October 1T.J 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
41 
so troublesome that I purchased a tin pipe and fitted 
it to the register hole, and let the pipe pass through the end 
of the house; but I found this make the matter still 
worse; for being obliged to supply the stove with fuel 
inside the house (unless I disconnected the pipe and stove 
every time I fed it), the increase of dust was quite apparent. 
After all these difficulties surmounted, I am prepared now 
to commence another winter with the same machinery, only, 
in addition, I have fixed on my roof, very simply, a roller 
blind, to let up and down at half a minute’s notice, supported 
by bearers to keep it from the glass. I broke a great many 
panes last winter by using mats and such material as to 
keep out rain and cold, and keep all the heat produced in the 
interior of the house. My glass was of the common kind— 
panes about 7 in. by 5. I paid ljd the square foot> all cut to 
my size.—J. B. 
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 Cottage Gardener , 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster How, London." 
Back Numbers of Cottage Gardener (J. R. M.). —You can now 
have all the back numbers, at the original price, for they have been re¬ 
printed. 
Barren Kitchen-Garden (Z>. A. B .).—Your light soil which was 
so plentifully manured with coal ashes, may well be unproductive. In a 
dry summer it must have its crops burnt up. Give it a heavy dressing 
with clay marl as you propose. Night-soil is too stimulating on such a 
soil. Put on the marl now, then ridge the soil, and in the spring the 
whole will break down and incorporate well together. Stable manure 
half decomposed is best for such a soil. You will see from our answer 
above, that you can have all the back numbers of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener. By all means have them ; you will find them full of valuable in¬ 
formation, and excellent for reference. Your strawberry plants in your 
kitchen-garden should also have a dressing of marl. In May cover the 
ground among them with mulch. Thin your turnips to half the usual 
distance ; it is not probable that they will give you any bulbs, but a good 
crop of sprouts in the spring. Answers to other queries next week. 
Uniting Bees (IK. A. “ Can it be done when the two stocks 
are near together? [Yes.] I have two hives standing close together , one 
the parent hive—an old stock—and the other an immense swarm of this 
year’s from it. The parent hive is thin of bees, and the swarm could 
easily spare some. [. Partial driving would not answer. ] There is, un¬ 
fortunately, so much superstition among the cottagers about their bees in 
this neighbourhood, that nothing will induce them to sell their bees when 
they are going to burn them, or I should have tried ‘ The Country 
Curate’s ’ plan of forming a new stock with condemned bees. How could 
I best keep the sun off my bees in winter, as recommended by a writer in 
your last number, to prevent their being induced to come out of the hive 
in winter? [By following the directions given in Taylor's “ Bee-keeper's 
Manual," page 147, fourth edition.'] When do you consider a hive worn 
out with age, and requiring new combs ? Mine is three years old. [i/i 
two years more commence cutting out the combs, taking first the two out¬ 
side ones.] This old stock, which is apparently thinly populated, has still a 
few drones in it, which I fear is not a good sign. [The queen is either 
dead or worn out by age.] It weighed 28 lbs., viz., 20 lbs. without the 
hive and board, but including bees and combs, on the 10th August; and I 
have given them food at the top ever since, which they scarcely will touch. 
The swarm which weighed only ll£ lbs. without the hive, has consumed 
at the top many pounds of food. Out of four stocks which I have had 
at different times, only one could I persuade to feed at the top, though 
one of them was starved to death last spring, from its obstinacy in not 
taking the food. The only one which has always fed well at the top, is 
the old stock I have alluded to; and what is singular is, that the swarm it 
threw this spring feeds well at the top, and since then nothing will in¬ 
duce the bees in the parent hive to come up into the feeder. Is there any 
way to entice them to do so, as I do not think they can have enough 
honey ? I use two feeders recommended in your work. My bees are 
much troubled with a small fly which hops about and gets into the hive.” 
[The Jlies will not injure them, they are there only to lay their eggs in the 
carcases of the dead bees. Let your food be 3 lbs. loaf sugar, one pint of 
wuter, and one pound of honey, and your bees will take it readily from 
the top.] 
Plants for Greenhouses without Heat {M. IK., Liverpool, 
and J. S. L.). —You will see you have been attended to by Mr. Fish. 
Plants suitable for a small greenhouse in which no more heat is used than 
is necessary to exclude frost. (J. S.) —This also has met due attention. 
Heaths in a Window {Janet). —These, no doubt, suffered from 
want of air and being drawn up. Fuchsias, probably, from the same 
cause; or from fading, as the leaves generally begin to fade at this season. 
If not let us hear again. 
Root-pruning {An Incumbent). —Your case is, indeed, strongly 
illustrative of the evil of deep and rich soils j for peach-trees will not 
1 produce “ basket-rods ” in shallow and moderate soils, We fear you have 
been too mechanical in your proceedings • why two feet to both old and 
young trees ? However, you have not done all in excavating at two feet; 
the foe still lurks at the root; and we advise that you cut beneath your 
old trees, presuming that they produce gross shoots, removing all roots ! 
below two feet, and taking away the bones and drainage matter, which I 
may be replaced by stones, cinders, or any imperishable and unnutritious I 
material. As to the young trees, pray take them up and replant them ; i 
making platforms according to directions in our previous numbers. You I 
may fill in your trenches in November; and please to observe, that I 
“stopping” alone can never make a tree right unless the root act in 1 
concert with such manipulations. Your beetle would, in all probability, 
be attracted by a kind of food adapted to his habits. These things are 
much oftener effects than causes. 
