness is umivalled; and 
they are often associated in oiu' minds with days and 
circumstances that give them a double chai'm. A 
very few yeai-s ago, these lovely annuals were the 
pride of the lady's garden. Our mothers loved 
them ; and they seem, like the rose and honeysuckle, 
to belong to the home of our chUdhood, and to 



278 



THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



twine round the memoiT' of those whom we see no 
move. Very beautiful are the new aimuals I some- 
times see ; hut the dehght with which I turn to the 
old ones, convinces me that they are the sweetest and 
pi'ettiest after all. 

Mignonette shoidd he sown " broadcast " over every 
bed and border, and hghtly raked in ; so that it may 
come up in every vacant spot, and not in patches 
only. It grows even iu gravel, and though not so 
rich in flower, it is sweeter than when placed in 
better soil. In towns, where there are gi-avelled 
enclosures befoi-e the houses, mignonette would do 
well; if scattered over the loose untrodden parts, and 
if turned under ground with a fork, when the flower- 
ing season is over, will spring again without further 
care. I have seen and enjoyed mignonette in these 
situations ; and when the windows are opened in 
summer evenings, we may feel something of country 
sweetness even in a street. It also does well in pots 
and boxes ; and is extremely well adapted for towns 
on this account. Let it be sown as early in the year 
as possible, because it is very slow in coming up. In 
cold situations this must not be done till April. 
Continue to sow occasionally till the beginning of 
July ; and this wiU secm'e a long succession of 
bloom. 

Sweet peas should he sown in circles, when placed 
among other flowers, with the sticks planted firmly 
in the middle of the ring. A fortnight or three 
weeks after sowing the first ling, let an outer one be 
sown ; so that each clump of peas may have a suc- 
cession of flowers. Sow sweet peas round every tree 
and stake ; against every bower, and wall, and hedge- 
row. Twine them round the pillars of the porch ; 
and place them as near as possible to eveiy window : 
their fragrance never overpowers. If mice or slugs 
are apt to attack the seeds, lay a little soot on the 
sui'face of the soO, when they are planted. 

Our gardens are now becoming fuU of interest. 
Every day we shall find something to do, to watch, 
and to delight in. It seems but yesterday that we 
were making all things ready for frosts and snows ; 
and now, in a few short days, all is ghttering, cheering, 
sunshine ! The birds are again preparing their rich 
summer songs ; the rooks are once more quaweling 
over their comfortless nests ; and the stUlness and 
dreariness of winter has ended. Let us consider this. 
We have all seasons of trial, of depression, of diffi- 
culties; when the futm-e seems dark and hopeless. 
We are too ready to say, " AU these things are 
against me." But if " our eyes waited upon the 
Lord our God," as those " of a maiden look unto the 
hand of her mistress," oiu- times of trouble would 
soon pass by ; sunshine would gladden our hearts 
again; and we should realize that comforting assm-- 
ance, that " though weeping may endure for a night, 
yet joy cometh in the morning." While we stand 
gazing on the reviving beauties of the natural 
world, let us remember that the winter and summer 
of our earthly com-se are hut the varied workings of 
a Parent's love, intended for oiu- good ; and that the 
storm and the sunbeam are each as necessary to our 
spiritual growth as they ai'e to the growth of the 
tree and the flower. 



most economical mode of constructing liquid-manure 
tanks. If he is situated in a calcareous district, he 
wiU naturally prefer lining them with flints, set in 
mortar, or with concrete (made of one part hme and 
three parts of gravel). If he is dwelling in a clayey 
district, he cannot do better than follow the directions 
given by a Middlesex farmer, Mr. W. Dickenson, 
who remarks [Journal B.A.8., Vol. 8, p. 580), 
" Having well considered where the liquid is to be 
used, as well as where it is made, and resolved upon 
the most convenient situation, I have a hole dug full 
seven feet in diameter and twelve feet deep, the 
bottom being shaped like a basin, and weU rammed 
with a httie water into a good puddle. The con- 
struction of the tank is commenced by the bricklayer 
forming a circle with bricks (fom--inch work), round 
an opening of five feet, leaving a space behind the 
brickwork to be fitted and rammed well in with clay 
puddle by the labom-ers, as the building is worked 
up ; no mortar being used with the bi-ioks, or any- 
thing else, till the dome is to be formed. M ortar or 
cement is then required ; the arch is then arched in, 
a man-hole being left iu the centre of each tank, and 
covered with a three-inch yellow deal cover (two-inch 
oak would be better)." One of these tanks, containing 
1000 gallons, costs £2 17s 6d, in the following items, 
the calculation applying to those persons who em- 
ploy their own horses and carts : — 

£ s. d. 

2 Fai-m labourers, each half a day 2 

2 Labouring lads, each one day 3 

IMan, oneday 2 

2 Others, one day 5 

1 Bricklayer, one day 4 6 

1 Labourer, ditto 2 6 

3 Horses and carts, drawing away quar- 

ter of a mile, half a day 4 6 

8 Feet three-inch deal for cover, at 5| 3 8 

Labour and naOs 10 

Lime and sand for man-hole 2 6 

900 Place bricks 1 7 



ON LIQUID-MANURE TANKS. 

BY CUTHBEET W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. 

The situation in which the cottager or fai-mer is 
placed must, in a great measure, determine the 



£i 17 6 



I have, in one instance, made a tank of rough 
bricks, set in a compo made of one part of melted 
pitch (this is worth about 7s per cwt.), mixed with 
six parts of dry sand, and apphed hot. In some 
parts of Bedfordshu-e they use this compo only as 
a hning to their hquid-manure tanks (they make 
this lining two or three inches thick) ; it is quite 
water-tight. There is, in truth, little difficulty in 
forming a tank for this purpose, for even porous 
bricks speedily become saturated with the fine 
mechanically-suspended matters of liquid manure; 
and then the escape of even the mere watery portion 
entirely ceases. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Gladiolus to Plant now (S.B.B.). — The beat to buy in a dry 
state now is Gladiolus Natalensis, but you may purchase any other 
sort established in pots, at a little higher price. 

Cactus (A Young Inquirer). — You say that this (but you do not 
name the species) looked green in the winter, but that it now looks 
" sadly," you not having given it any water for the last three months. 
There is no fear of your cactus ; you treated it perfectly right ; the 
best way to moisten the soil gradually is to place the pot in a saucer 
of warm water now, and keep the saucer supplied as fast as the soil 
draws off the water, till you observe the dry soil on the surface 
turning damp ; then the ball is uniformly damped throughout, and 
will not reqmre any more water for the next week or ten days, and by 
that time the plant will be getting full of juice, and turn stiff as 
formerly. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



279 



To Make a Standard of a Teained Nectarine {Amateur, 
Endfield).—YouT nectarine will require the flattened shoots to he 
placed in the form of an ordinary standard, by means of sticks ; this 
done, the only pruning necessary will he to thin away crowded 
shoots, whether young or old, and to shorten back the young wood 
of last year about one-half its length. If any of the points are so 
long as to he unwieldy, they may be cut back to a couple of eyes or 
buds. Good staking, however, is the chief point. 

Peat Soil (J. Hunter, Rochester, Northumberland). — You ask 
us " how to make most productive " your garden, the soil of which is 
peat ? but you should have said whether your peaty soil was of a fresh 
or sphagnum character, or old black decomposed peat. WTiatever it be, 
thorough drainage must precede all planting and cultivation. The 
peat, if of a raw character, should be burned over first. It should be 
cultivated in a sort of *' lazy bed." that is, elevated much above the 
ordinary level. Animal manures will be little required until the 
staple is corrected ; the main business will be to correct its acidity 
by lime, and to solidify the staple by adding plenty of sand, or sandy 
soil, or even burnt ashes of any kind ; and when sowewhat mellowed, 
and the superfluous water passed away, an application of marl, or 
pulverized or burnt clay, will be highly beneficial. After these 
processes, almost anything may be grown well on it, provided it is 
cultivated in high beds. In thus ad\'ising, we have assumed that it 
is a damp half-decomposed peat. 

Half-haedy Annuals (E. B. and A. Z.).— You may save the 
trouble of transplanting your annuals, by somng the seeds thinly in 
small pots, and as soon as they come up giving air on all fine days. 
As the season advances. p\ill off the lights entirely in cloudy weather, 
until the plants are hardy enough to bear the full sun ; then, at the 
time you finally plant them out, divide the ball of earth in each pot 
into four quarters, without breaking the earth. Plant them out in 
moist weather, and they will soon establish themselves. Zauschneria 
Californica may be had at the Pine-Apple- Place Nursery (Messrs. 
Henderson's). Phlox Drummondii, the Portulaca's, and such like 
half-hardy annuals, should be sown now in a gentle hot-bed ; and as 
the seeds of most of these are rather dear, and you may wish to have 
as many plants as possible, you had better sow them in shallow pans 
in hght sandy soil ; and when they come up, and have got four or 
five leaves each, transplant them three in a pot four inches wide ; and 
as the seedlings advance in growth, gradually harden them to endure 
the open air previously to planting them out. If you wish to grow 
some of them in pots, and flower them either in a window or green- 
house, you must repot them into larger pots, and keep them in the 
frame till they show flower. We cannot conceive the reason why you 
have hitherto failed, unless you have sown them too deep, or kept 
them too far from the glass, or watered them too freely, any of which 
mistakes would be fatal to your seeds ; or, perhaps, your soil has 
been too heavy, and your seeds have rotted in consequence. Avoid 
those mistakes ; procure your seeds from a respectable London 
nurseryman ; sow them in shallow pans placed within six inches of 
the glass ; transplant early, and water carefully, and only when they 
are dry, and you will certainly succeed. 

Climbers for N.E. Wall (M. D., a Subscrilier).— The following 
creeping perennials will thrive and flower against your N.E. wall: — 
Lathi/rus latifuliits (Broad-leaved everlasting Pea), pink and white 
varieties; L. grandiflorus (Large-flowered everlasting Pea), pink; 
L. Californica (Californian everlasting Pea), purple ; Convolvulus 
inflatus (Inflated Bindweed), rose ; Clematis vitalba (Traveller's 
joy), white; C./am;nM/a (Sweet-scented Clematis), white ; C. Viti- 
cella rubra (Red vine-bower Clematis), and a double purple variety ; 
Ercremocarpus scaber (Rough Eccremocarpus), scarlet; Jasminum 
o^c(n«^e(White Jessamine!; Earli/ Dutch Honeysuckle, red. Twelve 
kinds \vill cover this wall (6o feet long) ; some of them are shrubby, 
but all hardy enough for your purpose. To hide the washing ground, 
plant the tallest Lombardy poplars you can procure ; plant them 
thickly, and they will soon block up the unpleasant view ; you may 
trim off all the branches as high as the wall, and cover it with ivy. 

MouLDiNESS IN HYACINTHS {Alfred). — We never saw the hya- 
cinth rot ; but, from the dread in which the Dutch florists hold it, 
and from your own account of it, it must be most destructive. The 
sum of all that has been recommended for a cure, in Holland, is to 
cut out all the diseased parts, and to keep the bulbs dry, but they 
seldom flower afterwards, and are only kept to produce offsets. The 
only way likely to arrest the progress of the disease in your case, is 
to cut out all the diseased parts, and apply hot sand immediately to 
the wounds, repeating the process three or four times in succession as 
soon as the sand cools; the heat of the sand to be, that you could 
hardly bear it on your hand. The mouldiness is a kind of fimgus, and 
this may kill it. 

How TO Treat Seeds of Unknown Plants (G. T. Spool). — 
Pedlar's Basket is a local name unknown to us ; we never heard of it, 
and cannot say how you must treat it. Sow half the seeds in any 
light soil in a well drained small pot, and cover them according to 
their size — half an inch being deep enough for the largest seed in 
pots ; keep them in the warmest place you have got, and if they come 
up they will soon tell what temperature they like best ; if the place 
is too hot for them they vrill grow slender and spindly ; and if too 
cold, they vnll look pinched, and will hardly grow at all. This is the 
rule with gardeners when they meet with seeds of which they know 
nothing. When they thus find out the nature of the plants, if they 
think well of them they sow the other half of the seeds, and give them 
the proper treatment. The musk seed we take to be a Slim ulus ; if so, 
it is quite hardy, and the seeds are very small. Manage them exactly 
as we recommended for calceolaria seeds. Although tlus musk — for 
there are many kinds of musk plants — is the easiest to manage when 
once established, it often dies in a seedling state. If you rake a damp 
shaded patch in an open border, and scatter half the seeds on the 
surface, and sprinkle some dry soot round the patch to keep off the 



slugs, you will be as likely to rear the musk plant that way as in a 
pot. It is an excellent window phiUt, and will grow in any soil, and 
takes abundance of water when gro\ving. When it dies down, keep 
it dry for awhile, and with the heat of a kitchen window, and water- 
ing, you can force the roots to grow again any time in the year. 

Driving Bees (J. Marcer).— You ask our advice as to driving 
your bees from a straw hive into one made of wood, and we reply : — 
Keep the bees in the straw hive, allow them to swarm, and put the 
swarm into the wooden hive. Removing bees from one hive to 
another is a very difficult process, and always attended with great 
risk ; by doing it, the brood must certainly be lost, and probably the 
bees also. 

Manure Tank {An Amateur Farmer). — ^The best answer how to 
make this most economically, will be found in a communication 
given in a preceding column, from Mr. C. W. Johnson. 

Parsnip-Sowing (iT. White, Haifeftam).— We beg to return our 
thanks for the pumpkin seed. For information respecring parsnip 
culture, see pp. 237 and 257. Good-holding rich land, well trenched 
and pulverized, and the seed sown in drills, is the best known system. 
For long carrots, open sandy, loamy soil, well trenched, the seed well 
incorporated and parted, by rubbing together, with wood ashes or 
drv charred dust, and a small portion of air-slaked lime sown in the 
drills, is the best treatment at sowing time for this useful root. The 
distance of the drills should be one foot apart at the least, and two 
inches deep, if the soil is dry and healthy ; but if cold and damp, one 
inch, or a little mo re, is enough to cover the seed. 

Surplus Sewage {Rev. C. W. L.).~W\iy not make a larger 
tank ; or sink an old hogshead into the ground, communicating by an 
overflow pipe with your tank, which you find too small in wet 
weather? If you cannot do this, you had better pour the surplus 
over your compost heap, rather than give it to your crops in wet 
weather. 

Old Orchard Ground {Ibid). — This, which has not been before 
broken up for 60 years, you have now planted partly with potatoes ; 
and you ask what you shall do with the remainder, " either for the 
family or the pig?" If not overshadowed with trees, sow half of it 
with carrots and the other half with parsnips. If shaded, nothing 
will do well ; but we should try cabbages. 

Poisoning Birds, &c. Llbid). — We never could find this answer 
in the summer time, the birds are then too well fed to eat poisoned 
wheat. It is not the noise, but the glittering of pieces of tin tied to 
a string on an easily-bending stick that chiefly scares birds ; there- 
fore, we fear that your iron links will be useless. Your hints about 
the index and table of manures shall be considered. You cannot 
grow strawberries between your pyramidal trees six feet apart. You 
say you have already planted a currant-tree between each two ; and 
even this will interfere \vith the necessary root-pruning. Super- 
phosphate of lime is best applied to any plant whilst in a growing 
state. 

Pots for Tuberoses (C G.). — Pots four inches wide by four 
inches deep, inside measure, are the proper size for a tuberose. The 
flowering depends more on the strength and ripeness of the root 
than on the size of the pot. Light rich soil, or indeed any good 
garden mould, will grow them. 

Coral or Lobster Plant {G. O. if.).— You can manage to 
flower this {Erythrina laurifoUa) just as you propose ; viz., keep- 
ing it dry and from frost all the winter ; and, any time in March or 
April, taking it to a light warm place, where it can be steamed occa- 
sionally ; not actual steam, we hope, but soft warm vapour from some 
apparatus. 

Agapanthus (76(rf). — This requires no more heat than will keep 
the frost out. Rich soil, and plenty of water in summer ; to be placed 
in a warm situation out of doors'. The Amaryllis formosissima is 
the only one of the family that could stand your treatment with im- 
punity. We said we never saw one of them dead. 

Weekly Numbers (T. H., SAe/^e/tf).— These are alwayspublished 
a week in advance of the directions they contain. That published on 
the 1st of March contained the gardening applicable especially to the 
seven days after that day. 

Seeds for Emigrants (Cri«:i/er(c). — The length of time during 
which seeds retain their vitality is exceedingly different in different 
kinds. The seeds of raspberries have grown lately, after being buried 
deep in Cornwall from the third or fourth century of the Christian 
era. Some will keep a thousand years ; others, not so many days ; 
but for all pracrical purposes, and especially in reference to emigra- 
tion, they will retain their \itality long enough ; and may be removed 
from one country to another, and keep well for a year or two after 
arrival. By all means take as many kinds of our best ft^t, vegeta- 
ble, and flower-seeds to Australia as you can find room for. We 
packed seeds for the first settlers of Adelaide, which went safe. They 
were well dried, and put in dry brown paper packets. The peas, 
beans, and other heavy seeds, were put into stout cotton bags ; and 
the whole were put in thin layers between the folds of blankets, in a 
rough box, and never looked at till after the voyage. The grand 
secret is, to have them and the paper completely dry, and not to 
exclude the air altogether from them, except when in the tropics. 
After you are beyond the Cape of Good Hope, they ought to have 
abundance of air. if you could give it them. Many seeds wiU perish 
soon if hermetically closed, as in bottles, jars, &c. 

Orchids for a Greenhouse {I. P. C.).— There are no air 
plants that will live in a greenhouse. By " air plants " are meant 
orchids, that will live suspended in baskets or on logs ; hut there are 
some that will live in greenhouses in pots — such as the cypripediums 
(ladies' slipper plants). Pot these in rough peat and sandy loam, 
watering freely in summer, and very moderately in winter. Also, the 
British orchids, which are very interesting, may be cultivated success- 



2S0 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



fully in those houses ; taking care to use a similar soil to that in 
which they are found growing in their native localities. Zauschneria 
catifomica is a very fine use& plant ; as also Epiphyllum splendens. 
The price of the first is 2s. 6d., and of the other, 5s. Vou may 
obtain them both by applying to Mr. Appleby. Lttpinus affinis is 
not yet to be had of any nurseryman, that we faiow of. 

FocHsiA SpECTABiLis (Ibid).— Tius has been exhibited at the 
exhibitions at the Botanic Garden, Regent's Park, and at Chiswick, 
and at the Horticultural Society of London's meetings, in Regent- 
street. It is a first-rate species, and is very desirable. We are glad 
to find you have such a good collection of geraniums, and shall be 
happy to receive your list, and adrise you what you ought to add 
to it. 

Price of Flowee-pots (A Constant Reader, Brio-ton). — The 
size of the pots you mention for carnations to bloom in(l6's) is the 
proper one. The price of sixteens is about 4s. the cast. A cast is 
the number of pots made out of a certain quantity of clay. Sixteens 
is the number of the cast you inquire about ; so they will cost about 
4d. each. If you go yourself to the pottery, you may perhaps obtain 
them a little cheaper. Any respectable pottery will serve them for 
you. Ashfords, of Stockwell, is near your place; and they will let 
you have them as good and as cheap as anybody else. 

Coverings FOR Wall-tebe Blossoms (W. N.). — The coverings 
are to be kept on only at night, and during cold winds or sleety 
weather in the day-time. 

Aloe (Ibid). — We cannot tell what aloe you have received in 
blossom from Madeira: there are more than forty species. You 
cannot do wrong, however, by planting it in a tub, as you propose. 
Put plenty of drainage at the bottom ; six inches of broken crocks 
will not be too much. Let the soil be two parts sandy loam, one 
part sand, and one part peat-soil, adding and thoroughly mixing 
with the whole a little leaf-mould, or thoroughly decayed manure. 

Poetey (T. Martin). — This is not an imaginative age; and we 
find the majority are against the admission of poetry ; but it will not 
be excluded altogether. 

Best Soil foe Potatoes (Beta). — A light, well-drained, well- 
pulverized, moderately fertile, and not recently manured soil, is that 
which produces good-flavoured mealy potatoes. Your soil is too 
rich : dig a coating three inches deep of your road- scrapings into a 
plot, and see how the potatoes do there. Why grow late varieties ? 
We have given them up. 

Liquid Manure (Mary Marshall). — Any fertilizer dissolved in 
water is a liquid manure. The best we can recommend to you are 
the three following : — One ounce Peruvian guano dissolved in a gallon 
of cold water ; sheep's dung a quarter of a peck, and water seven 
gallons ; sulphate of ammonia a quarter of an ounce, water one gallon. 
Accept our thanks for your refreshing, kindly- spirited note. 

Common Clematis (Ibid). — This can be propagated by cuttings, 
but it is much more easily done by layers. Bend one of the last year's 
shoots down to the ground, peg it three inches below the surface, so 
that a joint be thus buried, and cut half through the shoot just below 
the joint on the side next the stem. Keep the earth moist, and it will 
soon root. The best time for this layering is in July, when the yoimg 
shoots of the year are about five inches long. Do not break that off 
which comes from the joint pegged under groimd, but let two inches 
of it appear above the surface. 

Ivy Pruning (Ibid). — You may prune this now. Do not ever clip 
an evergreen ; you mutilate the leaves, and the wounded parts be- 
come brown and unsightly. 
Rose Pruning (W. H. G.). — We will insert your note next week. 
Chloroform foe Stupifying Bfes (M. P.). — A teaspoonful 
upon a piece of blotting-paper, placed for five minutes flat under the 
hive, and the entrance stopped, would probably be enough ; but you 
would soon find out whether the stupefaction had been brought on by 
that quantity ; and if not, might repeat it. We advise you not to 
play unnecessary tricks with these colonists ; and the opinion we 
give is not founded upon experiment. 

Seeds of Annuals foe Maech Sowing (J. W. Lloyd). — See 
our " Flower Garden," in this number. 

CuTTiNG-DowN Raspbeeet Canesin Apeil (E.G.). — This is 
applicable only to the autumn -bearing variety. 

Manuring when Teenching [Ibid). — if you are going to sow 
tap-rooted vegetables (carrots, parsnips, and beets), turn the manure 
in with the bottom spit. If you are about to sow or plant fibrous- 
rooted vegetables (cabbages, &c.J, dig the manure in with the top 
spit. 

Soot and Salt foe Potatoes (Ibid). — The best mode of 
applying this compost now would be to sow it over the surface, and 
then hoe the ground over. Your other questions shall be answered 
in our next number. 

Monthly Calendars (Novice, Kimber^s Cottage). — We will 
consider your suggestion as to printing this not upon the cover of the 
parts. We may transfer them to the last page of each month's 
last number. Thanks for your note on bee-feeding ; it shall be pub- 
lished. 

Rhubarb (P. Wallingf or d). —To check this running to seed, 
make the soil about it very rich, by means of pig or other strong 
dung. The more leaves you can make a plant produce, the less 
inclined is it to form flowers. Break the seed stems down as fast as 
they appear. 

Stove foe a Small Greenhouse (J. B. H. Abergele). — The 
best stove for heating your greenhouse (12 feet long and 10 feet wide) 
will be a small Arnott's stove, made of brick instead of iron, several 
of which we saw at work in some small houses for propagating roses, 
&c., at Mr. Rivers' of Sawbridgeworth. His description of them is 
as follows : Height of stove 2 feet 8 inches, and t feet square; foun- 
dation, common bricks and mortar ; the part surroundmg the fire- 
box, which is formed of four "lumps," is built with fire-bricks, set 
in fire-clay. On the top of the stove is placed a Welch tile, two feet 
square and three inches thick. The fuel, or feeding door, is about 



the centre; a small sliding draught and ash-pit door at the bottom; 
a pipe, about 18 inches long, leads from the stove into a small chim- 
ney outside. A stove of this kind requires feeding but once in eight 
hours. The best fuel is coke. On the top of the Welch tile is placed 
a shallow iron pan of the same size, which can be filled with water, 
and thus the air in the house be kept moist. Cost of the brickwork, 
30s ; bars, iron doors, &c., 15s. Before cleaning out the ashes in the 
morning, soak them with water ; this prevents dust. Mr. Rivers has 
had his stoves constantly employed for five or six years. 

Salt, Lime, and Ashes (Ibid). — This compost, which you say is 
well mixed, will be a good manure for all your kitchen -garden crops, 
but especially for potatoes, carrots, and cabbages. At the rate of 15 
bushels per acre will be enough. 

Mangold-Wurtzel (Joseph Richard). — In your garden near 
Nottingham you may sow this any time in May. Dibble it in in rows 
two feet apart, and one foot apart from hole to hole. Make the holes 
not more than two inches deep. . 

Plants Requiring Protection (A Constant Reader). — You 
misquote us ; — and we are right in saving (p. 249) that " all plants 
requiring us to protect them with glass, are from regions with bnghter 
skies and longer days than we enjoy." The annual amount of day- 
light is much greater at and near to the Equator than in England. 

Heat Endurable by Plants (Ibid). — We have no precise in- 
formation to give you in answer to your query, "into what degree of 
heated air may plants be put without injury — first in dry air, and 
secondly in moist air?" You think this "might assist in the dis- 
cussion of plants burning under glass ;" but we do not consider that 
such a benefit could arise from even an accurate answer — because 
if the burning arises from the concentration of the sun's rays 
in an uneven piece of glass that happens to have become lens-form, 
we are quite sure that the rays so concentrated would be hot enough 
even to set fire to dry vegetable matter, the same as a pocket lens 
is used by smokers sometimes to kindle their tobacco. The heat 
which certain parts of some plants will endure without injury is very 
great. For instance, raspberry seeds boiled in syrup at 230^^, (eighteen 
degrees above the temperature of boiling water), have afterwards 
germinated. Peas put into water heated to 200'', germinated 
more readily than other peas not so treated; and the seeds of 
Acacia lopantka produced seedlings after having been boiled 
for five minutes. We know that the leaves of Kidney beans have 
been uninjured by exposure to dry air heated to 167^, but they died 
in a few minutes at the same temperature when the air was moist. 
Yet some plants will endure a very high moist heat, such as plants 
growing in hot water springs, and on the edges of the crater of 
volcanoes. 

Autumn-bearing Raspberry (Jmfj-). — This is quite a distinct 
variety. We believe it is also called the Double-bearing, the Sibe- 
rian, and the Late Cane. 

Artificial Manure (M. H. J.). — Your manure, consisting 
chiefly of sulphates of lime and soda, we do not think would be an 
antidote for the potato murrain ; and it certainly would not kill the 
wire-worm in the small quantities in which it would be possible to 
mis it with the soil. It would, probably, be better for potatoes than 
for any other garden crop. 

Drawing Ground Plans (.4 Youn^ Gardener). — There is abook 
called, we think, Williamson's " Mathematics Applied," which will 
aid you. 

Liquid-manure foe Roses (A Subscriber).— This is best applied 
so soon as the blossom-buds appear ; and may be given once a week. 
If the trees appear weak, it may be given to them as soon as the 
leaves begin to expand. A quart to each is enough. 

Seeds (C. A.). — You can get youi Jiower-seeds of any first-rate 
seedsman in London. Try Mr. Hairs, 109, St. Martin's-lane, Charing 
Cross. If you enclose postage stamps to the value you require of 
celery seed, and send them to Mr. Turner, Neepsend, Sheffield, he 
will send you some post free. 

Pine Varnish (A Subscriber from the Beginning). — Any oil and 
colour dealer in London vnM get it for you. We believe it to be easily 
made by mixing common rosin and spirit of turpentine together. 
We never used mineral paint, but always, for out- buildings, employ 
coal-tar, mixing a little grease with it. It is the cheapest and most 
protective of paints. The fat or grease gives it a glossy face. 

Shade for a Geeenhouse (C. W. E., Neu.'port).—We think the 
gauze you enclosed will be quite sufficiently close for the purpose. 

TuENiNG Window Plants (Sf(c/r in the iWud}.— If this is done 
daily, or even every second day, moving them half round, it keeps 
their growth uniform, and does not injure them. 

GuTTA Peecha for GRAFTING i./ifrf). — Flat sttips of this would 
answer for binding over the union of the scion and stock ; but it 
would not cover the top of the stock in some modes of grafting, so as 
to do away with the necessity for grafting clay. 

Drainage from a Stable (A Subscriber, Chertsey). — This is a 
very excellent liquid- manure. It will be quite strong enough if mixed 
in the proportion of one bucket of the <frainage to two buckets of 
water. It will be an excellent application to any of your garden crops, 
but especially if poured between your rows of cabbages, and into 
shallow trenches made between rows of asparagus and rhubarb. 

Zauscbneeia Califoenica Gulielmus, Ipswich). — You will 
see this answered to another correspondent ; and you can probably 
obtain there the other plant you name. We cannot say what seeds- 
man keeps the largest stock. 



London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, U7, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary.le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Someeville Ore, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, Lonioa.— March 15th, 1S49. 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



281 



M W 






Sun 


Sun 


IWoon E. 


Moon's 


Clock 


Day of 


D 


D 


MARCH 22—28, 1849. 


each day. 


Rises. 


Sets. 


and Sets. 


Age. 


bef. Sun. 


Year. 


23 


Th 


Magpie builds. 


Common Pilewort. 


T 


14 a 6 


6 8 


27 


7 


81 


23 


K 


Common Linnet's song begins. 


Peerless Daffodil. 


57 b 4 


16 


5 36 


28 


6 42 


82 


24 


S 


Red Cuvrant Leaves. 


Golden Saxifrage. 


55 


17 


sets 


® 


6 23 


83 


25 


HnN 


5 S. IN Lent. Lady-Day. Earwig appears. 


Marigold. 


63 


19 


7 a 35 


1 


6 5 


84 


?.r> 


M 


Dog's Mercury flowers. 


Lurid Henbane. 


51 


21 


8 53 


2 


5 46 


85 


27 


T 


Six-cleft Plume Moth appears. 


Jonquil, [pard'sbane. 


49 


23 


10 1] 


3 


5 28 


86 


28 


W 


Domestic Goose liatclies. 


