34 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 14, 1870. 



to gTOw upright, but you may make those which are stunted grow more 

 freely by cutting off the strongest of the side branches, thus throwing 

 the main support into the upright- growing ghoots. This should be done 

 in winter when the trees are leafless, and if persisted in a few years will 

 give you a greater height of tree, and, of course, length of stem. 



Grapes Spotted (A. M. Callum). — The "black spot that appears on the 

 side of the berries and canses an indentation," is the spot. It is mostly 

 attributable to a deficiency of foliage, and neglecting to give a proper 

 amount of air, also by the roots being in a cold wet border. There is 

 little doubt of the scorched appearance of the foliage, which is arrested 

 by sulphur, arisicg from mildew, but we cannot say conclusively without 

 seeing a specimen. It is most likely the small white insect of the same 

 size and appearance as thrips, but in a yonng state. The white or young 

 thrips do net jump about, but the mature insect does so freely. It may 

 be you have the white aphis, which is the most difficult of all to ex- 

 terminate. Thrips varies considerably on different subjects. 



YrxE Leaves— Aerial Roots (W. T.).— Do not remove the leaves; they 

 are absolutely necessary to secure size, colour, and flavour to the Grapes. 

 Aerial roots are not injurious to the Tines, but are evidence that they are 

 vigorous. The roots may be removed and will not appear again so soon, 

 as you can have the air of the vinery drier when the Grapes are ripening. 



Opening Gardens to the Pttrlic (J. Wise). — You are altogether wrong, 

 and your letter must not be published. 



Planttxs Stbawbebrtes (J. Walker). — Tour old pasture trenched 

 2 feet deep, and a liberal quantity of manure worked in, ought to grow 

 Strawberries well. Being a very strong clay, the addition of road scrap- 

 ings will be beneficial. Five varieties for succession — Sir Joseph Paxton, 

 Keens' Seedling, Rivers's Eliza, Dr. Hogg, and Frogmore Late Pine. 



Mushrooms Decaying and Haggottv (F. K. Betchicorth).—V?e could 

 make nothing of the Mushroom sent, as it was altogether rotten — top and 

 stalk. As you say that the small ones are the same when they appear 

 through the ground, we come to one of two conclusions: either the 

 surface soil is too light for summer, or the place where the Mushrooms 

 grow is too hot for them. We used to have some trouble with Mash- 

 rooms in July and August when we depended upon a lean-to house facin: 



no sale exist?, either it has been given up because it was 

 seldom any poultry was to be had, and more frequently still, 

 because when bought the chickens (?) were so hard they were 

 uneatable. The first reason is unavoidable, because at some 

 seasons of the year there is little spare poultry, but the second 

 is the result of such false calculation and management that it 

 savours of folly. It was pardonable only in the days when the 

 cost of carriage by stage coach was so great that it did not pay 

 to send a couple or two of chickens, and the time consumed in 

 the journey made the waggon more than useless, and whew 

 there were no men who made it a business to-collect fowls, or 

 where a sale could be had for one or two couples weekly and 

 no more. They were then killed as they were wanted, and if 

 the stock was large, by ihe time the last were sent to market 

 they had attained an hi- that rather fitted them for continuing 

 their breed than for -applying food in their own persons, 

 afferent. In almost every village in 

 vay station, there is a man who makes 

 •A poultry of all kinds, eggs, butter, &c. t 

 to send either to some county capital or to the metropolis. He 

 will buy the surplus stock, and, mind, it is more valuable to 

 him and more profitable to you if it is young. 



But we may be met with the answer, " We do not live near a 

 town. There is no man who collects. "We have no means of 

 selling. We will not be bothered with fattening in any shape. 

 We do not know what to do with them. Drat the fowls, we 

 wish we had never seen them." He has a bad counsellor who 

 listens to his anger, and many a possessor of good birds has 



Now, however, it 

 England, if near a r 

 it his business to coll 



the north. With all our care they would be maggotty there and poor at j had his momentary fit taken advantage of, and has sold for a 



times. This led us to growing them in summer in an open shed — that is, 

 with a wall to the east, open to the west, and a thatched roof, and shaded 

 by trees. Singularly enongh we did not commence so soon as usaal this 

 year in the shed, and though we suffered a little from ricketty platforms 

 that gave way in the house referred to, the last piece in the house has 

 yielded fine Mushrooms up to the present time, notwithstanding the 

 heat, and is doing so still. Our last piecs in the open shed of last year, i 

 some 15 inches deep, has also borne profusely. After being dry and pretty i 

 well exposed from November last year, we thought it too good to be | 

 dug out in the beginning of April. We gave it a good manure watering, 

 and covered it with litter, and nobly has the bed rewarded us. We think 

 most failures are owing to mistaken kindness. In a house, at this season 

 we should damp walls, paths, &c., to promote coolness. In a shed, or in t 

 the open air, we should cover, and do cover, for the sime purpose — to | 

 keep the beds cool. The best Mnshrooms are produced at a temperature I 

 rather under than above 60° ; hence sheds, cellars, and cool places are 

 better than common houses in summer. After all, Mushrooms are often 

 a fickle crop. For many years we have not known what it is to have a ; 

 failure, and yet it is possible we may soon have an unproductive bed, j 

 and scarcely be able to assign the reason why. We have entered into 

 details several times, telling how to vary the treatment according to > 

 the material. As to the material, we are not at all particular, provided 

 we can get a few horse droppings for the purpose. If you told us exactly j 

 how you managed your bed, we might be able to find out where the error j 

 is. Meanwhile, we attribute the ''going off" to too close and too warm 

 an atmosphere. 



