February 0.J 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
as sage tea. It is made thus:—Put a handful of sage 
leaves into a teapot, pom - boiling water on it, and let it stand 
close by the fire for half an hour. Drink it when in bed, 
and whilst it is quite hot. Repeat the dose for a night or 
two, and your cold will most likely have disappeared. In 
order to make the sage tea more palatable, a few leaves of 
lemon thyme may be added. 
Pennyroyal is also a most useful herb, and must be used 
in the same way. There are, I believe, many wild herbs 
which are most valuable for their medicinal properties, but 
as I am not sufficiently master of the subject to write “ know¬ 
ingly ” about them, I must leave them to their fate, merely 
mentioning one which I know from experience to be very 
serviceable in cases of coughs and delicate lungs—this is 
the ground ivy. It is found in almost every hedge, and 
must be steeped in boiling water, and then allowed to get 
cold. It should be drunk the first thing in the morning, 
and if it is thickened with a little honey, may be sipped (with 
much benefit) during the day when the cough is trouble¬ 
some. How often when a poor little child has a sufficiently 
bad cough to keep its mother awake at night, is “ some¬ 
thing ” bought at the shop for it, which certainly lulls the 
cough, and gives the mother a good night; but it is done at 
the risk of the child’s future comfort, for it merely stops the 
cough during the time the child is stupefied. If medicine 
has to be resorted to, the medical man, the clergyman, or 
some kind neighbour who understands the nature of drugs, 
should be consulted. Look at the squallid miserable ap¬ 
pearance the poor children in most towns present! I have 
heard doctors say, that generally speaking, this wretched¬ 
ness is caused by their parents so continually giving them, 
feeding them almost, on “ a drop of something soothing.” 
If they only remembered wdiat a store of misery they were 
laying up for them, in thus training them, as it w - ere, to 
dram drinking, they would pause before they brought their 
children up to certain unhappiness in this world, and (unless 
they turned to Him who always is waiting to receive sinners), 
to eternal misery hereafter. A very efficacious remedy for 
the cough of a child, is to slice a common turnip rather thin, 
and over it to sprinkle brown sugar ; let it stand for a few 
hours with a saucer pressed down on it, and the syrup which 
has run from it will be found very soothing to the chest, if 
sipped frequently. To those who propose and give medicine 
to the poor, the following receipt will be found useful, par¬ 
ticularly for old people: —One tablespoonful of honey, one 
of vinegar; let it stand by the fire till it is well mixed, and 
then add CO drops of ipecacuanha wine, and 20 drops of 
laudanum ; take a teaspoonful night and morning, or oftener 
if the cough is very troublesome. How often in the case of 
accidents by fire is time lost, by the neighbours not knowing 
how to act, and waiting till the medical man arrives. If it 
is remembered that the very best thing to be done when any¬ 
one has received a burn or a scald, is to lay on the part that 
is injured a thick coating of cotton wool or wadding, so as 
to completely exclude the air, much future pain is avoided, 
and the recovery is more rapid and certain than if several 
of the old-fashioned remedies had been tried, such as scraped 
potato, turnip, d c., which although they ease the pain for the 
moment, yet do no permanent good. A capital domestic 
remedy for a severe cut are the leaves of the common white 
lily; they should be steeped in brandy for some weeks, ready 
for use, and then a leaf bound tightly round the wound. 
For an ear-ache, toast an onion thoroughly, take the heart 
out, put it into a piece of fiannol and insert it in the ear, 
having previously put a few drops of hot water into the ear. 
Bad strains or bruises are much eased by fomentations, 
either of poppy heads or chamomile boiled in water, or 
plain water alone, only taking care that it is as hot as the 
hand can bear. A Friend, 
ECONOMY—BROWN'S FUMIGATOR. 
I use a quarter of a pound of shag tobacco to fumigate my 
greenhouse, 14 ft. by 10 ft. Cost, Is. After fumigating, pour 
four separate half-pints of boiling water into the copper 
furnace where the tobacco has been placed, turn the handle 
smartly, the tobacco dust with the oil will instantly be re¬ 
moved from the interior, and the inside will immediately be 
297 ' 
dry. The quart of decoction or infusion of tobacco will I 
make three quarters of a gallon of strong tobacco water, ; 
worth the first cost of the tobacco, to any person who has | 
wall-fruit trees, roses, &c., for destroying the green fly. 
