THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
210 
i--- 
January 2.1 
buying the cheapest materials, yet many are so wretchedly > 
poor, that a little assistance from their richer neighbours at . 
this season of the year (more especially) would be most j 
j thankfully received by them. I am convinced, from my j 
own experience, that every gentleman’s wife might, if she 
pleased, give soup weekly to a certain number of poor 
families, and this soup be made solely from the scraps and 
leavings of her own household. To illustrate my meaning 
I will mention my own plan. My cook, in the first place, is 
j hired on the distinct understanding that she is to have no 
perquisites ,—nothing is to be sold ,—what cannot be consumed 
I in the family is to be given (under my sanction) to the poor. 
I Thus a great temptation to waste and dishonesty is removed, 
i and kind feeling promoted to those who are in want. From 
I my family—thirteen in number—we find scraps sufficient to 
| supply eight poor persons with a gallon of soup each, 
I weekly. All the bones, pieces of skin, and trimmings of 
i meat are carefully put by in a pan until wanted; and by the 
| side of my bread pan I have a smaller one, in which are 
I put all broken pieces of bread, and the crusts from the, 
toast we have in the parlour. In the course of the week 
these amount to a considerable quantity, and are soaked and 
! added to the soup when served out. The scraps of meat, 
| fat, vegetables, and bones, are all put in a large boiler, and 
: allowed to simmer a long time ; occasionally a little rice or 
! oatmeal is thrown in to thicken it. I have asked some of 
my friends to adopt my plan, but they tell me their cook 
says she has nothing to make soup of: this is in families 
where strict economy, I know, is not observed. What, 
then, becomes of the “scraps?” They must either be 
sold—in this case the cook lias an obvious interest in being 
wasteful,—they are put into the pig-tub, or given to unde¬ 
serving beggars at the door. Having mentioned a pig-tub, 
I must say we have a pig, but lie is fed on garden and dairy 
refuse, with the rinsing of plates and dishes, until his 
fattening time. 1 cannot bear to feed my pig on what 
Christians are thankful for: when my poor people are 
served l still find enough scraps for piggy. In my early 
married days an honest servant once pointed out to me in 
the man-servant's candle drawer live and twenty pieces of 
dinner bread, some dry and mouldy. They were thrown 
there from sheer idleness and waste, and were destined, I 
believe, ultimately for the dust-hole. This taught mo a 
lesson not to have more cut than was necessary; but in 
every household, especially where there are children, some 
hard and dry pieces of bread will be left. How much better 
that these should be collected and given away by the mis¬ 
tress than slyly disposed of by servants. Should you deem 
these humble remarks worthy a place in your paper, may 
they be the means of leading some to provide out of their 
abundance for the wants of some of their poorer and most 
deserving neighbours—thus fulfilling our Saviour’s words, 
“ Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” —Helena. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Vinks with Stove Plants (II. O., Jun.).—Yo\i say that you cannot 
take the vines out, and that your gardener says that if you give a higher 
i temperature than 50° the vines will be injured, and that in that temper¬ 
ature your Torrenia asiatica and Aphelandra cristuta are drooping and 
i dying by inches. Now, first, we should be better able to advise you if we 
knew the plan of the house and the mode of heating. Though the vines 
cannot be removed, they might be brought horizontally close to the glass 
at the front of the house ; and, even if the heating material was near the 
front, it would lie possible to keep them cooler there than any where else, 
and very easily so if the heating medium was at a distance—say two or 
; three feet from the front wall. Secondly, what your gardener means we 
I presume to he, that your vines would be started sooner than you wanted 
- them if you exposed them to a higher temperature than 60° j and we 
* would not wish them to remain long at a time in such a temperature 
i when having their rest period. J3y keeping them, however, at the front 
j of the house, giving air there, and placing your tcndcrest things upon a 
stage at the back of the house, and giving no air there, you might 
j command a mean temperature of from SO 0 to Go° at the hack, while the 
front would range from 45° to 50°. In many such cases it would be 
1 desirable to have double front sashes, and then the vines would he trained 
j in winter between them ; or if that were too expensive, the vines could be 
j secured close to the front, the front sashes taken out, and secured in a 
j temporary manner behind them. The vines would still have the pro- 
: tcction of the top sashes, and be kept dry, and you could give what more 
, you thought necessary. Thirdly, without resorting to any of these 
methods, you must not expect great vigour in your stove plants during 
winter ; but there is no danger of many of them dying at a temperature 
of 50°. Wc preserve large plants and small ones of Torrenia at a tem¬ 
perature considerably lower; and Aphelandras will be the better for their 
rest period soon after flowering. Wc arc satisfied with 45° for their 
winter treatment, but then all their leaves become yellow and fall off, but 
the buds will swell. They may be cut down and repotted, and stimulated 
into fresh growth when a higher temperature is required for the vines. 
Hence, when vines are a principal object, and you cannot take them out 
of the house, nor resort to the means adverted to, you must grow stove 
plants for the pleasure they afford for nine months in the year, and be 
satisfied merely with preserving them for the three, when the vines 
require to he kept the coolest. 
