THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[January 80. 
28‘2 
and sticking them on whilst warm ; pieces of an inch long, and half an 
inch deep, will be quite large enough. 
Walks (G. Porcher). —The best chalk marl is not strong enough to 
make a good concrete walk. It would make a tolerably good bottom 
layer of two or three inches, with rough stones, for a four or six-inch 
walk, and so lessen the expense where chalk is not at hand; but lime is 
by far the cheapest for making the concrete, as one measure of it will do 
to twelve measures of rough gravel. 
Seeds (A. D .).—We cannot recognise the seeds from Valparaiso, but 
we shall sow them, and let you hear if we can make out what the plants 
are. 
Flower-garden (A Novice).— Your garden in front of the green¬ 
house looks well, but it is not in the geometric style as you said. 1 is 
the best for the Scarlet Geraniums'; 7 for the Heliotrope ; 4, Fuchsia glo- 
bulosa or Lobelia bicolor, with a Fuchsia in the centre; 8 and 9, Scarlet j 
Verbenas; 5, Cupheas, Strigilosa in the middle, and edged with platy- j 
centra ; 6, strong Pink Verbenas ; 10 or 11, or both, with Salvia fulgens ; j 
2 and3, mixed Petunias; Pansies round 4, and Lobelia fulgens would do | 
for the centre of 4 instead of a fuchsia. 
Flower-garden (L. M. N .).—Your plan does very well for the situa- j 
tion, and “your ideas” are quite in conformity with the fashion of the j 
day. There is no good real lilac verbena for a bed. You could, perhaps, I 
gather a nosegay of lilac ones ; but when spread out in a bed, what with 
the leaves, grass, or gravel, the colour is neutralized. You ought to have 
the Duchess of Northumberland, or Miller’s Favourite Verbena for 5. 
The rest just as you propose ; but for 9, Lobelia racemosa would be a 
great improvement, or gracilis, only that it will not last quite so long in 
the autumn. 6 is Muerocarpa , not Eccremocarpa. 
Heaths, Large, Flowering in July (Sigma). —Erica aitoniania, 
ampullacea, bergiana, arenthioides, depressa, Cavendishii, Eweuana, in- 
fundibuliformis, Irugana, mirabilis, vestita coccinea, ventricosa coccinea 
minor. Averaging 2s. each. 
Twelve Good Greenhouse Plants (Ibid).— -Acrophyllum venosum, 
Aotus gracillimus, Aphelexis macrantha purpurea, Boronia serrulata, 
Chironia pinnata, C. glutinosa, Chorozema nana, Crowea saligna, 
Eriostemon intermedium, E. scabrum, Hovea cclsii, Polygala oppo- 
sitifolia. 
Greenhouse Creepers Suitable for a Trellis (Ibid ).—Gom- 
pholobium polymorphum, Rhjmcospermum jasminioides. We trust 
these selections will suit you, in addition to those you already have. 
Various ( E. W., Hoxton).— The season for pruning Catalpa syringoe- 
folia is the middle of March. Ivy may be planted any time from Sep¬ 
tember till April. Cuttings will root, but they are two or three years before 
they make much growth. Your question about Arums is a wide one. 
There are plants of that tribe found in the hottest, temperate, and 
coldest parts of the globe. If, as we suspect, you mean the large white- 
flowered Arum (Calla cetliiopica), a window plant, you must procure 
roots (as it seldom produces perfect seeds), and pot them in March. 
Rosa indie a, a China rose, will grow and flower in your ordinary garden 
if you make the border dry, and mix leaf-mould with the soil freely, pro¬ 
tecting the young shoots with fern tied loosely round the young ones. 
Instructions in Gardening ( Scrutator ).—We can assure you that 
there is no royal road to a knowledge of gardening. A lad to acquire 
such knowledge must be employed in a garden where he can participate 
in and observe all the requisite operations, from the most difficult 
departments of forcing down to the mere hard labour of the kitchen beds. 
It is thus, and only thus, that he can acquire a knowledge of the practical 
part of his business. Let him have a general knowledge of botany, 
chemistry, and geometric drawing, and then all that is taught in 
books,—every new plant under cultivation imparts knowledge which he 
knows how to benefit by in actual gardening. Practice with science 
enables the cultivation of the soil to be carried to its greatest perfection, 
but practice is the first power to be acquired. Your hint, however, shall 
be kept in view. 
Ornamental Gardening (Sigma). — “There is one department 
connected with gardening on which you have not yet treated—that which 
relates to the embellishing the grounds of a mansion on a large scale, as 
regards the shrubberies, the woods, and park. The view from a house is 
one of the most important considerations connected with it. The house 
should be adapted to the ground which lies around it, and the ground to 
the house. I have often thought, that were I ever to build a mansion, or 
a cottage, I should like to employ a scientific gardener and an architect 
together, in order that they might select the best spot and the best style 
of building for the situation, or for what the situation might be made. 
I believe the late Mr. Loudon undertook to build a house and lay out the 
grounds about it himself : has his mantle not fallen on any other shoul¬ 
ders ? If a man wants to erect a nice house, and to make the most of 
the adjacent land, he had best proceed on a good plan from the first, in 
respect to both his objects. .1 should like to hear you discuss this subject. 
Connected with it in some degree is another point I would fain seek 
counsel on. Suppose a humble cottager wants to lay out his acre, or two 
or three acres, immediately around his house, to the greatest advantage— 
just a lawn, a small shrubbery or two, and a flower and kitchen-garden,— 
this would not be a matter sufficiently grand to call in a Loudon about; 
but a cottager so circumstanced might be very willing to give any scien¬ 
tific man five or ten pounds for counsel bestowed on such a plot of 
ground, merely to gratify his taste, leaving profit out of the consideration. 
