42 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[October 17. 
write a good letter about them. We will give an extract from your letter, just 
as an example to others ; and may a long continued green old age enable 
you to write many such !—“ I have some choice Dahlias , allowed to be, 
by judges, the finest and best collection for the size of the garden, which 
is thirty yards by five and a half; consequently, you will say, it is quite 
crammed ; but they are now standing with all the perfection they did a 
month ago. I forgot to say, I have about four dozen roots; but in my 
opinion, Cardinal Ferrite stands unrivalled. I am my own gardener, 
although 63 years of age ; sow, plant, transplant, and layer all myself. 
I have some fine Tulips ; and having to make the best of every inch of 
ground, planted my Gladiolus floribundus in the same bed as the tulips, 
as they come in so well in autumn—the former in spring and the latter 
now about—and never did I see them look more healthy than this season, 
and yet, out of four dozen of bulbs, I had only a few spikes of flowers; 
can you tell me why they have missed blooming ? I preserve my dahlias 
with little trouble ; I let them remain in the ground as long as safe from 
frost, then make choice of a dry day to take them up. I shake off with 
care the greatest part of the soil; and as our kitchens are under ground, 
the back kitchen standing south, I leave about 10 or 12 inches of stem to 
them, and carefully place them under a large kitchen dresser facing the 
door, which is half glass; when I consider them sufficiently dry, I put a 
coarse double wrapper and an old hearth rug over them, excluding them 
from light, and examine them every three weeks, to see if any of the 
tubers are decayed; if so I cut them away, and have .been invariably 
successful.” 
Diseased Vine (Alfred Neve). —We willjwritc on this fully next 
week. 
Pyramidal Training (Jane). —You ask our opinion upon this and 
upon the dwarf system secured by grafting on quince and paradise 
stocks, and we have no hesitation in pronouncing them excellent for small 
gardens, and for situations where fruit-trees of a larger and more spread¬ 
ing growth could not be admitted. We have pears, cherries, apples, and 
plums growing along the edges, ranging north and south, of our kitchen- 
garden quarters ; and we can grow all kinds of vegetables close up to 
them without any injury to either. Of course you have a crop only in 
proportion to the size of your trees, but that crop is all gain. Pears are 
not necessarily made gritty by being worked upon the quince ; if you tell 
Mr. Rivers what you wish for he will not disappoint you. 
HiMALAYAn Pumpkin Seed (Rev. T. R.). —Thanks for your rules* 
See. We have no seed, nor shall we have. 
Name of Plant (E. G. R.). —It is impossible to tell the name from a 
leaf. It is not a Lupinus. 
Asparagus Beds (A Constant Subscriber). —March is the best month 
for making and planting. See vol. iii., page 291 , for full directions. 
Verbenas , &c., will be killed if you plant them in a hotbed. They re¬ 
quire no more than to have the frost and damp kept from them in 
winter. Pray refer to our indexes for full directions. 
Christmas Pear (W. C. D.). —The Winter Nelis will suit you. It 
is in perfection from November to January. We prefer dwarf standards. 
The Aylsiiam Horticultural Society for the encouragement of 
cottage gardens, held two exhibitions during the year 1850, and notwith¬ 
standing those little drawbacks from local circumstances and petty 
jealousies, which so often impede an infant institution, bids fair to 
assume a permanent character. It has distributed upwards of four 
pounds in prizes of one or two shillings to cottagers, and its exhibitions 
have been attended by many visitors of the town and neighbourhood. 
Numerous specimens of flowers, fruits, and vegetables, a variety of plants 
in pots, and some pleasing devices were also contributed by those who 
have gardens. A small sum remains in hand to begin the new year, 
which, considering the smallness of the subscriptions, is a favourable sign 
that the labours of the cottager will not go unrewarded there in the year 
1851. We wish we had room for more such reports, and must devise some 
plan for doing so. We have no proxies which you ask for. 
Mulberries Preserved Whole. —The following has been oblig¬ 
ingly sent to us :—“ Gather your mulberries on a dry day, when they 
are nearly, but not quite ripe. Fill the usual preserving bottles with 
them ; tie the mouth over with wet bladders ; put the bottles into a pre- 
serving-pan up to their necks in cold water (N.B. A little hay at the 
bottom of the pan will render the bottles less liable to break) ; place 
upon a stove not too hot, or on a slow fire; let them remain till nearly 
the boiling point, then remove the pan and let the water cool before you 
take out the bottles; store them up. A few bottles may be expected to 
burst during the process; but care should be taken to do them very 
gradually. Mulberries preserved in this way retain their flavour much 
better than when preserved in the usual way with sugar. We only 
recently finished our last bottle of those preserved last year. We are 
trying the experiment this year of not tying them down with bladders 
before heating, only with paper, and then filling up with cold water, and 
then tying them up for use. Black currants so treated last year answered 
well without shrinking.”—B. Y. 
Laying in Brocoli (Ignoramus). —To “lay in brocoli ” is a gardener’s 
phrase for taking it up with a large ball of earth round its roots, and 
putting it into a trench dug deep enough to bury it down to the leaves, 
and reclining with its head to the north. You say, “ I cannot think it 
right to take up my beautiful plants, upon which I have bestowed so 
much pains, and which stand from 18 inches to 2 feet high, in ex¬ 
cellent health 1”—and we once thought as you do. But we promise you 
it is “ right.” Take them all up and lay them in close together, in rows, 
as we have directed. They have made all their growth—they have stored 
| up all the prepared sap for forming their heads in spring—and you will i 
| find they will produce heads just as fine, will be saved from being killed i 
by the fro^t, and you will have their bed for any other crop. 