Pruning Vines for Forcing {A Subscriber, Lewes). —At whatever 
period vines are required to be put in action—or forced, if you will—the 
sooner the pruning takes place when the foliage has turned yellow the 
better. You arc a beginner, you say : remember then that the root is 
never totally inactive ; if ever so, it will be about the time of the fall of 
the leaf in deciduous trees. If you are jealous of the vine bleeding, 
apply a little white lead to the wound. 
Tree Violets {A Lover of Flowers from Childhood). —Your tree 
violets, judging from the leaves you sent, are in the last stages of con¬ 
sumption, from the attacks of the Red spider. We burnt the leaves at 
once, for fear of infecting the whole county with that pest; and we would 
advise you to pick off every leaf that is so infected, and then you will 
have but a very few left. Then make a lather with soap and warm water, 
and wash the whole of the plants with it from top to bottom, three times 
the first week, and twice a week for the next five weeks. Wash pots and 
all, and take away the surface soil also, but keep the pots on their sides 
while the plants are being dressed, so that the soil does not get soaked. 
When the plants are dry after the last washing, dust a little sulphur on 
the stems, and at the bottom of the leaves, but not on the blades. If any 
means can cure them without doing them any injury, that will do it. 
Cricket Ground {P. C. C.). —All the grass seeds in the country can 
only answer as a make-shift where the turf is already made up of coarse 
grass, and patchy; and all the soot, or guano, or other dressings you can 
apply to it, will only make the coarse grow more coarse. Sow the follow¬ 
ing seeds next February, roll often, and always after frost; and as soon 
as grass begins to grow mow once a week, at least, and use a close-teethed 
rake, or daisy rake, instead of brooms, which would disturb the young 
grass too much the first season. A mowing machine would be still 
better; and there is but one kind, and that costs, we believe, about eight 
pounds. The quantity of seeds is, for an imperial acre—20 lbs rye grass 
{Lollium perrene tenue), 6 lbs. white clover, 2 lbs. small yellow clover, 
5 lbs. dog’s tail, 3 lbs. sheep fescue, 2 lbs. hard fescue, 3 lbs. meadow 
grass {Poa nemoralis), and 2 lbs, yellow oat grass. 
Painting the Outside of a House {Rev. J. T. P .).—It so happens 
that we have the following from two of the best architects of the day. 
We print both—choose for yourself. 1. “ Nothing is better than three 
coats of oil, the old way of painting. Thus, the first coat with boiled 
linseed oil and white lead, subdued with lamp-black to suit the tint ; for 
the second coat use spirits of turpentine for oil; and the last coat with 
oil and the usual quantity of dryers.” 2. “Anti-corrosion paint only, 
three coats, and after the second coat to have the walls dredged with fine 
sand while the paint is yet wet; and after the third coat of anti-corrosion 
paint the walls will look as much like stone as they can be made with 
paints.” 
Autumnal Unions by Driving {An Incumbent). —“How long 
should the upper hive remain upon the one inverted; I mean after the 
tapping for 10 or 15 minutes has ceased ? ” Not more than five minutes. 
Cuttings {G. Dear ).—We cannot write private letters. No one will 
give cuttings in the way you suggest, and if you write to the parties your 
letter will remain unanswered. 
Malt Wine. —We have received two more recipes, and as those who 
have kindly sent them declare that these recipes give birth to wine 
“ equal to most Madeira,” we add them to those we have published 
before :—“To 32 gallons of water put 96 pounds of raw sugar; boil and 
skim it clean; W'lien quite cold put to every gallon of this liquor one 
quart of new ale out of the vat that is working (as nigh as can be 
managed when the fermentation is at its highest); let it stand in a tub 
for a day or two, then put it into the vessel with ten pounds of raisins 
and one pound and a quarter of brown candy. When it has done 
working put in three quarts of brandy and 2 ounces of isinglass. Keep 
it four years in the wood and then bottle.”—“ Put 21 pounds of sugar 
into six gallons of water, which boil well and skim it; when cold, put in 
six pounds of raisins, chopped very fine, and six quarts of ale wort, with 
toasted bread dipped in good yeast; let it work two or three days in a 
tub; stir it once a-day; then put it into a clean cask, and add four 
ounces of sugar-candy and a quarter of an ounce of isinglass, which is to 
be dissolved in a little of the liquor before being put into the cask. Let 
it remain three weeks, and when quite done working put in a quart of 
French brandy ; let it remain twelve months before it is bottled.” 
Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary ( Elizabeth , Liverpool ).—This 
will certainly appear on the 7th of November. You can obtain it and 
Glenny's Properties of Flowers, by ordering them of any bookseller. If 
one bookseller will not serve you, try another. So you are your “own 
gardener, although 63 years of age ;” and we are delighted to hear from 
one who not only can grow some of the finest dahlias and tulips, but can 
