THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 96.] 
Cedar {Ibid). —Unless your cedar-tree has been prepared before this 
season by cutting round the roots, you will assuredly lose it by removing 
it; besides, the time for moving cedars is now past for this season; nevcr- 
! theless, we shall soon explain an easy way of performing such work. 
Arrangement of Ground (N. G . S.).— You will do well to employ 
two or three of the plots with potatoes. You may produce good ones 
another year or two by using annually a little very old manure, and espe- 
I cially fresh soil, if only road-scrapings. Your gas material may assist; 
but you should always use a little ordinary manure as well* You may 
' plant cabbages , &c., on No. 5., provided you do not dig to within four 
feet of the tree stems. You must get your gooseberries carefully pruned, 
j Mercury ( H . Winckworth ).—The perennial plant mentioned to you 
by a Lincolnshire farmer as an excellent substitute for spinach, is the 
i Chenopodium bonus Henrietta , known by the various names of Angular- 
leaved Goosefoot, English Mercury or Allgood, Good Henry, Good King 
Henry, and Wild Spinach. In many parts of Lincolnshire, as about 
! Boston, it is cultivated to use as spinach ; the young shoots are also 
! peeled, boiled, and eaten as asparagus. Sow the seed in March—but in 
October is better—in a well-manured bed, prepared as for asparagus; 
in the middle of September plant the seedlings, during rainy weather, in 
a similar bed in rows, a foot apart each way. Hoe frequently, and use 
the shoots or tops as required. Dress the beds with manure the same as 
for asparagus ; they will continue in production many years. 
Shakspeaue’s Plants (J. 0. H.\. — It is not improbable that 
some day we may give a series of essays on these. 
Vines and Stove Plants (R. G., Jun .)— The combination is diffi¬ 
cult, but you shall have an answer next week. 
Ward’s Cases (N .).—You ask, “ Why when plants thrive so well in 
Ward’s cases, it is de?med necessary to ventilate greenhouses by opening 
i the windows?” Only particular plants, such as Ferns , Mosses, &c., the 
i beauty of which depends upon their verdure, will thrive in Ward’s cases. 
1 That verdure is chiefly promoted by a close damp air, such as is secured 
by a Ward’s case; but to obtain flowers or fruit, you must give the 
plants producing them a more liberal supply of carbonic acid gas, less 
1 damp air, and more exercise, which can only be secured in a green- 
i house by judicious ventilation. 
I Geometric Garden (.4 Constant Subscriber ).— You will find what 
> you require in Loudon’s Villa Gardener , a new edition of which is just 
I published. A west wall , though fully exposed to the sun, is not so good 
for ripening fruit as a south or even an east wail. 
• Dyeing {D. H. R.). —We cannot aid you, for no amateur can dye large 
j articles usefully. Ink cannot be made of galls and nutgalls only, unless 
I you use gum the black colouring matter becomes a mud at the bottom 
1 of the bottle. Rain water, though saved in a cemented tank, is good for 
i the purpose. 
Poisoning Rats {G. JI. H .).— There is nothing like phosphorus pills 
j for the purpose. Can you not put them in places quite out of the way 
of the fowls ? The Domestic Fowl , by Mr. Richardson, gives the infor- 
i mation you desire. 
i Names of Plants ( Patria ).—I. Aspleniura rutainuraria. 2. Cete- 
rach cfficinarum. 3. Polytrichum juniperinum. 
Name of Fruit ( H. II.). —Your large strawberry-like fruit is that of 
Benthamia fragifera. It is a native of Nepaul; and as you take The 
I Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary , you will find the particulars you require. 
If you want any special direction, let us hear from you again. “The 
i four-pctalled flowers” of this shrub are four-leaved involucres. 
Drain Mud (J. £., Sleaford). —The black mud from your drain, mixed 
I with decayed leaves, will be one of the best composts you can give to 
- your flower-borders, or, indeed, for any crop in your garden. Your other 
j question next week. 
Criticism (A Constant Reader , Windermere). — Thanks for the 
I trouble you have taken. Not a cottager but will find each crop easily 
j referred to. There may be much in the Dictionary he does not require, 
! but it meets the wants of others. 
, Vinegar Plant (J. W — L .).— All that we know concerning it is 
j given, with a drawing, at page 91 of our second volume. 
Five-pound Greenhouse {J. Campbell). —It did not require you to 
\ consult “ a most honest man,” to learn that if you intend to employ 
i workmen , and buy new bricks, that you cannot build a greenhouse for 
“twice the money.” Any one who has a mechanical turn like J. B., 
and who will erect the greenhouse himself , buying second-hand bricks, 
•making his own putty, &c., can do what J. B. has done. If you cannot 
: 'do the same, we can only suppose that you have nut the same opportu- 
' nities. 
Flower-beds (Snowdrop). —15, wants a white edging; Sweet Alys- 
' sum , or White Ivy-leaved geranium would do. 1 should be exchanged 
for 2. Heliotrope , being of no decided colour, would then agree with 
fine distinct colours in the ends of the 5 beds falling towards 1 ; but 
unless 1 is a yard across, the Heliotrope would overrun its bounds in the 
autumn. A Verbena of the same colour always heightens the effect of a 
Heliotrope bed; we use Duchess d’Aumale. 6, white, should be in 4, 
and 4 in 6; then two distinct colours would be on each side of the centre, 
and looking over across 4 towards 15 your colours are, as it Nvere, 
balanced, and a white is always a safe foreground for a scarlet. A white 
ring round 15 would not mar this effect, as the dark green ivy below it 
comes in between the two shades. As you did not put the aspect, or 
south and north, we cannot well say how 9 corresponded with (j, or 13 
with 2; but unless there was a particular reason for it, neither a White 
205 
Petunia or Lilac Verbena should stand in that relation to the plant as 2 
and 9; if you adopt our suggestion with the centre group, exchange 7 
with 9, and 13 with 11. In any future arrangement of plants, we would 
adhere to that way of disposing of the colours. It is not so much the 
kinds of plants that are used, as the disposition of the colours that 
heightens the effect of a flower-garden like yours, where the different 
groups of beds come so near into each other. 