Aetillebt Pt,axt { J. E. B.). — The botanical name is Pilea muscosa \ 

 Formerly it was called Urtica microphylla, but never Thelygonum 

 cynocrambe, which is quite a different plant, though belonging to the 

 same natural order. 



Weeks t s One-boiler System (Clericu-s). — The best example we know is 

 at Manley Hall, near Manchester. If you write to Messrs. Weeks, King's 

 Road, Chelsea, they would send you a drawing of what they have done at 

 Manley Hall. There are three boilers, arrd these heat houses of all kinds 

 requiring 14,447 feet of piping. 



Potatoes Onion -flavoured (Cornwall). — The flavour could not arise 

 from the sets being stored with Onions, nor from being grown in a soil 

 where Onions were the preceding crop. The saucepan or the water, or 

 some contact after boiling, we think, must originate the disagreeable 

 flavour. 



Earwigs 'A. S. L. M.). — We do not know of any better traps than pot3 

 stuffed with moss. They may he poisoned, but care must be taken to 

 keep the baits from other animals. Equal proportions of honey and 

 arsenic will destroy all that partake of it. 



Blight [Aphis). — When the composition is ready for the public and 

 advertised, will be the fairest time to publish testimonials in its favour. 



Glowworms (Poplar'. — The glowworm is the fully developed, although 

 wingless, female of a species of beetle of which the male is winged. 

 Insects when arrived at tie fully-developed state only live till they have 

 paired, and the females deposited their eggs. Hence the chances are 

 very slight that you could keep glowworms on a lawn for more than a 

 short time, certainly not during the winter. They feed both in the larva 

 and full-grown state upon snails and other soft-bodied creatures- — I. O.W. 

 Insects (G. J.}. — There was not any leaf in your letter when it reached 

 ns. Send again. (W. B. B.).-~ The insect injuring your Vines is Cnrculio 

 picipes, the clay-coloured weevil. The only remedy is to go at night with 

 a light, hold a sieve beneath each branch with one hand, and shake the 

 branch gently with the other hand; the weevils that may be on the 

 branch immediately drop. 



trifle a lot of birds that in cooler moments he would, but for 

 shame's sake, have bought back at a large increase. These 

 fits of anger with the birds are generally caused by an un- 

 usually heavy bill for food, or a demand for an increased 

 quantity, or a complaint of the damage they do in the garden, 

 or a fit of the " blues." 



Now, it is undeniably true that the fewer fowls you have on 

 the ground the better they will thrive. The best will make a 

 good return for all your food and painstaking, the faulty can 

 make no other return than to appear on your table, and that is 

 where all this verbiage is to lead us. It is in every way a 

 saving to kill them young, and we will admit they are too small 

 either to roast or boil — as cook says, " Lor, there aint nothin 

 on *em, what will they be when they're roasted?" True, good 

 cook ; but if you had been a Susses woman you would have said, 

 " Two of them would make a beautiful pudding." 



Say you have some chickens so faulty that there is no hope 

 of their getting right, so ugly they will never be pretty, so 

 crooked they will never be straight. You have so many you 

 look on them every day with an evil eye ; and when your man 

 tells you the fps visited Dame Partlett's brood last night, you 

 say in your bitterness you wish he would visit yours. Take 

 some, according to the size of the pudding you require, of the 

 least promising or most offending of your chickens, put them 

 away to fast during six or seven hours, kill them, have them 

 picked quite clean, hang them in a cool larder for a day and 

 night, and then proceed to cut them up, but do it properly. 

 We have heard the cut of a coat criticised by its being said it 

 looked as though it was chopped out with a spade, and we have 

 seen chickens cut up as though the operation had been per- 

 formed with a hatchet. First take out the crop, then take out 

 all the inside ; cut off the feet, and put them in nearly boiling 

 wa ter — all the skin will then easily peel c£E ; put them, the neck, 

 the gizzard (baving first taken out the inside), the liver, and 

 heart, in a small quantity of water, and let them boil for gravy. 

 Put the chicken on a table on its back with the crop towards 

 you ; take a sharp knife, and cut from the point of the breast- 

 bone to the wing, being careful to keep the edge of the knife 

 against the bone all the time, that no meat may remain on the 

 carcase ; raise the meat that is divided, and remove it wherever 

 it adheres to the bone. This gives you a delicious wing. One 

 of these will come from each side of the breastbone, and will 

 leave it denuded of meat. These are the two choicest pieces. 

 Next remove the two legs and divide each at the \ >int, making 

 thigh and drumstick of each ; then the wings, cut them oflf, 

 and divide at the principal joint. You will then have a small 

 merrythought and two small side bones. Lay the carcase on 

 its side, and chop it in half lengthwise. If you have followed 

 our instructions closely there will be little or nothing left on 

 the breastbone ; nevertheless, put it in the saucepan that is 

 RATIONAL POULTRY-KEEPING.— No. 5. already turning water into gravy. Then divide the backbone 



There are few places that are not within reach of a market | just below the oyster-pieces, and flatten tbem with a good blow 

 town, and in all markets there U a s^le for poultry. "Where I of the flat side of the chopper. 



POTJLTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