Now, where is he to seek such counsel ? Probably you would not like to 
recommend any one by name, but you might give a hint as to the proper 
track in which to seek for such aid.” It is quite true, that we have 
avoided entering either into dissertations upon the embellishments de¬ 
sirable for grounds around a mansion, as well as into offering plans for 
villa gardens, and for the cogent reason, that general rules are to be 
found in every book upon landscape gardening, and specific plans can 
only be recommended after a survey of the places requiring them. We 
have no doubt that the mantle of Loudon has fallen upon other shoul¬ 
ders, and that there are many who are very capable of furnishing the aid 
you require ; indeed, we have seen their advertisements, and our columns 
are open to them. 
Allotment Ground (Ibid). —Two acres well managed as ground to 
grow food for a cow and pigs, ought to afford profitable employment for 
your man at twelve shillings per week. 
Dressing for Pasture Land (J.E.B.). —How can we tell'you 
“ what is the proper and cheapest dressing for your pasture,” unac¬ 
quainted as we are with the soil and what manures you can procure. 
There is generally nothing better than decomposed stable manure, with 
a little gypsum and dissolved bones. Of your wood ashes, you may apply 
forty or fifty bushels per acre in March, sowing them broadcast over the 
field. They are an excellent top-dressing for grass land. 
Ageratum Mexicanum (Lancelot).t-We repeat, there is no white 
variety of this. The list you mention as being in Tiir Cottage Gar¬ 
dener’s Dictionary, are of species of which three bear white flowers. 
We are not aware that any of these are used for bedding out. In plant¬ 
ing a round bed of Geraniums , the best mode is to plant iu circles, 
beginning at the top. Onions ought not to be grown on the same plot 
every year. It is useless for you to send a plan of your garden before 
next September. Answers to your other queries next week. You can 
have the copy of Tiie Cottage Gardener you name, by sending/owr 
postage stamps, as all the stamped copies arc sold. 
Potato Planting (Car toff el — Jersey).^- Your grass field dug up last 
April, cropped with parsnips, and now trenched, may be planted with 
potatoes without any additional manure. We should plant immediately, 
but as the ground is heavy, the very Avorst for potatoes, we should dig 
the ground into ridges, and plant along their top. 
Bokhara Clover (W. C. G.). —It is a biennial, and, in favourable 
soils and seasons, reaches the second year to the height of ten feet or 
more. It may be cut monthly, both the first and second year, as soon 
as it is eighteen inches high; but even then it is coarse, and not relished 
by cattle of any kind. Sow thinly in drills in the spring, two feet apart, 
and keep the hoe going between the toavs. We do not knoAv the direction 
of the manufacturer of the Compound Carbonised Animal Manure , but 
our columns are open to his advertisements. Peat charcoal is sold in 
London at about per ton. Do not manure your potatoes ; plant 
them on a plot already fertile. 
Carrots (Causidicus). —If you trench your light soil two spades deep, 
and turn in a little stable manure with the bottom spit, you will probably 
obtain a good crop. Sow the Long Horn carrot, if you require them for 
table use; or the Altringham, if you require them large and for sale. 
Sow in drills eight inches apart for the Horn variety, and tAvelve inches 
apart for the Altringham. See what is said about them in the next num¬ 
ber of The Cottage Gardener's Dictionary. 
Begonia Fuciisioides (A Subscriber). —You will find full directions 
for the culture of this and other species of Begonia, at page 172 of our 
last volume. 
Poultry and Bees (.4 Subscriber, Cottesmore). —Buy Richardson 
on Poultry, a new edition just publishing, and Payne's Bee-Keeper's 
Guide. 
Rustic Baskets (Anna Maria). —We have no drawings of these, but 
we will look out for some. 
Kohl-rubi (H. Badcocke). —Sec an editorial to-day. 
Trisecting an Acute Angle (W.Burgess). —We know of no reivard 
for doing this. 
Lawn (E. S. M.). —It is useless for you to fight against the worms ; 
you may destroy a few, but their places Avill soon be supplied by others. 
Rolling frequently, sieving lime rubbish as you propose, and a mixture 
of the grasses as recommended at page 234, will be your best mode of 
improvement. Your only mode of getting rid of Couch grass and Con¬ 
volvulus, is to have the ground carefully forked over, employing boys to 
Avatch the fork, and to pick out every fragment they see it throAvs out of 
the underground runners, usually, but erroneously, called roots. I-Ioiv- 
cver careful they may be, fragments will remain, and each piece will 
produce a plant; therefore, grow a crop in drills, Avith Avide intervals, 
that Avill permit war to be Avaged against them with the hoe. It is only 
by patiently pursuing this course for two or three years, that you can 
subdue these enemies in your neglected soil. Your old walls, full of nail 
holes, we should have pointed all over Avith good mortar, and when this 
is quite dry painted over with coal tar. This will destroy all the vermin. 
Draining, liming, and frequent hoeing, arc the best subduers of slugs. 
Your old pear-trees we should, by degrees, graft Avith better sorts. Scrape 
off the moss from their barks, and scrub them with brine. 
Forcing Sea-kale and Mushrooms (J. C.). —The temperature of 
your cellar, 45°, is not high enough. 6o° will not be too hot, and you 
may use a stove for such a purpose without any injury. This is all you 
need. Do not remove straivberry plants merely because barren one year. 
If they are so a second, then destroy them. 
Poultry Feeding (A Poultry Fancier). —If your poultry have ground 
to roam over, they require a handful of corn to three fowls twice a day in 
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