AprU 11, 1867. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



267 



Outside Border of Vinkry (An Amateur).— Arrange the flowers you 

 mention in your border thus, beginning at the back— Perilla niinkinensis, 

 Aurea floribunda Ciilceolriria, Totn Tliumb Pelargonium, Variegfited 

 Alyssum, and Lobelia Paxtoni, a row of cacu. We do not advise you to 

 plant the border, but you say you '* have made up your miud" to do so. 



Grass on Mortar KuBBisn [Bio r tar). —The heap of old mortar rub- 

 bish 2 feet deep will not grow pra9S unless you cover it with soil, for 

 which purpose roa-d scrapings will answer. 



Turning Gravel of Carriage Drive ( ).— The best plan is to 



make an opeuinc at one end down to the rouph or foundation gravel, if 

 any, and, after picking up the di-ive, pinco the top at bottom. All the 

 weeds are thus placed at tho bottom and they must perish, but when the 

 gravel is sifted it is clear that some of the formt-r surface must be near 

 the top, and that tho liability to weeds is increased. The softness of tho 

 part done before the snow is easily accounted for by the wet having cone 

 down amonfT the firavel before the latter had become firm from rolling. 

 It will bo all right after the high x>laces have been picked up and put in 

 the hollows, and well rolled. 



Wallflowers, Carnatioxs, and Pinks Destroyed (Jrfcm).— Your loss 

 is mainly to be attributed to the taldng up of the plants at so late a sea- 

 son, and exposing the roots to the atmosphere. It would have been 

 better done in the end of March or early in April; but old plantsare at any 

 time difficult to move. No doubt the severe weather, combined with the 

 moving, is the cause of death. Oui-fl are not in the least injured, except 

 the Wallflowers. 



Viola cornuta (Idem).— It is more a Violet than a Pansy; both are 

 Violets botanicaUy. Viola comuta makes a good small bed, but is best 

 as an edging. 



Oleanders not Flowering (W, M. 5.).— Tho most probable cause of 

 their not flowering is a deficiency of heat. If you were to place them in 

 a vinery at work we think they would expand the buds. You cannot 

 afford them too light a situation, and if you give them that and abun- 



dance ef water when expanding their flowers and making new ^rowthg, 

 there is no fear of their not blooming. They should be kept dry in 

 winter, but not so much so as to alVect the foliage. The pots may be set 

 in water when the plants are growing vigorously. 



Azaleas from Grafts or Cuttings {Tnqiurcr].—lt is incorrect to say 

 a fine Azalea plant cannot be obtained from a cutting. We have had 

 many, and, in fact, mtist of the plants exhibited are from cuttings. The 

 only'advantage in grafting is, that a plant is obtained sooner, and is oi 

 freer growth. 



Estimate of Coal (Waste Kot, Want J.'^nO-— We do not perceive any 

 mistake, only it now occurs to us that we did not take the cinders into 

 account, which, from what you say now. would be almost sufficient for 

 the heating of your glass structures. The amount of coal we named 

 was that which we knew to he consumed in a similar establishment. 



Mistletoe (C/(nr?«''0-— We think it would grow in almost any part of 

 Ireland. It will grow on the Crab, Apple, Thorn, Lime, Poplar, and Oak, 

 and is occasionally found on the Pear. It is seldom that Violets come 

 double from seed, but they do occasionally. 



Names of Plants {South Croydon).— The Salvia is probably fulgenF, 

 but the corolla alone is insufficient to distinguish it from some others. 

 The Cytlsus with a terminal raceme of flowers is C. stenopetalus; the 

 other C. canariensis. Genista differs from Cytisns in usually having 

 1-foliolatG leaves, and in the calyx. Coronilla difi"er3 from both in the 

 jointed pod and one free stamen ; in Genista and Cytisns the stamens are 

 all united into a tube. (ircihri.s/trr, 3/. if ).— 1, t^enebieradidyma ; 2. Salsola 

 Kali. {B. P. J.).— 1, Eriostemon hispidulum ; 2, E. intermedium. (iJ. 0. T.). 

 —Begonia natalensis. {Sevenoaks}.—We cannot venture to name yonr 

 plant from the leaves only, as there are several with similar ones. (JJ. F.). 

