262 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[January 23. 
No. 2. Very pretty, and very difficult to manage, but we cannot alter a 
single bed out of more than thirty. We cannot make out 12. Do you peg 
it down ? Rouge etNoir would better match 22 than the one you have 
in 21. 
Bee-feeding {S. V.). —Mr. Payne in his usual calendar will give a 
description of a bee-feeder for the top of a straw hive. The best kind of 
food certainly is honey; next to that is 1 lb. of lump-sugar, £ pint of 
water, and 4 oz. of honey, boiled for two minutes ; but feeding with 
barley sugar is far less troublesome, and equally good for the bees. It is 
better not to prevent the bees from coming out, except when snow lies 
upon the ground. You may easily grow both canary and hemp seed for 
your birds. Sow in March. 
Apricot Shedding Fruit (T. G.). —Your apricot goes on satis¬ 
factorily “ until the time of ripening, and then sheds its fruit, on 
examining which you find a speck on the stone.” Surely your tree must 
be easily affected by drought, which during the last swelling of the fruit 
would produce the effect you describe. Try a mulching and thorough 
watering when the stoning is nearly completed. 
Training to Studs ( Clericus , Nottinghamensis) .—You find this 
chafes the branches, though you have used soft string. We have used 
strips of lead, and, twisted tight, we do not find the branches chafe. It 
is tying loosely, which allows motion, that causes chafing; but Mr. 
Errington says, “ I am not assured that this is the ‘ sole objection ’ to 
the training to studs or nails. The loss of heat is so considerable by 
the greater amount of detachment in the shoots from the wall, that here 
(Cheshire) we were compelled to give up the idea some years since.” 
Vines Overcropped ( Constant Reader , Birmingham) .—Your “job¬ 
bing gardeners” have made a sad job of your vinery. Like many other 
new vineries, they have been too greedily loaded with fruit a great fault 
with young vines. We much doubt, too, the character of the border: 
perhaps too much manure in the compost. If so, a little “ bounce ” for 
a year or two is ill repaid by a progressive falling away. You must see 
to the border, and prune closely where immaturity is perceived in the 
shoots. Perhaps you will have to write again. 
Camellia Buds Dropping ( Leicester ).—Your plants are very 
healthy, and you do not think they are in want of water. Is the drainage 
all right ? because when the flower is just opening, a very dry or a clammy 
saturated soil would produce the effect complained about. We almost 
incline to think from your, description that the plants are too dry. If 
the drainage is all right, to make sure of the whole ball being saturated 
it would be well to set the pot in a tub of water of about 60 °, and let it 
drain afterwards. Manure water will be of benefit afterwards, but not 
strong. Give also plenty of air. 
Flower-garden ( One who loves a Garden ).—Your two plans are 
capitally planted, and plan No. I is very well laid out; plan No. 2 looks 
the prettiest on paper, but the laying out is on a wrong principle, and 
here is the proof: bed No. 1 is the tallest, and looking at it from any 
point round the garden, you cannot see what is beyond it, therefore 
what comes between the eye and it, all round, should agree with it, either 
in contrasted colours or height of plants. Looking across 12 and 6 in 
September, you have the only view in the whole design which gives the 
graduated heights and good contrasts. The outside plants all round 
from 12 to 13, are too high for those in 3, 4, 5, and in 7, 8, 9, so that to 
make the best of this design, No. 1 should be the lowest, and of mixed 
plants, to keep it of a neutral tint. If it could be seen from above, your 
own planting would be best. Many thanks for your brevity. 
Flower-beds {Adeline). —You misunderstood the notice aboutflower- 
gardens, we did not say that we would fill up a single bed, much less a 
design ; we only criticise designs already planted before our eye, as you 
see in the notice next above; all that we can say is, that the shapes of 
your beds are very good. The canary plant is the common annual 
climber, Tropusolum canariensis, as easy to get from seeds as mignonette, 
either in heat, or in the open borders. It is best to sow it in a warm 
frame at the end of March, and as soon as it is up an inch or two to 
remove it to a cooler place. 
Worms in Pots {One, fyc .).—A watering or two with lime-water or 
weak soot-water would be disagreeable to them, but the most effectual 
way is to turn the balls out of the pots occasionally, and search for them. 
Colouring Rock Work (C. A. W .).—There is no more secrecy in 
giving any tint of colour to artificial rock work, than to a street door. 
We have stood by the side of Mr. Gay, the eminent rock work artist, who 
coloured, and we believe, arranged the rock work you name, by the hour, 
and saw all his process from first to last. We have also stood by the side 
of the highest artist in rock work among our high nobility, directing a 
country bricklayer to fashion large lumps of brickwork into “ artificial 
stone,” which we have afterwards seen to puzzle good geologists, and 
from an early acquaintance with rocks, not to be imitated; we should 
say October is the best time in our climate to colour artificial rock, 
for this reason, that while the colours were yet fresh, the most minute 
lichens and mosses which inhabit the rocks, if native among us, are 
easily fastened to the surface, at the best time of the year for transplanting 
them, and so give the “rock work” at once a stamp of antiquity. 
Cement and the common colours of the painters, with proper stains, also 
from the paint shop, are all the mystery; the effects produced are 
according to the skill of the directing genius. 
Porch {J. R. P.). —Plant Princess Maria, and Felicite Perpetuelle, 
climbing evergreen roses, and they will soon cover it. 