Plantain-leaved Leo- 


46 


24 


11 25 


4 


5 10 


87 



LaBY-DAY is a cintracti'tn of the older designation, ••Our Lady's 
day " and is i*ie (estival on which is commem-iraffd " the Annuncia- 
t oi. to the Virgin Mary," that she was the chosnii mwther of the 
Me-.(iiah ( Luke i. ^^6). The oldt'si and most authentic of our ecclesi- 
a^-iical writers hand down the tradition iliat Marj was an only child, 
esi-ou'sed t> Joseph when hut flffefn vears old, and 'hai she died A.D. 
48. Oup church ha* a service appropriat*'d to the celebration of tse 
Annunciation; hut the day is nore associated ifi the public mind with 
the payments of rents ami the covenants of leases. 
" Rplenlless, undelayinp: quarter-day I 

Cold, thoush in summer; cheeries-, tbouRh in spring j 
In winter, hleak ; in autumn, withering: 
No quarter dost thou give, not foi one day; 
But rtnt and tat enforcp.h us to pay; 
Or. with a qunrter-stnff^ ent'reih our dwelling. 
Thy ruililBss minion our small chattels selling, 
Ana empty-handed sending us away I " 

Phenomena of the Season.— It is a common opinion that 
exposure ni a seed to the light checks its g»rmination or sprouting; 
but w** have trit-d experiments to ascertain this tact, and have deduced 
from thetii a contrary conclu-ion; for inthost- experiments apparently 
proving tlie conlrat-y, due care was not taken to prevent the seed 
heinR exposed to ft greater degree of dryness as well as to light. If 
seed tie placed on the surface of a soil, and other seed just below that 
euiface, and care he t«ken to keep thn loiraer com-tantly moisr, it 
will germinate just ai speedily as the buried st^ed ; and if nxposfd to 
the blue rays only of th« upectrutn, by b ing kept under a glass; of 
ihat colour, even more rapidly. Therefore, the object of sowing the 
seed below the surface, seems to be for the purposes of keeping it in 



a state of equable and salutary moisture, as well as to place the 
young root into the medium necessary for it-j growth immediately it 
emerges from the seed. Tlie (acts narratt^d here, and in previous 
numbers, hold out sotne beacons wirthy of being attended to, as 
guidt-s in sowing Th*^> point out that every kind of seed has a par- 
licular depth below the surfat'e it which it germinates most vigov ously, 
as securing to it the loosi appropriate degree of moisture, of oxygen 
gas, and of warmth. From a quarter of an iuch to two inches beneath 
the surface, appear to be 'he lin.its for the seeds of plants; but they 
usually vary for the same sweds in different grounds and countries. 
It must be tiie least in idayt-y soils and dry climates. In general, 
sowing should be performed in dry wealhtr, especially on heavy soils, 
net only because of the greater saving of labour, but because it pre- 
vents the *ieed being enveloped with a coal of earth impermeable ly 
the air. "which," says H. Davy, **is one cause of the uni<roductive- 
ness of cold clayey soils." Perhaps the time at which any ground may 
be raked with the greatest fa'"iiity,is as good and practical a citerion 
as any to judge when it is fit lor sowing. In general, if clay does 
not predominate in its constitution, a soil rakes best just after it has 
been turned up with the spade. If clay does predominate, it usually 
rakes with more taciliiy alter ii has been due two ni three days, and 
then immediately after a gentle rain. But it is certain that the 
sooner the seed is sown ader the soil is dug for its reception, the 
earLer it germinates. In the droughts of suraraer, water is oiten 
required to newly-snwn beds. Such applications must not be very 
limited or transitory; lor if the soil is only maistcned at the time of 
sowing, it ii. duces the appearance of the youn*; roi't, which, in very 
parching weather, and in clayey, caking soil, we have known wither 
away, and rhe crop be consequpntly lost from the want of a con- 
tinued supply ol moiaiure.— jPWncjp/ei' of Gardening. 




Insects. -Towards the end of February, we saw more than one of those very common and very 
beautiful insects. th« small Tort«»ise<;hell Butterflies [Vanessa 2irtices)\ and we mention them thus 
early to save them from the destruction to which they are uoomed by those who believe as the gbr- 
dener believed, who gravely told us, that *'all butterflies were enemies." Now this Vanessa ia one of 



Mabcq 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


1848. 


22 

Highest 
& lowest 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Showery. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


58°— 36° 


48°— 30° 


6l°-46° 


47°— 42° 


51°— 43° 


53°— 29° 


58°— 34° 


56° -47° 


temp. 


















23 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 




■59°— 43° 


46°-28° 


60°— 42° 


52°- 26° 


51°— 42° 


55°— 37° 


53°— 30° 


58°— 44° 


24 


Fine. 


Cloudv. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 




59°_30O 


46°— 34° 


64°— 41° 


48°— 35° 


58°— 29° 


53°— 28° 


62°— 23° 


5.5°— 30° 


25 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 




6l°-32° 


54°— 36° 


55°— 36° 


56°-43° 


58°— 43° 


53°— 36° 


6l°— 39° 


55°— 35° 


26 


Showery. 


Cloudv. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudv. 




65°— .19° 


60°— 29° 


51°— 36° 


60°— 46° 


58°— 42° 


54°— 37° 


64°-31° 


54°— 3'9° 


27 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudv. 




58°— 27° 


62°— 41° 


46°— 38° 


6o°-41° 


60°-47° 


58°— 27° 


63°— 39° 


57°— 4(J° 


28 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Pine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 




54°- 40° 


60°— 47° 


51°— 28° 


60°— 29° 


53°— 37° 


52°— 27° 


52°— 30° 


59°-41° 



the many exceptions to the sweeping condemnation of our knieht ot the f-pade. It is one of ihe ffajest of insects, hoth in its costume and in 
its motions— always glad'lening to look upon : and ils caterpillars, instesd of beinii rtestructivn to cul ivaled plants, feed ojtiy upon 'he stinsine- 
ne'tle (Urtica), whenCH the trivial name of this butter6y is deriveil. This butterfly is about iwo in<hes across, measurin^from lip to tip of tlie 
wings when lully opened. The prevailine colour ol ih ; wintfS is reddish oranee. The fore-winirs dark near ttie body, with three black, short, 
broad bars in front, and in the centre, three unequal sized blotches of tiie same colour; between the bars the winps are yellowish. The outer 
edge 01 all the winss is black, and just within it are two rows ot crescent-lormed spots, but with Iwo pale lines between these and the edge. 
The larger part of the hin i-wings, next to the b"dy, is black. Underneath, the wint;s are stone colour, Ireckled with brown, and having a row 
of dark crescents round their edee. This butterfly is more abundent fmm July to September, but it often survives the winter, and comes forth 
early in the year, on sunny days, as we have alreaily noticed. In the I of Wight, it hiis been seen as early as the 8th of January. It deposits 
its esgs on the nettle; and ihe caterpillars from them appear early in June, and a second brosd in Aupjst. They are dusky-coloured, varied 
with green and brown, with paler lines down (he back and sides, and covered with strong branched black spines. The head is black. The 
chrysalis is usually brownish, but always with some golden spots upon it; and sometimes it is entirely of the latter colour. — Humphrey and 
Westwood's British Butterjlies. 



One of the most graceful and most touching of 
narratives is " Picciola." — that gentle history, which 
all should read, of the captive whose sole companion 
and comforter was a plant. That captive was Count 
de Chamey ; and in watching and tending the pro- 
gress of the little flower which sprang up in the 
court-yard of his prison, he passed many hours of 



unregretful pleasm-e, and learned many truths, which 
he had scoffed at when they were taught by more 
presuming masters. 

in all our great towns there are many captives 
who derive similar pleasures from their plants. It 
is true that no prison walls forbid their escape to 
a purer air, and to the company of a freer vegetable 



No. XXV., Vol. I. 



2 



282 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



world; but the loom and the anvil — the desk and 
the counter — throw before their escape bars only less 
circumscribing because voluntarily submitted to. 
These captives to the wants of social life — these 
Spitalfields, Lombard-street, Manchester, and Shef- 
field Cliarueys — generally seek for, and find, in the 
culture of plants, their best recreation. From many 
such we rejoice to have received inquiries, and because 
we know that by our answers we have enabled many 
to cultivate their " prison plants" more successfully, 
we have had our reward ; a rewai'd that bids us 
still to press on. That our pages have ministered to 
that success, we have the gi-atification of knowing from 
testimonials before us ; and as the knowledge of this 
spreads from him who is benefited to others feeluig 
a want for similar aid, queries increase and crowd 
upon us. We rejoice at this, and by giving a pro- 
minent insertion to the case of one whose " prison- 
flowers" have no wider or freer pasturage than a 
window of Kings-head-court, in the City, we hope to 
afford help and pleasure to a great many more 
than our correspondent " F. B." He says : — 

" I hve with my family in two large rooms in a 
court in the City, and, having been brought up in 
the country, am very partial to flowers. I need 
scai'cely tell you that all our efibrts to keep any are 
unavailing ; in a week or so all their beauty is gone, 
and my money is thrown away. Will you kiudly 
apprise me if you think I should succeed iu keeping 
flowers in tolerable perfection in the foUowiug way. 

" My windows are recessed, that is to say, there is 
a space in which the shutters fold back. Now it 
struck me, that if I were to obtain another sash for 
the lower part of each, and fit them to the openings, 
with a glass covering, I should obtain a space like a 
little greenhouse, from which the dust, &c., of the 
room on the inside, and the atmosphere on the out- 
side, would be excluded. I then propose to put a small 
boiler at the back of the grate, in constant use in our 
room, and erect a hot uater apparatus to warm my 
greeuliouse. This I can easily do myself. But tlie 
question upon which I am anxious to get your advice 
is, do you think, premising all that done, should I be 
able to bloom and keep my plants? and if you think 
I should succeed at all, what kind of plants would be 
likely to do best ? I suppose I could not manage 
orchids? I should tell you that although I live in a 
court, our room is tolerably open, so that we get all 
the sunshine due to its position (south), when there is 
any to be got through om' murky atmosphere. I mean 
that we have no houses opposite us, but have rather 
an extensive prospect over the roofs, of chimney pots. 

" It appears to me that the reason flowers will not 
gi-ow in the City, is rather from the dust, &c., contained 
in suspension in the air, than from any real differ- 
ence in the quality of the latter ; because, I believe, 
cliemists have not succeeded in detecting any difl'er- 
ence between the air of the City and that of the 
country ; and it also appears to me, that by my 
arrangement I should get rid of the dust. I must, I 
suppose, have constant ventilation, but that must 
take place through fine gauze, or perforated zinc." 

It is quite true, as our ingenious correspondent 
states, that whether atmospheric air from the summit 
of the Alps, or from the centre of London, be sub- 



mitted to the tests of the chemist, it is uniformly 
found to contain the same proportions of oxygeue, 
nitrogene, and carbonic acid gases. This is quite true; 
yet we know that in all large towns there are mingling 
with its atmosphere, every minute, thousands of 
cubic feet of sulphuretted and carbiu-etted hydrogene 
and of carbonic acid gases ; poured forth, as they 
are incessantly, from the drains, the chimnies, and 
the lungs of their inhabitants. These, added to the 
invisible clouds of dust and of soot, which ai'e floating 
in the same atmosphere, combine eflectually to injure 
and to destroy the plants attempted to be grown 
within its poisonous influence. 

Doubtless, by the plan proposed by our cor- 
respondent, he may save, to some extent, his plants 
from speedy injury, — and we will aid him, as far as 
we can, in his praiseworthy effort; yet iu such situ- 
ations, after every precaution, vegetation will not 
be so vigorous as in purer air. The plants will 
require to be reinvigorated by a change to a better 
breathing place ; and we entirely coincide with Mr. 
Beaton, who writes to us, as follows, upon the 
subject : — 

" We would advise F. B. to try the following scheme, 
which we believe to be the easiest way to keep plants 
in a crowded city. No orchids, however, or indeed 
any stove plants, can be managed successfully by this 
or any other plan that we know of, under his cir- 
cumstances. His plan we like also, only the hot- 
water apparatus will not be required, except in cold 
and frosty weather ; therefore, be will require a stop 
valve to manage the circulation. If he has some 
experience, there is no reason why he should not 
succeed in flowering many showy plants that way ; 
and without a little experience he would not succeed 
at first, even in the couutry, with a greenhouse. His 
aspect is very much in his favour, and witli a little 
patience and resolution he cau hardly fail of success. 
Do not let him furnish his new domestic greenhouse 
from the open markets, as many of the plants there 
are brought out of close pits the same morning, and 
with the sudden check, will not last long in bloom. 
Let him go out to a respectable nursei'yman, state to 
him his case and purpose, and put it to his honour 
to furnish such plants as will suit. From our own 
experience, we know that the cheapest way to keep 
such a greenhouse gay all the season, is to conti'act 
with a nurseryman to furnish it occasiomdhj with 
plants coming into flower, and to take tliem back 
after flowering — at least, for the first season or two. 
The nurseryman would be thus interested iu keeping 
the plants in good health, and would advise as to the 
treatment of each sort. From this, and F. B.'s own 
experience, he would soon be able to grow a selection 
of plants on his own account. In a City court, what 
will become of them after they are out of bloom ? 
Few plants are attractive in a room if not in blossom 
during the summer. The greatest display in this 
case must be got from the pelargonium (geraniums) ; 
the place will probably be too hot and dry for cal- 
ceolarias and fuchsias in tlie height of the season ; 
but in the spring and autumn almost any greenhouse 
plants could he managed. — hyacinths forced, and 
early tulips, jonquils, narcissuses, tree violets, cro- 
cuses, and snowdrops grown." 

In conclusion, instead of miniature greenhouses 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



283 



within the reness where the shutters fold into, we 
would suggest the adoption of the "Belgian window 
gardens." These are constructed on the outside of 
our windows, and opening by their sashes, whenever 
desired, into the rooms they illuminate. The fol- 
lowing description and plans are fi-om the Almanach 
Horticole for 1846. 

" Let Fig. 1 represent the outside of this window- 
garden, and 2, a section of it, together with the win- 
dow to which it belongs. A sloping roof of glass is 
earned outwards from the middle cross-bars of the 
sash in such a way that the upper sash allows light 
to enter the room. The lower sashes open by a pair 
of folding leaves, as wide as the window frame. A 
pair of braclcets carries the floor, which projects 
beyond the walls of the house. Shelves are fixed 
next the window-leaves, and the sloping roof is raised 
or depressed by means of a rack;, easily reached from 
the inside. 




Dr. Lindley adds that a rolling blind is made to 
work in the inside, so as to screen the plants from 
too much sun. A wire trellis is fixed at the ends, on 
which are trained Mauranclya Barclnyana and the 
dwarf Chilian Tropocolums. The bottom to have a 
raised edge six inches high next the room, to be filled 
with damp moss in which to plunge the pots. — (Oanl. 
Chron. 251.) A tank formed of tin, and exactly the 
size of the bottom of this miniatm-e conservatory, 
and two inches deep, might be filled with hot water 
whenever necessary. The cold water covild be easily 
drawn off by means of a small tap, and its . . 
place supplied through an up-bent pipe in J I 
this form. — Gardener's Almatiack. J 

Whatever plan our correspondent adopts, we shall 
be glad to hear from him as to the result. 



THE PEUIT-GARDEN. 

The Vine. — As The Cottage Gahdenek travels 
southwards, as well as towards other points of the 
compass, it will become our duty to furnish informa- 
tion concerning the grape vine : and, to commence, 
we will offer a little advice about soils and border 
formation ; for there exist the same reasons for 
paying attention to these minutiae out of doors, as 
well as in the hothouse. Indeed, we should say, 
much greater ; for, although a vine cutting, or trun- 
cheon, may be stuck in anywhere and grow — as, 
indeed, it is difficult to kill the vine, its vitality is so 
considerable — yet some other and most important 
considerations arise. 



Ripening the wood thorovghly is undoubtedly the 
basis on which to ground all the operations necessary 
for successful vine culture ; and although to tliose in 
our most favoured southern counties this may appear 
a small matter, it is not found so to others less 
favourably situated. Whatever plan, then, which, 
will tend to make the vine short-jointed, and to 
ripen the wood thoroughly, will be found to hasten 
the ripening of the fruit, which is, indeed, the final 
point to be aimed at. 

Soils. — ^Any light, sandy, and porous soils are by 
far better adapted for the vine than tenacious or 
clayey soils : for the latter, through their innate 
power, as also fi-om their capacity for maintaining a 
permanent moisture in hot weather, ai'e sure to 
produce longjointed shoots. If, imfortunately, the 
natural soil is of this unctuous character, means 
must be taken to correct the staple ; of which we 
will speak shortly, as it will be better to say some- 
thing about subsoils and depth first. 

Subsoils. — Whatever be the chai-acter of the sur- 
face soil, the substratum must be so constituted as 
that no water lodgments can possibly take place. 
Without seeming a dry bottom, it is impossible to 
obtain success in vine culture. When, therefore, 
suspicion exists as to water, a thorough drainage 
must take place. 

In order to render this matter more familiar to 
those of our readers who have not been used to 
border making, we will suppose a case. Let us 
imagine, then, a south wall, at one side of a small 
garden ; this wall, of some ten or fifteen yards in 
length, to be planted with the surest ripeners in the 
grape way. Suppose, also, that the soil is of a sour 
and adhesive character, and that water occasionally 
lodges in the substratum. From six to eight feet 
in width will amply suffice for the border, or bed 
of earth ; and tlie soU should, accordingly, be exca- 
vated that width, to make a complete border under 
such circumstances: for, as the staple of the soil 
has to be corrected by the application of other sub- 
stances, the labour thus applied will not be altogether 
lost in the end. Moreover, it is necessary in this 
case (which is an extreme one, and which we have 
selected on that account) to lay some permanent 
drainage beneath the border. To return to the ex- 
cavation; — it will be necessary to have at least 
twenty-four inches in depth of soil; when, however, 
the situation is damp, we would have one-half of 
the soil above the ordinary ground level. Such being 
the case, and it being desirable to introduce about 
nine inches in depth of some rubble, or other im 
perishable material, the depth of excavation must 
be nearly twenty-four inches. The chief point now, 
before proceeding fartlier, is to make a main drain 
along the front of the border, running side by side 
with the walk. This drain must be a little below 
the level of the subsoil surface, at the border 
front ; in order to receive and convey the water 
which filters through the rubbly material, or rises 
from springs. It will, of course, be necessary to 
seek out a good outlet for this drain ; and the mouth 
of it must be secured from the tread of cattle, and 
from the entrance of rats, which sometimes do seri- 
ous mischief in this way. 

The soil being excavated, the surface of the sub- 
soil must be rendered even ; and if the ground be 
exceed'wgly liable to water, a cross drain or two 
might sti-etch ii'om the wall to the front or main 
drain — emptying, of course, into the main. Such 
cross drains are common in the gardens of our aris- 



284 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



tocracy, and are generally formed of the ordinary 
draining tiles, placed on a sole, for fear of sinking. 
'J'he sole may be formed of slate or flat tiles, or frag- 
ments of any imperishable material ; some use alder 
wood, cleft into flattened pieces, like a portion of 
broken slate. Indeed, the main drain should also 
liave soles ; or, in treacherous subsoils, the whole 
affair may he prematurely broken up, by the oozing 
out of silt, or sandy mud, from the mouth of the 
drain. 

The main di-ain must be rather lai-ger ; two bricks 
fiat, with a stone or slate cover, will make a very 
good drain ; and it is a good plan to fill it up to the 
surface with brush-wood, or coarse cinders — all such 
matters iaoilitatiug the escape of water during rainy 
periods. 

These things premised, and the drain or drains 
laid, the whole surface of the subsoil should now be 
covered over with broken stone, brickbats, or the 
scoriae from manufactories, or clinkers. As before 
observed, at least nine inches in depth must be laid 
on ; and if any turfy material can be obtained, it is 
excellent practice to cover the whole surface with it — 
such from road-sides, or from waste lands, will be 
perfectly eligible. If such cannot be obtained, tree 
leaves, if fresh, or even some loose litter, may be 
scattered over the surface. 

Soil for the Roots. — We come now to the cor- 
rection of the staple of the soil which is excavated. 
One of the most important improvers, or correctors 
in this respect, is lime rubbish, or the sort of material 
which comes to hand in the pulling down of old 
buildings. This is a compound of old mortar, plaster, 
and broken bricks, tiles and laths ; and we could 
never find anything eqiial to it as an improver of 
the staple of some soils for the vine. Indeed, Mr. 
Clement Hoare, who is as well acquainted with the 
natural habits of the vine as most men, has gone so 
far as to plant in a material of this kind, mi.\ed 
with bones, cliarooal, &c.. to the almost total exclu- 
sion of soil. This we think " trying to prove too 
much," — and savours of the joke about an Irishman, 
who suggested the making an apple pie entirely of 
quinces. 

Those who live in the suburbs of towns, may, in 
general, secure a lot of this lime rubbish ; if, how- 
ever, it cannot be obtained, let coarse sand, burnt 
clay, any charred rubbish, and even a proportion of 
common cinder-ashes be cast over the soil before 
filling in again — using nearly one-half of such poor- 
looking materials, if the soil is venj adhesive. 

We would, however, before wheeling the correctives 
on to the soil, give that portion of the original soil 
which is to be filled in again, a good dressing of 
quick-lime. Another point, and one which we ought 
to have named before (seeing that by the introduction 
of the corrective material, as we termed the ashes, 
sand, &c., that much of the original soil of the bor- 
der will not be wanted again), it will be well to 
select a proportion of the mellowest soil when ex- 
cavating ; the rest may be wheeled at once away to 
form compost heaps for other purposes, or to repair 
any hollows or weak places in the garden generally 

It sometimes happens, that some portions of the 
garden are of a lighter aud mm'e porous texture 
than others. When such is the case, it would be 
well, in the original e.xcavatiou, to exchange at once 
the adhesive vine border for such light material ; for 
the former will not be too sound for vegetable culture, 
or for making stations for the apple, the pear, the 
plum, or the ilorello cherry. 

These ai-e pohcies which should be obvious to 



everybody, merely requiring careful consideration ; 
but by such contrivances much labour is saved ; in- 
deed, one-half of gardening success may be said to 
be dependent of good scheming. The most expen- 
sive plans are not always the best. A little half- 
decomposed manure, or a quantity of leaves in a 
similar state, should be added to the mass before 
filling in ; and a dry period should be selected for 
the operation. The latter is an important matter. 
Care should be taken, in filling, that all tlje materials 
are equally blended, and the roughest portions should 
be kept towards the bottom of the border. 

We have now followed the operation through, and 
may merely add that, in many cases where a fi-iable 
soil rests on a dry subsoil, little trouble need be 
taken over the affair ; we have seen many situations 
where digging in a little manure, as if tor a bed of 
cabbages, would be all that is necessary. Neverthe- 
less, it is proper to observe that deep borders are 
assuredly inimical to early ripening ; we woidd 
rather see a vine flagging a little in the end of Au- 
gust, than still producing rambling spray — a sure 
criterion that more food and more moisture ai-e 
present than is absolutely necessary. When bor- 
ders, however, are made on the shallow principle — 
say under twenty inches — no digging may ever he 
permitted on the border ; indeed, it would be the 
most extreme folly to attempt it. Top-dressing must 
be liad recourse to, and this will induce the fibres 
close to the surface of the border, where they may be 
either bountifully fed when necessary, or, through 
the mere partial removal of the top-dressing, in a 
wet July or August, receive a slight cheek, not inju- 
rious to the plant, but enough to induce a cessation 
of growth, leading to a concentration of the ela- 
borated sap in the vicinity of the fruit, so necessai-y 
towards the beginning of September. 

Aspect. — With regard to aspect, we should say 
that the iutermediate poiut, between south-east and 
south, is the best of all. Any point, however, be- 
tween south-east aud south-west is eligible; we have 
known them succeed on much inferior aspects to 
these, but then it has been against a house, with a 
fire-place behind tlie wall on which the grapes were 
trained. 

Copings. — We advise the use of wide copings, 
where the expense is not an liindrance ; such airest 
the hoar frosts of sjiring and autumn, as also the 
radiation or loss of heat at night, which had accu- 
mulated during the day. 'They, moreover, serve to 
protect the fruit after it is ripe, and they enable 
the operator to suspend any ))rotective covering with 
ease; in fact, if half a yard wide, we do not see why 
they may not be made to produce a real conservative 
wall, after the manner of Chatswoi th, and some 
other idaces: we mean, by having a curtain of some 
material to slide along a rod. 

We must make training. &c., with many other 
matters (with which vine culture is rife), the subject 
of remark at a pro])er season ; and as this is a good 
period in which to plant vines, as well as to make 
borders, we pass on to kinds, selection, mode of 
planting, &c. 

The Royid Muscadhw may be fairly placed at the 
head of the list, although not so early as some others. 
This grape always sets well, and produces a fine large 
bunch ; it is also more pleasant when not throughly 
ripened, in indifterent seasons, than most others. 
Berries white aud round. 

Black Hiimhiirgh. — Too well known to require de- 
scription. Of flrsl-rate quality, but we ai-e not quite 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



285 



sure that tbis will ripen so well in tlie average of 
seasous as the following. 

Black Prince (Lombardy, or Black Portugal). — A 
very long bunch, with line oval grapes, of good size, 
and a kind which generally colours well. 

Esperione. — A round purple grape, of very hardy 
character. Although not first-rale in character, it 
deserves a place on the grape wall. 

Black Cluster (Miller's Burgundy). — An old kind, 
which may be found on many a liouse, and which 
may be readily known by the woolly appearance of 
the leaf A small berry, but compact bunch, and 
ripens eai-ly. 

Early black July. — This grape, of somewhat in- 
ferior quality, has the merit of ripening in situations 
where perhaps the Hambro' and some others could 
never succeed. Those who would attempt grajie cul- 
ture in our more northerly counties, had better try 
their hand on this to begin with. Round, small, and 
black 

We dare recommend no other kinds to those whose 
gardens are on a small scale, i'or general purposes, 
in any county soutli of iiu-mingham (which we select 
as near the centre of England), none, we think, wUl, 
on the whole, be found equal to the Eoyal Muscadine. 

Th.^ining. — Many fantastical modes of trainuig 
have been recommended by one party or another, and 
with these, in the main, we find no particular fault, 
but that they are not sufficiently simplified, and 
require rather too great a nicety in training. For 
general pm-poses, we think the best plan is to ti'ain 
two shoots hoiizontally above ground, the one right, 
the other left, whether for a wall or the side of a 
house, to rise between the windows, doors, &c., &c. 
The shoots which come forth at first planting should 
be trained upright; this will favour speedy gi'owth. 
This wood, in the succeeding yeai', alter pruning, may 
be placed horizontally, and the next terminal point 
carried upwards in a similar way, to be lowered in 
its turn, until the full length be obtained. Nothiug 
now remains but to cai-ry up shoots perpendicularly 
at any necessai-y points ; these points being dependent 
on the chai-acter of the building ; if avoidable, they 
should not rise nearer together than half a-yard. 

Propagation, Planting, &o.. — Cuttings or trun- 
cheons, containing at least two or three buds, may be 
set immediately, unless good rooted plunts can be 
obtained. These cuttings must be so planted as that 
the upper bud even is just beneath the ground level, 
for it will readily find its way above, like a seed 
sprouting. This ensures a permanency of moisture ; 
watering may, therefore, prove an assistance at times, 
especially until the young shoot is above ground. 

If a plant from a pot is used, the old ball of soil 
must be gently dislodged, and the roots carefully un- 
coiled, ajid spread out systematically. It will be well 
to use a generous compost to plant tliem in, rather 
of a sandy character; and a little rotten mulch may 
he laid over the surface, in order to secure steadiness 
of moisture without watering, which will then only 
be necessary during protracted periods of drought. 

R. Errisgion. 



THE FLOWEE-GAEDEN. 

Laving oct Villa Gardens (continued). — Fourth 
principle — Shrubberies. Of aU the articles used to 
embellish a garden, there are none of such universal 
application as trees and shrubs; without these noble 
and beautiful ornaments a garden loses its greatest 
charm. To give an idea of desolation and dreaiiness, 
you have only to imagine a place without wood. 



either to break the force of the wind, or to shelter us 
from the noonday sun, as well as to guard the more 
tender flowers from such adverse elements to their 
health and beauty. We may, then, lay it down as a 
principle, undisputable and universally allowed, that 
ti-ees and shrubs are indispensably useful and orna- 
mental to any garden, however limited in extent or 
inconvement in situation. 

Taking it for granted that there ought to be some 
trees and shrubs in every gardern, we shall try to give 
some directions how to use them properly ; and to 
prevent the abuse of them, by describing the extent 
to which the use of them may be can-led without im- 
propriety. In planting them, three things must be 
constantly borne in mind — shelter, shade, and seclu- 
sion. 

In this countiy, westerly winds prevail the most ; 
therefore, to protect the garden and its visitors from 
the westerly blasts, the shrubbery on the west side 
ought to be the most dense and lofty. Again, w-e 
have our gi-eatest amount of cold from the north. If, 
as it often happens, the dwelling-house is placed on 
the north side, it will itself act as a shelter to the 
inmates of the garden, and protect them from the 
chilling winds of that quarter. Should the house be 
placed on any other aspect, the north side ought to 
be equally well protected as the western one, by 
beiug planted thickly with trees ot close-growing 
habit. If the situation be in the country, evergreen 
firs wiU be the best shelter ; but near smoky towns 
they will not live. The use of evergreen firs is liable 
to the objection of spreading over and injuring the 
more humble gi'owing, yet equally necessary, ever- 
green and flowering shrubs: this objection may be 
got rid of by keeping those sheltering fiiends close 
]iruned. By close pruning we do not mean cutting 
oti tlie branches close to the stem, but shortening the 
shoots in, so as to keep tliem within bounds, and 
make them more dense and luore eti'ectual as shelter. 
Xear towns, plant close-growing twiggy-branched 
trees for sbelterers; such as the I'jUglish elm, the 
birch, and the hoi-nbeam. The last stands the smoke 
as well or better than most oiher trees. 

