20 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[October 10. 
grown. What makes the frost in this case more remarkable 
is that many of the gooseberries, though of a size almost fit 
for the first picking, and consequently much more sheltered 
by their own foliage, yet suffered by it; in some cases the 
shoulder or upper portion of the berry turning a rusty brown 
in most of the exposed fruit, nevertheless, the crop on the 
whole was a good one. Apples were more fortunate than 
cherries, being a few days behind them, they escaped the 
worst frosts; but some of those murky changes in the atmo¬ 
sphere, which old people call “blights,” or some other cause, 
has reduced the abundant crop of blossom into only an 
average, or rather below an average crop of fruit, which, as 
in most other seasons, is also variable in places and in kinds I 
too. But as apples are an important fruit crop, I will, with 
your leave, make their peculiarities the subject of a separate | 
article ; at the same time, I confess it appears a difficult task j 
to explain what is often called a “ blight,” but I have no ! 
reason to doubt the opinion of those whose life and interest [ 
have been connected with the hardy fruit trade, and yet some ' 
fashionable gardener will, I dare say, smile at trees being 
pointed out to him which bear only alternate seasons, and 
others only if in a certain position. All this is more to be 
admired than despised, as science, with all its pretensions, 
has quite as often followed in the wake as pointed out the 
way. But I am straying from my subject, the object of which 
was to disabuse the public mind of the idea that fruit and other 
crops, though, perhaps, not suffering so much from adverse i 
springs in the south of England as the north, are not en- [ 
tirely free from such misfortunes; but taking all in all, there 
is no question but that the trees here, having abetter chance 
to mature their embryo buds the preceding year, are in a 
better condition to resist the changes I have above alluded 
to. In conclusion, allow me to say that tender wall fruits 
have been quite an average crop, gooseberries aud currants 
a heavy crop, plums generally good, apples variable, filberts j 
good, cherries next to none, and pears only good in places. I 
Perhaps some of your readers will record what phenomenon I 
connected with the weather and the crops occurred under 
their notice in different parts of the kingdom, in order that 
we may exchange notes.—L. M. N. 
EXTRACTS EROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
Guinea Fowls. —For the information of “ A Subscriber 
from No. 1,” I beg to state that “ Guinea fowls” are I 
occasionally brought to this market (York) by the farmers’ i 
wives and daughters, with the common poultry, and sold at ; 
4s, 4s Od, to 5s per pair. I have bought them in the market ; 
at both 4s and 4s Od the couple. The Guinea birds’ eggs 
are brought very regularly to market here ; and as they are 
generally preferred at table to the common barn-door fowl’s ! 
eggs, they fetch a rather better price, say from 16 to ly for 
a shilling, whilst the others sell at 20 to 22 for a shilling. 
Should your correspondent have had no experience in ; 
Guinea fowls, it may be as well to inform him that they j 
often stray and lay their eggs some distance from home, as : 
they are particularly partial to grass, and consequently 
prefer the open fields. A safer mode of attaching them to 
home (than buying the full-grown birds) is to set the 
common domestic hen with Guinea fowls' eggs ; and so long 
as she can exercise control over the young ones she keeps 
them within bounds.— Another Subscriber from No. 1. 
Celery. —You encourage us to acquaint you with our ex¬ 
perience, however limited, in garden matters. I therefore 
write to say, that I am this year growing Null’s Champion 
Celery, on Mr. Turner’s plan (see vol. i., p. 130), and would 
add my humble testimony to his concerning the horizontal { 
growth of the roots of celery plants. Before earthing-up I 
could not stir, even slightly with my finger, the surface-soil, 
without coming in contact with numbers of little roots 
growing perfectly horizontally, almost along the top of the 
soil; also, upon pulling up one or two plants that had run, 
their roots had scarcely gone tw r o inches downwards, all 
straight to the right and left. Now this week, upon cutting 
away the sides of the trenches for earthing, the roots pro¬ 
trude in great numbers beyond the original width,—one 
strong long fellow that I measured reaching exactly two feet 
from the plant. For the future I think of increasing Mr. 
