THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I drills at least three feet apart, dropping the seeds about ten inches 
apart—two or three corns in every patch. Seed nearly two inches deep. 
When the plants are four inches high, single them out to one in a patch. 
Hoeing and other cultural treatment similar to mangold wurtzel. If you 
can raise the plants in a frame, they will he earlier. They may then be 
sown in the middle of March, and well hardened off by the second week 
in May, when they must be transplanted. 
Flower-beds (J. W. G .).—The Dutch flower-garden in front of the 
greenhouse could not be better laid out or planted. The outline of the 
large bed, 8, is the only thing—we think—that any one could object to ; 
but we are quite satisfied with it, and with the way you planted every 
bed over the whole ground, and also with the covered walk. How nice 
to have the two styles of gardens in one’s place; but surely that was not 
j'our fir&t or fifth attempt at picturing, else you must have devoured 
Tub Cottage Gardener weekly from the beginning. What was put 
in 2 after the Nemophila ? almost every one has aNemophila, but do not 
say or ask what to succeed it. 
Clematis Sieboldii (J. S .).—The best soil for it is light rich sandy 
loam, on a dry bottom. If your soil is heavy put three inches of the 
decayed stuff out of the ditch over it now, and after the frost has crumbled 
it down, then, in February or March, mix it well with the soil, and in 
April turn out the clematis. With your conveniences layers of the last 
year’s wood, made in April, is the easiest way to increase it, but gardeners 
do so in various ways, as by cuttings, grafting, and inarching on the 
roots or stems of stronger sorts. The roots of C. montuna arc, perhaps, 
the best stock to graft it and the large blue one on. It is hardy enough 
to stand out near London. 
List of Hardy Evergreens (A Constant Reader ).—You request 
a list of quite hardy evergreens that will live in pots to be plunged in 
a bed for show in winter. The following are suitable for that pur¬ 
pose : the tallest for the centre, the next size in front of them, and 
the dwarfs for the front:—Alaternus (llhamnus alaternus), 2 ft.; A. 
aureus (Golden-edged), 2ft.; A. argenteus (Silver-edged), 2ft.; Arbor 
vita (Thuja orientalis), U to 3 ft.; Arbutus unedo (Strawberry-tree),3ft.; 
j Aucuba japonica, 2ft.; Bay-tree (Laurus nobilis), 2 ft.; Berbcris glu- 
; macea, 1ft.; B. aquifolia, 2 ft.; Box-tree (Buxus sempervirens), 3 ft.; 
Box-tree (Silver-edged), 2 ft.; Buxus balearica (Minorca Box), 2 ft.; 
Cistus ladaniferus (Gum C.), 2 ft.; Cistus helianthemus (Dwarf C.), 
: many varieties; Cotoneaster microphylla (Small-leaved C.), 1 ft., trailing; 
! Daphne cncorum (Trailing D.), dwarf, requires peat; Erica australis 
| (Southern Heath), 2 ft., and E. vulgaris (many varieties), dwarf, require 
I peat; Gaultheria procumbens (Trailing G.), dwarf; Hollies, striped 
! varieties, 3 ft.; Ivy, striped varieties, trailing; Lavender, 1 ft.; Oak 
| evergreen (Qucrcus ilex), 3 ft.; Rhododendrons, many varieties, 2 to 3 ft.; 
| R. ferrugir.cum (Rusty-leaved), dwarf; R. hirsutum (Hairy), dwarf; 
Rosemary, 1ft.; Ulex europcaflore pleno (Double-floweringFurze), 1 ^ft.; 
Yucca filamentosa (Thready Yucca), 1 ft.; Y. gloriosa, 3 ft. 