The next point in the use of those useful adjuncts 
is Shade. A part of the garden should be devoted 
to this source of comfort and eujoyment. A straight 
walk overshadowed with trees, whose foliage will 
keep off the burning beams of a summer's sun, witli 
a seat or two for social converse, is one of the greatest 
comforts a garden can afl'ord. 

Another point remains to be considered, viz.. Se- 
clusion. Villas that are near each other shotdd be 
so planted as to enable the owner to enjoy his garden 
without being overlooked by others: this being a 
point so essential, and so dependant upon the situa- 
tion of the garden, that it need not be dwelt upon, 
but left to the taste and convenience of the occupier. 

The extent of the planting depends upon two 
things, the size of the garden and its situation. If 
the gai'den is of nioderate extent, which is quite as 
much as may be expected for a villa, let the shrub- 
bery be of such jiroporlions as will allow of space for 
flowers and lawn. We have already alluded to its 
form under the ai'ticle Laun. It should advance 
from tlie boundary, to hide the meetings of walks ; it 
should recede, to allow a great e.'itent of lawn ; and 
should have openings in certain situations to admit 
the principle of apjiropriation to have efl'ect. Again, 
if the situation of the garden is so placed as to 
have no need of seclusion, the shrubbery should 
be of smaller dimensions. AU these points require 
study, and attention to the vai'ious requii'emeuts 



286 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



necessary to form a garden upon right principles, in 
accordance with that style so peculiarly English, and 
which gives such a delightful aspect to the gardens, 
whether large or small, of this cauntry. 

We fiud the space allotted to our part of the week's 
gardening will not allow us to write now on the last 
grand principle in laying out villa gardens, namely, 
on Flouers. This most essential and most admired 
part of our subject must claim our attention next 
week. 

Cottager's Flower-garden. — It is to be hoped 
you read our various directions, and make use of 
them as far as your circumstances, both of extent 
and means, will allow, not only in your ft-uit and 
vegetable ground, but also in that portion of your 
garden used for your flowers. Let the dead twigs of 
shrubs and dead roots of flowers be removed, rake 
your borders, and put all in neat order, in the 
manner directed in the last number. Then procure 
as many of the hardy annuals, also described there, 
as you possibly can, in proportion to the size of your 
flower borders : sow them in fine weatlier as soon as 
possible, for the earlier you sow after suitable weather 
has come, the sooner they will reward you for your 
labour by their various beauties and fragrance. 

Do not forget your children's little flower-pots ; give 
them a pinch or two out of your packets of seeds, 
and by such means cause them to love flowers, and 
excite in their young minds a love for you also, and, 
above all, a love for the gracious Creator of those 
beautiful adornings of the earth. If you have made 
a turf pit, or possess a frame, you should now sow 
such halfhardy annuals as you can procure. See 
in preceding numbers the directions how to perform 
this operation. 

FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 

For several weeks we have been warning our 
readers to beware of the weather in March. We 
almost turned prophet, and foretold we should have 
" lamb storms ; " tbat is, we should have hail and 
showers of sleety snow, with frosty nights succeeding 
them. This is a piece of weather wisdom we have 
learned many years ago, that whenever during the 
day there fell a shower of hail, it was, in almost every 
instance, succeeded by a frost, however fine the 
evening might be. Lay this down as a rule, then, 
whenever hail or snow falls during the day to 
cover everything up securely that frost will injure. 
During the three nights from the 8th to the 10th 
instant inclusive, there were rather sharp frosts. On 
one of those niglits, there were five degrees of frost ; 
that is, the thermometer was at 27 degrees, or five de- 
grees below freezing ; and on each of these days we 
had showers of either hail or snow, thus proving our 
axiom, that frost generally follows such weather. 

Carnations and Picotees. — In the last number 
it was mentioned that it was time to place these 
fragrant lovely flowers in their blooming pots ; lose 
no time now in doing this interesting work. If your 
pots have been used before, have them well washed 
with hot water, and let them be perfectly dry pre- 
viously to potting into them. Your compost should 
be in good condition, in a medium state, neither wet 
nor dry. Let it be placed on your potting-bench, 
and have ready some large pieces of broken pots, 
and a larger quantity of smaller ones; bring a few 
pots of your plants from the frame, and you have 
everything in order and ready for the operation. 
Then take one of your blooming-pots, clean and dry ; 
place a large potsherd over the hole, choosing such a 
piece as will lay with a hollow beneath it ; place three 



or four others nearly as large round the centre one, 
so as to cover the bottom of the pot ; then upon them 
put about one inch in depth of the smaller crocks : 
this is the drainage, an article indispensable to keep 
your plants in health. Over this drainage lay some 
rough pieces of fibrous turf; this is to prevent the 
soil falling down amongst the drainage, and choking 
it up. Then put in some soil, as much as will allow 
room to receive the plants. We have mentioned 
before that carnations and picotees are usually grown 
in pairs ; it is fasliionable among florists to do so, 
though it is by no means necessary or more advan- 
tageous. If your stock is small, you may put only 
oue plant in each pot. As soon as your pot is 
ready, turn the plant out of its winter pot, and 
place it in the blooming one, a very little deeper than 
it has been. Fill up around it with the soil ; shake 
it down, and the operation is completed. 

T. Appleby. 



GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GAEDENING. 

The Oleander. — This is a good old plant that 
every one may grow, though we often hear com- 
plaints about it. In some instances, it is said that 
it does not flower very freely, or that the blossoms 
drop off'just when they are on the point of opening ; 
and sometimes it is urged that it gets so tall and 
straggling that it is a difficult matter to find head- 
room for it. I shall, therefore, go freely into the 
proper management of it to-day ; and — as is my cus- 
tom when I tliink it is of importance to a proper 
understanding of the subject in hand — shall first 
take a rapid glance at the natural history of the 
plant, or the conditions under which the oleander 
flourishes in its own country ; for I am persuaded 
there is no better mode of conveying useful in- 
struction about the management of plants. 

The oleander occupies a great geogiaphical range 
in Europe, Asia, and Africa. It girdles the whole north 
of Africa from the north of Morocco, through Algiers, 
Tunis, and Tripoli, coming down close to the shores 
of the Mediterranean, and extending inland to the 
confines of the great desert, then eastward through 
Egypt and Palestine, or the Holy Land, to the north 
of Syria, where it meets another line of oleanders, 
which extends along the nortli side of the Mediter- 
ranean, froui Greece, through Turkey and Asia Minor ; 
then both lines spread eastward through Persia, the 
north of India, and probably as far as the borders of 
Southern China. In all these diflerent localities the 
oleanders occupy only one kind of situation — namely, 
the margins of rivers, brooks, and lakes, where they 
obtain a hot dry summer, and a comparatively cool 
winter. In such places they always meet with allu- 
vial soil, formed by the sedimentary deposit left by 
the overflowing waters; and on this rich compost 
the oleanders feed and flourish to a degree unknown 
in our cooler latitude ; and nowhere more so than on 
the rich and fertile shores of the Sea of Galilee of 
the New Testament, called also the Lake of Tiberias, 
and the Lake of Gennesareth. This is a large sheet 
of fresh water, through which the river Jordan passes 
on its way to the great salt lake which now covers 
the site of Sodom, and the other " cities of the 
jilain." There is no outlet from this lake ; and 
although the river Jordan has been incessantly pour- 
ing its torrents into it since the days of Abraliam, its 
waters are still as salt as brine, and nothing grows 
within its influence; and for these reasons it is now 



THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



287 



called the Dead Sea. How different from the Sea of 
Galilee, whose waters are sweet and clear in summer, 
but at this season of the year the whole lake is 
muddy, and overflowing its margins with the torrent 
waters of the swelling Jordan, so that our oleanders 
in this locality are knee-deep in water, probably, at 
this very moment, and just ready to burst tlieir 
blossoms, for they flower there earlier than with us. 
There is no rain in Galilee during the summer, 
hardly auy after the first week in May; and then the 
oleander grounds get parched like the rest of the 
country; and except what little moisture oozes 
tlirough the soil, the oleanders go without any more 
water until the " early rain " begins to fall, about the 
end of October. 

Under such conditions, our favourite oleanders 
have three e.xtremes — soil extremely rich, extreme 
drought for five or six mouths in the year, and knee- 
deep in water after the blossoiu-buds are formed; 
and we may add a fourth exti-eme, which, however, 
we cannot imitate in England — namely, an extremely 
clear healthy atmosphere. 

These are the really true guide-posts to the proper 
cultivation of our neriums or oleanders.. They de- 
light in strong rich loam; and, as soon as the flower- 
buds appear, the pots ought to stand in saucers of 
water till the bloom is over ; and, with an occasional 
syringing on wai'm afternoons, we imitate, so far, the 
delightful spring weather of the Holy Laud. 

All travellers agree that the spring and late autumn 
weather there is very agreeable; but in the low 
plains and valleys it becomes suddenly hot and 
oppressive early in May, and this heat continues till 
the end of October. Yet the winter is so mild, that 
the oleanders push out their flower-buds in early 
spring, while snow and fi-ost are seen towards the 
north, along the Lebanon range of mountains. The 
melting of this snow, and the ''latter rains," men- 
tioned in scripture, swell the Jordan with turbulent 
floods, which overflow its margins in the low plains 
of Galilee, and water the oleanders with snow-cold 
water : therefore, warm water is not more congenial 
to them than to the calceolarias. 

The reason why the oleander refuses to blossom, is 
either the want of sufficient beat, light, and air, 
whUe it is making its annual growth with us in 
summer, or for want of the necessary supply of 
water at the same time : and it must be the want of 
abundance of water at the roots that causes the 
flower-buds to drop off without expanding. After 
the summer growth is finished, there is no better 
place for the oleander to stand than in the full sun 
out of doors, and, if possible, having the shelter of a 
house or wall on the north side. Oleanders require 
very little water from the end of September till 
March ; indeed, merely enough to prevent the soil 
from becoming povvdery. 

Without a peculiar mode of pruning, it is impossi- 
ble to keep their heads from becoming straggling, and 
out of bounds, after a few years ; and, as they flower 
on the ends of the shoots made last year, we must 
not out off their points in order to get a bushy head, 
for, if we do, we out away the flowering parts. There- 
fore, to keep a large plant in good flowering order, 
one half of the flowering branches must be cut down 
every year to the last joint from the old wood, as 
soon as the flowering is over for the season. Now, 
as the young shoots start off in threes round the 
flowers, and begin to lengthen long before the 
flowers expand, such of the shoots as you intend to 
cut down next spring ought to have the three points 
of the shoots round the flowers stopped as soon as 



they appear. This will throw the whole strength of 
the branch into the flowers, and will also cause the 
bottom eyes to push out three strong shoots, as soon. 
as you cut down the branch after flowering. This is 
the whole secret and turning point in the right 
management of the oleander ; and without strict 
attention to it, the head of a strong plant will soon 
get into a confused mass of leaves and twigs. The 
twigs, or small young shoots, must also be watched 
through the growing season, as there is a constant 
rivalry among them as to who is to be master; and 
when any of them either seems to grow stronger 
than the rest, or has got the mastery, the only way 
to bring him down to the level of his brethren is 
just to tie a soft string round his upper joint, and 
pull him a little to one side ; this will check the 
strong flow of sap which caused him to push away 
in such a hurry. Tlie current of sap will then flow 
into the weaker shoots, and will soon sti'engthen 
them so as to cope with their rival, which may then 
be released from the horizontal position ; but, as bad 
habits are difiicvJt to get rid of, be man ti"y to be 
the master a second time, and therefore keep an eye 
on him for the rest of the season. A watchful eye 
and plenty of time can do wonders. 

I must reserve what I have to say about Dwarf 
Oleanders untU next week. D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. 

Manures. — The waste of manure in this country 
is undoubtedly very gi'eat, and many refuse articles 
are altogether thrown aside, which might easily be 
converted, by a little method and energy, into very 
valuable composts for enriching the soil and pro- 
moting the growth of the eai-th's productions. If our 
own home manures were more carefully attended to, 
foreign and artificial manures might in a great degree 
be dispensed with. Every town, village, or hamlet 
that we pass through affords evidence, more or less, 
of the waste we allude to, by the foetid and obnoxious 
evaporations which contaminate the atmosphere at 
all seasons, from the open ditches, gutters, water- 
tubs, and other places ; where the drainage of stables, 
cattle. sheds, piggeries, wash-houses, &o.,are allowed to 
run to waste, instead of being conveyed through pro- 
perly-covered drains into tanks, cesspools, or any other 
convenient receptacle, placed in a situation where 
their contents may be turned to account, and dis- 
tributed either in its liquid state over grass lands 
and other growing crops, or conveyed to some 
heap of conveniently-placed refuse, there to be ab- 
sorbed, and then spread over the land in a solid state. 
Indeed, if we would maintain strict economy with 
our manures throughout the year, both these ways 
of applying it must be adopted, for it is not at all 
seasons either desirable or convenient to apply it in 
a liquid state ; and if, for instance, the store-tanks 
should be full in frosty weather, which would be an 
improper time for applying manui-e to crops in a 
liquid state, it may perhaps be the most desirable 
time for collecting rubbish to absorb it. Neither do 
we recommend the application of liquid manures in 
very hot and dry weather, unless it is applied at 
night, either well diluted with water, or well washed 
in with it immediately afterwards. The evening or 
the night is always the best time in the heat of 
summer to apply water of any kind; and to the gar- 
den crops where it is applied with a watering-pot, we 
have found, by long experience and observation, that 
for the weU-established growing crops good soakings 



288 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



are better than sprinlclings ; and the spout of the 
watering-pot (into whicli a lew spray sticks slioukl 
lie put) must 1)6 placed close to the earth, thus allow- 
ing the water to pass out quickly, but softly and 
quietly at the same time. Seed beds and seedlings 
are exceptions to this rule, and these should, more- 
over, in the heat of the day, he temporarily shaded 
from the sun in summer, wliioh may be simply and 
economically effected by the use of a thin sprmkle of 
straw, pea or bean haulm, heath, furze, boughs, &c., 
&o. Liquid manure we particularly advise to be 
applied to growing crops in gloomy showery weather, 
at which time its beneficial effects are more certain, 
and the trouble and expense of applying it much 
less. It is more beneficial, because the natural 
moisture of the soil, comhined with the showers that 
may be falling at the time, will dilute and circulate 
the manure in a far more natural and beneficial way 
than the hand of man or his contrivances can per- 
form. 

Our remarlcs thus far, upon the waste of manure, 
have not particularly applied to the cottager, whom 
we would now ask whether the soapsuds, the house 
slops, the drainage from the pig-stye, with many 
other little articles of refuse, are at all times so care- 
fully preserved as they might be? Many will answer, 
we have no convenient place for saving what might 
be so collected ; but we believe we can shew that, 
when the cottager is so inclined, much can be accom- 
plished with a little method and forethought. We 
know that where ground is cropped, however small 
the piece, even if the occupier keeps it too neat and 
free from weeds to have any of them to swell his 
heap for absorbing the liquid matters named before, 
yet there must always be sweepings, rakings, waste 
and run vegetables, decayed leaves, haulms and 
stumps, all which are convertible into the most valu- 
alile and luitural manure that can be applied to the 
soil. It shoidd at all times be carefully collected, 
aud conveyed to a spot as much out of sight of walk 
and dwelling as possible, but, at the same time, 
handy for the drainage. &c., of the house. Such a 
place may be made at very little trouble or expense 
in any garden. We have ourselves made many in 
various ways, always adopting those materials which 
were the most readily found in the locahty. If only 
a small hole is dug. about four or six feet in length 
aud breadth, or of any other desired size, and two 
feet deep, with the sides and bottom puddled over 
with clay six inches thick, you have at once an excel- 
lent receptacle for any kind of refuse that may come 
to hand. To those who can afford it, or have such 
materials by them, as old bricks, or refuse stone, or 
slate, with which they can line their tank, it makes 
it of course more durable. We have adopted many 
ways for saving the liquid from the piggeries and 
cow-house, the soap-suds from the dwelling, &c., &c. 
An old tar barrel may be purchased for a trifie, and 
let into the earth level with the bottom of the drain, 
and is an e.xcellent article for saving the liquid from 
any small dwelling. Large old tea chests, packing 
boxes, or cement casks, are also good. Many, in- 
deed, and various are the articles we have used for 
the purpose, first digging the hole six inches deeper 
and wider than the cask or box. aud by covering the 
bottom, and filliug up the sides with puddled clay, 
such things may be made completely water-tight, 
and will last for many years, very soon repaying the 
little outlay and trouble. A few haudfuls of common 
salt thrown in occasionally to dissolve, will also add 
much to the value of the compost. Common salt 
may now be purchased for Is. or Is. (id. per cwt., aud 



it is really a valuable article when used as a manure, 
if applied with a little method. Salt is best applied 
when dissolved in the tank, or sprinkled over the 
refuse as collected, which it greatly assists in decom- 
posing. 

Asi'.\R.\ous AND Seak.\le should now be sown i and 
where the latter is required for new plantations, it 
should at once be attended to. New beds of aspa- 
ragus are best made when the shoots have started 
about a finger's length. Fidl crops of borecole. 
Etjijptiaa, Jerusalem, Buda, and other coles should 
be sown; also sprouting purple brocoli, and cole- 
worts ; peas and henns, now coming through the 
soil, should be well surface-raked and stirred. — 
Early ciulijlowers should be watered with tepid 
liquid manure, even though the weather be cold, 
which will assist their early luxuriance. At this 
season watering should be performed in the morning, 
but never over the heads of the plants. Successions 
of cabbages should also be planted out, and a pinch 
more seed sown. This is a good time to sow second 
crops of late peas and beans; and also a succession 
of spinach, parsky, marjoram, basil, thi/me, and winter 
snvnri/. Slur/ traps must be duly attended to, as well 
as surface-stirring, hoeing, and forking, which are 
the main-springs of all crops, and nuist now meet 
with due and timely attention. James Bahnes. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



MY FLOWERS. 

(No. 21.) 

i The graceful, delicately-tinted eonvolvidus should 
be conspicuous in every garden. If we notice these 
flowers, we shall be struck with their exquisite 
beauty, both of form and colour ; but we are so ajit 
to pass them by as " common " and " cottage" flowers, 
that they seldom meet with the encouragement they 
deserve, and we lose a lovely ornament of the gar- 
den. Trained round a pole, adorned with their 
many-coloured blossoms, like glittering gems, they 
are objects of peculiar grace, and must charm the 
most fastidious eye. "When pleased with the soil, 
and in a sunny spot, the richness and fulness of 
their growth gives them additional beauty, and they 
would look extremely striking if standing alone in 
small circles upon the grass-plot. They look well as 
creepers over light arches formed of slender rods ; 
but then care must be taken not to give the garden 
a formal or fantastic appearance by this means. 
They may be planted round the steins of young 
trees, whose branches may be too small to shade the 
1 plants, or else they will not thrive. Plant them 
j rather thickly in a small shallow trench round the 
i intended support, and let the soil he as light and 
' rich as you can procure it. Always press the earth 
down wiienever yon sow seeds, that it may lie closely 
upon them ; and where fowls or birds abound, fi.x 
some little bunches of furze or thorns over the spot, 
to protect the seeds as much as possible from their 
attacks. T'he dwarf, or convolvulus minor, is a pretty 
annual, suitable for large patches, or for bordering- 
beds, but it has not the beauty of its taller sister. 
The favourite flower of my childhood, and which I 
still look at with interest and delight, is Venus' 
looking-glass. It should be sown in masses, to give 
; the richest effect, as it is a small, though pretty, 
! flower, and would look well in single beds. Another 
I annual, extremely useful aud ornamental, is the 
glowing, glittering nasturtium. It flings its long, 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



289 



graceful sprays around, covering unsightly objects, 
such as cellar-windows ; which sometimes, in small 
gardens, disfigui'e the borders rouud the house. It 
springs lightly up a trellis, clusters thickly, and forms 
a rich mass if planted in the sharp augle formed by 
walls — in which situation its effect and use are very 
great; and it spreads rapidly and freely over any 
vacant space you wish to cover. Its flowers con- 
tinue till very late in the autumn, which is another 
advantage ; and its ben-ies, if gathered while very 
small, and separated from their clustering form, after 
being covered with hot vinegar, will form an excel- 
lent substitute for capers. They must be bottled 
when cold, and closely corked. The orange-coloured 
nasturtium should be mingled witli the deep red- 
brown variety; the contrast is beautiful, and pleases 
the eye much more than when the brighter tint 
prevails. I once saw, in the village -of Portswood, 
near Southampton, nasturtiums of a brilliant scarlet, 
in a cottage garden. They had a most beautiful 
effect; but I have never seen any of that colour 
since. While thinking of flowers that are to come, 
let us not forget to rejoice in those already opening. 
How delicately gay is the lively mezereon at this 
season, so willing to cheer us with its fragrant 
beauty, that it hastens into blossom before the 
leaves come forth. It is a native of our woods, and 
may be called the " British ahnond." How gra- 
ciously does oiu- Father consider the pleasures of 
His creatures! Even in the early flowering of a 
woodland shrub. He jjrovides for our enjoyment. 
Among the leafless sprays of the yet wintry woods, 
we see a herald of the spring, and feel the first uild 
breath of summer sweetness — and what intense de- 
light these sights and scents produce ! Though 
spring comes every year, and the same flowers come 
with it, they never lose their charm. We see with 
even inci-easing pleasure the objects that have met 
our eyes for many years. We hail them witli as much 
joyful feeling as if we bad never expected again to 
see their reviving beauty ; and the Jirst primrose, 
the first bursting leaf bud, the ^first bright butterfly, 
is still as enchanting to our hearts — perhaps even 
more so — as when our childish thoughts were given 
to little else than butterflies and flowers. And why 
is this ? Why do the woods enchant us when the 
concert-room has ceased to please? Why does the 
rich valley — the sparkling river — the stern, rocky 
mountain, bind us, as witli a spell, when the ball- 
room has lost its charm, and the theatre disgusts us? 
Why, but because God is in the one, and not in the 
other, — because His hand decks the earth with its 
glorious attire, — because His praise is hymned from 
every bough, — and because there is no sin and bit- 
terness in the beautiful scenes of nature. There all 
is pure and peaceful ; the Lord has laid " the beams 
of His chambers in the waters." He makes " the 
clouds His chariot," and " walks upon the wings of 
the wind." 

Wall-flowers are now decking the borders, and 
smelling sweetly. They may be planted out now, if 
seedlings of last year, for blooming this season. 
There are many varieties, some of a bright yellow, 
others of rich brown, deep red, &c., and the varie- 
gated flowers look gay and pleasing among the 
dai'ker kinds. The German wall-flowers are well 
worth cultivating also. By watering these plants in 
very dry weather, their bloom is prolonged ; and if 
saltpetre is added to the water, in the proportion of 
one ounce to the gallon, and given to them once 
only in ten days, it improves their colour, and adds 
to their strength. The best time for sowing the 



seed is in June ; the young plants wUl then bloom 
the next spring. 

The wall-flower is peculiarly the flower of the cot- 
tage garden, and I love to see a sprig decorating the 
button hole of the labourer, when in his Sunday 
dress. Let him, when he places it there for the 
future, remember that the same flower blooms on 
Mount Carmel — a name which, I trust, his Bible has 
made familiar to him; and which, in the Hebrew 
language, signifies the country of gardens and vine- 
yards. His simple nosegay thus reminds him of the 
miracle wrought by God, when fire from heaven con- 
sumed the offering of faith, and all the people saw 
and confessed that " the Lord He was the God ; " 
and it will also speak of that refreshing rain which 
watered the parched earth in answer to believing 
prayer. The wall-flower, then, is an appropriate 
Sabbath flower, leading the thoughts of the cottage 
gardener to Him, without whose blessing labour has 
no gain, and rest no sweetness. It greets us very 
early in the year, and blooms gaily on, till nearly 
every other flower has drooped and died. The last 
blossom that lingered in my garden, when November 
had long set in, was one of these flowers of Mount 
Cai'mel. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Analysis op Soils iKaTrira).— W'e cannot undertake the analyses 
of your lour soils under half a guinea each. There is no doubt'but 
that the black surface-soil would be benefiied by being mixed with 
the subsoil, but more by being heavily coated wiih "the slarie" 
(containing much calcareous matter), and still more benefit would 
arise from a In avy manuring with chalk. The first and greatest im- 
provement would be to drain, if you can get an outfall. 

Garden Fork and Spade (,J. A. ;i/.).— The best form ^^-- — 5 
is that adopted hy Dr. Yellowly. This instrument is pre- 
ferable to the spade, even for digging open compart-nenls, 
for the soil can be reversed wiih it as easily as with the 
spade; the labour is diminished, and the pulverization of 
the soil is more effectual. For stirring the soil in planta- 
tions, shrubberies, and fruit-borders, a two-prongeJ fork is 
often employed, but that with three protigs is quite as 
unobjectionable, and a multiplicity of tools is an expensive 
lolly. The acompanying is a sketch of what is termed 
Dr. Yellowly's fork. Entire length, three feet tl.ree and 
a half inches; handle's length, two feet two inches; its 
diameter, one and a half inch ; width of the entire prengs, 
seven inches at the top; widtti at the points, six Inches; 
prongs thirteen and a half inches Ions, and at the top 
seven eighths of an inch squ-ire, tapering to a point. 
The straps fixing the head to the handle are eleven 
inches long, two incites wide, and half an inch thick, 
feathering off; weight of fork, eight pounds. The 
best spade that we have met with is made by Lyndon, 
of Birmingham, It is about one shilling more than 
the common spade ; but it will wear out two of these, 
and carry a sharp edge to the last. The handle is also 
very sli^-htly curved, so as to prevent the necessity for 
stpoping quite so low when digging as you have to do 
with \\\^ usuhI garden spade. It Is called "Lyndon's 
Cast Steel Spade." 

Tree P(E0NY (/. T. Cawler). — To propagate this by dividing the 
roots, which you may do without any fear of their " bleeding to 
death," you must take it up about the end of October ; shake all 
the soil from the roots, separate it by a sharp knife into as many 
parts as there are stems with roots. Shorten the stems, pot in rich 
soil, and keep them dry through the winter in a cold frame, or other 
place where Irost will not reach them. In the following spring, start 
them into growth by putting them into a warm greenhouse ; and 
plant them out finally in the autumn. We never propagated the 
tree pogony by cuttings, but it is readily done by layers. Peg down 
now some of the previous year's shoots. Have a joint under ground, 
and covered three inches deep with sandy peat and leaf-mould. 
Wat'T in dry weather. Roots will be produced; but two years must 
pass before you can separate the layer from the mother plant. 
Cuttings wilt succeed if young shoots are taken off in August or 
September, with a part of the year-preceding wood at the bottom. 
Plant in a mixture of sandy peat and leaf-mould, in a sheltered 
situation. The best mode of propagation is by gralting it on one 
of th' Poeonia albifloras. 

Cacti {A Subscriber, Stoke Newington). — These may be propa- 
gated by seed, by cuttings, and by grafting. We hope to have some 
good information as to their management shortly. The White Mul- 
b Try may be purchased of any of the nurserymen who advertise in 
our pages. 

Coal-ashes (M, TF.). — These are good for heavy soils. See pp. 
164, 204, and 263, For cultivation of the artichoke, see our " Kitclien 
Garden " next week. 



2<I0 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Maize (Rev. C. Caj'ver). — We have not qppn what wai said on tho 
culiiva'ion of this crop by the "John Bull," but whatever is there 
said, we must remain of opinion, after repeated trials in Essi x, 
that it will not suceepd, bo as to be protifable. in this country. If 
any one can beii'i us any facts upon the subject, we shall pladly 
publish th"m. Many persons tried to srow it, at the recommendation 
of ihe laie Mr. Cobbett, but we are not aware of any one continuing 
to gmw it. 

CocDMBERS {Tnmnr Terrace). — The Joneest worth cnltivaMng is 
Punfan's Viftoria. See a lifii, p. 190. Tue greatest bearer is ih^; 
Snort Pri-kly. 

CiNEUARiA Seedlings (Jhid).—0( tho«p potted last au'umn. if 
they have be"!! well taken care of, many will fl-nver this sprinsr. The 
bntanical name of th- Hare's-foot fern is Dnvnltia ranurietisis. 
With proper care after tlvy have been forced, strawberries may be 
forced aaain the next year. 

Daphne Odora {A. A ). — This plant is liardly seen in these 
day-;, anurher daphne, called rubra, hating supplanted it in a great 
measure, boih, however, have very sweet fliwers; those of your plant 
are ereenish while An old complaint against your plant wis its 
straggline mode of growth. All the daphnes grow best iu lieht sandy 
loam, wiihniir any mixture. Unless the planis were atroi'sand ve'-y 
healthy, their roots would hardly advance an inch in 12 m'"itlis in ih"* 
proper compost for a eeranium; 'hey must also be well drained. Yimr 
plant, nnly two inches high, mu'^t be in lich strong so 1, or badlv 
drained, otherwise it has hardly mirie any roots ; perhaps it is in t-m 
large a pot, — one that would hold a wine-glass full, called a thumb- 
pot, would oe large enough for it now. Shnke all the soil from it 
nnw, and pot it in ih-^ smallest pot ttiaf will h dd its rnoti. If the 
roots are very scanty, place the little pot inside a larger 'lue, and turn 
a tuaihlpr elass over Ihem. The ourer pot t-i be ju-^t wide enouah to 
aM'>w ihe class to dr"p mside ii a little; tins is liuw the slip should 
hive been treated at fir-f. Never remove the glass, except to give 
wat-r, until kpw If^ave-J are maiie, and then only at night, for a week 
or two, until i\\^y are firm enough to stand the air 

Figs, Pruning. &c. (Somersetshirf J??r/or).— Plant your fig 
directly; your aMgle. shelttretl Irom the X. and E., is good. We 
advise you to plant tlie Brown I-chia, or Lee's Perpetual; we wonld 
]i]ant .-neof each. No plum yet quite equals the greeBgace in flavour. 
Plant the British Qcieen strawberry by all means. The pinchim; 
systt-m, as you term it, adopted by ourselves and Mr. Rivers, in con- 
junction with other gO'id principles oi" culture, will be f>und cnrtect 
for your pears- Blue-apron, who cut back your peach's long shoots 
lo 6 inches, was not so far wrong as you imagined; without pruning 
bark, how is .he bottom nT iIih wall to b^• furni-^hfd ? the bnst thing 
is til take care and prune close enoui^h The pinching system is for 
spur bearing fruits. 