Standard Roses (Ibid ).—Prune those newly planted next February, 
and fork in some rotten manure any time during the winter or spring 
when you dress the borders; and liquid-manure may be given to all sorts 
of hardy roses any month in the year. 
Flower-garden (Subscriber). —Your garden is very pretty indeed, 
and very suitable for that situation ; and more so if 6 could be planted 
like 5 with flowers; but without knowing what flowers you have already, 
or how disposed, we cannot be of much use to you. We would plant 
4 with nothing but dwarf perpetual roses, and only with six sorts, which 
you can see in many of our pages, and repeat them till the bed is full. 
11 we should plant all with Dahlias. 10 we cannot decide, unless it were 
a mixed collection of such things as Penstemons, Phloxes , and Salvias. 
7 and 8 should have scarlet and yellow, and 9 white. 5, blue, or three | 
colours, the middle one a white ; but all is only a rough guess, we have 
no guide from jmu. 
Vases (P.).—Besides the trailers, vases ought to be filled with Gera¬ 
niums, Calceolarias, or a mixed assortment, as in flower-beds, and the 
planes to trail and train down and around plants at tlie sides. In a 
sheltered situation, many of the summer climbers answer well. The ^ 
Canary plant , varieties of Convolvolus major , dark-flowered or spotted ' 
common Nasturtium , Ilhodochiton volubi/e, and Lophospermum ; the 
latter with the larger leaves picked off once in three weeks or so ; all i 
these fill up fast, but must be tied in or regularly trained. Petunias , j 
also, do well that way. Moneywort is the best one to hang down natu¬ 
rally, but does not last long in bloom. 
Flower-garden (Rev. C. W. L.). —Your details are well arranged ! 
for consideration, but one plan with a duplicate list would have been 
enough. Here we have a plan of the flower-garden and front of the house, j 
with a list of the plants of 1850 and of those proposed to be used next | 
summer, with a few banks for us to fill up, besides an opinion on the 
contemplated arrangement—all on one page. How well some can put 
their ideas on paper in small compass. 1. Why not try dark blue or 
scarlet Convolvolus major , with the Canary plant round the basket; 
then mixed Verbenas, with an edging of Eucaridium grundifiorum , or 
Sphenogyne speciosa , close round the sides till the Verbenas spread. 2. 
Not by any means ; the mixture outside will not do. Sow T a row of Silene 
pendula, nine inches from the side, about the middle of April, and clip it 
a little on both sides, for a regular hedge, and it will bloom as long as 
the Heliotrope. 3. Plant a broad baud of Lobelia ramttsa, from April 
sown seeds, round it when the turbans come off. 4. Bad edging last 
year ; sow two rows a foot apart, and nine inches from edge, of Tagetes 
tenuifolia , and keep a free space in the centre all the season. 5. Very 
good. 6. Only some annual, to come off in August. The present crop 
will cover by that time. Wc would sow mignonette over the whole sur¬ 
face, and let the Fuchsias run over it. 7 and 8. Very good. Sow Vise aria 
1 st of April and first and last week in May. The rest seem very good. 
Flower-garden (J. H. N .).—You made the best of your ground, 
and you ought to have a fine display. We would not, on anj r account, 
plant 1 a3 you propose; it is the key bed. Yellow Calceolarias in the 
middle of it, or Lobelia ramnsa , or a mixture of lightish Verbenas , or 
Heliotropes. 10, 11, 12, and 13 are the beds for what you propose for 
No. 1, and what you propose for them we would have in 14 and 15. You 
are quite right about l6 and 17, but 16 was outrageous last year, and 1/ 
so and so. Quite right about 6, 7, 8, 9 ; but get dwarf sorts. The rest as 
you say. Except It) and 1/, all the outside beds ought to have your tallest 
plants, and lower them as you approach the centre. 11 and 12 should : 
have the same kind of plant, or the same colour; so also with 10 and 13. 
Gladiolus (C. H. C .).—Plant your Gladiolus next February. Felicitc J 
Perpetuelle is as good as any of the evergreen pillar or climbing roses ; , 
but there are five or six others not much behind it, which we have often 
described. William Jesse rose will answer well as a half standard. | 
South.-west is not a bad aspect for bees. 
CALENDAR FOR JANUARY. 
ORCHID HOUSE. 
Air. In this first month of the year we frequently have severe frosty 
nights and clear, bright, sunny days. The heat necessary to keep out 1 
the frost, and the bright sun, will raise the temperature of the house too ! 
high ; to lower it to the right pitch air must be given, and the apertures j 
to give air ought to be so placed that the cold air does not rush in directly | 
upon or through the plants. Blocks: plants on these will require 
attention; any that are loose should be refastened; cleanse the leaves 
and pseudo-bulbs from green scurf and all kinds of insects. Cyrtopo- | 
diums, see to ; if any fresh growth is observable, repot in a rich compost. 
Dendrobiums, remove into a cool house; such as show growth may be 
potted and k pt moderately moist. Heat: keep both the houses to the 
lowest point of heat for the first half of the month ; as the days lengthen 
allow the heat to increase a few degrees. Insects, continue to destroy. 
Moisture: on sunny days sprinkle the walks, walls, and pipes two or 
three times a-day. Potting, continue to perform upon all orchids 
beginning to grow. Sobralias, place in a cool house ; heat, 55° by day 