Covers (D. W. H .).—Before a man vents his indignation, he should 
be careful to direct it at the right offender. If you direct your bookseller 
to procure you a cover for the double volume, 1348—9, you will have that 
j which you require sent. You can return the other, or keep it for the 
double volume just concluded, as best pleases you. The Advertisements 
I are on the first and second pages of our weekly numbers, and the Go¬ 
vernment Commissioners of Stamps will not allow us to repeat them in 
the monthly parts. Your query about Clematis sieboldii is answered in 
our reply to-day to another enquirer. 
Plot of Ground near London (Rustic ).—You wish for from two 
to five acres. We do not know of any such plot.. Advertize for it. 
Mealy Bug (V., Somerset ).—All we can recommend is given at page 
15/ of our present volume. 
Back Numbers (Ibid ).—You can have all the back numbers of The 
Cottage Gardener, some having been reprinted twice, of Messrs. Orr 
and Co., 2, Amen-corner, Paternoster-row. 
Kylott’s Flour-ball Potatoe (I. N. il/., North Devon ).—We do 
not know where you can obtain this excellent variety, except of Mr. John 
I Turner, Neepsend, Sheffield. As you have written to him for it, you will 
! be certain of having a supply. The frost is probably severe there, and 
i he may not like to move them just now. We cannot help you as to 
; Himaluyah pumpkin seed. We do not know Thurston's Conqueror 
j potatoe. Can any of our readers say whether it is kidney-shaped ? 
Autumn-planting Potatoes in Devon (Ibid ).—If you planted 
late in November, we do not think that any winter in North Devon would 
induce the shoots to appear above ground. In addition to your Forty - 
j folds and York Regents , we can recommend as good storing potatoes j 
i Rylott's Flour-ball and Martin's Seedling, and the lied Ash-leaved. 
Soot and Salt for Potatoes (Ibid ).—Thirty bushels of soot and 
eight bushels of salt per acre have been used with the greatest benefit to 
potatoes. Sown over the surface and dug in just before planting, 
i Garget in Heiff.r (Joseph Burgess ).—This hardening of the udder 
is very common in young cows. Bathe it with hot water, and then rub 
in, night and morning, a piece the size of a nutmeg of the following oint¬ 
ment :—Hydrodate of potash, one drachm, rolled very fine, and mixed 
! with one ounce of spermaceti ointment. 
Newtown Pippin (A. A .).—This came from New York about the year 
1828. The true variety has been cultivated successfully in this country, 
i but it requires a wall or very favourable situation. At the mouth of the 
Tees we fear you are too far north for this apple. 
Painting Bee Hives (A Subsci'iber ).—You may paint them now, or 
[Jancart 2. ^ 
at any time in dry weather. If you refer to our indexes you will find all- 
that we have to say about flowers for bees. Nothing is better for you 
than Mignonette—keeping it longer in bloom by taking care to cut each 
stalk down as soon as it begins to form seed vessels. 
Black Barley (John Robinson). — Our correspondent, a very intelli¬ 
gent weaver, has sent us some black barley, which he says is very pro¬ 
lific. One grain produced twenty-six stems, and some of the stems bore 
eighty grains. Any one wishing for some may enclose two penny postage 
stamps and an envelope, ready directed, to John Robinson, Weaver, 
Ardslcy, near Barnsley, Yorkshire. 
Vinegar Plant (A Grateful Subscriber). —Will J. Thorpe (page 154) 
give his ‘‘exact mode of preparing the vinegar for pickling; is it put 
on hot; and in what proportions ? " 
Pine-apple Seed (F. W. T.). —Certainly pine-apples produce seed, 
and they are contained in the pips of the outer rind. They are small, 
dark brown, and not unlike those of the Siberian Crab. A few years ago, 
Mr. Barnes sowed three seeds of an Enville pine, given to him by Lady i 
Rolle. They were sown in lightish turfy loam, mixed with a little charcoal, 
well drained in a 7-hich pot, filled to within an inch of the top. The seeds 
were placed near the centre, upon the soil, and covered 3-8ths of an inch 
deep with the same kind of soil, mixed with a little charcoal dust and 
sharp sand, to prevent its binding. The pot was plunged to the rim, at 
front of the fruiting pines, in the stove, in a very moderate heat of barely i 
80° at that time, and the atmospheric heat kept about 60 ° or barely so ■ 
much. The surface of the soil was covered with a bell-glass. The seeds 
quickly vegetated, and the seedlings were above the surface like sturdy 
grass plants, in the course of twenty days from the time of sowing. They 
were pricked into tliumb-pots, making use of the same kind of soil, rather 1 
sandy and open with charcoal, the thumb-pots placed each inside another ! 