CANVASS FOR COVERINGS {Rev. J. Pratt and A Consfftnt Render). 
— We are not quite assuied that wp qnoteii ihe in ice of tlie canvass 
hieh enough ; we wrnro from memT-y. Be that as it mny, we have 
purchased many hundreds of yards within the lust twenty years or" 
Mr. N. Hidme, Paradi<"-grei'n, Kimtsford. at something very near 
the pricp we quoted. There may be many other dealers. Wu iiever 
saw Hwythorn's hexagonal garden net. 

Pruning Recently planted Trees (C. W. L.)-— You say that 
Mr. Bi-cham advise* you not to prune those plums and cherries 
planted last November, but te wait until next autumn. Mr. B.'a 
advice is based on sounfl principles, as regards forest trees, and, in- 
deed, trees in general, so far as health is concerned. It, however, 
becomes necessiry to adapt trees to iheir new situation bet'me=, and 
the coursp pursued is som<»times slishtly inimif.-al to high culture for 
a very short ppriod. If, however, your tret's are ordinary 6tandar*!8, 
and symmetry is not important, why th^n Mr. B.'s advice is correct, 

Old Espalier Apple Trees {Rei\ T. D W.).— Your old espalier 
apples, which appeared quite worn out. should have been replaced by 
fresh lieps. No amount of root-cutting can ever renew a worn out 
tree. Something may be done by a generous coui-se of ireutmeut, 
such as rich top- dressings; they are, however, but temporizing in 
this case. Under your circumstances, we should thin out, but not 
shorten; they can never make useful espaliers, or dwarf standards. 

Disease in PcARSfT. Griffin). — You state that the fir^t black spots 
appeared en the leaves, and that in a few days after nearly all the 
fruit fell off. This is certainly a serious case. Probably a fungus, 
but what kind we cannot say ; '* ih-'ir name is legion." We have 
escerienced a similar attack on the Chaumontelle pear, but know of 
no remedy Your peach case appaars to be what is commonly termed 
"blister," and which arises, as we think, from badly constduled soils 
(in reference to ih»ir mechanical structure), or from stagnation of 
moisture at the root. Your potatoes exhibit precisely the same 
phenomena as others in a variety of districts. 

Double Violets becoming Single {M. H.,Bo7/ne-water).—To 
prevent this, take runners of your violets as early in May as they are 
rooted, and plant ihein on a west aspect, where the sun cannot reach 
them till late in the afternoon from September to March. Enrich the 
Bidl with rotten manure, and watrr orcasionally till the plants are 
well established. We have often seen the violets cist their leaves in 
winter when planted in the full sun. The tree violet is much hardier 
in that respect. 

Mignonette (Ibid). — Early sowjns is the best remedy where the 
mi noneite dues not thrive well. Now is the best time to sow; make 
shallow drills, sow thickly, and cover, say one-fourth-of-an-inch, with 
peat or wood ashes, screened through a coarse sieve; and after 
levelling the bed or row, scatter a little soot all over the ground. 

Zinnias Damping Off (Ren, George Grijfilh). — Zinnias often 
damp off at the collar, as you say; the cause of which is not well 
known : but this disease is aggravated by raising the seedlmes in a 
too c 1 09*' atid hot atmosphere. As soon as the seedlings are just above 
ground they ought to have abundance of air, to bring them up with 
firm st<'in«. 

Gladiolus Cardinalis (Ibid). — May be watered over the leaves 
when jj|:iritHil in beds, oi er«)wn in pols, ani so may all the gladioli 



with advantage. This kind of watering is to be done in the after- 
noun. 

Balsams in a Window (An Amateur, Manchester).— To rear 
balsams in a window, it will be time enough lo sow the seeds about 
the end of April. See the proper culture, p. 276. 

DiANTHus (/At'rf).— This is some kind of hardy pink or s^eet- 
wiliiara; the seeds may be sown now in the open air, and when the 
plants are a few inches high transplant them where you intend them 
to flower, six inches apart every way. The sickly plant is probably 
acacia armata, with yellow globular flowers; it will aim recover if 
you water it sparingly and keep it in the window, Havin* flowered 
80 long is the cause of its losing its leaves. Keep it ani) the rose in 
the window till the May frosts are over, when you may place them 
in the open air for the summer. They are two good window plants. 
The acacia will not stand the frost, but the rose will. 

Pruning Beauty op Billiard Rose (W. H- G). — In extreme 
cases of great vigour, and an uncommon good soil and favourable 
situation, the Beauty of Billiard rose might, as you say, produce 
shoots •* of a y/^vy great length;" but that would be the excep- 
tion, not the rule. The rose-grower you name is well kno*n, but 
we hold to our directions being correct as to Ihtf mode of pruning 
this and similar rose-trees. Of course, if a tree pushes forth strong, 
we would advise longer shoots to be left, but the rose in question is 
not in the habit of doing so; and, therefore, we say, thin hard and 
prune shoit, and you will have muchj?ner roses, though perhaps not 
so many. 

Garden always Shaded (Gardenia) — You say you have a plot 
of gtound at the back of your house that has no sun on it all day, 
yet you wish to make of ii a gard^^n; but you do not say whether it 
is in a town or m the country. If it is in a town, which we suspect 
it is, very few things would live in it. I' you do not mind a little ex- 
pense, try to cultivate terns, by forming a rockery, as we directed 
some numbers hack. As to sowing seed=, your's is a hopeless case. 
Procure some plants of the following, if you are not disposed to make 
the roclvwork; — Sweet-williams, rockets, wali-flowers, Canterbury 
bells, French honeysuckles, white and blue periwinkles, coramsn 
Irish ivy, and Lon ion pride. Plant these in a little fresh soil, syringe 
the leaves frequently, and you will succeed during the summer 
mof»ths to make your plot gay and interesting. You may try a patch 
or two of the following animals:— Candy tuft, white and purple, 
yellow lupines, double marigold, mignonette, double French poppy, 
Virginian stock, ten-week stock, and sweet alyssum. You may plant 
a laurol or two, a southprnwood, and an aucuba japonica. Do not, 
however, attempt any fruit trpes or vegetables. 

Under-Gardener's Place (A. B., Linrnlnshire).—Y»ur best 
plan to obtain wh;it »ou want, would be to get somegarderer of note 
and long standmg to apply for you to some respedable London 
nurseryman, or to advertize in The Cottage Gardener, staling 
your age and qualifications. 

Pears for Westmoreland {E. G).— You say that yonr wall is 
lfi2 feet long, and with a south-west aspect You should have named 
the height of your wall. We plant dwarf trees as permanent ones; 
rainy introduce standards as temporary trees, trained between and 
over the dwarfs. At six yards apart, it will require a*>out nine trees; 
we will, howHver, name mere, and you can select : pears — Loui« 
bonne of Jersey, Marie Louise, Jarg melle, Hacon's Incomparable, 
Beurre Diel, Glout Morceaux, Beurre Ranee. Plums — ReineClaude 
Violelle, Golden-drop You also ask for oiher fruit for the same 
situation, and we answer : of cherries — Horello and Mav-duke; of 
the peach — theRoval George; of nectarines — Murray and Pitmaston 
O-ange; and of apricots— the Shipley. These are dwarfs, and in- 
tended to he permanent. If yon are inclined to plant standards, or 
"riders," between, take the following: — Fondante d'Automne pear, 
Ensler Beurre pear. Winter Neilis pear. Greengage plum, Morocco 
plum, Morelln cherry, Elton cherry, Moorpark apricot, and Early 
Admirable peach. Tnese should be chisen with tall stems. The 
main yroiind 'if success must be sought in the formation of ihe soil. 
Look back to our aovice on stations; and in your damp and nor- 
therly county, the pears must be on quince stocks. Be sure to drain 
well, and try and plant above the ground level. 

Size of Pots (Amateur). — It is quite true that Mr. Beaton 
speaks (It a 48-sizvd pot being six inches wide, asd we, in another 
page, have spoi-en of 33s as being of that size. This is only one 
illustration among many of the absurdity of the old system of speak- 
ing of flower-pots as so-many to the cast. It is evident that in 
Suffolk -i'Js are six inches wide at the mouth; in the neighbourhood 
of London, 32s are of that width; and at the Farehara potteries, in 
Hampshire, 249 are six inches wide I If you use a pot of this width, 
it 'loes not signify much whether it is a 48, 32, or 24. It is too late 
for planting Gladiolus Psittacinus. 

Rhubarb Planting (J. W. Ashtnn-under-Lt/ne). — The crown 
should be two or three inclies below the surface. Ail the Ea'ly Reds 
are crimson-stalked; hut the "scarlet-stalked" of large size, men- 
tioned by your friend, was probably the Tobolsk. You pre quite 
right in trenching deeply for ihubarb, and pulling in the road- 
scrapings, &c., to rendt-r your heavy soil more friable. 

LiquiD Manure (G. M. LeucA).— Six gallons of drainage from 
your stable, and three gallons of hen-dung, will require about 60 
gallons of water to make a liquid manure of beneficial strength. 

SOIL for Fuchsias (il/ariu). — See p. 22'. Myrtles flourish well 
in any light garden soil to which one-iourth peat has been added. 

Beet-Sowing (L. fl.).— Early in April i-. a good time. Spring 
frosts, if sh-irp, kill the young plants. For out-buildings and rough 
palings we always use gas-tar, adding to it a Utile fat. 

London : Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somekville Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saini .Mary-le-Strand, London.— March \22nd, 1849. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



291 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



m' w 

Dl U 

'io' Th 


MARCH ;20— APRIL 1, ISi!). , 


Plants dedicated to 
each daj'. 


1 Sun 
Rises. 


Sun 
Sets. 


Moon R. 
and Sets. 


Moon's 
Age. 


Clock 
bef. Sun. 


Day of 
Year. 


Large Bloody-nosed Beet'e appears. 


0x1 ips 


4;J,a4 


20 a G 


morn. 


5 


4 51 


88 


:W F 


Ciimb. T. ends. Cowslip Flowers, 


Hairy Ladv's-Smock 


; 49 


27 


3i 





4 33 


SO 


31 S 


Oxford T. ends. Domestic Duck halclies. 


Smaller Daft'odil 


: 30 


20 


1 34 


@ 


4 14 


00 


1 Son 


P,\L^[ Sc-V, Ivy berries ripe. 


Annual Mercury 


1 37 


31 


2 a 20 


8 


3 50 


91 


2 M 


Peacli-leaves opening. 


White Violet 


1 .",:) 


32 


3 





3 38 


02 


3 T 


Hort, and Linn. Soe, meetings. * 


Evero:reen Alkanet 


1 33 


34 


3 44 


10 


3 211 


93 


4l W 


St. Ambrose. Plum-leares open.. 


Red Crown Imperial 


1 30 


30 


4 17 


11 


3 2 


94 





















Palm Sunday is so called in cnmraeraoration of our Saviour's 
entrance into Jerusalem, at the coraraenccment of liis last week of 
suffering. On iliat occasiou his disciples strewed palm branrhes 
before liira ; and as in this country, at this season, tlie blossom- 
bearing Iwigs of the willow tribe are the most conspicuous amon^ 
our trees, these have Iieen subslituted. This is also appropriate; for 
those blossoms, springing from a trt-e which is the emblem of sad- 
ness, well typifies the ji-y to which the suflVirings we commemorate 
gave birth. "A willow," says Fuller, "is a sad tree, whereof such 
as Iiave lost their love make their mourning garlands ; and we also 
know who the exiles were who hung up their harps upon such doleful 
supporters," 

St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, died on Ihis day, a.d. 367. He is 
to be remembered as one of the most exemplary of the Bishops of 
the Kalian Church. He was claimed by ihe people as worthy to be 
their Cliristian teacher, and Ik? resigned the gown of the lawyer to 
j-eceive the pontifical robe. His writings, especially one on "The 
Duties of the Clergy " {De Officiis), are well known, bulhis memorable 
reliukti of the Emperor rheodosius is still more generally remembered. 
Theodosius had been Euilty of a most cruel and unjust massacre of 
the inhabitants of Thessalonica, and then, without any apology, or 
declaration of repentanc, came to the Cathedral of Milan to com- 
momorate our Saviour's sacrifice. But St. Ambrose met him at the 
gate, and successfully opposed his entrance, dismissing him with the 
stinging reproach, ''flow can ynn receive Iho holy body of our Ljrd 
in such polluted hanclF, or touch his blood with lips that commanded. 



in your passion, the blood of thousands to be unjustly shed? Depart, 
and do not iiggravale your former guilt by new provocations." 

riiENOMENA OF THE SEASON.— "When a Seed is sown so as to 
receive the most favourable supplies of warmth, moisture, and air, it 
soon germinates; and Malpighi, one of the most accurate observers 
of vegetation, thus details the visible clianges wliioli, under such 
favourable circumstances; occur in the seed of a gourd or pumpkin. 
At ihe end of (he first day the see-^ had swollen considerably, and its 
skin had becoa:is so moistened that a tluid oozed from it when pressed 
between the finger and Hiumb. A small hole also was perceptible at 
one end of the seed, through which moisture seemed to be conveyed 
to the lobes of the seed (cotyledons), which had already begun to 
assume the foim of seminal or seed leaves. At the end of the second 
day the inner skin of the seed was somewhat torn, and the plantlet, 
or embryo plar.t, somewhat enlarged. On cutting it across the 
middle, the fibres, sap vessels, air cells, pith, and bark, were discern- 
ible. The radicle, or embryo root, could also be seen. At the end 
of the third day the outer skin had become brownish, and the plantlet 
and radicle had enlarged. At ihe end of the fourth day little lumps 
on the sides of the radicle shewed the points from whence the fibrous 
roots would issue. The leaves had not quite burst their inuer wrapper, 
but their nerves were perceptible. At the end of the sixth day the 
leaves had escaped from the seed, though still within, and shielded by 
the cotyledons; and they thus remained, but increasing in size and 
gradually bernming green, until the twentieth day, when the plant 
was fully developed. 



Insects.— The Seven-spotted Lady- 
Bird {Coccinelht Septcm-punctata) re- 
presented magnifieJ and of its natural 




March 


1341. 


1842. 


1S43. 


1344. 


1845. 


IS4S. 


1347. 


1343. 


29 


Fine. 


Pine. 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Fine, 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Hijrhest 


















N; lowest 


58°— 40° 


59°— 48° 


56°— 29° 


63°— 3;° 


58°— 27° 


57°— 35° 


49°— 26° 


61° -32° 


temp. 


















30 


Rain. 


Showery. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Showerv. 




55°— J 1° 


.i9°— 42° 


54°— 42° 


57°— 40° 


56°- 36° 


54°— 30° 


50°— 20° 


62°— 39° 


31 


Cloudy. 


Showerv. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


April 


56°— .11° 


56°— 4:t° 


58°-46° 


6o°— 38° 


63°— 30° 


62°-4l» 


45°— 22° 


71°— 35° 


1 


Cloudv. 


Rain. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Fine. 




52°— il° 


51°— 32° 


69°— 50° 


65°— 29° 


59°— 29° 


63°-45° 


46°— 23° 


72°— 38° 


2 


Fine. 


Showerv. 


Showerv. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Showery. 


Cloudv. 


Fine. 




66°-26° 


47°— 31° 


59°— 48° 


72°-29° 


6o°— 33° 


59°— 10° 


44°- 28° 


75°— 40° 


3 


Fine. 


Cloudy. 


Showerv. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Cloudv. 


Fine. 




5-°— 25° 


47°-35° 


6l°-46° 


72°- 32° 


69°— 30° 


55°— 39° 


41°— 32° 


78°— 36° 


4 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Fine. 


Fine. 


Rain. 


Cloudv. 


Fine. 




65°— 39° 


4/°— 27° 


5/°— 41° 


68°— 38° 


69°— 35° 


53°— 40° 


50°— 37° 


75°— 41° 



sizd in the annexed drawing, is one of the gardener's best friends. It 
is the insatiable foe of the plant louse, aphip, or green fly, for by all 
llicse names is this pest of our plants known; and Mr. Stephens 
gives the tribe no more praise than is its due when be say?, " uni- 
versal, and rich in numbers, the lady-bird Keeps within due limits 
the aphides of every climate from polo to pole." The havoc lady- 
birds, or lady-cows, make among these stickers of the life-sap of our 
plants, may be conceived from the myriads upon myriads seen in 
years when the aphis abound. In 1807 the Susses coast swarmed 
with lady-birdB, to the alarm of some of the inhabitants, who were 
ignorant that their Utile visitors were emigranfs from the neigh- 
louring hop-plantations, where, in their larra state, each had sla'n 
his tliousands ond ten tliousands of the aphis, which, known locally 
as the fly, so frequently blasts the hopes of the hop-grower. With 
us they are held as sacred as the robin, and in France they are 



equally regarded as especially under the protection of tlie Virgin 
Mary.* We have selected Ihe seven-spotted species because it is the 
most familiar to every one, and we will conclude by just .oketching 
its history. If we examine the under side of the leaves of roses, 
turnips, or other plants very liablo to plant lice, we shall generally 
find there little clusters of orange coloured eggs, sticking by their 
ends to the leaf. In May from these comes the first brood of the 
lady-bird; thiy are then little black insects, hairy, and with six Ugs, 
aid the boriy projecting beyi.-nd these. The head' is orange-coloured. 
They feed voraciously upon the lice. They pass the winter in this 
form, and in the spring, after remaining in the pupa state about 12 
days, lliey are transformed into the perfect lady-bird. In this stale 
they alio prey fiercely upon the ophis, and Mr. Curtis says thai he 
has seen them cat three or four in a minute of the little wingless lice 
upon a pelargonium. 



• Hence, probably, their proper name; which, at first, being "Our Lady's Bird," has been shortened lo "Lndy-bird," in the same 

manner as "Our Lady's Day. 



Several correspondents, signing themselves respec- 
tively "Alpha," "T. W." "A Clerk/' and '* Sylva," 
have written to iis for advice how they may best es- 
cape from their present sedentary employments, and 
profitably devote their money and labour to the cul- 
tivation of the soil. Such a desire seems natural to 
man, and the sentence passed upon our first parent, 
" In the sweat of thy face sbalt thou eat bread," has 



been kindly converted to a blessing. Worldly occu- 
pation is essential to the happiness of our worldly 
nature, and God has so beneficially arranged tliat 
the contest against *' the brier and the thistle," to 
which man is condemned, is a contest and a labour 
in which lie chiefly and uuiversaliy delights, 

One chief object of our pages is to aid and to pro- 
mote our fellow-countrymen's progress in this their 



No. XXVr., Vor. I. 



% o 



ogo 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



)iiost pleasant of labours ; and we have the remu- 
nevating knowledge that we have largely attained to 
tliiit object. But we feel that it is our duty sometimes 
to restrain as well as to cheer on our readers in their 
efforts to mal;o progress in the cultivation of the soil; 
to check them when we see then- energy misdirected, 
and to warn when we see them urging along a course 
beset with shoals and rocks. Our foiu- correspond- 
ents are in this predicament, and we bid them be- 
ware. T3ut before we enter upon any commentary — 
before we offer any advice — let us produce our text ; 
let us publish one of their letters, for the others are 
of similar character. Tt is dated from Brixton, and 
signed " Sylva." 

" I have often thought that many like myself may 
derive most important assistance in carrying out 
their views, in the cultivation of small plots of land, 
by a publication like your's. At present I am in a 
counting-house, but expect to have nu aniniity of 
say i;20 a year, when I think of quitting the desk, 
and taking to gardening and I'ai'ming on a small 
scale. Will you inlbrm me (and, perhaps, in asking 
for myself I am asliing the favour for many others) 
what is the extent of ground I could cultivate so as 
to get a comfortable livelihood, and the way I ought 
to set about the business ? and what part of England 
would be most advisable to settle in '.' and such oilier 
particulars as you might deem useful for persons 
somewhat in my position in life? I am 3R years of 
age, married, but liave no family. My present in- 
come is about i/O a j'ear. I cannot expect you, of 
course, to lose your valuable time in replying to tliis 
letter; but allow me to suggest that, in your articles 
on the allotment system, you might kindly give such 
infoi ination for the assistance of those situated as I 
am ; and in doing so, I think you would be rendering 
an essential service to a numerous body of men 
who must be subscribers to some extent to your 
publication ; I mean valioiud school-inasters, as tliey 
generally have a piece of ground attached to their 
school, and could tints get practical information at a 
small price." 

Now, before " Sylva," and the thousands like him 
who similarly linger for country occupations, ought 
to venture upon taking a plot of ground to cultivate, 
they should have some capital to buy tools, a cow, 
pigs, &c. ; and, after having done this, have, over and 
above, enough money remaining to suppoi't them- 
selves and pay their rent and taxes for twelve months. 
If they arc not thus provided, tliey will be in that 
worst of all positions for a cultivator of the soil — 
obliged to sell their produce to meet the demands 
upon thcra. Pressures come upon such parties ad- 
mitting of no delay ; and they sell, not because they 
have been able to await the best market, but because 
they must have the money. 

Then, again, men of " Sylva's " class are not usually 
the sturdy sons of the spade, best calculated for the 
labours of the garden and tlie field. They have not 
the sinew and the muscle devclojied by exercise from 
early youth, neither have they the superior ]n-actical 
knowledge of the art of growing the best crops, at 
the least expense, which can compensate for their 



deficient bodily power. Let none such be deceived by 
our narrative of " Britton Abbot." He was "happy 
in his own industry and good management ; in tlie 
beauty and comfort of bis cottage, and in the extreme 
fertility of his gai-den;" but, tben, Britton Abbot was 
a day-labourer on a farm. His own plot was only 
cultivated at his leisure hours ; and if any clerk or 
schoolmaster, or other bondsman to indoor emjiloy- 
ment, can thus devote his leisure hours, it will be all 
profit to him — profit to his pocket, and profit to his 
health. But making the spade ids foundation, in- 
stead of his buttress, is quite another matter. 

Resolving, on so important a point, not to rely on 
our ownjudgment alone, we consulted Mr. Errington, 
as a man of much exjierienoe among cottage gardeners 
and the cultivators of allotments. This is his answer, 
and it shall close our reply to our four friends. 

" There are hundreds no doubt situated as 'Sylva;' 
many of them worthy members of society. They, of 
course, should look beyond the poor-laws. \Vliat, 
then, is to be done? Book-keeping is at an end witli 
them. Now, I quite agree witli you, that tliey are 
not the sort of men, in general, for land. No man 
can thrive on the small holdings within reach of such 
as ' Sylva,' without considerable labour. How can 
we expect this from persons of that class ? 

"'Sylva's' annuity we will call X'Jii per annum. 
Now this, to men of his grade, should be increased 
to .£00 or .ilO, by some means. Forty or fiity pounds 
of jiroflt, tlien, has to be realised. Cominerci.al gar- 
dening, carried on near a thriving town, and close to 
a railway, will sometimes do as much on three or four 
acres as ordinary gardening — or call it small farm- 
ing, if yon will — can accomplish on a score of acres. 
Men of ' Sylva's ' calibre, liowever, cannot hope to 
aeeomplish this : there is, indeed, no royal road to 
gardening, any more than there is to geometiy. 

" Men of ' Sylva's' ca.?te had, perhaps, better aim 
at as much land as will keep a cow and tlirco or four 
pigs. If, in addition, he can procure his bread-corn 
from his plot, so much the better. liCt him, how- 
ever, first secure a winter's hay and jdenty of store- 
roots. All this The Cottaoe Gardeneh can teach, 
and 'Sylva' can practise; provided, always, that 
such persons are willing to Labour. If such holdings 
are, as before observed, near a thriving town, and 
carriage is very cheap, and manure easily obtained, 
why then I should not despair of seeing such men as 
' Sylva,' who appears to be an earnest character, and 
one who is willing to ' count the cost before building 
the house,' creep out gradually into a sort of market- 
gardening system. 'J'he present position, however, 
of the lauded interest, afi'ords no guarantee that such 
miniature farms will hereafter be rendily obtained." 



THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 

Copings to GAnnEN 'Wai.i.s — Amongst the garden- 
ing questions which have been raised during the last 
twenty years, the subject of copings has received its 
fair share of disputation. We dare say that the 
eligibility of a nightcap to a person in bed, once 
fairly mooted, would raise just such another contro- 
versy. 

The opponents of copings say, that they shut out 
the dews of heaven, besides dripping on tlie trees, 
&o. That some of these matters may be, at times, 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



293 



trifling evils, we admit; but beliokl tlie vast amount 
ol' benefit copings confer, as tbe preservation or 
arrest of absorbed lieat ; and this, in two distinct 
ways. l''irst, by preventing what scientific men 
term radiation : this means, that the wall having 
become warmed by the sun during the day, parts 
with the boat again dming the early part ot' tbe 
night, owing to a law of nature inherent in all bodies, 
that they shall give out beat to those which arc colder 
than themselves. Now, it has been repeatedly proved, 
that any bodj', however thin, which comes between 
the sky and the object in question, aceoniplisbes this 
in the most certain way. Indeed, to digress for a 
moment, all our mat or other coverings are based, in 
the main, on this principle ; the object being not only 
to arrest the departure of the heat by a body of some 
kind, but by one which our learned folks term a non- 
conductor of beat. The preservation of the beat 
thus acfpiired by walls does, indeed, seem to us tbe 
great desideratum. We have frenuently known an 
intensity of sunshine on a south wall which, we 
need scarcely say, was highly e.xciting, and in some 
cases positively injurious ; especially when the ti'ee 
in question laboured under a sluggish action of root, 
or tbe soil was too dry. Under such circvnnstances, 
then, bow great must be the extremes of temperature 
to shoots near the wall during a frosty night, in the 
end of March, after a briglit and glaring sunshine ; 
especially on a wall with neither coping nor covering. 

There is another and important point to refer to on 
behalf of copings. With a coping projecting some 
eight or ten inches, the wall will be preserved Jri/ 
during two-thirds of our s])ring rains ; tliis is used 
as an argument against coping by some : with us, 
it is a strong recommeudatiou. Moisture is well 
known to be a heat carrier; and the amount of solar 
heat stored up in the wall, under a good broad cop- 
ing, where everything is dry, becomes entirely dissi- 
pated on those walls possessing no coping. Now, tbe 
frequency of such drenching showers is in some 
seasons very great: great, therefore, is the loss 
of heat in the aggregate under such circumstances : 
and loss of heat is surely a question w-orthy of con- 
sideration. As bearing on this point of the question, 
we have a fact to relate. Some twenty years since, 
our practice was to ply tbe barrow-engine every fine 
afternoon on our south walls. It was a practice ac- 
quired under tbe tuition of a most respectable and 
first-rate gardener of those days, whose character 
stood so high, and deservedly so, that his pupils 
never doubted liis proceedings. We, however, found 
that, with all our pumping and " cleaning the trees," 
as we then termed it, they did not, by any means, 
succeed better than some of oin- neigbbom-s, who 
totally dispensed witli this washing. At last, light 
began to dawn in our minds, and the bonds of our 
master's spell became somewhat relaxed. The prin- 
ciples of absorption and of radiation were looked into, 
and it soon appeared tolerably plain that the engine 
was neither more nor less than a machine to get rid 
of the heat acquired during the day. From that 
period to the present we have been much more 
cautious in the use of our engine; which, by the 
way, is a useful thing to disturb insects and lodg- 
ments of e."ctraneous matter; and we may fairly and 
certainly date our improved course of cultru'e, with 
a corresponding increased amount of success, from 
that very period. Whilst, however, strongly advo- 
cating the use of copings, wo wordd not be under- 
stood as advocating gi-eat extremes in point of width. 
Neither would we endeavour to urge the imiversal 
adoption oi fixed copings. The ciuestioii is, we con- 



sider, still an open one here ; and we are willing to 
concede, that the total removal of copings during the 
months of July and August may possibly lie bene- 
ficial. Let them, however, be restored by all means 
in September ; for Ibeii' agency in the preservation of 
heat is as much needed then as in the spring. We 
think, that from nine inches to one foot will be found 
most eligible. They must be wide enough to throw 
the drip clear beyond the leaves of the trees; but 
beyond a foot would indeed intercept too much those 
atmospheric influences which are accessory to the 
general welfare of the tree. The favourite plan witli 
those who advocate moveable copings, is boards on 
brackets, either built or driven iuto the wall. These 
are good : they are, however, rather expensive. 
Perhaps slates might be successfully adopted. 

