THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
81 
! November 7.] 
1 power the tares, and injure them; but sown moderately thin, i 
I it will support the tares, and keep them from the ground. I 
j have sown oats and red clover, and cut the oats before they 
j come out in car; the oats will shoot up again fif cut before 
I they are in full ear), and the clover grow up with them, and 
produce a good second crop ; the clover will be in full per¬ 
fection the spring following. After the crop of rye and tares 
come off, lucern may be sown, and it will be lit to cut once 
the same summer, but not later than the middle of October. 
Tho lucern will be in full cultivation the next summer, 
and will produce four cuttings the season. Lucern should 
be cut before it grows hard and sticky, or it admits waste, 
and loses much of its goodness. 
“ Often changing food is good for milch cows. I seldom 
i give my cow two sorts of food following. I cannot be at a loss 
where there is so great a variety to be had, viz., rye and tares, 
lucern, cinquefoil, trefoil, cow-grass, clovers, natural grass, 
green oats, carrots, cabbages, turnips, grains, bran, pollard, 
hay, &c., &c.” 
Wo could increase our quotation of authorities, but if 
our readers will refer to what is stated in our former 
volumes, and combine the statements with what we have 
now said, we think they need be at no loss for direction 
as cow-keepers. If they do require more information we 
recommend them to buy a little three shilling volume, 
\ by Mr. Cuthbert Johnson, entitled, The Modern Dairy 
and Cow keeper. 
NEW PLANTS. 
THEIR PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES. 
Elegant Moussonia (Moussonia elegans).—Flore des 
Serres, t. 489.—This stove plant was introduced by M. 
Van Houtte, in 1848, from the mountain districts of 
Guatimala. Stems and leaves hairy, tinted partially 
with red; leaves short-stalked, pointed oval, and with 
round-toothed edges. The flowers, about two inches 
long, are orange and yellow, spotted inside with purple, 
and in umbels of three or four, springing from between 
the leaf stalk and the stem. It is of the Natural Order 
Oesnerworts (Gesneraceie), and is not unlike Ocsnera 
elongata, upon which species, in fact, M. Regel, in 1848, 
founded this genus of Moussonia 
M. elegans is another of those useful plants which gar¬ 
deners find so convenient for decoration during the win¬ 
ter ; that being its natural tune of flowering. By keep¬ 
ing it somewhat dry and cool for six weeks at the end of 
winter, and then pruning tho young wood close in to one I 
or two joints, according to their strength, and placing it j 
hi moist heat until a new growth is made an inch or two j 
long, shaking away most of the old soil from the roots, 
repotting it in light rich compost of one-half sandy loam 
and the other half of equal parts of rough peat and leaf- 
mould, with a little white sand, and then growing it on 
liberally in close moist heat up to midsummer, it will bo 
ready to stand in a close cold pit as long as the summer 
heat is such as to keep up that of the pit above 60°, 
and would come in at any required time from the end of 
the autumn; or might be retarded a month or six weeks 
by keeping it in the cold pit longer and allowing it to bo 
rather dry. Gesnerworts, whether in the shape of 
Gloxinias, Acliimenes, ZEschynanthus, Niphseads, Strep- 
tocarpus, or any other of the forms they assume, are all 
more or less favourites with gardeners. The order com¬ 
memorates the name of a distinguished botanist at 
Zurich, Conrad Gesner, the friend of the Bavarian 
Naturalist, Von Martius, who also doubled the compli¬ 
ment by naming Gonradia, a primate genus of the order, 
after his Christian name. 
Incurved-leaved Hake a (HaJceti cucullata)F ax- 
ton's Flower Garden, vol. i., p. 125.—The genus was 
named after Baron Hake, an encourager of botany in 
Germany; and the specific name cucullata, cowled, refers 
to the leaves turning inwards, after the manner of a 
monk’s cowl or hood. This greenhouse evergreen shrub 
is a native of New Holland, where it was discovered in 
1824 by Mr. Cunningham. It has since been found by 
Mr. Baxter, at King George’s Sound, and by Mr. Drum¬ 
mond, at Swan River. It was first figured in the 
Botanical Magazine, t. 4528. It is about four feet high, 
erect, with round very hairy branches; leathery, 1) cart- 
shaped, alternate, stalkless, minutely-toothed, milky-green 
leaves; the flowers are red and small, but showy from 
being in dense clusters, embosomed between the leaves 
and stem. It is of the Natural Order Proteads (Pro- 
teaceie); 4— Tetrandria, 1 —Monogynia of Linnaeus. 
The New Holland species of this Natural Order are well 
cultivated in the Kew Gardens, where, Mr. Smith says, 
they use for them good yellow loam, adding for small 
plants a little sharp sand; in repotting, keeping the old ; 
ball a little above the new soil to keep water from stag- ; 
nating round the stem. In summer, water is given j 
freely in the evening or early morning, but in winter the j 
soil is only kept slightly moist. The rays of the sun are j 