Care should be taken to use a glazed earthen vessel for 
pouring the decoction; if wood be used, it will smell of 
tobacco for weeks.—R osea. 
FUEL ECONOMY. 
In common with several other gardening periodicals, I ! 
read your very excellent work, in my estimation, so superior j 
to any other of the same class in point of sterling informa¬ 
tion, as to put them completely in the shade ; but there is 
one point on which I think I can enlighten a great number 
of your readers. Are you aware that the inhabitants of 
South Wales are in the practice of economising their coals 
to an immense extent by mixing clay and small coals toge¬ 
ther; about one-third clay to two-thirds coals, or as many 
coals as the clay will combine with ? By this means, the 
cottagers keep in their fires day and night, for a whole 
winter, with one ton of small coals. The fire once made up, 
will keep in for 24 hours. It is particularly applicable for 
greenhouse fires, either with flues or hot water, as the com¬ 
bustion is slow and steady. The only care to be observed 
in using it is to combine the clay and coals intimately toge¬ 
ther—the better way is by trampling,—also, that the fires 
are not disturbed by poking. —Taffy. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of j 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener , 2, Amen Corner , Paternoster Row , London.” 
N.B.—We have to apologise to many correspondents for being pre¬ 
vented, unavoidably, answering their queries this week. 
Yellow Cacti (M. D. P.). —These require similar treatment to the 
red sorts. If we knew which division of cacti you refer to, we should be 
able to give a more definite answer. 
Cantua Bicolor (Ibid). — We are not quite sure whether it is, 
strictly, a greenhouse plant. Wc suspect that you mean Gilia corotiopi- 
folia, or aggregata, both of which are biennials, requiring to be sown in 
summer, potted off, and established before winter, and kept in the 
greenhouse all that season. They require sandy loam and peat. 
Cinerarias showing Flower (J. M. F.). —We are afraid these will 
disappoint you for exhibiting in May, as for that purpose you should 
have kept them cool, and grown them on by shifting them. If you have 
no others to fall back upon, cut, or pick, the flowering stems out within 
an inch or two of their base ; give manure water, when water is required, 
until they begin to push again, when you may shift them into one size 
larger pots. They will thus give you a nice head of bloom, but the indi¬ 
vidual steins will not be so fine as if they had been unstopped. Whilst 
on the subject, we may as well mention that from large pots the plants 
and flowers are not, generally, equally good in proportion to the size used. 
When grown to ornament the greenhouse and sitting-room, six-inch 
pots are large enough for the former, and four and five-inch pots for the 
latter. 
Flower-beds (Lanceolet ).—The white Matricaria will make a bed 
certainly if you like it. We never use it. Petunias “ will get broken ” 
by the winds and rains, as wc have stated frequently, unless they are 
managed as we always insisted on. See the back volumes. 
Moon’s Victory (Ibid). —“ Moon’s Victory” was certainly not dull, 
and the Geranium of that name is the very brightest of the bright varie¬ 
ties ; but we never recommend it for a bed—it is not a bedder by any 
means—only fit for a mixed border, and one of the best for that mode of 
growing. 
Verbenas and Heliotropes (Ibid). —Any of the Verbenas will 
grow with the Heliotrope, as well as the Duchesse d’Aumale, but not for 
the same effect as we obtain by that mixture. 
Geraniums (II. S. W.). —“Which are the two best and showiest 
fancy geraniums for planting out ? ” Who can tell ? Can you or any of 
your friends tell us the best pattern for a lady’s dress for next summer ? 
She is full height, not stout, nor bowed in the shoulders; her hair is 
dark, brown eyes, and a light complexion. The easiest way to get out of 
such difficult matters is to give three patterns, and we shall name the 
three best Geraniums we kntfw. 1 1 Diadematum rubescens; 2, Diade- 
matumj and 3, Lady Mary Fox; but which of the three is the best, or 
which are the best two of them, wc cannot at this moment determine. 