 — Eurchellia capensis. iA itubscjibfr).— Petunia nyctaginiflcra; 1, Erica 

 propendens; 2, Erica, (IF.).— Justicia carnea. [J. W. BurLidge),—lt is 

 Vanda tricolor. The drawing is faithful, and with a little instruction 

 you would draw flowers successfully. Of the communication we have no 

 recollection. We never notice the rejected. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week ending April itth. 



POULTRY. BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHEONIOLE. 



BREEDING DARK BEAHMA POOTRAS. 



The letters of "Nemo " on this subject have been most in- 

 teresting, and I desire to thank him for them. I have so 

 often, perhaps too often, intruded my ideas in your columns on 

 my favourite breed, that I fear I may be trespassing on space, 

 but as every editor has a refuge for the slighted contribution, 

 I must only say, if so, consign me " to that bourne from which 

 no " manuscript " returns." 



Mr. Fowler is as old an exhibitor of Brahmas as I am, 

 perhaps a year or two older. I cannot exactly see why he 

 thinks I should disagree with his notion of a good Brahma. I 

 have always striven to make colour less essential than some 

 appear disposed to make it ; yet if I have a preference, it is 

 certainly for the silver-grey ground in the hen, and I have no 

 objection to a whitish throat, though I prefer the breast well 

 pencilled. As to the cocks, we are perfectly agreed. I greatly 

 prefer the spotted breast. I dislike exceedingly the bronzing 

 of the wing, so frequently seen, and although I should prefer 

 the thighs black, yet I should not discard a cock that had some 

 white there, if otherwise good. 



I believe that this grey colour in the hens is far less likely 

 to pass into the reddish brown with pge, than is the darker 

 colour now more sought after. I think I may say, therefore, 

 that as regards colour Mr. Fowler and 1 should be quite agreed. 



The best colour, the most brilliant pencilling, the neatest 

 combs, cannot, in my humble opinion, make amends for 

 failure in other points. "Nejio" has remarked that the dis- 

 tinctive points are the pea comb and the feathered leg. I re- 

 collect the early days of Brahmas, so of course does Miss E. 

 Watts, as her's were amongst the earliest birds ; her's were al- 

 ways pea-combed ; but many others, and notably Dr. Gwynne, 

 of Sandbach, preferred and retained the single comb. Mr. 

 Sheehan again had the single comb in his yards, and a 

 cockerel I purchased of M. Garbanati, which came from that 

 strain, had a single comb — nay there was a judge, possibly 



dead now, as I never see his name, who would not look at the 

 pea comb, and who passed over two pens of my own at the 

 Hereford Show simply because they were pea-combed. 



The pea comb or triple comb, now considered a necessary 

 adjunct to Brahmas, is not, however, peculiar to them. One 

 of the neatest I ever saw belonged to a mongrel, and often as 

 in my rides I saw this bird I coveted the comb for transplan- 

 tation. I think, however, before I had ever seen the pea 

 comb on a Brahma, I had seen it on a cross between the 

 Spanish and Cochin. It does seem very strange that the cross 

 between two single-combed breeds should produce the pea 

 comb, but in a sitting of these cross-bred eggs that I hatched 

 before I kept Brahmas, seven or eight chickens had good pea 

 combs. My memory also seems to say that in the old " Poultry 

 Chronicle " some correspondent had also noticed this ; he went 

 further, thinking in those early days to settle the Brahmas for 

 ever, he suggested that their pea comb was derived from some 

 cross. I have also seen capital pea combs on otherwise good 

 Malay birds. 



I may sum up my own ideas about the combs thus — I lite 

 them small, firm, free from twist, and the grain of the skin 

 fine, but I do not think the points of tho comb nearly so es- 

 sential as the leg. 



Before the introduction of the Cochin and Brahma no large 

 breed of fowls having feathered legs and covered hocks was 

 known. These two points distinguished them from all others. 

 I am not so certain that the feathered middle toe is not a 

 later addition, but it is welcome ; from the hock downward to 

 the foot, the feathering cannot be too profuse and ought to be 

 heavy, especially just below the hock. Again the thigh must 

 be fluffy, and these soft fluffy feathers ought to curl round and 

 hide the joint from view when looked at posteriorly. I am 

 not going to enter on the -vulture-hock question. I have been 

 taken in your pages as an advocate of the extreme hock — this 

 is quite a mistake. If the feathers are soft, and curling round 

 the joint, I should not object to an inch projection, but the 

 essential point is the joint must be covered. No Brahma can 

 be true that has this naked, and I would myself disquaUfy a 

 bird, however good, if it failed in this essential. This fault 