Top Dressings, 1\[t]i.ching, &c. — We have before 
adverted slightly to the propriety, not to say neces- 
sity, of mulching fruit-ti-ees generally. By muk-hing, 
we mean such an amount of either balf-i'otten nianm'e, 
or vegetable matters, or both in combination, as 
will at once ward oif extreme drought, encourage the 
fibrous roots to the surface, and act by forming a 
weak liquid nianme diu'ing every shower of rain, or 
application of water. There is little difference be- 
tween mulching and top-dressing ; the difference is 
more a matter of degree than of piiuciple. Tlius, 
when we speak of top-di'essing gooseberry and cur 
rant bushes, we nu'an as much manure of some kind 
as will enable them to carry their crop of fruit. For 
since we cannot, on every occasion, introduce such a 
needful appliance at the ends of the fibres, we must 
be content to place it on the surface, and leave the 
rest to the dews and rains. In speaking of mulching 
newly planted peaches or other teu^f r fruits on walls 
possessing warm as))ects, we must try to be iiuder- 
stood as meaning something more than a manure ; 
that is, in point of bulk. All materials of this charac- 
ter, thus applied, may be termed, with some accuracy, 
regulators. Thus, plant two ]ieacli-trees side by side 
on a south wall, on a properly prepared border : 
midch the one and leave tbe other unmulchcd; the 
iniuudched one will make, it may be, an earlier start 
into growth, on account of its receiving to its roots 
warmth from tlie sun, with a greater facility. Let, 
however, a hot June occiu', with a great amount of 
dryness in the atmosphere, and then mark tlie dif- 
ference. Tbe unmulched tree will require the water- 
pot, and if such is neglected the tree speedily becomes 
stationary, or indeed loses ground. The mulched 
tree, on tbe other hand, will be found to endure ; and 
if the mulch has been laid on some three or four 
inches thick, and is of a proper texture, no watering 
will be reqiusite. Behold, then, the safety of the 
plan ! the mulcliing may be termed a self-acting 
aflair : and not only this, but the mulched tree will be 
found, after ordinary summers, a very superior plant ; 
and it would scarcely be too much to afflnn, that very 
frequently a whole year is gained by it, which is a 
most important item in fruit cidture. Having pre- 
mised thusmucli to illustrate the matter, we have now 
to recommend a very general mulching, where material 
for the purpose and time can be spared. We do not 
say mulch all trees ; but what we do mean is, to assist 
the weak, and protect the newly planted. Now is 
precisely the period at which to perform this most 
useful operation. It should not be done earlier, for 
we do think it far best to wait until the retm-niug 
warmth of spring has restored a little of what we 
gardeners term bottonr-beat to the earth ; and in all 
drained or mellowed soils, this may be counted on by 
the middle of April. 



I3!J4 



THE COTTAGE GAPiDENEB. 



On liglit or sandy soils, too, mulching is of im- 
mense benefit ; and as not every one can command 
sutfic'ieut strong loam, of a sound texture, when 
planting liis trees, but is obliged to use soils of a 
ligliter and inferior cast, mulcbiug, in such cases, 
becomes more essential still. Jlulcb if you can, 
then, old trees exhausted by bearing, in order to re- 
cruit their condition ; mulch trees or bushes on 
hungry or porous soils, in order to retain a perma- 
nency of moisture during droughts; and mulch newlj'- 
planted trees, in order to control or regulate botli 
heat and moisture. 

Willows. — We would now attempt to persuade 
the cottager, and, indeed, every one who jwssesses a 
garden, to endeavour to discover a small jilot where 
he may plant a few willows. These things are useful 
everywhere, and, wo may add, exceedingly ]n'olUable ; 
as it is well known they meet with a ready sale in 
most parts of the kiugdom^ 

Some time since we suggested to the cottager the 
])lanting any spare nook with the Jerusalem arti- 
choke ; such would be suitable in di'y corners. ^ 
If, however, any rushy or damp corner can be i'oiuid, 
which would hardly repay the outlay necessary 
for draining it, why then, we say, there plant wil- i 
lows. We had intended to name this a month 
since; such a multitude of objects, however, have ' 
suggested themselves as matters of advice to ama- 
teurs and cottagers, that we liave been obliged to 
defer this, and a host of otlier matters as well. 
Willows may yet be planted, and, before naming a 
few kinds, we would wish to dispel a few mistaken \ 
ideas concerning their culture. i 

It is sometimes supposed that the willow will ! 
thrive with any amount of stagnant moisture ; such 
is not the case. Wo could never get them to answer, 
for instance, in an uudrained bog, composed in the ■ 
main of sphaginmi, that white moss which thrives 
most over head in water, and which, when taken 
out and wrung by the hands, looks like a binidle of ' 
coarse wool. The fact appears to be, that the willow 
perishes merely for lack of food : for it is only in the 
gradual rotting of such substances that food is given 
out ; and whilst they are water-logged, mosses are 
wliat are termed antiseptics, that is to say, substances 
resisting decay. 

Willows answer very well in cold clays, if a reason- 
able amount of soil can be scraped together to plant 
them in, where clays are shallow, or what farmers 
term " thin skinned." They may, therefore, be 
thrown into what are called lazy beds; tlie furrows 
tlius formed will serve to carry oft' superfluous mois- 
ture, and may be deepened if necessary. Peaty soils, 
if wet, may be served in a similar way, elevating the 
beds a greater height still ; and when tlio peat has 
niellowed, any sandy or gravelly soil may bo mixed 
on the surface. Tlie sides of boundary ditches, too, 
may be put in requisition ; where a broad facing 
exists, a row or rows of willow truncheons may be 
planted on the facing, about a foot above tlie water 
level. We have known such assist in keeping up a 
powerful fence against cattle, and a som-ce of much 
profit. Of kinds, we are not aware that any will be 
better for the cottager than tlic common willow or 
osier ( SaJi.r vlmiiuilis ) ; the small golden willow is 
very tough, but rather delicate. "Where much room 
exists, the large Huntingdon is found to be very pro- 
fitable. These, however, are only cut about every 
third year, and are used for barrels, tubs, &c., as 
hoops and staves. They may be planted about half 
a yard apart; and it is well to plant good sized trua- 



eheons, or cuttings, say upwards of a foot in the soil, 
and about nine inches out. It, Ehrin'gton. 



THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 

Laying out Vilt..\-Gardens (conchided ). — Flow- 
ers. — In the confined space of a villa garden, the 
situation and arrangement of the flower-beds are 
matters requiring considerable taste to make the 
most of the limited plot of groiuid to be devoted to 
the culture of those beautiful and fragrant ornaments 
of the earth. And here we might, with great pro- 
priety, launch forth in the praise, and expatiate on 
the beauties of Flora, but we need not. The love of 
flowers is deeply impressed upon the himian heart, 
in infancy, in youth, in manhood, and in old age: 
whatever our rank, or station, or circumstances may 
be, we all admire flowers. Didl, and callous, and 
depraved, indeed, must that heart be, that the sight 
and scent of a flower-garden in all its glory does not 
cheer, gladden, and fill with pleasant grateful emo- 
tions. 

In placing the flower-beds, we ought to bo guided 
by the manner in which we purpose to lay out the 
garden. If the beds are divided frour each other by 
grass lawn, they should be jilaced near the gravel 
walk. They should bo of lengthy forms, rather 
narrow, so as each flower plant can be distinctly 
seen. Those long narrow shapes can be more easily 
managed than broad heavy masses. Weeds can be 
removed; the beds hoed and raked ; the flowers tied 
up or pegged down, as they require; water can be 
applied more easily ; and the flowers gatliered more 
i-eadily. Also, by liaving beds of such forms, there 
is, in performing the necessary operations, less need 
to set a foot upon them — a pressure always to be 
avoided. 

Another point to be attended to is, to form the 
beds of different sizes, some of smaller dimensions 
than others. The lesser beds will then conveniently 
serve to receive one kind of flowers, such as groups 
or masses of scarlet geraniums, verbenas, ])etunias, 
calceolarias, heliotropes, and other dwarf flowers, 
which do not associate well with tall-growing kinds. 
These small plots of flowers should be placed in such 
situations as to be well expt)sed to view. A very 
good place for some of them is on the parts of the 
lawn between the shrubbery and the main walk. 
They may be chiefly of the two beautiful forms — the 
oval and the circle ; these are more graceful than 
straight-sided beds, and, on account of their size, 
are equally as convenient to manage as tlie lai-ger 
lengthy forms. Flower-gardens laid out in this 
style will allow a large unbroken space of lawn to 
be seen from the windows, or from the covered seat 
on the mound, alluded to under the head " appro- 
priation ; " whereas, if the clurajis of flowei's were 
placed more in the centre of the lawn, they would 
lessen its apparent size, breaking, as it were, the 
grouud into two parts, and thus destroying its unity 
as a whole. 

We must now briefly notice the method of do- 
signing flower-beds, known as the "French parterre " 
and " Dutch manner." These are very suitable for 
villa-gardens of small extent ; and when well laid 
out in suitable figures, not too large, of easy curves, 
or neat straight lines, and kept in good order, they 
have a pleasing effect. They are formed with gravel 
walks, box edging, and beds for flowers. Here, 
again, as in the former method, the sizes of the beds 
should be varied ; the smaller ones for the same 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



293 



kinds of flowers, and the larger ones may either be 
of a mixed eharaeter, or in masses of the taller- 
growing flowers : yet none of them should be so 
large as to require tho gardener to tread much upon 
them to perform the necessary operations. These 
kinds of flower-gardens require to be kept exceedingly 
neat and trim to be effective, and are very proper 
for the ladies to exercise upon, and keep in ordei-, as 
tlie gravel walks will be more frequently in a dry 
state than the lawn ; not but tliat a garden with 
grass between the beds may be partially managed by 
its mistress, as well as the other. 

Kock-woi'k and water are both ornamental in 
tolerably-sized gardens, if judiciously planned. We 
have already described the mode of forming these 
beautiful additions to the pleasures of the garden, at 
pages 8i) and 16s, to which we refer the reader. Wo 
have now brought our remarlcs on laying out villa 
gardens to a close ; we trust they will be usei'ul to 
numbers of our readers, and interesting to all. We 
are sensible, from the confined nature of the svd.iject, 
that to our scientific friends, who may now and then 
glance over these pages, the instructions and ideas 
may appear of tlie smallest calibre ; but wo would 
beg them to remember we write for ]iarties and gar- 
dens of small order, and our remarks must be of a 
corresjionding nature. If the instraotious we have 
written be useful to the uninformed of our readers in 
any degree, we shall be jjerfeotly satisfied. 

Layeiung Evergbeen Shiiubs. — Now is a good 
time to do this work. If you have any choice ones 
you wish to increase, the following is a good and 
certain method to raultijily them : — Procure a sufli- 
cieut number of hooked pegs ; some of them should 
be pretty strong, as thick as one's finger ; others 
may be smaller. The strong ones are intended to hold 
down the strong branches closely and firmly to the 
earth. Have ready also a portion of the same kind 
of soil the shrubs thrive in best. Then take such of 
the branches that are nearest to the soil, and, with a 
sharp knife, make, on the other side of each branch 
intended to make a plant of, an incision sloping uj)- 
wards, about one inch long. The depth of the inci- 
sion will depend upon the thickness of the shoot. If 
your knife at the inner end of the cut 'ouches the 
pith, the cut will be deep enough. As . on as the 
incision is made, hold the brancli with the left hand 
firmly down, and, with the riglit, thrust into the 
ground a hooked peg, strong enough to keep the 
layer down. Place the peg a little below the cut, 
that is, between it and the stem of the shrub, or the 
branch will be in danger of snapping off. Repeat 
this operation upon every branch you may wish to 
convert into a plant, that is conveniently situated 
for that purpose. As soon as you have done this, 
lay on upon the branches so layered an inch of the 
soil, leaving uncovered the ends of each shoot, with 
as many of the leaves on as possible. When the 
leaves are very large, as are those of the Magnolia, 
five or six will, in general, be sufficient. If the 
leaves are smaller, leave them on each layer the 
whole length. The length of each layer to be left 
out of the soil depends upon its age. Old shoots do 
not emit roots so readily as younger ones, conse- 
quently, if the young shoots are short, you should 
only allow short lengths to be left out uncovered ; if 
long, the contrary. 

There are some deciduous shrubs that also requu-e 
to be layered, in oi'der to increase them. Use the 
same method for them as for evergreens. Some 
small shrubs have such small twiggy branches that 
it is almost impossible to out them to make incisions,. 



neither is it necessary. Such small twiggy-branched 
shrubs, hardy heaths, Ghent azaleas, &c., will root as 
layers without cutting, or, as it is technically termed, 
■' tongueing." All which these need, is to have the 
layers covered with the soil they require. 

Routine M.^NAGEitENT, — Our amateiu' and cottage 
friends must remember that this is the grand month 
for propagating the various things to plant out in 
May and June. We recommend you to procure, as 
soon as possible, additions to your stock of bedding- 
out flowers. There is a plant introduced by Mr. 
Hartweg, from the iauious country California. Mr. 
Beaton has already alluded to it. We mesin Zauclis- 
neria CaUfornica. This is a jilant well adajited for 
planting out in the flower-garden, either as a single 
plant or in masses. It is propagated very easDy by 
cuttings of the young wood, in sand, under a hand- 
glass ; they will strike without heat, but quicker with 
it. If you procure a plant now, you may, before 
planting out time, make half-a-dozen or more of it, if 
you manage well. The smaller the cuttings the more 
easily they strike. As this is a scarce plant as yet, 
you must exert all your patience and skill to increase 
it. A^'hen the cuttings are rooted (an event you may 
easily ascertain by turning the pot containing them 
upside down), give it a very gentle stroke on the edge 
of the frame or striking pit, holding the piot with one 
hand, and with the other receive the ball of earth out 
of it; if the cuttings are rooted, you will perceive the 
roots at once; if not rooted at all, or not sufficiently 
so, p>it the ball of earth into the pot again, disturbing 
the cuttings as little as possible ; turn the pot the 
right way up again, and give it a gentle stroke at the 
bottom upon some firm substance, to settle the soil, 
sand, and cuttings into their place again ; replace 
them in tlie frame a while longer until they are well 
rooted. This method of finding out when cuttings 
are rooted applies to all sorts of fi-ee-rooting things, 
such as verbenas, petunias, geraniums, and fuchsias, 
as well as to the new plant zauchsneria. This is a 
name ratlier difficult to pronounce ; it is very like the 
sound of " sauce nearer ye." 

Grass Lawns. — The weather has been so mild 
that the lawn will now, in most gardens, have grown 
so much as to reqiiire mowing. Let it first be well 
rolled the day before the mowing takes place : this 
will level all the little heaps of earth that the frost 
may have raised or worms cast up, aud by tlie next 
morning the blades of grass %\'ill have risen so as to 
stand against the scythe. Pick up all bits of stick and 
stones, or they will take the edge off' from the scythe ; 
then in the moi-ning, very early, before the dew flies 
ofl', the mowing should be done. Mow it twice over; 
tliat is, forwards first, and then backwards; the latter, 
if neatly done, takes out all the marks the scythe 
leaves, and gives the lawn the beautiful even smooth 
appearance it ought to have. After the mowing is 
finished, rake ott' the grass and take it away. If you 
have hotbeds at work, place the grass round them ; it 
will renew the heat. Then sweep the lawn with a 
half-worn broom ; clip the edgings, and rake the 
borders as far as needful. Clear all your sweepings 
and rakings away, and your garden will then have 
that neat appearance so delightful to view. If you 
roll the lawn frequently, it will cause the gi'ass to 
grow short and thick, besides making it better to 
mow. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
Cuttings. — Amidst all your cares do not neglect 
your cuttings. Water, shade, and pot them off when 
struck, all in due season. There must be no delay or 



29 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



neglect iu this matter. Some of the more early stnick 
ones may now lie hardened oft'. A good jilaii to do 
this is to have some hoops strelfhed over a hed, with 
long pieces of wood lengthways, and cover up with 
mats from botli cold and too strong simlight: both, 
in e.xcess, are injurious to tender newly striuk plants. 

AuRiCfL.t AND Poi.v.vNTiiis. — These are the earliest 
in bloom of the florists' I'avourites, and, to bring them 
out in capital style, must now be carefully tended ; 
cover up very securely every night. An old florist, 
who flourished twenty years ago as a successful 
gi'owi'r of these beautiful flowers, used to cover them 
up with thick woollen stuff, commonly called bhinki'ts, 
and he always considered this covering as one of the 
gi-and points that led to his success. Be that as it 
may, if you have no blankets, cover up with some- 
thing as good. 

C.^p.N.wioxs .\ND PrcoTEEs. — We suppose you will, 
by the time these directions reach you, have finished 
potting these plants. But, as yet, it is too early to 
place them on the blooming stage; and your frames 
will be wanted for other purposes. They also take 
up more room now. The weather is yet too uncertain 
to trust these valuables ex-iiosed to its changes. ^Ve 
advise you, therefore, to adopt the same method as 
I'ecommended for hardening off verbenas, petunias, 
and such like ; that is, with hoops and mats. To suc- 
ceed in anv pursuit, two qualities of mind arc neces- 
sary — patient industry and unremitting perseverance ; 
qualities, perhaps, more needful to the ardent admirer 
of florists' flowers than any one else. 

T. Applebt. 



GREENHOUSE AND ^TINDOW 
GARDENING. 

I..\sT week I intended to write a long letter detail- 
ing the whole process of spring potting, striking 
cuttings in vai'ious ways, and then to wind up with 
stating many things that ought to be done about the 
middle of March, and also things that should not be 
done ; but having been earnestly requested to give 
the treatment of the oleander, that subject occu]>ied 
my space, and is only now concluded. Some of these 
topics must, therefore, stand over for the present. 

Spring Potting. — All plants in windows, pits, or 
greenhouses, may now be safely repotted as conveni- 
ence may permit. Spring potting is as different an 
operation from summer potting as winter pruning is 
from the summer pruning, and yet thousands pot 
their plants all the year round just in the same way; 
that is to say, they turn the plant out of a pot and 
place it in one a size larger. Gardeners, however, 
find it necessaiy at this season to put a great number 
of their plants "into smaller pots than they were iu 
through the winter. In some instances the old soil 
is found to be so poor and exhausted that it would 
almost seem cruel to retain it ; iu other cases, drips, 
bad or insuflicient drainage, or long standing in 
damp cold pits, have soddened the old soil so much 
that many of the yi>ung librous roots have perished. 
Other plants may have grown too much at the roots ; 
some of which must therefore he pruned oti', as young 
roots are always more active tiian old ones ; and it 
is only when plants are beginning to grow that it is 
safe to reduce old roots. After these come a host of 
plants that have been kept half-dry since last Octo- 
ber; and others, such as the scarlet geranium, that 
have been kept quite dry since tlie beginning of 
llecember. All tlieso have lost their small outside 
roots, that is, outside the hall ; the size of the balls of 



such plants may, therefore, be reduced without any 
harm. There are many other cases that will present 
themselves at the potting-bench that need not be 
enumerated, but all go to prove the necessity of 
reducing the old halls, more or less ; and once the 
ice is broken, or rather these same balls, you may as 
well pick out or shake oft' as raucli of the old mould 
as can be done without making an absolute clear- 
ance of it, or endangering the safety of the roots. 

Now, if you comprehend the force of this reason- 
ing, let us begin spring-potting with pen and ink as 
if we were doing tlie real thing at the potting-bench. 
The outer sill of a window, a four-legged stool out- 
side the back-kitchen door, or the head of an old beer 
cask, if ever made use of for shifting plants on, are, 
in the language of gardeners, called '■ a potting- 
bench." Now, take that scarlet geranium to begin 
with, and turn it out. ^^'here are you going with it '? 
Oh! I did not mean to turn it out of doors; but 
never mind — don't blush ; the best of us knew as 
little about gardening once. I recollect I used to 
pull up my fiist cuttings of the Balm of Gilead regu- 
larly once a week, to see if they were rooted, instead 
of turning the whole ball out of the pot entire, to see 
if the roots had appeared through it. So you see 
there is little cause for blushing. "We must all live 
and learn, as the old saying is. Now strike the edge 
of the pot on the side of the potting-bench, and let 
the ball rest on the palm of yoiu' left hand; separate 
from the ball the drainage crocks, and lay them on 
the bench; they will do to drain with again. You 
see the bottom half of this ball is quite dry and pow- 
dery : this is bad gardening ; you did not wet the 
ball right through, as I directed, when you brought 
the pots from the winter quarter. Pick off this dry 
part of the ball with your fingers ; now give a gentle 
squeeze to the other half to loosen the mould ; not 
so hard as that you may crush the old roots; shake 
the ball a little. 

You see, now, this soil is so poor and gritty it could 
not support a rush ; you had better shako it all off; 
take hold of the plant in your left hand, and with 
your right hand pat, pat, on your wrist, and the gentle 
concussion will cause all the mould to separate from 
the roots without hurting them. You see these white 
pointed little things along the old brown roots, they 
are the rudiments of new roots, and are only pro- 
duced so far down as the water reached. These are 
the real feeders, and, if we had not shaken off" that 
old exhausted soil, poor feeding they could only have 
till they had reached the outside of the old ball, and 
had got into fresh soil, if we had put the old ball 
entire into a larger pot, as some people do, for want 
of knowing better. Do you see that large coil of 
roots? Y'ou are right, it is only one root after all ; we 
must cut him oft' at the first bend, as be takes up too 
niuch room, and these dry old roots do not take up 
nourishment themselves, only the feeders which issue 
from the sides do that; but when we have cut him 
off, three or four strong white roots will gi-ow from 
the part left, and these white roots will be capable of 
sucking up food with their whole surface till their 
bark gets too hard to let the water through, then they 
can only suck with the tips of their points. So you can 
perceive that one good young root is worth ten old ones 
in a pot. Besides, these old roots are, at this season 
of the year, the best things possible to get a stock of 
young jilants from ; for it would tell sadly against 
our ingenuity if we could not make these roots glow 
afresh. Cut them into four-inch lengths, and plant 
them round the sides of a small pot, iu a very sandy 
compost, and leave about half an inch of their tops 



THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



207 



free above tlie mould ; all the watering tbey recjiuire, 
is merely to keep the soil from becoming quite dry. 
They will do in any warm, dry place, and alter ten 
days, or a fortnight, you will see them pushing out 
leaves, and beginning to grow freely. There are 
many plants whose old roots could be made to pro- 
duce plants in the same way, as well as those of the 
geraniums. 

Cutting off tliat large coiled root has reduced the 
bulk so much, that instead of giving this plant a 
larger pot, we must put it into a smaller one ; 
and you had better recollect a usefid rule which 
gardeners follow under similar circumstances, and 
that is, when roots arc reduced, and a plant is to 
be put into a smaller pot, they take the very smallest 
pot that will hold the roots without doubling them 
in or cramping them ; and, whatever the plant may 
be, a lighter compost is used for this potting than 
what the plant, under ordinary treatment, grows 
best in. This is to make it more easy for the very 
young roots tu extend themselves freely. In the 
course of another mouth, this plant will require 
another shift, and as the roots are young and active, 
and the growing season very favourable, you may 
pot it into one two sizes lai'ger. 

Let us now suppose the next plant to be one that 
has the roots much decayed, owing to the soddeniug 
of the sod. Sour or soddeued compost is ruinous to 
all kinds of plants, therefore, we must shake all of it 
away at once ; aud if we meet with a largo old root we 
shall be glad enough, to I'ctain it, as it is ten to one 
that most of the small ones are decayed up to the 
older roots. (Jut away every morsel ot the dead roots, 
and pot this plaut also in a very suiall pot and iu 
light soil, and be very careful not tu over water it ibr 
a long time, as its general health is very much im- 
paired. The third plaut looks just like one a gardener 
would like to )iot ; turn it out, and let us see how the 
roots stand. How healthy, to be sure ! You cannot 
get the point of a knife into tliat ball without cutting 
a bealtliy root; wo cannot even get the crocks dis- 
engaged without iujuriug all the roots iu their neigh- 
bourhood. When roots are very healthy like these, 
they delight to insinuate themselves among oyster- 
shells or whatever other thing foruis the drainage; 
and it is not at all requisite to separate the crocks 
from each healthy root. Take a pot two sizes larger, 
and put this plaut into it just as it is, aud deep 
enough tliat the fresli soil may cover the top of the 
old ball, but no more. 

One more pot, and 1 must leave you: take that one 
iu the corner, it looks nearly as well as the last; turn 
him out, and you shall see what no good gardener 
ever likes to see : I mean a worm, fori see the worm- 
casts on the surface, and if ho has been there long 
wo shall see his tunnels and galleries through and 
through in all directions ; out with it, and let us see 
the worst ; bless mo, what a monster he is, as fat aud 
sleek as any aldernum, and nearly as long as the sea- 
serpent ! How is it you did not get him out sooner? 
You might have easily known liy the worm-oasts that 
he was at work, and you had only to turn out the 
ball and if he should escape throuR'ii this tunnel into 
the heart of the ball once or twice, you would be 
sure to get hold of him at last. These worms are 
very destructive in pots ; not that they eat the roots 
except to clear a passage, but they eat the soil and 
afterwards discharge it, aud after some time the 
whole ball is rendered sour and stifl'; aud the roots 
get deranged, and a whole train of evUs soon follow. 

Before I leave you, until next week, let me oiler a 
few general remarks on spring potting. Let the 



plants be well watered two days before potting, that 
the surplus water may have ample time to pass otf, 
and leave the ball in a uniformly moist state, not icet 
nijf dry, and let your compost be in as near the same 
state as possible. As we shall soon have the sum- 
mer and dry weather, when much watering will be 
requii'ed, leave a good half-inch space free on the top 
of the pots to allow of perfect watering. If the pots 
are too full you will never be able to keep the plants 
alive iu summer, but in the autumn it is a safe plan 
to have the pots pretty full, so that if any careless 
person has to water them any time iu winter, the 
pots will not hold too much of it at once. It will 
hardly be necessary to insist on good drainage after 
all that has been said about it already; but a good 
tale or a good precept is never the worse for being 
twice told. After a good drainage aud a layer of 
moss or fibrous roots from the compost, put in an 
inch or so of the fresh soil, and try how the old ball 
will fit in. If it is too deep, add more soil at the 
bottom ; and if not deep enough, the pot is too small, 
as one inch is the least that can be put under an old 
ball. When you hit on the rigbt fit, the surface of 
the old ball is f inch below the rim of the pot ; then 
put in about an inch of the fresh compost all round 
tiio ball, and rap the bottom of the pot sharply on the 
bench. This will settle down the soil, and cause 
some of it to enter such cavities as you may have 
formed iu removing part of the old soil. Then put 
iu a few bits of charcoal or broken bones, or lumps 
of turf out of the compost, and another inch of tlie 
soil ; then another rap, a layer of rough stuff, and 
so forth, till the pot is full enough. The rough pieces 
act mechanically in ]<ccping the whole in an open 
porous state, besides being of the greatest use iu 
feeding the plants. Every plant fresh potted ought 
lo get a good watering with a rose watering-pot, to 
settle the fresh soil ; aud the plants kept more close 
for the first week or ten days to eucourage the roots 
to work into the new soil. A slight syriugiug over 
the leaves on a fine afternoon now and theu will also 
stimulate the plants to a fresh exertion. 

From the end of Mai'ch to the middle of ^lay, 
there is hardly a gardener in the country who is not 
l)inclicd for want of pots or pot I'oom ; and I suppose 
amateurs who cultivate many plants are in no better 
condition ; therefore it may be useful to slate some 
of the shifts resorted to by gardeners at this season. 
All their early tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, and other 
spring bulbs which are forced in winter, are, after 
lloweriug, stowed aw-ay anywhere, so that tbey have 
air, light, aud are not liable to get frosted. A few 
weeks of this treatment will bring them gradually 
round so as to be able to stand the open air, as if they 
had grown early of their own free-will, without any 
forcing. "When pots get scarce, these bulbs are turned 
out, aud planted in a sheltered situation, the surface 
of their balls beiug an inch or so below the new soil. 
If any of these balls happen to be very dry at this 
planting, the bulb will never do any more good, as 
you cannot moisten it afterwards. It is like potting 
a plant witli a pai-cbcd ball, and all the world knows 
that ouc may water such a plant three times a day, 
and yet the poor thing will die at last for want of 
wiitcr, as the whole will pass off' through the fresh 
soil ; and so it is, or will be, with forced bulbs when 
planted out in a dry state. Soak their balls, there- 
fore, aud you may plant them immediately, and 
when the whole is finished, give a good watering 
all over tlieir beads, to settle in the soil about their 
balls, for, if you leave the least cavity, the easterly 
winds will get in to dry and chill them. In the 



298 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



absence of Apvil showers, tliisbed of bulbs must have 
a regular supplj' of water, say twice a week, till their 
leaves turn yellow in May. To ripen otl' their leaves 
in the most natural and encouraging manner, is the 
grand secret of their doing well another year. None 
of these things should he allowed to seed ; it would 
murder them outright. Hyacinths, or other bulbs, 
grown in water-glasses, after being gradually inured 
to stand the open air, may bo planted out in the 
same way, only placing the bulbs three inches deep, 
and using very light soil, so that the roots may take 
hold of it sooner. 

Dwarf Oleanders. — The directions given last 
week refer to oleanders with large bushy heads. 
To have little plants of them, with stems from 
si.K inches to a foot high, and with from one to 
balf a dozen or more flower-beads, a totally differ- 
ent plan is to be pursued. First of all make a 
batch of cuttings — and this is the time. They will 
root either in water in a warm room, or in light 
soil mixed with one-half sand, in small pots. Seeds 
and cuttings should always be reared in small pots. 
If they had the advantage of a corner in the cucum- 
ber pit, they would take less time to root. "\^'hen 
well rooted, give them a small pot each, and rich 
light compost of one-half of any kind of very rotten 
dung in a dry state, and tlie other half strong loam. 
The rotten dung will so open the strong loam, as to 
agree with our usual term, " rich light compost." 
These young plants ought to be grown the first 
season with only one stem. If they offer to throw 
out more shoots, as they often do, rub them off as 
soon as they appear. Let them liave abundance of 
water and air, and be as near to the glass as they 
can stand without actually touching it. Recollect 
the fierce sun they enjoy on each side of the Medi- 
terranean, and that in Barbary they are the only 
trees that remain green in many places, when tlie 
sun burns up the otlier vegetation in summer. Con- 
tinue this treatment to the end of August, and then 
allow them less water ; and if the weather is open, 
they may stand out of doors through September, till 
the first appearance of frost, then to be wintered in 
a cold pit or cool room, where the frost is just kept 
out : and all the watering they require till ne.xt 
March will bo very little, only just enough to keep 
the soil from getting dusty. If they are kept as cool 
as they ought to be, and in the right compost, once 
a month will be ample watering for them. 

