December 12.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
169 
a promise from Mr. Beaton of furnishing particulars whereby 
a walk might be formed up the steep sides of Snowdon, Hel- 
vellyn, or Ben Nevis, capable of resisting the desolating 
| effects of thunder storms and other casualties. This piece 
| of information I have looked for anxiously, as I hesitate not 
to confess myself not at all well acquainted with making good 
useful walks of common materials in hilly places. Cesspools 
or sinks at the sides, cross channels, gratings communicat¬ 
ing with drains, and sundry other contrivances, I have used 
with varied results, hut I presume these appendages may be 
dispensed with in Mr. Beaton’s plan. Certainly they detract 
very much from the beauty of the walk. But there are many 
objectionable things in this world which we cannot get rid 
of, and I presume these may he classed in that category 
until some master mind points out a cure. One thing need 
not be forgotten, the cure is of no use if the materials for 
making it be not accessible by reasonable means. We all 
know that a flight of steps might be made to reach the top of 
Mont Blanc, but who would undertake to keep the snow 
swept off them ? An asphalte walk might also be formed 
anywhere, hut its appearance is anything but agreeable, and 
for hilly places very objectionable; besides, the expense 
places it out of the question, where, perhaps, a mile of it is 
wanted. So that, taking gravel, ashes, sand, shells, and 
similar substances, as well as stones of various kinds, brick¬ 
bats, &c., for your materials, the question is simply this : in 
what manner can the best walk be made in the cheapest 
and most durable way of such materials, due regard being 
had to appearance? It is far from my wish to fetter the 
case by any conditions, but hope it will be frankly answered 
in such a way as to be available to many of your readers, as 
well as to—L. N. V. 
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 Row , London.” 
Fuchsia not Flowering (Lewis). —The leaf sent we presume to be 
a small one of Fuchsia Cordifolia , a free grower, but rather shy bloomer 
at the best of times. Keep it in a very light part of your greenhouse, 
and with ordinary treatment it will bloom in winter and spring. This 
will be hastened, if the wood is pretty firm, by allowing it to get rather 
dry and cool for a week or two, and then keeping it warmer, and giving 
it plenty of light and moisture. It flowered most generally with us in 
winter and spring, and, therefore, should not be rested at these periods, 
as the most of the others like, with the exception of serratifolia, See . It 
is a native of Mexico, and where room is scarce it is not worth growing, 
as many British hybrids are far superior. 
Arranging a Greenhouse (C. A.). —Yours is 16 feet by 12, and you 
wish to preserve the back wall for creepers. This must depend upon 
taste and the wishes of the possessor. To keep the most plants, with 
justice to the creepers, we would allow a space of 3£ feet, at front and 
ends, for a shelf and pathway; 3 feet at back, or 2£ feet for border and 
pathway ; and then you would have 5£ feet or 6 feet as the base of a stage 
in the centre, which might be either flat or, still better, raised , so as to 
have the highest terminating shelf in the centre, and two or three more 
descending, like steps of stairs, downwards on each side. This would 
not only allow you to store more plants, but in summer you would keep 
them longer in bloom by removing them from the south to the north 
side. If large plants are your object, they might stand on the floor with¬ 
out a stage at all; and then you might bring the creepers down the 
rafters, and have a wider shelf for small plants in front. Estimates have 
been given, and you will lately have seen what others have managed to 
I put up houses for ; but then they managed it themselves , which is a dif¬ 
ferent affair from employing tradesmen. Further than this we cannot 
well go. Have an estimate of everything before you begin. 
Camellia Buds Falling (S. W .).—This will happen from three 
causes: first, when it is an effort of nature to relieve itself when the buds 
are so thick that there is not room for the flowers freely to expand. 
Secondly, when the drainage is bad, and the soil becomes sour and water¬ 
logged. And thirdly, when watering has not been given efficiently, so as 
to wet the soil thoroughly to the bottom of the pot. If your soil has 
much peat, give w'eak manure water alternately with the clear. Avoid 
the dribbling system. By its use thousands of plants are ruined. The 
surface soil for an inch or two may be moist, and the rest of it as dry as 
if it came from the deserts of Sahara. 
Roses (Ibid). —The roses will not open, and the plants are short lived, 
and you attribute your failures to strong eddy winds and the smoke of a 
town. The last, we presume, is your chief enemy. You are right in the 
circumstances of giving up standards and resorting to dwarfs; and we 
would advise you to syringe the plants frequently with clear lime water 
as the buds are breaking, and with clear water frequently afterwards 
1 until the flowers are opening. We would plant every sort you name, and 
prune close; and thus there will be less of the smoke-encrusted wood 
left; and though you will have fewer flowers, want of quantity will be 
made up in quality. To secure masses of bloom, we would recommend 
the China—such as the Common , Cramoise superieure, Abbe Mioland , 
Belle de Florence, Fabviei', and Mrs. Bosanquet; cutting them well in 
either in autumn or, better still, in spring, and manuring well. Bour¬ 
bons— such as Armosa; and various Teas, on their own roots—such as 
Safrano , Devoniensis, &c., we think would also answer well, protecting 
them with moss and branches during winter, and cutting well down in 
April. Strong shoots, with bunches of flowers, would come from the 
bottom, and in succession, and at a season when the nuisance of smoke is 
at a minimum. 