pot, filled with porous rooty soil, and then plunged to the rim again in the j 
same situation, under a bell-glass; watering and giving air as they re¬ 
quired it, dispensing with the glass altogether as they became established, 
and shifting them into larger pots when necessary. By the month of 
March, in the following spring, they were become sturdy plants, with 
leaves 5 or 6 inches in length, thick and fleshy, and were placed amongst 
the other succession plants. They differed materially from each other, 
and not one resembled their parent, the true Enville variety, either in 
countenance, colour, or habit, of plant or foliage. Each plant fruited 
within two years and a half from the time of sowing the seed, producing 
pretty, sizeable, well-swelled fruit, and were spoken of as being high 
flavoured, but differing iu size and shape from each other ; one only was 
of a pyramidal shape, similar to the Enville, but not in colour, and the ! 
other two were somewhat oval shaped. There was, at the time the parent j 
Enville was in bloom, in the same house, some Queens, a Black Jamaica, i 
and a Green Olive. We cannot account for the hybridising which j 
certainly did take place, farther than the bee had free access at the time ! 
of ventilation. 
Port Natal (Ibid). —Let your friend who travels so far into the inte- ! 
rior send you seeds of anything that may strike him as beautiful. That j 
is the only direction to give to a no-botanist. Tell him, however, to look 
out for the Yellow Geranium. One is found somewhere in the interior. 
Let him send slips and rooted plants ; some of one or other may arrive ! 
alive. 
Nf.wly-grubbed Wood (J. D., Wortley). —This probably will make 
excellent garden-ground. It will be quite fit for cropping next year 
without manure of any kind. 
Sugar Beer (Prester John). —In making this according to the recipe \ 
in No. 116 , the sugar is not boiled in the water with the hops. The hop- . 
liquor is strained on to the sugar whilst boiling hot, and stirred until ! 
dissolved. 
Sawdust for Potatoes (J. B. C .). — When Mr. Turner recom¬ 
mended sawdust “ not from resinous wood,” we presume that he merely 
reported what his own practice justified ; but we know of no theoretical 
reason against using the sawdust of the fir tribe. In using lime for pota- i 
toes, at any season, it should be slacked, sown over the surface, and dug j 
in just before planting. The White nettle , although not so difficult to 
exterminate as the Common nettle, yet has a perennial creeping root not 
certainly killed by being turned into the soil. 
Tobacco (J. G.).—' The mode of drying this you will find at page 3/4 
of cur 4tli vol., and its culture at page 316 of vol. 2. 
Flower-bed Shapes (S. W.). —The suggestions made as follows by 
our correspondent are good, and will answer several queries:—“ I lately ! 
heard of some ladies, remarkable for good taste, having selected the 
prettiest formed pieces of ginger as models for their flower-beds, and that I 
the effect was extremely good. I am adopting a similar plan, and find it 
to answer my wishes exactly. If the selection is good, and the curves 
elegantly formed, a nondescript kind of figure has a less formal and more 
pleasing effect than the hearts, diamonds, circles, crosses, stars, and 
other kindred shapes so frequently seen. I was told, however, a few • 
days ago, that a star-shaped bed of Anemones has a strikingly good 
effect.” Pray conquer your dislike for letter writing, and let us hear 
from you again. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kulendar; and Published by William j 
Somerville Oiir, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of | 
Christ Church, City of London.—January 2nd, 1851. 