About this time ne.xt year, we shall suppose you 
have from two to twelve nice oleanders, from nine to 
eighteen inches high, and with only one stem to 
each. Divide them into two lots, ]nUting all the 
strongest together ; and the weak ones are to be cut 
back to the length you wish the stems to be, but not 
to be then potted. These — for I suppose you will 
have a couple cut down, at least — are to be encou- 
raged to grow all that summer as belbrc. Three 
little shoots ought to grow fronr the joint to winch 
they were cut, and shouUl be managed so as that 
they grow up of cfjiuil strength ; and the autumn 
and winter treatment to be as before. All these 
ouglit to liower tlie following summer, with two and 
sometimes three flower-heads, according to their 
strength. Along with tlio llowcrs, they will put out 
two or three shoots from the top ; you will stop these, 
leaving only one joint of the young growth ; this 
will strengthen the llower-buds veiy much, and pre- 
vent their dropping off'. As soon as these are out of 
bloom, turn then\ out of doors, and place them in a 
sheltered place full in the sun, and water them regu- 
larly. Now, this is e.\actly the reverse of the usual 



plan : people wish to force their oleanders, as it 
were, after flowering, to get young shoots for bloom- 
ing the following season, and that is the right way 
to manage large plants, hut these small plants are to 
be so managed as to keep small for half a life-time ; 
and is quite a new plan in print, as far as I am 
aware of, altliough successfully practised by some 
gardeners for the last quarter of a century. 

On this plan the plants are to flower only evci-y 
other year, so that it is necessary to have two plants 
at least, and as many besides as yoiu' room or incli- 
nation may dictate. The plants may be cut down 
every year, about the end of j\lareli ; but, where 
there is room, some may be cut as early as February, 
and forced ; others in March, and a third lot at the 
end of April, and they would come in ne.\t year in 
succession for bloom. It will now be seen why the 
one-year-old plants were divided into two lots — the 
strongest being retained without cutting down, as 
having the best chance to flower that season ; but, 
whether they flower or not, they must be encoiu'aged 
to grow well, and he cut down to the last joint from 
the old wood next March ; thus completing the 
system. 

Under this system, the ciitplauts are potted annually 
about the end of May, or as soon as the young shoots 
are two or three joints long; and the flowering ones 
are potted in April, when they have made a little 
growth. When the pots are too large for the size of 
the plants, as they will be about every three years, 
the roots are reduced — very barbarously, it is true, 
but it mioit be clone — and the proper time to do it is, 
just when the plants have done flowering. Trun 
them out of the pots, and with a sharp tool cut away 
from the outside of the ball, and from the bottom, 
till you make it small enough to be put into a 5 or 
(j-iuch pot, with an inch of fresh compost imder it, 
and all around it. Keep it in-doors, and fi'om the 
sun, for the next month or five weeks, and by that 
time, new roots will fill the pot; and, as the plant is 
not to flower two years running, it \\'ill have plenty 
of time to recover from this severe treatment. In- 
deed, you will find that it will be much benefited by 
the ordeal. 

AVhen the plants are of full age — say foiu' years — 
and have been cut down twice or three times, there 
will be so many shoots formed as will give you 
a chance of selecting the strongest for blooming, 
\\hen the weak ones may be rubbed ofl' as fast as 
they appear. The only precaution that is necessary 
is, never to be tempted to deviate from the system of 
cutting down the plants every spring after flowering; 
and never to stop a shoot, except those that accom- 
pany a flower-spike. 

There is a rage now-a-days for stopping all kinds 
of jdants to make them bushy — a system, by-the-hy, 
every whit as imnatural and absurd an the Chinese 
system of torturing plants into stunted growth. From 
this system the oleander is fortunately exempt, or, at 
least, should be ; not always, however, for I know a 
gardener who lost many dozens of his dwarf olean- 
ders, tliree years in succession, by the over-zeal of his 
young men, who thought they coidd do no hann by 
nijiping ofl' the points, at any rate ! 

AltliOugh I have mentioned the oleanders as if 
there were hut one sort, there are many kinds ol' 
them — single, double, pink, rose, anddiflerent shades 
ol' these ; and I have read of a yellow one, in one of 
tlie many hooks written on the French settlement in 
Algiers; the author's name I forget, hut he distinctly 
said he had seen it in flower. In answer to subse- 
quent inquiries, 1 was informed that this yellow 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



299 



oleander was brought to Paris along with other 
varieties of it, and, somehow or other, theii' names 
got mixed, or, at any rate, doubts existed as to the 
certainty of wbioli was the yellow one. The truth is, 
although the French people have always been for- 
ward in the cause of natural history in other parts 
of the world, in Algiers they were more bent on 
hooking poor old Abdel Kader than on enriching 
their gardens with the beautiful yellow oleaders. 

D. Beaton. 



THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. 

The busiest part of the seed-sowing season is now 
past, and the growing season has again commenced. 
Look now where we may, upon the beautifid produc- 
tions of nature, much alteration is taking place. The 
green foliage, the blossoms, and the young shoots 
are now fast bursting forth in all their varying 
forms and tints of colour. Our native song birds 
are singing in every rural spot, whilst the sweeping 
winds and the gentle showers are hastening vegeta- 
tion on to perfection. 

LoosEN' THE Soil. — We cannot dwell too much 
at this season upon the necessity of loosening the 
earth's surface, in a regular manner, upon all suita- 
ble occasions; for on this operation does the success 
of all garden produce now greatly depend. Many 
cottagers, it is to be feared, neglect tliis all-important 
point, for want of a due consideration of its useful- 
ness. Some, we believe, cling to the very absurd 
notion that the hoe is not needed for the crops until 
the weeds have become clearly visible amongst them ; 
others imagine tliat they do very well if they can just 
cut the weeds down previously to their seeding ; but 
this is, in truth, not only encouraging a real enemy 
and a robber of the soil, but also weakening the 
crops by shading them from the light, and prevent- 
ing that free circulation of air so essential to a 
healthy and luxuriant growth. 

Some, again, think it of very little conser|^uence 
whether the ground be stirred or not ; but let it be 
remembered that not only are weeds removed, and 
the genial influence of tlie sun and air admitted to 
the soil by this practice, but slugs and other ob- 
noxious insects are thereby destroyed, which would 
otherwise devour or injure, our ci'ops. Let surface- 
stirring, therefore, never bo neglected ; but, as soon 
as the seedlings at this season make their appear- 
ance, begin with light shallow rakings. In a crop 
that lias boon sown broadcast, the small hand-hoe 
should be early at work, to single the plants to small 
distances at first ; if a drilled crop, the .Dutch or push- 
hoe should be used, taking care to cut shallowly tlie 
first time, every inch of the surface-soil. 

E.iiu.Y C.\Bi3.\0ES ANU Gaui.U'LOWeks slioukl now 
have liberal applications of liquid-manure, which, if 
applied a little warm to a small porlioix of the crop, 
will much improve and forward it. It is a mistake 
to suppose that Liquiji-manure is only needful in dry 
weather. As wo have observed before, showery and 
gloomy weather is preferable to any other, as the 
mauiu'C circulates more readily in the soil when moist. 
It should always be applied as clear as possible to 
all gi'owing crops or plants, as the sediment rather 
tends to stop the pores of the earth, if tlirown on in a 
lump; and it can always be reserved for untrenolied 
ground, to be trenched in when required. 

RioGE Clcujibkus sliould now bo sown on a 
healthy bottom-heat, and the seedlings potted as 
soon as possible after they are up, kept lightly 
covered, and well supplied with air, so lliat a heallhy 



sturdiness may be maintained. The fermenting 
materials should be collected together to form slight 
beds in trenches for them. 

Melons. — -The little Queen Ann Melon, too, does 
very well ridged out under a hand-glass. Melons 
should be sown in frames on a moderate bottom-heat, 
and carefully hardened previously to turning out on 
ridges. Those in pits and frames should have careful 
attention. Such as have been turned out long enough 
to have made from five to seven joints should bo 
stopped, by pinching off the leading buds. They will 
then form side shoots, and show fruit; one joint 
beyond each show of fruit should then be stopped, 
and when a tolerable number of them are in blossom 
on a fine day, they should be set, by applying some 
pollen or yellow dust from a male flower to the centre 
of a fruit-bearing flower, in the driest jjart of the day ; 
shutting up the frame early, to encourage the swelling 
of the fruit evenly together. A good top-heat should 
be maintained, and slight sprinklings of tepid water 
applied, at shutting up time, or on favourable after- 
noons, round the inside of the pit or frame, close to 
tlie back and front, which has a good effect in inodi- 
fyiug and moistening the interior air. Soakings of 
tepid liquid manure may now and then be given to 
the plants, pouring it gently out on the surface over 
the roots, so that all may share the benefit. At no 
season should cucumbers, melons, or grape-vines be 
watered over eitlier foliage or fruit ; let all be done 
by bottom waterings and evaporation; and as a pre- 
ventive of the red spider, and other pests of a like 
description, keep ready a mixture of sulphur, clay, 
and hot lime, made of the consistency of paint, and 
a dab hcie and there on the inside of the p)it or frame, 
or on the hot-house pi])es or flues, will be found an 
efl'ectual remedy. 

Artichokes. — These must be spring dressed, if 
they have not been so already. As soon as the 
slioots appear four or five inches above the surface, 
tlie ridges thrown up in the winter must be levelled, 
and all the earth removed from about the stock to 
below the part from whence the young shoots spring. 
Of these remove all but two, or at most three of the 
straiglitest and most vigorous, care being taken to 
select Irora those which spring I'rom the under part 
of the stock : the strong thick ones proceeding from 
its crown having hard woody stems, and producing 
indifferent heads. 

Although the artichoke in a suitable soil is a pe- 
i-ennial, yet after the fourth or fifth year the heads 
become smaller and drier. The beds, in consequence, 
are usually broken up after tlie lapse of this period, 
and fresh ones formed on another site, and now is tlie 
best season for this work. When the suckers are eiglit 
or ten inches high, select such as have much of their 
fibrous roots, and are sound and not woody. The 
brosvn, hard part by which they are attached to the 
parent stem must be removed, and if that cuts crisp 
and tender tlie suckers are good, but if tough and 
stringy they arc worthless. I'urther, to prepare tlieiu 
for ]ilanting, the large outside leaves are taken off so 
low as that the heart appears above them. If they 
have been some time separated from the stock, or if 
the weather is dry, they are greatly invigorated by 
being put into water ior tliree or four hours before 
they are planted. They should be set in rows four 
feet and a half by three feet apart, and about half 
their length beneath the surface. Water them abun- 
dantly every evening until they are established, as 
well as during the droughts of summer. The only 
other attention they reijuire during the summer, is 
the fre(iuent use of the hoe. 



■30-i 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



cauliflower must be sown in May; of tliis wo will 
speak in our next allotment paper. 

Let all these seed beds be kept free from weeds at 
all times. The cottagers' little cliiklreu may soon be 
taught to distinguish weeds, guided by their mother. 
Tliis seed bed or beds will, of course, be in the mis- 
cellaneous division, No. 4. 

P.\BSLEY.— An edging must be sown directly; dig 
some soot in the soil if any to spare. 

Herds. — Any kind of herbs necessary should be 
immediately planted. A plant of each maybe begged 
from the nearest garden. These things will do on 
the fruit borders, with the e.\oeption of mint; this 
should be in some nook or corner, as it hinders ope- 
rations by spreading so much. 

Runner Kidney Be.\ns. This is a valuable crop 
to the cottager, for three reasous; first, they need not 
occupy nuich room that may be required for other 
crops ; secondly, they are great bearers, and consti- 
tute a distinct cliange for the cottager; and, lastly, 
they are e.Koeedingly ornamental. Some respect is 
due to the public at all times, by those who occupy 
cottages or holdings near to public roads ; and we 
would suggest that, where practicable, some runners 
be sown in situations of the kind, where no other 
interest is compromised. We have seen capital crops 
(making also an excellent display), produced from a 
wooden fence, by placing strings before it perpen- 
dicularly, in a parallel way, or side by side, at the 
distance of half a yard apart. These strings were 
detached at bottom, but wound round a nail at the 
top, and the runners hung in clusters by thousands. 
We need scarcely suggest plans of stringing or 
staking to the industrious cottager, who, if possessed 
of a proper pride in such matters, will devise plans 
readily enough ; we may merely say, that either 
stakes or strings are eligible, and that the form or 
direction is a mere matter of fancy ; they will grow 
and bear in any shape except upside-down. The 
third week in April is a good time to sow them. 
Soil rather rich and somewhat moist. We are yet 
constrained to add, that stakes, as for peas, oidij three 
feet /«(//(, will grow them well, provided the points arc 
dubbed, or pinched, directly they reach the top; and 
that tlic dubbing (pinching) is continued occasionally 
afterwards. 

Wc must now conclude our list with a few miscel- 
laneous remarks ; first observing that, if the cottager 
can atlbrd to enjoy the luxury of a good stick oi'aelrri/, 
ho must prepare for a score or two of plants ; and if 
no good-natured gardener is near to furnish him, ho 
must sow a pinch of seed in the first week of April, 
on a raised bed of rich soil, in a warm corner. 

Pickles. — It is really a pity that the cottager of 
England does not pay a little more attention to 
picldes, of which several kinds are within liis reach ; 
and now wc have a vinegar plant, surely something 
may be done in this way. <;)ur very excellent old 
friend, Mr. Rob. Ruid, of Noblethorpo, writes us word, 
that the vinegar plant is becoming common in his 
district, and that his wife makes all her vinegar Irom 
it. lie laments with us, that the cottager does not 
enlarge a little in the pickle way. Having lived 
some years in the United States of America, he says 
that our Yankee friends are in the habit oi' coiistimUi/ 
using pickles ; and that he has seen two hundred 
bushels of the ox-heart capsicum in an American 
market at once, intended for pickling purposes. 



MY IvLOWERS. 

(No. 22.) 

One of tho most beautiful annuals is the larkspur. 



They are gay and brilliant in themselves, but planted 
in large patches, or in single beds, they are the most 
lively and pleasing objects possible. The colours are 
varied, and as some are very delicate, and others 
dark, they produce an extremely good efl'ect ; parti- 
cularly as their growth is upright and firm, and they 
are not liable to be blown about, and thrown into 
disorder, as is the ease with many other flowei'S. 
They are hardy, yet, like all annuals, they love the 
ojieu, sunny border, and their tall bright blooms 
seem to sparkle in the sun. They will look well in 
beds, where low, quiet-looking flowers would not 
make much show ; but they should be planted where- 
ever it is possible, on account of their gay appear- 
ance. 

The hawkweed is a bright elegant flower for sin- 
gle beds, or large patches. The yellow variety is 
peculiarly gay and pretty ; but the purple and the 
red should not be forgotten. 

The sweet scabious is another of the old-fashioned 
but valuable annuals, that belong to past times and 
recollections. Its mulberry-coloured tuft-like flowers, 
so richly dark, form a striking contrast to many of 
the gayer blossoms flaunting round them ; and their 
scent is full and agreeable. This flower is supposed 
to be a native of India, but it has so long been cul- 
tivated in England, that its original birth-place is 
not accurately known. 

The candied tuft is a pretty, well-known annual, 
so are the marygolds, both French and African. 
Their scent is extremely unpleasant, but their co- 
lours of rich brown and gold gleam so gaily in tho 
sun, and they grow so richly and flower so freely, 
that we cannot do without them. A bed of these 
annuals looks extremely well, or they should bo 
sown in masses, which produce the best eiiect. 

Among the annuals of later days, there are some that 
have hardy constitutions, and need little care. Among 
these, I will especially name that long-flowering, 
bright, and dazzling flower, the escholtzia. It is 
so fearless of our winter, that the young, self-sown 
plants spring up year after year, blooming much 
earlier and more vigorously than they do when sown 
in the spring. This is. indeed, the case with most 
of our hardy annuals; and the only objection to their 
doing so is, that wo cannot regulate their form in 
borders: but with the escholtzia this is of no conse- 
quence, for it grows so prettily, and its yellow flowers 
spread so freely, that it may mingle among other 
groupes either singly or in clusters, and will enliven 
the borders till the autumn is far advanced. Tho 
young ])lants are easily thinned out where they grow 
too thickly, or interfere with other annuals, and will 
bear transplanting into other places. This flower is 
a native of tho now famous California, aud as such 
must have special interest in the eyes of many, who 
may fancy its colour emblematic of the region from 
whence it comes. Happy would it be for some of 
us, if the golden flower was the only produce of that 
extraordinary soil ! But to the man who loves his 
Bible, such temptations have few charms. The 
Christian is privileged to view " the kingdoms of this 
world, and the glory of them," as from " the top of a 
high moimtain," and he knows by whom they are 
spread out before him ; he knows that they arc still 
held out as baits for the souls of man ; and that " it 
is written, Tliou shall worship the J.ord thy God, 
and hinr uiihi slialt thou serve." The cottage gar- 
dener may read aud hear much of tho laud where 
gold lies on tiie ground like gravel; but let liim not 
seek to gather it up. Luboiir in GoA'h own appoint- 
ment; it is wholesome both for soul and body ; and 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



303 



the tiller of the soil, with his spade, his plough, his 
well-earned wages, his peaoel'iil cottage aud abundant 
garden, with the dew of God's blessing, and the sun- 
shine of his love, is a far richer and happier man 
than he whose pockets are filled with ensnaring 
gold. Solomon himself has said, " He that maketh 
haste to be rich shall not be innocent." 

A simple and very useful way of obtaining a suc- 
cession of moveable annuals is, by planting them in 
pots in the following manner: place a piece of broken 
earthenware or an oyster-shell at the bottom of the 
flower-pot, half fill it with wet moss closely pressed 
down, and then fill up the pot with light good soil; in 
which either sow the seed, or prick in young plants. 
Let the pot stand in a common pan full of rain water, 
or let it fill during wet weather. The moss draws in 
the water, aud holds it, which forms a moist subsoil, 
iu which the roots spread vigorously. A pot should 
not contain more than two plants, unless they are 
small ones, like Venus' looking-glass, &o. By this 
very simple means annuals grow richly and healthily ; 
are not withered by dryness, and may be placed where- 
over they are needed ; and they will also flower under 
trees and shrubs, where they would not succeed at all 
in the open ground. By often sowing seed, a succes- 
sion of young plants will be always advancing to take 
the place of those that are dying ofl'; and by tliis 
management a garden may be kept in regular and 
licalthy beauty for many months. Bulbs may be 
treated in this manner also ; and are then safer 
dLU'iug the leafless season than when planted in the 
borders, wliere they may perhaps be injured by the 
fork or spade. 

To those who live iu towns this method of raising 
seedlings is very desirable. In windows, on the leads, 
or in the little courts before or behind the Louses, 
lovely annuals may thus be obtained ; and the flower- 
pots ranged closely together, with the spaces between 
them filled up with moss, which may also be laid 
round them so as to appear like a rich edging to a 
flower-bed, would give quite the eflect of a garden 
where nothing before was seen but flag-stones or 
gravel. To the lover of flowers this siuiple plau 
may afford unwearied pleasure and interest at very 
little cost. In tho evening walk moss may bo 
gathered from banks and fields, and under trees ; and 
many lovely things will be seen while it is searched 
for. One kind of moss has long feathery sprays like 
tho boughs of the spruce fir, and forms a beautil'ul 
winter bouquet if placed with taste in a plate or wide 
vase, with the stems in water ; and every flower we 
meet witli at that inclement season should be placed 
among tho delicate green mass. This has a lovely 
eU'ect — almost like that of a summer nosegay. 

Moss is a beautiful and useful cai-pcting for the 
soil ; it retains moistiue for the roots of trees wlicn 
other herbs ai-e dry ; it shelters insects, each of which 
has its short-lived part to act in God's great scheme ; 
aud it warms and beautifies the nests of birds, those 
iniuutable architects, whose wonderful work — done 
without bauds — -man with all his skill and science 
cannot attain to. Moss is found iu tho coldest aud 
dreariest regions of the earth; it clothes and enlivens 
rocks and mountains where no other plant can grow ; 
and it lies safely under almost perpetual snows, to 
cheer the short and sudden summer of those polar 
lands. 

Wherever the foot of luan can ventiu'e there is 
some gracious proof of God's providential care of 
the creatures He has made. Moss is nearly fhe 
lowest species of the vegetable world ; yet how beau- 
tiful it is, and it includes eight hundred species. We 



do not much regard it in our favoured laud ; we root 
it up, it disfigures and injures oui- verdant fields, 
although it decorates the woods aud thickets. Let 
us, as we destroy it, raise our hearts with thankful- 
ness to him who has " set the bounds of our habi- 
tation" amongst sunshine, and soft showers, and 
fruitful soil ; and let us think that to many of oiu- 
fellow-men moss is a beauty and a blessing. Surely, 
every day we live and everything we do, calls to us to 
remember our Creator, and " the wonders that he 
doeth for the children of men." 



GOOSEBERRY CULTURE. 

As the time is approaching for further operations 
in the culture of the gooseberry, I wiU redeem my 
promise to the readers of the The Cottage Gardened, 
by making a few remarks; and as I have given di- 
rections for planting this fruit, I shall ofler a few 
instructions for pruning it. 

Pkuning. — This should be done in December or 
■January, care being taken to leave such branches in 
the tree as contain good firm buds, and that the 
shoots which are left should be well ripened. This 
is easily ascertained by their appearance; for, if the 
shoots be not properly ripened, they wiU look 
shrivelled, and their buds will be very small and 
puny. If, on the other hand, the shoots are well 
ripened, the buds will be strong and firm, the bark 
of the shoots will have cracked, and a little of tho 
outer bark peeled oft'. Having selected such well- 
ripeued shoots to be left on the tree, the other shoots 
may be removed. They should not be cut oh' close 
to the branches, but a little of them he left on, so as 
to form a kind of " spur," say three-quarters of an 
inch long. Shoots that grow erect should all bo cut 
oti", unless it be that the tree is not uniform in its 
brauchos, in which case, one shoot that may be 
inclined to grow upright luay be left on, iu order 
that it may be trained into the form of the remain- 
der of tlie branches, of which I shall speak after- 
wards. Each coarse thick shoot should be out oil', 
and that, too, close to the branch on which it grows, 
as such coarse overgrown shoots seldom or never 
produce auy fruit ; but only, like themselves, coarse 
and worse than useless shoots. As to the quantity 
of branches and shoots to be left in the tree, there 
arc a variety of opinions, even amongst men who 
have had much experience in the culture of prize 
gooseborry-trees. Some will leave as many as four 
shoots on one branch ; whilst others will only leave 
one. at tho end of each branch. He who advocates 
the former, argues " that he is surer of a crop," but, 
on the other hand, he is not able to grow the fruit 
so large as he who has less fruit and less brandies 
for his tree to support. Ho who leaves only one 
shoot on each branch, says, " If I can only get them 
sound (uninjured by frost), they wfll grow till the 
day they are ripe;" but, on tho other hand, there is 
such uncertainty about preventing them from being 
injured by frost, that 1 think this is not the most 
judicious way of pruning, unless protection is given 
to each bush in the spring, by placing canvass over 
them during frosty weather, after the bloom begins 
to show, till about the 17th of May, if the frosts con- 
tinue so long. I prefer leaving too shoots upou the 
stronger branches of the tree, and one shoot on the 
weaker ones. The shoots iu all cases must be 
shortened, leaving them about five or six inches 
long. If this is done, and with proper management 
afterwards, you will be able, in an ordinai-y spring, 
to secure a crop, and grow them large too. 
While on this subject, I will say a word or two on 



304 



THE COTTAGE GARDE NEK. 



the implemeut used in pniiiing. I am awaic 1 shall 
be treading on very " ticklish ground," for many men 
still retain that old fashioned opinion, that " there is 
nothing like a knife. " I maintain there is " nothing 
like a pair of pruning sliears," for if you iU'e cutting 
an under braucli from a tree with a knife, there 
are many chances against you, that your knife goes 
farther than you wish, and you cut out a piece of 
good upper wood that you intended to remain in 
the tree : but if you take your shears, you cut out 
only wliat you please. 

Wliether you cut with knife or siieavs, the shoot 
cut will, in all cases, die down to the first bud below 
the wound ; and, besides, tliere is much more ease in 
cutting wdth shears to what there is with a knife ; 
not only so, but you are able to cut a tree in hall' 
the time with shears that you can cut it with a knife. 

Manuking. — Having said thus much on pruning, 
a word or two on manuring. This should be done 
in March, (or earlier if the buds begin to swell,) anil 
must be done in the following manner. Take otl' the 
soil round the tree U or two inches deep; but the 
soil must be taken oli'further than the roots by si.\ or 
ten inches, whieh can be easily ascertained by the 
size of the tree. As a general rule, the roots will be 
as far- spread as the top, or nearly so. Having taken 
off the soil, manure must be laid on the whole of the 
surface where the soil has been taken, but the great- 
est weight of it should be [ilaoed farther than the 
roots extend, tis the eiuls of Ihe roots should Jiiul the 
mail lire, and not. tlie manure the ends of the roots. 
There is no necessity for manure to be j)laced 
near the " bole" of the tree, as this is of no utility 
whatever. How often wo see trees manured close u]i 
to the "bole," or stem, and none where it ought to 
be, viz., past the c.-itremity of the roots, it may be 
asked what kind of manure is to be preferred ? This 
can be best answered by consulting the nature of 
the soil ; if the soil be light and sandy, with a sandy 
or loose subsoil, cow-dung is the best, as it retains 
its nature and moisture longer than any other kind 
of manure, if, on the other hand, the soil be stiif 
and heavy, I like good stable-dung, as it is warmer 
and rather stronger than cow-dung ; but where ucitlier 
is at baud, good rotten pig manure will answer very 
well. The quantity used should be varied, according 
to the richness of the soil where the trees are planted ; 
ibr I believe greater harm is done by over manuring 
than by giving them too little ; at ihe same time, 1 
would advise that a moderate quantity should be used, 
say a good largo basketful, to a four year-old tree. 
Having laid on the manure, it must be covered with 
soil nearly two ineiies deep. Upon these beds, or 
where the trees arc planted, onions may b<^ sown as 
soon as possible aftcrwaj'ds, as onions will grow very 
well about gooseberry-trees, without injury to cither, 
if not sown under the treess. I ])refer this mode of 
growing onions, as nu;ch ground is saved by such a 
mode of procedure. 

Tr.mning. — No time should bo lost now, but train- 
ing should be immediately proceeded with. This is 
done hy what we call " liooks and props : " these are 
chiefly made of hazel slicks, varying in length I'rom 
!■"< to :ii inches. Hoohs are nnule hy cutting tliem 
oifclosctoa small branch, inniicdiately below the 
branch, leaving about \\ inch of it on ti> form the 
hook. Props are made by cutting oft' all the small 
twigs, leaving the top something like a hay -fork, only 
the prongs should not be above 1 V inch long. The 
form of the tree to be trained should be wliat is ge- 
nerally termed a " table trellis." 'The branches 
should be trained horizontally from the bole, so that 



the tree should be .hs near as possible flat on the top. 
This is done in order that the fruit may hang down 
on the under side of the tree, without being in danger 
of being injured when growing by hanging against 
the branches, or being injured by the thorns growing 
on the trees. Great care ought to be exercised, in 
placing the hooks and props, that the buds be not 
injured or destroyed. When a shoot gi-ows nearly 
u|)right, and it is necessary it should be brought 
down, to make it uniform with the others, it should 
he done by a little at a time : for, if is it done all at 
once, it will be in danger of breaking. This bring- 
ing down is etl'ected by thrusting the hook a little 
I'iU'ther into the ground every now and then, till the 
shoot be brought to its proper position. 

Insect Enemies. — In April and May, when the 
trees begin to grow, the trees should be regularly 
looked after, as the gooseberry has many enemies, in 
the form of the Borer, Red Spider, Green l'"ly, and 
Caterpillar. The borer, or white caterpillar, is very 
destructive to the fruit : as its name indicates, it 
bores or eats little round holes in the fruit. It is 
easier to destroy than any other insect that the goose- 
berry-tree is infested with : its jircsence is detected 
by observing some of the leaves curled up at the 
edge ; on examining these, the little insect will be 
discovered. The only way of effectually destroying 
these is to look over your trees, take off such leaves 
as have the appearance of its presence, and crush 
them. Tlie red spider (see p. iVi) infests the tree, or 
the leaves near the bole of the tree. It is only to be 
discovered by a close observer, and tliat only when 
the sun is shining, as these insects, when the sun is 
down, remove to the under side of the loaves ; but 
when a tree is infected by red spider, the leaves will 
have a yellow and sickly appearance. An old tree is 
more subject to the red sjiider than a young one. 
'The way 1 destroy these is to water them when the 
sun is shining (but not too hot) with a solution of 
tobacco-water, for three or four days consecutively, 
I'rom a syringe or rose watering-i)an. 

The green-fly {Aphis (/rossiiliiri<ij infests the ends 
of the young shoots, and in many cases stops their 
growth. The best method of destroying tliese insects 
(and I have tried many remedies) is tobacco-water 
used as above ; in fact, I know of no better method 
of destroying the caterpillar also than by frequent 
waterings with tobacco-water. 

SuMJiER Tr.\ining. — Should you be happy enough 
to avoid all these pests, you may then summer prune. 
This is too often neglected even by men who have 
had the benciitof long experience. This is done by 
taking oil', with a penkuife, the extreme ends of the 
young shoots that are growing near the bole of the 
tree, or, in fact, throughout the branches, with the 
excej)tion of a few of the shoots that are near the ex- 
tremities of the branches: these should be preserved 
with all possible care, for in these young shoots are 
the future hope of the grower. When these young 
shoots have grown to a good Icngtli, they should bo 
jirotectcd from being blown oil', by either placing 
sticks on each side of them, or ticing them to a stick 
with a little bast matting. 

TuiNNiNG Truit. — In Juno it is necessary that 
some of the fruit should be i-emoved, if they arc close 
together, or many on the tree. This is what we term 
" thinning," and requires, I think, as much skill as 
anything in gooseberry growing. Care should bo 
taken not to remove the soundest fruit, for ofU^n the 
soundest fruit is the least at this time of the year. 1 
will convey my ideas as clearly and explicitly as I 
can, but, after all, uo advice, however explicit, wUl 



THE COTTAaE GAEDENEE. 