Turner’s width of trench, and for the convenience of watering, | 
suffering (with deference to him) the level on which the 
plants are set to be somewhat below the surface-level around. 
I have added manure on both sides of the original trenches, 
aud have no doubt that the roots will soon be quite through 
it.—C lericus, Bees. 
Remedy for Bee Stings. —I beg to give for the use of 
the readers of The Cottage Gardener the following remedy 
for bee stings, and stings of all kinds, which I have found 
most effectual not only on myself but also on others. But 
this, as every other remedy, must depend on the person 
stung; for I am convinced that there is no one remedy 
which will cure stings in everybody, for where tobacco will 
cure in one instance, I have known it ineffectual in another. 
Sweet oil I have also seen used with beneficial results on one 
person, while on another who has tried it it has had not the 
least effect; but I think the following is the most effectual 
of any. It was given to me by a poor person, and I give it 
as I received it:—Spirits of wine, oil of spike, opodeldoc, 
camphor, sweet spirits of nitre—one pennyworth of each. 
The embrocation to be well shaken before Using.—W. H. W. 
Gladiolus Gandavensis. — To all unacquainted with 
gladioluses, I would by all means advise them, if they want 
a cheap and good one—one that will ensure satisfaction 
instead of disappointment—to purchase G. Gandavensis. I 
had one bulb planted at the end of February; it has thrown 
up two strong shoots ; they are four and a half feet high 
from the top of the pot, with twelve on one and fourteen 
flowers on the other, have been in bloom nearly a fortnight, 
and have a few more flowers to open, and are the admiration 
of every one. G. Cardinalis I shall not bloom ; they tell me 
it exceeds the other, but is difficult to bloom.—J. Trench. 
Hens Eating their Eggs. —Your able correspondent, 
Martin Doyle (whose papers upon poultry I enjoy to read, 
having kept some myself a few year's back),in his remarks 
(in July part, page 259) upon “fowls hatching,” mentions 
the loss of several eggs from under a hen when sitting, and 
is doubtful in what way they were got rid of. Now I am 
convinced in my own mind that some hens will eat the eggs, 
should they get broken, and not leave a particle of any thing 
to tell how they have gone. With one of my hens when 
sitting 1 lost, upon three occasions, some of the eggs ; but 
having two or three holes cut in the door of the fowl-house, 
with a centre-bit, that I might see all was right with the sit¬ 
ting-liens without opening the door, and thus disturbing 
them, I caught this hen just finishing the shell of an egg; 
and upon examining her nest I found two gone during the 
night, which had no doubt been broken when she turned 
the eggs; and had I not seen her at the moment, nothing 
would have been left to tell the tale, for the nest was per 
fectly dry. While writing the above I have had a visit from 
a country relative, to whom I was mentioning the circum¬ 
stance, and he quite confirms my opinion, and informed me 
in addition, that a hen of his had, upon hatching, destroyed 
several of her chickens before she could be prevented, and 
would have taken the lives of all had not her own been for¬ 
feited for her unmotherly propensity ; this I think is a more 
singular case than the other. I never yet knew any animal 
that would not protect their young to the very last—par¬ 
ticularly hens.— Westhourne Park Villas. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottuge Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster now, London.” 
Weak Vine (A Subscriber, Croydon ).—Your vine, a Black Hamboro’, 
was in your stable-yard against a nortii aspect for four years, and hud 
never borne fruit; and by cutting away from time to time all lateral 
shoots, excepting the two top ones, it had acquired a stem about five feet 
in length and measuring about an inch in circumference; clean and 
healthy looking. This was planted in your new greenhouse, and has pro¬ 
gressed very indifferently during the summer, not having made a shoot 
two inches in length. It threw out leaves, but not larger than would 
cover a penny-piece, which soon died off. It then leafed a second time, 
and with precisely the same result, and now looks very shabby. If you 
have, indeed, followed the directions given in The Cottage Gardener, 
as to border making for the vine, then the fault must lie in some colla¬ 
teral circumstances. You do not say whether your vine is planted inside 