Blighted Cherry (An Inquirer). —It is very evident we were right 
in requesting a more definite explanation, because it is now from your 
explanation certain that what you call blight is canker. “ The young 
shoots die away.” We have often seen similar cases, and in every in- i 
stance have found that it arose from the roots being in stagnant water. ; 
Your garden probably requires draining. We know of no remedy against 
the caterpillar of Mamestra olcracea. Frequent hoeing and sprinkling a 
little gas lime round the plants might be effectual. The Forget-me-not 
for your garden should be obtained from the fields ; any common garden j 
soil will suit it, and you may plant it now. Verbena cuttings treated as j 
recommended at page 352 of our last volume, will not be lost as com- ! 
plained. 
Cucumber Seed {J. T. C.). —You may obtain Latter’s Victory, j 
Victory of Bath, and Duncan’s Victory, of any of the seedsmen who j 
advertise in our columns. You cannot make Gas Ammoniucal Liquor in 
the way you propose. 
Grasses for a Light Soil {Subscriber). —In laying down your 
I pasture on a light soil resting upon magnesian limestone, we should sow j 
barley by the drill this spring, and then previously to rolling Alopecurus ' 
pratensis , 1 lb.; Dactylis glomerata, 3 lbs.; Festuca duriuscula, elatior, J 
pratensis, and rubra, 2 lbs. each; Lolium italicum, 5lbs. ; L. perenne, | 
8 lbs.; Phleurn prat erne , 1 lb.; Poa nemoralis, sempervirens, anil pra- 
tensis , 1 lb. each ; Medicago lupulina , 1 lb.; Trifolium jjrutense, 1 lb.; 
T. pratense perenne, 2 lbs.; T. repens , 4 lbs. 
Charcoal for Disinfecting {Clericus Ru&ticus). —There must be 
something wrong in the arrangement of your tank for liquid-manure. | 
The one we know constantly in use has all choking prevented by the pipe i 
discharging itself into a very open wire basket, which retains all solids, j 
Any charcoal will act as a disinfector, even common wood charcoal. 
Stopper Fixed in Decanter {J. W.B.). —Dip the neck into hot 
water, or coil a piece of string once round the neck, and draw it rapidly 
backwards and forwards until it becomes very hot; this will make the 
neck expand and release the stopper. 
Lamp in Greenhouse {H. P .).—A small oil lamp in your greenhouse 
will not produce a sufficient amount of gas to be injurious to your plants, 
but we should enclose it so as to render the place dark at night, for light 
is stimulating to plants. The Club moss and the cutting are ready for 
you, but we have received neither your direction nor the stamps. We 
do not know any one who would supply you with fern spores. 
Fuchsia Sucker (T. M. W .).—Stop it to make it branch, and then 
let it grow. 
Lilium Lancifolum {J. Newman).—Lilium album is white; punc- 
tatum , white and spotted ; omentum, crimson ; roseum, pink ; and 
rubrum , red; they are all beautiful, so select the colours which best 
please you, 
Salt and Soot for Potatoes {A Subscriber). —The salt and soot 
may be mixed at the time they are required to be applied. The frost 
will not cut off your potatoe tops, unless we have unusually late frosts, if 
you do not plant until February. It is only slightly injurious for the 
tops to be frost-bitten, if they have only just appeared aboveground. 
The stems come up and leaves are formed again. 
Fuchsia Sowing {A. W.). —Sow in March or April in a sandy soil on 
a gentle hotbed, with a bottom-heat of 70 °; no water is required until 
the seedlings are above ground, then water gently, and give air freely, or 
they will damp off. When they have their second leaves, prick them 
out five together in a 5-inch pot. At the next potting, put them singly 
into 2^-inch pots, and afterwards you may put them into larger pots, or J 
plant them in your borders. The three first volumes of The Cottage ! 
Gardener may still be had, bound in cloth, at 6s. 6d. per volume. Any j 
wholesale dealer ought to supply you with glass, not larger than six | 
inches by four, at three-halfpence per foot, in quantities not less than 1 
one hundred feet. 
Himalayah Pumpkin Seed.—A ny one requiring these, may send an 
envelope, ready directed, with two postage stamps, to Mr. C. Stevens, 
Box 472, Post-office, Bristol. We shall be glad to hear the result of 
your potato practice. 
Solubility of Earths in Water {Rev. C. A. A. Lloyd).— Liebig 
(page 87) states that precipitated silica possesses a certain degree of solu- 1 
I bility even in pure water; and at page 88, he states that water distilled in j 
| glass vessels dissolves a portion of their earthy matter. But in soils, we 
have not to deal with pure water; and whoever will take the trouble to 
analyze drainage water, will find not only saline, but siliceous and alumi- : 
nous matters in them. “ That silex is dissolved in water by processes of i 
nature can scarcely be doubted, since it is found in considerable quan- j 
tities in a crystallized form.”— Henry's Elements of Chemistry, i. 255. 
Hardy Flower Culture {S. P., Rushmere ).—Thanks for your 
suggestion. We are aware of the many cottages springing up in almost 
every county, in connection with Building Societies ; and we will en- ; 
deavour to have a series of articles on hardy herbaceous plants, and other ! 
things that grow readily in our borders. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, | 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Our, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London.—January 23rd, 1851. 