305 



teach so well as experience. Tlie soundness of the 
fniit may he jiulged as well hy its colom- as anything, 
ir sound, it will be a very healthy green, \yitli the 
flowev " or dew hit " (as it is sometiiues termed) well 
formed and well closed up. It will hang very straight 
down, hut if injiued hy frost it will hang with its 
flower or dew bit on one side. No three-\ eined fruit 
ought to he removed unless there are two together, 
in which case one ought to he removed, bnt the best 
should be lett on the tree. Endeavour to leave on 
the longest and best formed fruit, even il' all is sound. 

FiiiiT Ripening. — Abiiut two or three weeks before 
the longest day c-'lst June), trees generally will cease 
growing till the second sap rises. About the -ilst of 
.lune they will commence growing again very fast. 
'J'lie IVuiti if sound, will generally swell very rapidly 
till it is ripe. Be careliil, if you have a very fine 
fruit, to remove all tlie thorns from the luanch near 
it, as the least scratch will have a tendency to burst 
it when growing very fast. 

Watering. — About llie 14th of June, I generally 
give my trees a little liquid manure, in order to assist 
tliem iu the " second sap," taking care, liowever, not 
to give them too much, for, as I said relative to manur- 
ing, too much is as injurious as too little, or even 
worse than giving them none. If they get a little 
liquid manure applied round the roots once a week, 
it will generally be sufficient. If the weather is dry 
during the summer, a little clear water will he of 
service to the trees, applied from a rose watering-pan 
after the sun has gone down in the evening. 

If these directions are followed, the parties who act 
on them will be recompensed for their trouble by 
seeing good fruit and in-etty trees of very luxuriant 
growth. I am afraid I have extended these remarks 
too far already, or T might have said a little on raising 
aud managing young plants. This I will leave for 
a future communication. 

J. TanNER, Xiirseri/man. 

Xeej>se)iil, Shejiieh!. 



THE BEE-KEEPERS CALENDAR— Arnn.. 

By J. H. Payne, Esq., AiitJtor of the " Bee-keeper's 

Guide," iCv. 

Feeding. — I must again press upon aU persons 
who have weak stocks the necessity of feeding. The 
bees are beginning to bestir themselves when the 
sun shines warm ; and inexperienced bee-keepers are 
apt to think that their stocks are now past danger, 
and so take no more care of them. But, the trutli is, 
that the early spring months are tlie most dangerous 
of all ; many stocks that have stood the winter die 
iu the spring, which a few ounces even of Ibod would 
prevent. There is nothing to be gathered iu the 
fields till April, and in cold late seasons not much 
before even May. Stocks should be watched well iu 
spring, aud weak ones fed liberally. As soon as they 
begin to stir, a little food should be given them every 
other day, or thereabouts, until they refuse to take 
it, for they will neglect the food given them as soon 
as they can gather honey. 

Method ov Feeuing. — The best manner of giving 
food to bees in a common straw hive is to put it into 
a dinner-plate, cover it with a piece of writing-paper 
thickly perforated, and to place it under the hive; 
but should there not be sufficient room for the plate 
without touching the combs, the hive may he raised 
upon a wooden hoop the exact size of the hive and 
about two inches deep, or upon a piece cut from the 
bottom of an old straw hive. Tlie food must he 
given after sun-set, and the plate removed by sun- 
rise the next morning. The entrance must be 





stopped while the food remains in the hive; a 
piece of soft piaper answers remarkably well for 
this purpose. 

Supply ov Hives. — To those persons who are dis- 
posed to adopt the very simple method, of managinc 
their bees, that I have for so many years successfully 
followed, I would say, procure a supply of the Im- 
jiroced Cottage Hives, a drawing of which is given in 
page •J-l!) ; also of small hives eight inches i n diameter 
and seven inches deep, flat at the top, 
with a hit of glass in one side covered 
by a shutter. This hive is in shape the 
same as the large one, and with a hole iu 
the top, covered with a piece of straw- 
work iu the same manner. 

Boxes and Bet.l Gr.ASSEs. — Sfiould boxes he pre- 
erred, those which I use are made of inch-thick deal, 
nine inches square, and eight inches deep — inside 
measure; with a piece of glass, six 
inches by seven aud a half let iu 
on one side, and covered by a 
shutter to exclude the light. But 
glasses may also be used with 
equal success if the light be eflec- 
tuallv excluded. I usually put on 
a bell glass first, and when partially filled raise it up 
aud jilaco between it and the parent hive the small 
hive ov box above described. I say ^vir/fV;//// filled, 
because, if allowed to remain till filled, the bees 
would very proliably swarm, which the additional 
room and ventilation given tliem, hj" placing either 
the box or small hive between the glass and parent 
Idve, will prevent. 

Adavtin(s Board. — A good supply of adapting 
boards luust also be in readiness. They should be 
made of mahogany, foi- it will allow of 
being worketl very thin, without the 
risk of waijiing when used. They are 
a quarter of an inch iu thickness (this 
is j/HJ9o^•^^)Ji), twelve inches square, with 
a circular hole in tlie middle, four 
inches iu diameter. 

Fi.ooR-BOAiiD. — The floor-board (on which the hive 
stands) may now be cleaned for the last time before 
the honey-gathering season commences. 

Water. — This must be supplied to tbe bees im- 
mediately, foi' it is iu the spring that they have the 
greatest occasion for it. The plan that I have adopted 
is to have a trougVi of wood, or stone, eighteen inches 
long, twelve inches wide, and six inches deep, sunk 
iu the ground in theimmediate vicinity of the apiary, 
with a piece of thin wood, thickly perforated with 
small holes, made to fit loosely into it. This perfo- 
rated wond, when the trough is filled with water, will 
float upon its surface, and save the bees from drown- 
ing, a mode of death causing the loss of numbers, 
should they, for want of this little accommodation, 
be obliged to go to an open cistern or pool. 

Queen Wasps. — The destruction of queen wasps, 
which are uow beginning to make their appeai'auce, 
will prove the best security against their progeny, 
those formidable enemies of the bee. In April aud 
May they are very easily captured, and every one 
now destroj'ed would probably have been the founder 
of a nest, which may be computed at 30,000, at the 
least. 

ifoTHs. — But moths are by far the most dangerous 
enemies the bees have to contend with. It is the 
caterpillars of these moths which gnaw and destroy 
the combs; and they would soon be rniued by these 
insects, if the bees did not oft'er the greatest oppo- 
sition to their ravages. The perfect insect (Oalleria 




nor, 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



cerreana and OuUerln aJietirin) maj- be seen flut- 
teriiiff about tbe bivo at sunset, from April to Octo- 
ber, and sbould be in'omptly destroyed wbenever 
observed. 

Am.vtkurs' Hives. — Having thus far given my 
plan for managing bees in tlic Imjiroi-ed Cottage 
Hive, I would now address a few words to the ama- 
teur, for the purpose of recounnending to bis attention 
one of tlie best amateur's bives tliat I bave ever 
seen. It was invented last year by Mr. Taylor, 
author of " The 15ee-keeper's Manual," and is called 
" Taylor's Amatevn-'s Bar-bive." It is made and 
sold liy Geo, Neighbour and Son, 127, High Holborn, 
London, witli directions for its use. 




Ry the introduction of bars each comb is made 
available, whether foi- separate extraction or for ex- 
perimental purpo.ses. Indeed, in this hive, both the 
bees and their store are at all times completely 
under the conmiand of their proprietors. From 
this hive, fine honey-comb may always be obtained, 
swarming effectually prevented, and artificial swarms, 
when required, insured. I was kindly favoured witli 
one of tbe above hives from tlie inventor last spring, 
in time to bave a swarm hived into it on the -^sth of 
May. In about three weeks from that time, I found 
it necessary to put on the upper box; and early in 
September I took it off, containing thirty pounds in 
the finest honey-comb, yet leaving a full supply in 
the lower or stock box, for the bees during the 
winter and spring. The stock is now in the finest 
healtli and vigour; and, should tlio ensuing season 
prove a favourable one, will, in all probability, aflbrd 



a much larger quantity of honey. Another great 
advantage from this hive, above all others, is, that 
a comb imii/ be extracted at any time, which, where 
glasses or boxes are used, caunot bo done ; tliese 
must be filled before they are removed, or much loss 
of time is occasioned to the bees. 



BEE-EEEDING. 
I NEVF.n could succeed in feeding at tlie hottn/n of 
tlio Jiivp, or with the apparatus attacliod to 'Nu/t'n 
bu.rea,' an.l I luive, therefore, for some years past, 
fed theui with coarse sugar placed under a boll-glass 
at tlie top; the glass standing in a circular zinc 
trougli, four iuclies in diameter across tbe inner part, 
about three quarters of an inch deep, and one incli 
wide, whicli I have found to be an effectual preven- 
tive of dampness in the boxes. The moist exhala- 
tions ascending to the glass, and there condensing, 
descend into the zinc trougli, wliicli can be emptied 
at pleasure. I have not lo.U a stock since I adopted 
this plan, and if tbe information is worth noticing, 
it is at your service. 




Tlie circular dotted line shews wliere the rim of 
tlie glass rests. The inner circle measured across, as 
shown by the straight dotted Hue, is four inches wide. 
After the feeding becomes unnecessary, a flat top of 
any sort can be substituted for the trough, &c., and 
wlien needed, the beU-glass serves for tbe bees to 
work in iqiou the depriving system. The glass and 
trough for draining and feeding are reiilaoed at the 
latter end of September. — W. Orowe, lumbers Cot- 
tage, Muitleiiheuil. 

[In addition to tbe above testimony, and that of 
Mr. Payne, in favour of feeding bees at tbe top of 
the hive, we have the following from the Rev. J. 
Byron, of Killingholme, Lincolnshire, wlio even cuts 
out the top of the common straw hive for the pur- 
pose. — Ed. C. G.I 

" I am rejoiced to find Mr. Payne, whoso name is 
so well known to tbe bee-keeping world, amongst tbe 
contributors to Thk Cottage G.VEDEXEn. In jiage 
240, alluding to the feeding apparatus which I de- 
scribed on a former occasion, he says, that to feed 
bees at the top of tbe bi\e is, in common straw 
hives, impossible. I do not know wliat dilficulty 
Mr. Payne sees in tlie case ; I find none. At this 
present time, I am feeding two last year's swarms in 
common straw bives. I take the crown-pin out of 
the top of the hive, fit the feeder with its glass over 
the bole, then turn an cmjity hive over tlie i'eeder 
and glass, and, on the toji of the hive, place an 
earthen pan, to keep it firm, and to shoot ofl' the 
rain. The liquid with which I am feeding tliem is 
Spanish honey (which costs Gd. per lb), and ale and 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



307 



sugar (a poimd of sugar to a quart of ale, boiled fire 
minutes), iu about equal quantities." 

GARDEN PLANS.— No. I. 
Having in previous numbers given a detail of tlie 
principles and objects which ought to regulate the 



A^i'filt 



formation of our gardens, ive now proceed to offer a 
few illustrations, commencing with the garden such 
as is usually couneoted with small liouses in the 
neiglibourhood of our large towns, and which may- 
be called appropriately, 

THE SJFALL SUnCRBAN GABDEN. 



Hiisi 




1. Pceonia horbacea and P. arborea. 

2. Scarlet Pelargoniums. 

3. VL'i'benas, 

4. Pansies. 
o. Roses. 

G. Fuehsias, Calceolarias, and Annuals, mixed. 



I 7. Climbers— as Clematis, "Wisteria sinensis. Climbing Roses, &;c. 
8. Shrubs, intermised witli herbaceous plants, Dalilia^, and, near 

the edge. Annuals. 
g. Grass. 
W. Walks. 
!<■. Walls. 



CALCEOLARIAS. 
Mil. Be.vton's concluding remarks in Number 18 
have set me to work again to write to you. I have 
read his essay on calceolarias, and as I have seen 
many tliousauds of them grown, I am tempted to 
say a few words on that subject. I formerly worked 
for an amateur gentleman ibr abont ton years, and 
he used to grow about two thousand a year from 
seed. I will just name what I remember about the 
treatment, &o. I shall begin with the crossing, as it 
is sometimes called. When the calceolarias were 
in flower, there was my master in the gi-eenhouse 
with his book, and balls of cotton or worsted of all 
colours, and a short piece was tied by him round 
their necks, until a bit of each colour had been used, 
then he began again with two bits of colours, and so 
on, until all that he thought well was worked on, 
and all noted down iu his book. Then, when the 
seed was ripe, each pod had its little paper bag, and 
was marked. As soon as dry, the seed was sown in 
(I think) 48 pots, the earth being partly black bog, 
or peat, and his plan was to sow the seed in small 
drills in the pots, and a piece of flat glass was laid 
on the top of each pot, to keep the earth from drying 



fast, and, for the same purpose, they were put in a 
cold frame, on the north side of a high broad feuce, 
and a thin canvass, tent-like, over the top, to prevent 
the sun shining on to them, but quite open to the 
north. I do not remember the e.x.act time of sowing, 
but it was early enough to have the seedlings pricked 
out from the seed pots, and then each was put into 
small OO's, and then into 48's to winter in, in cold 
frames or pits with earth banked round them, and 
rolls of mats over the top. Then, when in spring 
the seedlings filled the pots with roots, they were 
repotted, and when the weather got warm, and they 
began to get tall, they were placed in halfsuuk 
pits ; the plants above the level of tlie ground 
were like four-light boxes, and when the sun had 
gained power, the boxes, or other pai't of the pit, 
were turned round to face the uorth. There the 
seedlings remained until they were in flower, when 
the best were picked out for the greenhouse ; the 
next best for beds and baskets, and the remainder 
turned out to the rubbish-heap. My master never 
made cuttings of any of them, and only a very few 
of the best were saved. 
Regarding an observation at page 10.2 oufxaze, I 



308 



THE COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



ben' to say that if small plants ean be obtained, say 
six or eiglit inches high, tliey will bc-ai- transplanting 
and grow well with a little watering in the spring. 
I by ehanoc bad some I'lU'ze oll'ored to nie about this 
time last yenv ; it was some that had been left after 
thickening the bottom of a garden fence, but which 
all died ailerwards. The little ones which T picked 
out, and jilanted in a row, made shoots IK and .-iO 
inches long during the last sunnner; so that if furze 
niaj' he required, and can be obtained young, a de- 
])endanoe may be ])laced on its growing. 

J enclose a few grains of what is called si.v-roircd 
lihicl; harleij. I do not know if yon may have seen 
it bef ire or not. I sent some to my brother in Ox- 
fordshire, who has his half-acre: he planted it. but it 
did not ripen, wliich led us to suppose that it should 
be sown or jjlanted in autumn. I put my grains, 
three each, in OO's pots, forwarded them under glass 
(cold frame), and turned them out in spring, when I 
soon found there ought not to have been but one in 
a pot, for they stooled, or shot out so very thick 
all round the bottom. ^ly brothers did the same, 
which led us to tliink tbey oiight to be dibbled in at 
least sis inches apart. Well, I think 17 of niine 
grew and brought forth fruit, not 30, (id. and 100-fold, 
[lecording to Scripture, but I think full COO-fold ; for 
there wei-e more than iOO ears, and many of the ears 
had near 00 grains in each ; and I have no doubt if 
they are ])lanted thinner it will be still more pro- 
ductive. I sent the greater ]iart of my seed again 
into O.<;fordshire, in order that the little farmers there 
might try it in the autumn, f did not plant Uiine 
then, hut purpose to put a few grains one in a pot 
as before, t have thought it would be very suitable 
for the cottage farmers, if it can be brought into 
cultivation. I had many people in to look at it, 
and all considered it very fruitful. W. W. 



TANKS. 

[Our correspondent, " An Owner of Cottage Allot- 
ments," writes to us for further information, which, 
as we cannot obtain it for him. induces ns to insert 
his note entire. AVe shall be obliged by his sending 
us his Cottage Allotment Rules. — Ed. G. O.] 

" I hope you will not think uie very troublesome, if 
I invite a little further explanation on the subject of 
tanks, nor "Senilis" think me uncourteous, if I say 
that his answer to my objections is not satisfactory 
to me. He only tells ns that the cost of con- 
structing a t.ank with concrete is one-third less than 
with brick, but he gives no estimate of the cost, by 
which one might judge whether such a tank would 
be within the reach of a cottager, (if it is of cottagers 
that we speak), or whether it would bo useful to him 
when constructed. 1 have great doubts upon both 
points A concrete tank could only, of course, bo 
made in a locality were gravel was procurable. I 
thiuk a little clay to jiuddle the bottom of such a pit 
as I spoke of, would bo much more generally found 
than the gravel. Senilis says that it would take 
"just as much time to execute as a tank with concrete 
sides and bottom;" and afterwards, that "the work 
of a very small tank may run over three months 
or more." The pits I speak of may be made by any 
labourer in as many hours, if he had a load of clay 
carted for him; and, I need not say, that the carting 
of the clay woidd not cost more at any rate than of 
the lime required for the concrete. I wish that 
Senilis woidd have been kind enough to explain the 
advantage of the walls battening inwards — how the 
interior soil was to be thrown out after the covering 
arch was formed — and bow the sewage was to be 



drawn ofF by the discharge pipe; in other words, 
how he proposes to get access on a level below the 
bottom of his tank, wliich is four feet or even two 
feet beneath the surface. Again, I doubt whether a 
cottager would ever have sewage in (piantity to need 
the tank, even at the dimensions Senilis now gives, 
wliirh are half those which he before proposed. Cer- 
tainly his former expression led me to imagine that 
he was proposing not an " extreme of width and 
depth," but rather the contrary. If you will do me the 
favour to publish these observations, they may draw 
from Senilis, or from some other correspondent, some 
exjjlanations or further suggestions on a matter in 
which not only F, but I believe several persons, feel 
much interest. 1'hnngh I do not estimate the sewage 
of a cottager at anything like the number of gallons 
Senilis sujiposes, I thiuk there is very great loss by 
their wasting what they do supply." 



VERMIN ON PIGS. 

In The Cott.\ge Gardener, p. ;i5S, I see you 
recommend the application of Scotch snuff to kill 
vermin in pigs. [ have never tried the application 
myself but I am convinced such an apjilication is 
decidedly objectionable : should there be no more 
than one pig in the stye, it is almost certain the snuff 
would get to the eyes and nostrils of that one and 
cause great irritation ; and should there be more than 
one, then it woidd be ([uite certain to have a very 
injurious effect. Pigs, when nuich irritated, become 
very violent, and are likely to injure themselves by 
breaking over or through the fencing of their cote. 
Hogs' lard, Russian tallow, or kitchen stuff, well 
rubbed on pigs afiected with lice will infallibly de- 
stroy them ; so wdl train-oil, seal or linseed-oil ; but 
these latter as they dry will cause the bristles of the 
pig to become matted and stiff, and on that account 
they are ohjeetionable. Olive oil will kill lice instan- 
taneously, and it wUl have the same effect on bugs ; 
besides killing the lice, these greasy applicatious are 
very beneficial to the pig's healtli ; it loosens the sciu'f, 
softens and cleanses the skin. I have seen so much 
im])rovenient made in the appearance of pigs that 
have suffered from poverty and neglect, by well greas- 
ing them two or three times, and then thoroughly 
washing it off with warm-water and soap, as to be 
hardly recognised as the same animals. 

To wash a pig requires some little patience ; the 
animal is not to be seized and thrust into a tub, but 
rather to bo supplied with some good food in its 
trough, and while it is feeding the washing may be 
efl'eetually accomplished. W. H. Bosso:ii. 

[We have no doubt that oil would desti-oy lice, 
as our correspondent states, and, for the reasons he 
gives, it is to lie jn-eferred to Scotch snuff for the pur- 
pose. We have seen the latter, however, enqiloyed 
successfully. — En. G. C] 



TWELVE VERY SUPERIOR CINERARIAS. 



Beauty of St. John's Wood— 
wtiite, bordered witli tight 
crimson, 'is. Oil. 

Amanda — beautiful porcelain 
blue, with white round, a dark 
disc, 73. Od. 

Bellinii— fine purple, self; of ex- 
cellent shape, 7s. 6d, 

Coronet — very large, wliite and 
rose, 3s. (Id. 

Grandissima^larje dark blue, 
very dwarf. 8s. (Jd. 

Favorite — beautiful light sky 
blue, a free flower of excellent 
liabit, 2s. Od. 



Maritana — purplish red, with a 
white circle, Ss. fld. 

Newington Beauty— flower large, 
white centre, and purple crim- 
son margin. 

Rosy Circle — light centre, deep 
rose margin, of excelleiil pro- 
perties. 

Royal Crimson — a pood self; of 
a deep rich colour, and a tno 
flowerer. 

Tom Thumb— white centre, edged 
with purple crimson. 

Yernalia — shaded blue, with a red 
circle ; a good variety of good 
habit. 



THE COTTAGE GAUDENEPi. 



309 



EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 

Protection- from Mice and Birds. — Have you 
ever seen a cat chained to a small dog-house, and 
kept in tlie gai-dcn to keep the mice off peas and 
beans at night, and the birds in the day-time from 
small seeds'.' Any one tbat- tries, will find it to an- 
swer well. The house can easily be caviicd fiom 
place to place as may be required. A young cat is 
tbe best to train ; and, if kept for a few days near 
the dwelling-house, and well fed, pussey soon gets 
reconciled. J- ■"^• 

Scares.— To prevent hai-es destroying plants, as 
complained of by your able contributor at p. •210, the 
best plan is to place four white stakes, about ten 
inches higli, so as to form a square or a lozenge 
shape round tbe plants to be )n-otected ; then tie 
round tbe tops, from one to tlie other of these stakes, 
a strong white cotton thread, and a second tiiread 
about the middle of tlie stake. Tins makes a kind 
of fence, into which haves and rabbits do not seem 
disposed to venture. I have also found this same 
thread plan effectual in preventing the thrushes and 
blackbirds getting tbe young peas out of the gi-ound ; 
and rooks may be detevred Iroin destroying tlie pota- 
toes on the moss land hero in Lancashire by the 
same system ; the thread being suspended over the 
ridges on stakes just above them. A clieaper pre- 
ventive can scarcely be vccommended, thread being 
])rocurable at the rate of yOO yards for a penny. — 
11. Saul. 

Growing Cacti in Rooms. — I have a small mis- 
cellaneous collection ofeacli, shipelia, &c., in all about 
•10. These I keep during summer in a tall i'raine 
under glass out of doors, and during winter in my 
parlour window which looks to the south. Under 
this treatment, with an annual sliift in the spring, the 
jilants do very well, and are tlie objects of much interest 
to many passers-by. Sometimes people even knock 
at tlie door to know if I sell plants I Cactus Flaijel- 
Vifiirm'is. C. Mrillisoni, being of a pendant habit, are 
suspended by wires from a rod attached to the ceiling 
for the purpose;" the Echino-cacli, in small CiOs. 
being placed in narrow shelves parallel with the 
window sashes. I liave been at tliis liohJuj lour ov 
live years. I have had blooms on ccreus rjiecipshsiimm 
five inches across in my parlour window, without 
artificial licat, and on a plant many years previously 
in my possession. Jfy [iractice, therefore, you see is 
of a kind to popularize the culture as window plants 
of this wondrous tribe. — A Poon Man. 

[We have the address of the writer, and he promises 
us an account of his mode of growing cactaceous 
plants.— Ed. O. C] 

Frame for Rhubarb. — Wlien I saw the drawing 
at p. 003 of a frame for forcing rhubarb, it brought 
to my mind directly the fj'ames in which glass is packed 
and sent to plumbers and glaziers. I got one from 
my tradesman, and as they arc higher and nan-ower 
than wliat is recommended in The Cottage Gar- 
DENEE, I got my labourer to stretch it a little, and 
lie divided it into two, so as to make two good covers, 
which, though not quite so light as you recommend, 
will still be useful. 

Economy in ^Ianure has for many years been my 
aim ; but it would be useless to repeat my plans, 
oince they are nearly allied to your own instructions. 
Thus much I may add : I keep three heaps ; one I 
am using from, one rotting, and the tliird making. 
Acting on the principle wbicli I hold good, that 

' These two plants are now called Cereus flageUi/ormis and Cefeus 
malliiom. 



every small garden attached to a house will manure 
itself, if the vegetable matter discarded from that 
house be thrown on the heap, I invariably sell the 
dung of my old hot-bed. This remark may perhaps 
be worthy of your insertion. For the information 
of your readers, I may also add that, in my gi-een- 
house, I grow Lycopodium Ccesium and Denticulata, 
Campanula Japonica and Lobelia Gracilis, in flower- 
pots, suspended from the rafters by copper wire, 
with great success. They always produce a most 
graceful effect, and answer better than those on the 
stages : and there is also room for so many more 
plants in the house. — T. E. M., Stake. 

Puzzle for Planters.— Mr. Editor, will you be 
so kind as to insert the following geometrical puzzle, 
which I have seen, some thirty years ago, in an old 
book. I recollect there was a woodcut, showing how 
the trees were to be planted, but I have forgotten it 
Ion" since. Some of your numerous readers may 
find it out ; at any rate, it will be some exercise and 
amusement to the young branches of the large 
family you call " our readers." It is, " how to plant 
nineteen trees in nine straight rows, and nine trees 
in every row ? " The puzzle was in a kind of verse ; 
but I fear I have forgotten it,— but here it is to the 
best of my lecoUection. 

" I am desired to plant a grove 

Gf myrtle trees, for her I love. 

This ample grove I must compose 

Of nineteen trees, in nine straight rows ; 

Kine trees in every row must be, ^ 

Or else her face I ne'er shall see." 

Seiiili.^- 



SCRAPS. 

Beadtifitl British Plants. No. IT.— 15elphi- 
num Consolida.— Field Larkspur.— A beautiful an- 
nual, occasionally met with among corn. About two 
feet lii"h, with deeply cut leaves, and flowers oi a 
vivid aild permanent blue ; plentiful in Cambridge- 
shire and adjoiniug counties. , . . „ 

AcoNiTDM NArELUus.— Monkshood.— A free flow- 
eriu" herbaceous plant. Rather rare m thickets and 
bv the banks of streams. Two feet high, with lignt 
blue flowers; a good plant for the shrubbery or mixed 

parterre. . , t-, , » .. 

Pfoni .\ CoKALi.iNA— Pxony.— A splendid plant tor 
the slirubbery border, witli large crimson flowers and 
yellow anthel-s ; said only to have been met with on 
the Steep Holmes Islands in the Severn. AA e recol- 
lect botanising some years ago on the banks ol the 
Yore, below Mashani, and meeting with a pffiouy in 
some quantity, probably an escape from a garden, 
but not being in flower we could not with confidence 
refer it to this species. The principal varieties ol the 
common garden p<eouy belong to P. albiflora. 

Berberis Vulgaris. — Barberry. — Wherever a 
slirubbery is formed, this fine plant, a native ot our 
bedces and thickets, should be found ; with its pen- 
dulous racemes of sweet yellow flowers, succeeded by 
the bright red fruit, it is always an object ot beauty. 
^Ye noticed it growing on tbe ruins of tlie monastei-y 
at Easby, near Richmond, Yorkshire, a tew days ago. 
A decoction of its bark and wood is reputed to be an 
" unfailing cure " for the jaundice. 

Epimedium ALPiNUM.-Barrenwart.-An elegant 
little plant, with heart-shaped leaflets and brownish 
red flowers, with yellow nectaries growing about eight 
inches high ; found occasionally in alpine woods but 
has very slender claims to be considered as a native. 



310 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



We liave heard of its being plantoil in some situa- 
tions on inupose to di^ceive tlie unwary botanist. 

Ny.mph.e.v ^Vlua. — Wliite Water Lily. — Tliis line 
aquatic plant sboukl have a ])Iace in every garden 
wliere there is a pool of water, for the sake of its large 
white tiowers with yellow stigmas. We have met 
with it in our rambles, covering many a sti'eam with 
its fine foli;ige and Howers, floating on the surface of 
the watei-. 

NuPH.^K Lute.*. — Yellow Water Lily. — Tliis plant 
should ahvays have a place along with the preceding: 
it is more frequently met with in lakes and ditches. 
The flowers have a strong smell of brandy. We 
have both these growing freely, jjlunged in old 
baskets and sunk in the water. It grows plentifully 
in the miU-dam between Billingham luid Norton, and 
is very beautiful when in bloom, as seen Irom the 
bridge on the turnpike-road. 

Meconopsis C.^MiiRic*. — Vellow Poppy. — A very 
I'are and interesting plant, with ))innate leaves and 
large orange yellow flowers — which should be culti- 
vated in every select collection. 

PitEMERi-\ HviJuiD.i. — -A very pretty annual, found 
in the oorn-tields of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk-, 
growing about a foot high, with tripinnated leaves 
and dark tiolet-blue flowers. Succeeds in any garden 
soil. 

Gr..\ucirjr Luteum. — Horned Poppy. — A biennial 
herbaceous plant, with hairy cut leaves and large 
golden flowers, succeeded by a long curved pod, well 
worth tlie attention of the curious, and, although a 
native of our sandy sea coasts, will thrive in almost 
any soil or situation. 

CoRYU-iLis Soi.iDA. — Purple Fumitory. — An inte- 
resting little plant, with biternate cut leaves and 
purple flowers, well worthy a place in the flower 
garden on account of its early flowers ; although a 
doubtful native, it is thoroughly naturalised in many 
places in this couutiy. 

C0RYU.A.LIS LuTE.i. — Yellow Fumitory. — A beauti- 
ful plant for rock-work, producing its flowers in the 
early spring months, and continumg the whole of 
the season ; frequently met with in old ruins. We 
have seen it abounding on the walls of Fountain's 
Abbey and Fountain's Hall, near Eipon. 

CHEiR.\NTHrs Cheiri. — Wallflower. — This old 
favourite of the garden, so much admired for its 
fragrant early flowers, may be met with on many of 
the old castles and abbeys of this country : it is 
plentiful on the walls of Skipton Castle, in Craven ; 
on Richmond Castle, where many of the plants are 
already in flower (February) ; and on the chalk elm's 
near the sea, in the south, abundant. — S. — Durham 
Advertiser. 