Ckanotiius Azuiieus (A. D.). —This is still the most beautiful, and 
we rather incline to think you have got the true one, though it bloomed 
late. Cut in its hanging shoots to a bud or two, and fresh ones will be 
produced, terminated with their bunches of flowers. Where the shoots 
are strong, and there is room, fasten them in, leaving most of their 
length. 
Flowering Myrtle (A Subscriber). —This is too large for a room, 
and you have no greenhouse for it, and you ask, does it require a rich soil, 
and much pot drainage ? To the two last queries :—Sandy loam will 
answer, and a fair amount of drainage. You might try your plant against 
a wall, protecting it with a mat or spruce branches in severe weather in 
winter, or if it is a great favourite, keep it during the winter in any place — 
barn, stable, or dry cellar, where it will not suffer much cold ; setting it 
out of doors in fine weather, and giving it a good shift in May. Keep it 
in a sunny situation afterwards, that the sun may harden its wood ; return 
it to similar quarters during the following winter, and afterwards it will 
constitute a pretty ornament to be placed near your dwelling, in any of the 
modes that have been lately adverted to as suitable for oranges, &c. 
Scarlet Geraniums (Ibid). —These four in a pot now standing in a 
window, will not be injured, though not separated until they arc 
planted out, provided they obtain plenty of soot-water in spring, except 
that they will scarcely bloom so soon as those that have been potted 
J separately in March and April. We turn out multitudes from their 
| cutting-pots, which contained not four, hut more likely a dozen. Hut we , 
I use them chiefly for outsides, that a round bed, for instance, may have | 
a conical appearance. 
Calceolaria Seedlings (A. II.).— The smallness of your plants was 
owing to your sowing so late as October. You have done right in moving 
them from the seed-pot in little patches. When the seedlings stand so 
thick together, they are apt to go off by shanking and damping at the 
surface. As soon as you can, however, divide these patches again, by re¬ 
moving the largest plants first, until you have thus separated the complete 
patch. This plant, from its youngest to its oldest trowing state, rather 
likes a moist atmosphere, not too hot. You do right in moving your plants 
from the pit to the greenhouse, but you must take care that they do not 
suffer in the latter place from a dry air, more than they would have done 
in the former from a moist one. To guard against this, set the pots in 
damp moss, which you have previously soaked in boiling or very hot 
water, or a few slugs may clear your pots in a single night. 
IIeatii Seed (Ibid). —This, whether the sorts he hardy or from the 
Cape of Good Hope, you cannot err in sowing as you propose in the 
spring. 
Smallest Size ov Iceberg (A Constant Reader). —This is a very 
difficult question to determine. A cone twelve feet high is probably as 
small as should he trusted to. 
Geraniums (J. D., Macclesfield ).—Geraniums taken up from the open 
borders in December should be cut down to the ripened wood, and kept 
half dry for two months at least. There is no such thing as Amaryllis 
longifolla Mu-plena that we know of. The Cape Crinum Iongifolium 
is often sent home as an Amaryllis ; if that is your bulb you may let it 
rest till March. It will do buried six inches deep in a damp bed out of 
doors, or it will do in a pot, the bulb half buried, and to have a saucer of 
water under it in May, June, and July. If we had two inches of the 
point of the leaf, we could tell you if it is what we think. 
Hyacinths (Ibid). —Unless you arc well acquainted with manure 
waters, pray do not try experiments with Hyacinths; they will do very 
well with rain or any soft water. 
Ceylon Seeds (O. L.). —2, 3, fl, 13, 14, 22, 24, 31, common balsams; 
44, coxcomb ; 45, 5fi, and fl3, arc common things from our own gardens 
taken out to Ceylon; 1, 4, 7, l£b 20, 40, arc stove climbers; 1 and 4 
would do for the new conservatory at Kcw; the others not worth much. 
The rest arc splendid trees, or shrubs, or fruiting plants, medicinal 
plants, and plants wc hardly know, and some from all climes. 18, 23, 30, 
40, 43, 4(), 47, 57, arc good old fashioned stove plants. None of these 
tropical things arc now seen but in botanic collections. Ciesulpinius, 
Indian Mimosas, teak wood, Jlixas, custard apples, Ilcdysarums, Cassias, 
&c., &c., are now out of date. 
Potting Camellias (F. W. T.).—You will find a list of Chinese 
Azaleas in the present number that will, we hope, answer your desire. 1 
Your large Camellias must not be potted till the end of July or beginning 
of August; the smaller ones pot in April, as you wish them to grow rather 
than flower. If Camellias are potted early, there is a danger of causing 
the buds to drop off by disarranging the roots. Wc have no knowledge 
of the raiser of Queen Victoria Camellia. Alberlii, Albert us, and, wc 
believe, Prince Albert, are all one variety. Pressly, not Priestly, is right. 
Indian Corn (Cordelia ).—Indian corn must have a perfectly sunny 
situation. A light and sandy soil, slightly manured, suits it the best. 
Too much manure will throw it late. Sow about the middle of April in 