Elder-flower Wine (Elizabeth). —No. 6.—To make white elder 
wine very much like Frontignac, boil 18 pounds of white sugar with six ! 
gallons of water and two whites of eggs well beaten, then skim it, and 
put in a quarter of a peck of elder-flowers from the tree that bears white i 
berries ; do not keep them on the fire. When near cold, stir it, and put ' 
in six spoonsful of lemon juice, four or five of good yeast, and beat well 
into the liquor; stir it every day; put six pounds of the best raisins 
stoned into the cask, and tun the wine. Stop it close, and bottle it in 
six months. When well kept this wine will pass for Frontignac. 
No. 7 (Great Aunt Mary). —To six gallons of water put 18 pounds of 
lump sugar, boil it half an hour; when new milk warm, put to it a 
quarter of a peck of elder-flowers, picked from the stalks, the juice and 
peel of six lemons, six pounds of raisins, and a little yeast (we always 
spread ours on a dry toast, and take the toast off before we barrel it); stir 
it often for three or four days, then put it into a barrel; it will be ready 
to bottle in six or eight months. 
Herbarium (C . JJ.L—When we have a large-rooted specimen to 
mount in this, we split it and remove one-half, or even two-thirds of its 
thickness, and fasten it down with its flat side against the paper. 
Trellis for House-front (K. O. T .).—As your house is stuccoed 
and will not bear nails, and yet you wish to have a wire trellis, have a 
frame of wood made of deal rods about two inches square, and the rods 
as far apart as will admit the wire netting to be fastened to them with 
small staples. The rods may reach from the roof to the ground, and be 
framed as any carpenter will tell you. 
Spir.«a Prunifolia (H. J.). —The flowers of this are white, generally 
double, and very pretty; a native of China; deciduous and hardy in shel¬ 
tered places. Flowers generally about midsummer. As it is a new 
thing, you cannot err in placing it against a wall at first. 
Stenocarpus Cunninghamii (Ibid). —We can hardly tell you when 
you may expect it to bloom, but your specimen is a good one. If you 
had one leader instead of four, it would, perhaps, have been as well; but 
the cutting of them away now , after being four feet in height, we should 
not think of doing. To remedy the crowded state of the leaves, cut out 
a few, and tie out the stems as far apart as possible. 
Fuchsia Macrantha (Ibid). — We have had no experience with it, 
but have not heard it was peculiarly difficult to flower. Fuchsia specta- 
bilis generally blooms best in autumn, winter, and spring, as is the case 
with the old Cordifolia (see answer above) and also Serratifolia. 
Streptocarpus Rexii (Ibid). —This is an old plant and worth grow¬ 
ing, but you need not pot off too many of your seedlings. It produces 
abundance of light blue tubular flowers, and the seed vessel is very 
peculiar. 
Fuchsia Corymbiflora (Ibid). —This large standard we should treat 
as you propose. If the wood is pretty well ripened, it will stand the 
starving system well during the winter ; and when examined at the roots 
and pruned, not too much, in February or March, you will have less 
growth and more blooms. Habrothamnus fasicularis generally blooms 
from April to June. 
Oxalis Boweii (A Constant Reader). — The leaves sent are right. So 
luxuriant, planted in August, and not yet showing bloom, we fear that 
you will look for flowers in vain. Instead of treating of the reasons, we 
would rather tell you how to ensure success in future. Thus, keep the 
plants in the greenhouse full in the light, and give water as needed as 
long as the leaves keep green ; when they turn yellow, refrain from 
watering, and then afterwards lay the pots on their broadsides below the 
stage, or upright, where no water will reach them. Sometime next sum¬ 
mer the bulbs will begin to push; then, but not till then, pot them, and 
you will be sure to have plenty of flowers. The other leaf sent we do not 
recognise; we do not think with you that it is an Oxalis. 
Plumbago Capensis (Ibid). —You may cut this in as much as you 
please, if you confine yourself to the one-year wood. It is the long young 
shoots produced next season that will produce the flowers, and then they 
may again be cut off when the wood is ripened. 
Manure for Geraniums (W. J. W.). —Guano, soot, and salt arc 
very good things in the hands of those who have sufficient chemical and 
practical knowledge to use them properly, but they are poisons with 
other people; therefore, we make it a rule not to recommend these 
strong and most dangerous ingredients, even to practical men, for fear 
our less-informed readers might be led to use them and destroy their 
plants. Have you not seen all-along that when “put to the point,” we 
have invariably placed these things in the same category with gun¬ 
powder ? For pot-cultivation in general, have nothing to do with guano, 
soot, or salt, till you have won a prize in London with a pelargonium. 
Anomatheca Cruenta (Ibid). — Keep this pretty bulb dry till the 
middle of April, and then plant it two inches deep in a warm border of 
light rich soil, and it will flower and seed all the summer. Sow the seed 