The JIorsE and the Pea. — The plan which I 
have found the most efl'ectual in preventing the de- 
struction of peas by the mice, as complained of by 
your correspondent, T. R. Lloyd, at page 2:iU, is 
simply this : I mix a small quantity of arsenic in 
some oatmeal, or pour a little upon bread previously 
sprinkled with water, to enable the arsenic to soak 
into it. I then put it upon tiles or pieces of broken 
pots, covering it with another pot, so that nothing 
but the mice can get at it, and in this way I destroy 
them with veiy little trouble, and at small expense. — 
M. Saul. — [Arsenic thus administered will kill mice, 
but we never recommend it. Nux vomica boiled for 
some hours, and then wheat soaked in the liquor, is 
quite as fatal to a mouse, yet does not hurt the cat, 
which may devour the poisoned tliief. — En. O. G.] 

Pahssips for Pigs, &c. — A writer in that excellent 



TO COKRESPONDENTS. 

'Bees in Conservative Hives (J. M. Wnt/land). — We do not 
suppose that you can buy bees in these, unless casually at an auction, 
where an atniileur's apiary is included. Your best plan will be 
either to buy a stock now, and hive the swarms Irom it into such 
hives as \ou may wish, or else to have your chosen hive, and get 
some keeper of bees to put into it one of his Stay swarms. 

Draining a Garden (A Suburban Subscriber). — Unless we knew 
tlie form, and the exact levels of your garden, it is quite impossible 
for us to give you any specific directions. Sink a main drain through 
the centre of the garden, so deep as to get through the cake, which 
you say is over your gravelly subsoil, if that cake is not more than 
three feet below the surface. This main dram must have an outfall 
into some ditch at the lowest side of the garden. Side drains, 6 
inches less deep than the main drain, and 24 feet apart, as your soil 
is light, must tall into the msin drain. As your garden has in it 
several old chesnut and other trees, we rtcommend jou to use one- 
inch pipes, puddled o>er with clay. Other drains will soon get 
choked up with roots. The cost ought not to be more than .£0 per 
acre. Unless liie well in the centre of your lawn is very deep, and 
never containing much water, it would be of little or no use for 
draining purposes. 

Y'ellowly's Spade Husbandry (IF. T.). — We cannot give you 
any further information. *' The British Fuimers' Magazine " is pub- 
lished at 20, Xorfolk Street, Strand. 

Surface of a Plot of Ghouxd {Andrew Moffat).— ^e cannot, 
from your rough sketch, answer your question, nor is it quite within 
our province. Y'ou may get, second-hand, for four or five shillmgs, 
*' Davis's Complete Treatise on Surveying." 

Iron Stakes for Roses (ir. tr.).— Y'ou need not be afraid of 
using these, they will not injure the roots. Thanks for the Black 
Barley, which we have distributed. We accidentally mislaid your 
letter, or we should have noticed your query before. 

Ole.\nders {A Young Beginner, Ipswich). — Wc think you will 
have, from Mr. Beaton, all the information you require oti this 
subject, Hfaths, we have no doubt, will soon be noticed by the 
same good authority. The name of your plant is Cineraria Peta- 
sitcs. It is a native of Mexico, and Urst introduced here in 1813. 
Do not hesitate to ask questions; whatever a co-respondent may 
want in'ormation upon is important to him, and we make that the 
chief consideration. 

Fuchsias, &c., in Beds (R. D.).— Do not plunge these into your 
beds whilst remaining in the pots. It will not save you any trouble, 
but rather increase It, for the roots of the plants will fill the pot», 
ond grow through the hole at the bottom, rendering repotting In the 
autumn unavoidable. Besides, the plants will neiiher grow nor 
biossom 80 well. 

Tuberoses (H. R.). — Keeping these in on outhouse must be too 
cold and dark for them. Put them into your kitchen window, and 
treat them exactly as is directed at pp. 181 and 183. 

Flower Seeds (15'. J.). — Y'ou can get those you mention of any 
of the Seedsmen or florists who advertise in The Coitaob Gar- 
dener, 

Hot-bed (A Xew KecriiiO.— If you only require this for plunging 
seedling pots in, you need not put on it any eanli, but merely a layer 
eitlier of sand or'of coal ashes, sufllclent In deptii to bury the pots In 
doiru to tbelr rinia. Aniwera to your other queries ntxt week, 



I agricultural paper, " Bell's Weekly ifessenger," say 
I that he has cultivated the parsnip for more than l.j 
i years, and adds : — " 1 fully believe one acre of pars- 
nips will give more weight of bacon or pork, than 
one acre of barley; though, mind, I am not advocat- 
ing the feeding pigs or cattle with parsnips alone 
1 when fatting, ^fy mode has been to boil the jiars- 
nips and mix in a small quantity of meal when hot; 
though, of course, where fatting liogs to a large extent 
is carried on witli them through the summer and ! 
early autumn months, the parsnips must all be boiled ' 
and put away, in casks or vaults, liy the eud of April, ' 
and mixed afterwards with meal as wanted. They 
will keep many months when boiled, and well pressed 
and ratnmed into casks ; and they are most excellent 
as food for 1 torses, sliced raw ; and I venture to nflirm 
that any one giving them to farm horses or hacks 
during the winter, needs little or no corn, and will 
have them look in the coat equal to the middle of 
summer, and equal to any fair work that m.ay be 
required of them." 

Earthinc. up Celery. — Mr. W. Cole, gardener to 
H. Coyler, Esq., at Dartford, says, that not earthing 
up celery until it has acquired a considerable size, is 
certainly the cause of its being stringy. J^ong ex- 
posure to the air and light, makes the tissue of the 
leaves harder than if they are grown in comparative 
darkness. — Horlicullural Society's Journal. 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



311 



Feeding-Trouoh for Bees (,1 Young Recndi).— In answer to 
your query about tlie size of that described at p. 136, the Rev. Mr. 
Bvron stales :— " In the feeding-trough which I use the diameter of 
tlie hole A, through which the bees ascend, is l^^ inch; and that tlie 
width of the trough BB, running round the bole A, is also I J inch; 
and that the diameter of the Rlass with which I cover it is rather 
more than five inches. I would recommend Iiira first to procure a 
glas?, and have the grove CC made to receive it; andth^n the trough 
BB can be mada as wide as the distance between A and C will allow. 
If he has the feeding-board made first, lie may find a difficulty in 
procuring a glass that will fit accurately." Mr. Taylor's hires will be 
described by Mr. Payne in this and following numbers. 
Pine Varnish (J. M., L(mcastey).— See p. 28U. 
Amaryllis (J. E. J., Liverpool).— 'The cause of its leaves turning 
yellow is probably your giving too much water, and on the surface. 
Follow exactly the plan directed at p. 131. Put it in the window 
of a warm room, and do not disturb llie root by breaking the pot as 
you propose. 

Cyclamen Seedlings (P. J}.— You rtceived these lately and 
potted them half an incU deep, and now you say Ihey are "dying 
oft"." These seedlings should not have been potted till they had 
finished their annual growth next May. They are going to rest, 
ih'-'refore, without being ripe, and that will delay their flowering a 
season linger, and you cannot possibly do anylhirg with them 
liow but let them dry oft'. When the leaves are decayed plunge the 
pots in soil out of doors, so that the rims of the pots are just covered, 
and there let them remain till the autumn, and thoy may begin a 
fresh growth earlier than usual. When the leaves appear take up the 
pols, and encourage tlieir growth in a window or pit. 

Oleandeks not Flowering {Ibid). — There can bo little doubt 
about the oleanders you speak of as casting tlieir flower-buds, being 
stinted for want of water. Ae soon as the flower- buds appear set the 
pots in saucers of water, and those in the tubs should have large doses 
of water every day ; and if the water runs down fast, the most of i*, 
probably, runs down between the tub and ball of earth. To prevent 
this, run a seam of soft clay round the tub and on the edge of the 
ball, thus forming the surface into a cup shape, and this will compel 
the water poured into it to pass all through the ball. This is a 
common practice on ths continent, and it is astonishing in what 
small tubs they keep their oleanders, oranges, and myrtles in good 
iiealth by lhi> simple process, and a constant use of liquid manure. 
As the oleander is a strong feeder, it is best to have them in pots, so 
that they can be amply supplied by liquids through their flowering 
seison, and they will take rich liquid manure all thattiaie. If you 
were to plunge the pot six inches deep in a horse-pond wliile the 
p'ant is in bloom, it will do no harm, but the contrary. 

Name of Pla>'t (jl/. P.). — The little blue flower which you sent 
U9, and say has been in your garden thirty years without any increase, 
is a little bulb, a native of England, and called squill (Scillabifulia). 
When the leaves die down next June, take up the bulbs, divide them, 
and plant theoa again immediately, putting three bulbs in a patch, 
and about three inches deep in fresh light sandy soil. 

Young Geranium Slips {Young Recruit), — It is a common case 
for rooted e;eranium slips to turn yellow in the leaves when they arc 
parted out of a store pot like yours. They will soon recover and 
make fresh leaves. Cut away all those leaves that are yellow or 
drooping much, and keep the plants well supplied with water; when 
they are in active growth again nip off the top ends, and the buds 
below will grow into shoots, and make the plants bushy. 

Agapanthvs {Henry Freeman).— Yo'ir plant is the agapanlhus 
without a doubt. It only requires to be kept from the frost, and to 
have very little water from October to March, and as soon as the 
spring frosts are over, the open air in a warm sheltered spot is the 
best place for it, and to be abundantly supplied with water through 
the summer. A nine-inch pot is large enough for a plant with fo-ir 
crowns ; strong rich loam suits it best, also liquid manure twice a 
week in the height of summer. Thia is the best time to divide them, 
which is a severe operation, and is done thus:— turn the plant out of 
the pot, and with a strong sharp tool cut the ball right through 
between two crowns or divisions ; we cut ours with a spade, and 
always divide the ball into as many pieces as there are crowns; we 
then pare down the corners, and after that pull out as many of the 
cut roots as will teparate without injurinc the vest, and we pot them 
according to the size of the pieces. They make an enormous quan- 
tity of roots, and once they are established we only pot them once in 
three or four years. They make beautiful flower-beds if the soil is 
deep and rich, and not too wet at the bottom, and will remain out for 
years if they are well thatched in the autumn. We have this week 
dressed our large bed of them, and cut all the old leaves oflf, and the 
new ones are pushing out in the centre already. We keep a wooden 
cradle over the bed, and throw a few mats over it on a frosty evening. 
About the middle of April we shall plant some of the larjje blue 
campanula among them, and when the frost is over we shall turn out 
several plants of the old scarlet lobellia and some gladioli in the 
same bed. The effect of the whole will be unique and very gay. 

Camellias {J. S. C).— Your four camellias, if true to the names 
by which ihey wore sold, viz:--Ochroleuca, Queen Victoria, Sweetil, 
and Punctu'a, are nearly, but not qu'.te, flrst-rato. Spring is not the 
best time to pot camellias; the true time is when the flower-buds 
are well formed. If you bought them at a sale of foreign plants they 
are potted in pure peat, with hardly any sand, and thq balls probably 
as hard aa cannon balls, and you will find; some difficulty !n getting 
them to start in our English compost of loam. Pot them into pots 
only one size larger than those they are in, and let the compost be 
two-thirds good peat, the rest loam and sand ; this will inure them 
by degrees to take to the loam. These foreign plants are got up, 
like Peter Pindar's razors, to sell* Your stove plants are not within 
our province. 

Hyacinth Seeds (ff/n7irf«/a).— Hyacinth seeds saved in this 
"country are not «orth sowing. An amateur near us has some beau- 
tiful hyacinths that he bought in Holland in ISSS; he raised we 



know not how many seedlings from them, but after following up 
the plan for 18 years he never got a single one worth looking at. He 
flowers Ihem from the fifth to the seventh year of their age, but he 
has given them up altogether. 

Alpine Primroses {Rev. E. Lemans). — We know of no one who 
cultivates bulbs merely "botanical" for sale; the only meana of 
finding out these rarities is by an advertisement. The Alpine prim- 
roses do best in pure loam and sand, what we call liclit loam, to be 
well drained, and the pots plunged in sand, in a cold pit with a west 
aspect; pure soil and air, uniform moisture, and never to be drenched 
by rains, are the chief requisites lor these plants. Your compost of 
"equal parts of heath-mould, leaf-mould, and loam," is far too rirh 
/or them, and the roots perish (rem the exposure of the pols. We 
know little of the culture of ground orchids; an experiment is now 
in progress, at the garden of ilie Horticultural Society of London, 
on this subject. These are curious subjects, foreign to our publica- 
tion, therefore we are oMiged to avoid them. 

Driving Bees {J. N., Bri.vton). — We never recommend trans- 
ferring bees from one hive to another; you cannot remove the combs ; 
see pa^e 279. We do not know of any hive-makers near London. j 
Sellers of hives are Messrs. Neighbour and Son; see their adver- 
tisement. 

Sliding Plate to Hive (A Young One) — Mr. Payne says that 
for wooden hives, tliey being flat-sided, one sliding-plate for regu- 
lating the size of the entrance, as recommended in Taylor's " Bee- 
Keeper's Manual," does better than two plates; but for straw hives, 
being round, two plates are required. They fit within the slides so 
that they may be always kept there, as represented at p. 239. 

Salt as a Manure (Clericus). — Never let salt touch the loaves 
of any plant but those of weeds ; it almost always kills them. Those 
of the asparagus and sea-kale are the only exceptions we know. 

Pea Sowing {W. H. Vain,Ju7i.).— 'We sow peas usually in single 
rows, putting a double row of the seed in each, and an inch apart 
every way, thus, •.*,*.' This year we are trying double rows, as 
stated at p. 271. 

Fuchsias (.-1 Subscril/er and Constant Reader). — Your Fuchsias 
in leaf and covered with buds are too forward to be treated as 
directed at p. 2Jl. The lilac being in flower on the 3rd of this 
month, was early evsn for the neighbourhood of Falmouth. 

Poi'E Gregorv (Clerims Rusticus). — We quite agree with this 
extract from your letter ;—" Not questioning his (Pope Gregory's) 
benevolence in desiring that the Angli should become Angeli, nor 
his conscientious belief in the message sent by his envoy Austin, I 
venture to remind you tliat we had British Bishops centuries before 
his visit, representing us in Church Councils, and that we Protes- 
tants consider the preaching of Grepry's raessenaer to be that 'other 
gospel which is not another,* described by Paul. 

Canvass for Covering (J. IK. J.).— See p. 290. 

Old Grass Plot (J. W. G.). — This you say j.s covered with weeds 
and bad grass, and you wish as quickly as possible to convert it to 
a bowling green. Pare off* two inches in deplli of the whole sur- 
face ; charr this, and vrl.ile it is charring get some turf sufficient to 
relay the whole, and then sow over it the charred matters. This is 
the quickest mode of getting a bowling-green, and an eff't.ctual mode 
of destroying the weeds. If you cannot get turf charr the surface as 
above, dig the plot, spread the charred matters over the top, and 
then sow and rake in the mixture of grass seeds detailed at p. 62. 

Steep for Potatoes {Walter Sheppard).—'\Ve have no expecta- 
tion that any sleeping of the sets will prevent the disease occurring. 
Epsom salt (sulphate of magnesia) has long been known as a good 
manure for potatoes. 

Best Soil for Potatoes (Be^a).— You will have seen, at p. 280, 
an answer to your flrst note on this question. You now ask for an 
analysis of a soil known as producing good mealy potatoes, and we 
give one that did so In Essex, but we do not think this of much use. 
Any light soil, moderately supplied with decomposing matters, and 
well-drained, not containing any noxious eoustituent, and not defi- 
cient in any of the usual earths, will grow good well-flavoured pota- 
toes. Any slight difiference in the relative amount of Its earthy 
components is of no consequence. One hundred parts of the above 
soil contains, stone s and gravel, principally siliceous, 27.0; vegetable 
fibres, 1.0; soluble matters, chiefly vegetable extract, 3.0; carbonates 
of lime and magnesia, 18.0; oxide of iron, 4.0; animal and vege- 
table matters, 1.0; alumina, 4.5; silica, 40.0; loss, 1.0. 

Lucerne (J. M., Uwi/m).— ThaLks for the extracts, we will use 
them the first opportunity. 

Names of Plants.— .4 Cottage Subscriber writes thus;— "I con- 
stantly hear it as a matter of complaint, especially among ladies, 
that gardeners will continue to use ' those nasty Latin names.' What, 
then, must be the diflSculty of the cottar, of children, and even that 
of 999 out of every 1000 otherwibe ignorant but practical gardeners?" 
We quite agree with our correspondent, and we can only Gay that we 
recommend no one to buy a plant or a packet of seed on which the 
English as well as Botanical names are not written. It would give 
but little additional trouble to the seedsman, and is useful as well as 
(air to the purchaser. We knew a party last year who bought a 
packet of seed marked "Ibebis," and who was astonished as well 
as vexed lo find that it came up "Candy-tuft," of which the firat Is 
the botanical name. 

Phenomena of the Season CRev. E. J. Howman and Rev. J. 
Byron).~-We are much obliged by your notices of occurrences 
among our native flowers and animals. They shall be published 
next week, and we shall be glad to receive similar notices from any 
correspondent. , „^ , «.,... 

Fuchsia Maoraktha (R. G, B.).-The price of this In some 
nurserymen's catalogues is Is. 6d., in others 2s. Od, 

Estimate for Building a Pit, &c., (^non).— We find we can- 
not give this so as to be tf any service. If you will show our draw- 
ing of "Fortune's Pit" to any builder, he will tell you for how 
much he will convert your present pit to that form. '• Hand-glass 
culture," until May arrives, ie nothing more than gheltering plants 



812 



THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 



witli hand-glasftes ; and without fermeDtin^ materials, hot-water, or 
a fire, we can no more tell you liow ta keep up "a gentle lieat," 
than Gulliver*s pliilosoplier could exiract sun-bennis from cucum- 
bers. We never name more variHtios tiian are good, and it is easy 
for our readers to select Ihence such as they need. 

Wall Supvohtisc; a Bank iAffotrnfiit). ~ It is true that the 
earth behind your wall will keep it damp, but if you use as you 
propose a trellis to traiu your fruit-trees upon, wo do not thiuk that 
the dampness will injure them, especially as your wall has a godd 
(south) aspect. Residing, as you do, in Devonshire, any poach, nec- 
tarine, or apricol, will thrive aeainst your wall. 

CoNCRETK Tanks (i6*(/).— Small fp&gmonts and dust of your 
" clay-slate " and " killas" will probjbly answer for mukinj con- 
cretp as well as gravel. Try a liitlp first. Make it into a block, aud 
you will see in a few days whether it sets or hardens. 

Watering CALfEOLAitiA SRjcDLiNrjs (T. Thorpe). — Having 
made a gutter by ju'e-^sing down the earth round the rim of your 
pots, and filling this gutter with water, is a very good mode of kt-ep- 
int; the surface moist. But the best mode is to put each pot within 
another about two inches wider, tilling with moss the space between 
the two pot«, and watering the mo33. See p. 213. 

Common Ulackberbv {R, C.).-—l( this is cuUivaied like the 
raspberry its fruit is much increased in size, and we know of no 
reason for its being neglected. Both are natives of I'ncland, and 
both belong to the same genus. The blackberry might he improved, 
probably, by cross impregnation from the raspberry. As it is tli*?re 
are four varieties of the blackberry; the white-fruited, the thornless, 
the downy leaved, and the gland-heariiig. 

New VARigTi" OP ItmiiVRB (./. Uilfi/, Birkfti/, Hnihlersfteld).— 
This is small but excellently tliiroured ; lUe colour it imparts to Ihe 
syrup of puddings is a more brilliant crimson than any we have seen 
from other varieties. Mr. Riley, writing early in March, says, " It 
is the earliest sort my garden produces. With merely the protection 
of a pot, without manure or anything to force it, we have bei u cut- 
tine it for a montii past." Rhubarb without forcing in the first week 
of February, and in Yorkshire too, is certainly valuable. We should 
like to have a plant of it. 

PooLTRV-FFEDiNG (Eleufwr). — A busliel of barley ought to sup- 
ply your nine fowls for a month. 

Influence of the Moon {O. B.).— On this curious subject we 
shall make simo observations before Ion?. Your mode of removing 
the Green Fly from pots in rooms shall be inserted. 

House Sewage (Itei*. T. G. Shnco.r). — Do not apply thig to your 
potatoes planted upon a newly broken-up pasture. All authorities 
agree that they are injured by stimulating manures; or, in other 
words, that these exasjierate the disease by which of late years they 
have been rava^etl. Your stable and pig stye drainage can h\i 
applied with the most advantage between the rows of your spinacli, 
celery, asparagus, and rhubarb. One gallon to live or six of water 
will be strong enough. 



CALENDAR FOR APRIL. 

GREEXIIOUSE. 

Admit atr daily on fine days, but puard against cold draught?.— 
Camellias, water freely, ami sow seeds of. — Earth in Pots, stir 
the surface freiiuently, and add IVesh, if not done in March.— Green 
FLV.or Amis, usually attack young growths, and must be kept down 
by tobacco smoke. — HAuniEST Plants, keep in the coldest parts of 
the house, near the ventilators.— Head-down or phuxe straggling 
shoots and irregular growths.— Heat, increase (he nalund heat, by 
closing the house early in the afternoon.— lNARCU woody plants 
for increase.— Leaves and wood decayed, remove as they apj-ear, 
and clean with sponge and syringe.— Liquid Manure apply to 
plants in free growth, but not to sickly plants.— Pot planls as they 
begin growth, and water them immediately. — Propagate by sped- 
roois, cuttings, and inarching, as the species permit.— Prune or 
PINCH OFF free growths, to form bushy plants.— Succulent plants, 
water now more freely, and increase by cutlingTt. and leaves.— Water 
regularly as the plants get dry. J). Beaton. 

FLOWER GARDEN. 
Annuals (Tender), prick out those sown in February and March 
in a hotbed; water gently but often; sow in hotbeil ; (Hardy) may 
be sown in borders, ice, to remain; thin those advancing. Auri- 
culas in bloom, shelter. (See Hyacinths), f^upply with water 
often; those for st'ed, plunge pots in a sheltered border, where they 
can have sun until It o'clock; plant ot^'sets; propagate by slips; 
seedlings shade during mid-day. Auriculas done flowering, place 
out of doors, and separate otiVts. Box edgings may be mate and 
old taken up, slipped, and replanted; clip box edgings. Biennials, 
linish sowing, h.; plant out those sown Ust suriug. Bulbs, in 
water glasses, done flowering, plant in ground after culling down 
stalks, but not leaves; autumn Ilowering. take up and store. Cab- 
nations, in pots, give liquid nimure every third time, v«ry weak, 
and water often; stir the earth; sow e. ; plant into borders, b. 
Climbing plants, train and regulate. Layer Rhododendrons and 
hardy Azaleas. Dahlias, plant to remain, b.; or in pots to 
forward in a frame until May. Dkess the borders, Jcc, indL- 
fatiKably. Kvergreens, plant, h. The Evergreen Oak rarely 
Rucceeds at any other time. Frames, raise, by supporters at 
the bottom, as the plants witliin grow t^iil. Ora'ss, mow once a 
week, and roll oftener; trim edges; dress with earth if poor; and 
sow seeds, especially white Clover Gravel, turn and lay afresh 
in dry weather; roil in rainy weather often. Hoeing and Baking 
are still the standard ofierations. Hyacinths, shelter (rom sun by 
an awning or matting over the beds, from nine to four; give the 
same shelter in bad weather day and night; those done flowering 



take up as soon as .the leav^^s decay ; separate oflTiets ana store. 
Insects, destroy with tobacco smoke or dusting of Scotch sniift'. 
MifiNONETTR, SOW lu any warm border. Mulch, pvit round trees 
newly planted. Pinks;, sow. Polyanthuses, sow; plant out and 
propagate by offsets, b. ; last year's seedlings now in bloom, mark 
best for propagating. Potted Plants, give fresh earth to, if not 
done last month; shift into larger; water freely. Pbrbnnials, - 
those sown last spring may still be planted, and propagated by 
ofi'iets ; finish sowing. Stic_;k3 are required to blooming plants. 
TuLivs, shelter from sun and wet ; take oft' pods to strengthen bulbs. 
Watering is now required more Irequently, yet moderately; give it 
early in the morning. Ranunculuses, water freely, and press the 
earth very hard between the rows. Roses, thin buds where very 
abundant; watch for grubs in the buds and crush them. Tobacco 
water use to destroy the aphides by dipping the shoots ir> it where 
the insects are. T, Appleby. 

ORCHARD. 

Ar-PLES may be planted although full late.— Blossoms of wall 
fruit, protect. — Budded (Trees), last summer, remove inso-" from 
buds and shoots from stock below, also head back the stocks. — 
Cherries may be planted.— Pisnuw wail trees and trained espaliers 
of superfluous buds, in a progressive way —Forcing fruits, in hot- 
house, at'end to, on similar principles, — Grafting (late kinds of 
Apples, Pear,', and Plums) may be done still, b.— Grafts, lately 
inserted, see that th? clay is fi rm, and rub off shoots below the scion. 
Heading-down Wall and Espalier trees, finish, b., if not done last 
month. Insects, search for and destroy. LniE (early in the morn- 
ing), dust over the leaves of tht- trees affected by Caterpillars. Mulch 
over the roots of newly-planled trees to keep in moisture. Peaches 
may be planted, but they rarely succeed. Pears may ba planted. 
I'LANTiNO in general may yet be tried to prevent a season being lost, 
muih care must be taken. Plum^^ may be planted. Propagating 
by layers, cuttings, suckers, and seed, fini-h, b. Pruning, finish, 
h. ; stop young shoots if too luxuriant. Stake trees newly-planted. 
Strawberries, remove runners from, as they appear, and top dress, 
water daily in dry weather those in bloom. Vines, propagate by 
layers and cuttlngi:, b. ; summer dress; in Vineyard stake and hoe 
frequently ; old borders manure. Wall- fruit, thin generally. 
Wasp, destroy ; every one now killed jirevcnts a nest. Water abund- 
antly fresh planted trees, 

FiG-TCEEs may have their winter covering partially removed at tho 
beginning of this month, and entirely by the commencement of May ; 
and they may then be pruned and trained. Newly-Ga \fted trees are 
bent filed by being sjirinkled by the water engine during dry weather. 

Watch for the Caterpillar on ilie gooseberry bushes. Observe tho 
dircclions about Peaches in "The Cottage Gardener," and use the 
sulphur mixture; also the tobacco water when the trees are fairly done 
blossoming. Watch the development of the American rlight and 
use the brush. Apply soft-soap water to Ihe stems of Pear treks 
infested with the scale. Top dress Raspberries, also all bush 
FRUIT, if requisite. Remove all Suckers from tilberts; also from 
all bush fruit, wall trees, espaliers, &c. L^t all Fruit borders be 
dressed and clged as a finish to the garden, taking care to make 
sound walks. R. Erhinoton. 

KITCHEN GARDEN. 

Alexanders, sow, Angelica, sow. Artichokes, plant, b. or 
dress. Asparagus, sow; plant; force, and dress beds. Baltic, 
plant. Basil, sow. Brans, sow, hoe. Beets (three sorts), sow, 
b. Borecole, sow; prick out; leave for seed. Brocoli, sow 
main crop; prick out; leave for sceJ. Borage, sow. Bubnets, 
sow and plant. Cabbages, sow; pick out; p'autout; earthup. Cap- 
sicum, sow. Cardoons, sow. Carkaw'av, sow. CauroT'^, sow; 
weed. Cauliflowers, sow in open ground, b.; priekont; plant 
from glasses. Celery, sow; earth up; leave for seed. Chamo- 
mile, plant. CniVEs, plant. Chervil, sow; leave for seed. 
CoLEwoRfs, plant. Cl.\ry, sow. Cress (American), sow. Cu- 
cumbers, suw ; prick out; ridge out; attend advancing crops; thin 
laterals. Dill, sow. Dung, for hotbeds, prepare. E\rthinc-up, 
attend to. Fennel, sow or plant. Finochio, sow. Garlic, 
plant, b. Horse-radish, plant, h. Hotbeds, make and attend. 
Hyssop, sow; plant. Jerusale:u .Artuiiofces, plant, b. Kale 
(Sea), sow and plant, b.; dress beds. Kidney Beans (dwarts), 
sow; (rimners), sow, e. L.vvender, plant. Leeks, sow, b. e. ; 
leave for seed. Lettuces, sow weekly; plant from frames, but 
they now do belter without movinj;; prick out; tie up. BIarigolds, 
sow. Mar.torams, sow and plant. Melons, sow; prick out; 
riilge out; attend to advancing; thin literals gradually; day temp. 
SO^, night 70°. Mustard aud Cress, soiv; leave for seed. Musii 
BOOM Beds, make; attend to. Mint, plant. Nasturtiums, 
sow. Onions, sow, b. e.; weed; leave for seed ; (Hamburgh), sow. 
Parsnips, sow, h.; hand weeil. Peas, sow; hoe; stick. Penny- 
royal, plant. PoMFioNs.sow, b. Pot.atoes, plant; attend foreine. 
Purslane, sow. Radishes, sow; thin. Rape, sow. Rhubarb, 
plant. Rocambole, plant. Roe, plant. Sai.safy and Savory, 
sow, e. Savoys, sow, b; prick out. Scohzonera and Skirrbts, 
sow, e. Shallots and Sage, plant, b. Sorrels, sow and plant. 
Spinach, sow; thin; leave for seed. Tansy fud Tarkagon, 
plant. Thyme, sow and plant. Tomatos, sow. Turnips, sow, 
b. c. ; leave for seed. Turnip Cabbage, sow. Wormwoods, 
sow. G. W. J.. 



LoKnoN : Printed by Harrt Wooldridge, U7, Strand, in the 
Parivji of Saint Mary-Ie-Strand ; and Winchester Hiph-street, in 
the parish of St. Mary Kahndar; and Puhlishud by Wtu-Iam 
SOMEKVii.LK Orh, at the Ofilce, H7, Strand, in ihe Parish of 
Saiut Mary-le-Strand, London.- March Sdth, 134U. 




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