Arbor Yit.e (A Subscriber , Lincoln’s Inn). —How can these droop if 
“ they look fresh and green ?” Put them into larger pots. Remember 
they are naturally trees 20 feet high, so may well be stunted after being 
kept in a pot some years. 
Erodium Moschatum (T. M. W.). —Can any of our readers send us 
some seeds of this English plant (the Musky Heron’s Bill) for our cor¬ 
respondent. 
Salvia Nemorosa (B. R.).— The English name of this is Wood 
Sage ; and the seed of this, as well as of Origanum rubesccns (Haworth), 
may be obtained, we should think, through the herb-dealers in Covent 
Garden Market. Cuscuta chinensis (Chinese Dodder) is hardy ; but the 
whole genus of Anacampseros are either greenhouse or stove succulents. 
Other answers next week. 
Melon Cuttings (Verax). —You will have seen what Mr. Errington 
said about cucumber cuttings, and his observations apply to those of the 
melon. Cuttings taken from a vigorous melon plant in summer will bear 
fruit in the autumn of the same year. Absence prevents our answering 
your other queries until next week. 
Lists of Fruit, &c. (F. H. Earle). —Have two Black Hainboroughs. 
To your Pansy list add Satinst, Ophir , and Black Prince. You are right 
in your other lists. 
Seedling Gloxinias (A. U. B.). —These were quite faded when 
received; they should be packed in wet moss. 
Rhododendron Javanicum (J. G.). —We incline to the opinion 
that the Java Rhododendron is hardy, though usually treated as a green¬ 
house plant. The Brugmansia is not sufficiently hardy to stand the 
winter unprotected. That mentioned at page 159 of our last volume will 
be cut down before the winter, and the roots protected. 
Weeping Ash (Novitius). —The weeping ash will bear pruning, and 
November, or March, is the best time in which to perform the operation. 
Cottage near London (A Real Lover of Flowers). —Take up the 
gooseberry bushes this winter ; dig and level the ground, and either turf 
it to suit the old lawn or sow seeds of grasses about the end of February. 
The best kind of grasses you will see mentioned in our directions for a 
cricket-ground to-day. The seedsmen will tell you how much to use, 
according to the size of the ground. See that the standard roses are not 
higher than three feet in the stem, and select the best of the autumn 
ones, such as Madame Laffay , Barrone Prevost, Duchess of Sutherland, 
La Reine, and others of that class ; and for your garden a plant of Gloire 
de Rosamene would look well, planted with each standard to hide the 
stem, and would be more in character than any other plant. For plant¬ 
ing the borders, see our former lists. 
Lycopodium Ccesium (John Holland). — Your two specimens of 
Lycopodium caesium growing under two glass shades, eight inches wide 
and eight inches deep, with a glass cover eighteen inches high, have 
grown up to the top, and are losing their lower leaves and becoming 
blanched in the centre. You ask the cause, and remedy. The cause is 
not, as you imagine, the want of light, but the want of air; ar.y plant 
kept close will do the same. The only remedy we can suggest is to destroy 
the old plants, replace them with fresh ones, and have a contrivance to 
give air when the heat rises above 55°. Too much light destroys the 
beautiful blue green, which is the attractive ornament of this plant; 
therefore, you need not fear that the situation in which your cases stand 
is injurious to the plants. The best things to plant in your new larger 
shades are a collection of hardy and half hardy ferns. These thrive 
remarkably well in such cases, and are pretty permanent. The boxes to 
contain the soil in which they thrive best is a mixture of fibrous peat and 
turf—two parts of the former and one of the latter. The drainage to 
consist of some large pieces of broken pots and charcoal, and a stratum 
of smaller pieces upon them ; the whole to be three or four inches thick. 
Cover the drainage with a thin stratum of moss to prevent the finer par¬ 
ticles of the soil from stopping up the drainage.\ It will be better to have 
some holes at the bottom to allow the superfluous moisture to escape, but 
if care is taken not to give too much water at once, the holes may be dis¬ 
pensed with. You may procure the right sorts of ferns by applying to 
Mr. Appleby, of Pine Apple Place, Edgware-road. 
Gardens near London (B. H.). —We know of no garden so near as 
two miles to the General Post Office. There are several near to Maida 
Hill, and some at Bays water, but we cannot learn to whom you should 
apply. If you take a walk that way any of the tenants will inform you 
what you wish to know. There is a piece of ground now offered to be let 
for gardens on the banks of the Regent’s Canal, near the Warwick Villas. 
Roses for a Hedge (H. H.). —The following perpetual roses will 
grow on their own roots, and will answer your purpose to form a low 
hedge with :—Louis Buonaparte, Mrs, Elliot, Madame Laffay, Du Roi, 
Baronne Prevost, La Reine, Duchess of Sutherland, Jaques Lafitte, Ladj r 
Alice Peel, Geant des Battailes, Wm. Jesse, Joan of Arc, and Clementine 
Seringe. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London.—October 1/th, 1850. 
