208 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Your flower-garden next week. It is quite original. Do the circles all 
meet at the edges ? You show some that may and some not. You have 
room enough to give another new feature—but try it first on paper. 
Exactly in the middle between every two circles, and nearer to the walk, 
draw a triangle, with one point directed to the centre between two beds; 
a quadrant would be a better shape with the sharp point turned to the 
centre between the beds. Then repeat the same figure on the opposite 
side of the circles, and let us hear how you like the whole. 
Orchids ( A New Beginner ).—You have got a treasure in Cattleya 
superba. It is a handsome species, and very scarce. Take it out of the 
pot, and fix it to a piece of cork wood, with the bark on it, in the manner 
Mr. Appleby describes. Do this at once, as it will soon be putting forth 
new roots, and a fresh shoot. After it is fixed, cut it through the rhi- 
zoma, or shoot to which the bulbs are attached. Let the cut be made 
two bulbs behind the leading one. It will then, and not before, nor 
afterwards if not cut, make a new shoot immediately behind the cut. 
The other three orchids you mention arc not worth growing. 
Stove Climbers (Loggerhead) .—Considering the size of your stove, 
you could not do better than have narrow boxes next to the windows 
filled with rich earth for your climbers. They would fill the space you 
allot to them sufficiently without the pits you allude to. Your selection 
of the kinds is a good one, excepting Dipladenia crassinoda , M’hich is 
in ore fit for pot culture, and training to a trellis. The Passiflora quad - 
rangularis would be more suitable. 
Anemone Sowing (Jane). —Sow anemone seed in April : cover 
slightly. Anemone hortense sow in pans, under glass, in a cold frame. 
Increase by division, as by seed is uncertain. The half-inch covering you 
allude to was an oversight. 
Protecting Fruit Blossom (Ibid). —Fruit-trees against walls are 
best protected by canvass covers fixed to a roller, let down at night, and 
drawn up again in the morning. Woollen netting with close meshes is 
a good substitute. It should not be close to the tree, but at least five 
inches from it. 
Grass (Ellen Reed). —If the grass of your lawn is made up of the 
ebarse species and varieties, it would be as rational to ask, “ if there is 
anything that can be used” to change the colour of the Ethiopian, as to 
change the nature of the smallest blade of those grasses. Constant 
mowing and rolling will keep the grass, so far fine, and nothing besides. 
Daisy rakes will carry off daisy flowers, but daisy flowers are as harmless 
to grass as butterflies; daisy leaves and roots do the mischief, and no 
rake can reach them without injuring the grass also. 
Verbenas (Ibid). —These do not group with geraniums in the same 
bed. We advised only one kind of verbena to be planted with helio¬ 
trope, but any of the strong ones will grow as well. We are not aware 
of any better verbenas than those we named last season, but we shall 
inquire. We have discarded the Voltaire heliotrope from the flower- 
garden, for looking every morning of the season as if frost-bitten the 
night before, and we have no experience of it from seeds. All the best 
bedding plants from seeds or cuttings, with culture, propagation, height, 
colour, and habit, arc given in our two last volumes. 
Arbutus (K .).—A bush of Arbutus, a yard in diameter, and three 
yards high, can easily be removed next August, or as soon as you can 
count the flower-buds, which is the true criterion for the best time for 
transplanting. It must be carefully prepared this spring, however, for 
the change, and we arc in daily expectation of a long promised account 
of a novel mode of preparing such plants, from one of our contributors. 
Names of Plants. —1. Teucrium marum —Cat-tliymc. 2. Myrtus 
communis , var. tarentina —the Box-leaved, as near as we can judge from 
the small bit sent. 3. Mathiola tristis —commonly called the Night- 
scented Stock. 4. Lysimachia numniularia —commonly called Money¬ 
wort. 5. Tremandra verticillata. 6. Aphelexis proliferum. 7. Ade- 
nundra frugruns. 8. Uncertain. Send us a specimen when in flower. 
9. Solly a heterophylla. 10. Lysimachia ephemerum —the Willow¬ 
leaved Loose-strife. 11 . Ruscus hypoglossum — Tongue-leaved Butcher’s 
Broom. 12. Leaf of hardy herbaceous plant so broken that we could not 
make it out. Send us a specimen when in bloom, with a flower-leaf too. 
13. Sempervinum tortuosum —the Gouty House-leek. U. Ccreus fla - 
gelliformis —Creeping Ccreus. 15. Aloe variegata — Partridge Breast 
Aloe. The insect is the common cockchafer. 
Pig-stye (B. J .).—If large enough it would convert into a greenhouse, 
but we know nothing of what it is constructed. 
Concrete Walks (J. S.).— Gas lime will not do for these. Various 
shades of blue would appear on the walks, it would not bind, and it would 
kill all your box^edging. 
Scarlet Geraniums (F. II.).— A row of these may be planted in the 
front of your standard roses on the bank before your drawing-room win¬ 
dow. Answers to other questions next week. 
Draining Land (A Constant Subscriber). —Cut a main drain down 
the centre of your ground, with side drains falling into it. The main 
drain must tcrmm.Tte in the lowest part of your garden. Too many cir¬ 
cumstances concur in altering the price of the operation to enable us to 
tell you what will be the expense. The cost varies from about ^3 10s. 
to per acre. 
Platform Planting (F. P. V.). —You will find an article by Mr. 
Errington in our pages to day, and much more in previous volumes. 
Egg3 and Bantams (An Original Subscriber ).— <c Can any of your 
[February 0. 
readers inform me how long hens* eggs can be kept, before they arc too 
old to be hatched ? And whether a breed of bantams is to be purchased 
having a black tail and mane, with white body, as a distinct breed ?” 
Carnations (W. J. M .).—You will find a list at page 90 of our present 
volume, and directions for hybridising at pages 252 and 2/4 of vol. 4. 
The best time to purchase a swarm of bees is in May or early June, 
taking care to have a first swarm. 
Himalayah Pumpkin Seed. —When we announced at page 2fi2 that 
Mr. C. Stevens was willing to supply these seeds, knowing from expe¬ 
rience the hosts of applicants he would have, we stated, of our own 
accord , that two postage stamps must accompany each application. We 
were not deceived in our anticipation, for we have since heard from Mr. 
Stevens, who is a private gentleman, stating that he intends to pay over 
the value of the surplus stamps to the funds of the Aged Pilgrim’s Friend 
Society. 
Cineraria not Blooming (T. S. C .).—You do not tell us where or 
how you are growing this. The buds seem to intimate that the plant has 
been kept too dry and too warm. Cinerarias never do better than in a 
cold pit. We could not discern any insects on the leaves of your Choro - 
zema Chandlerii. The brown patches on the under part seem to be 
small masses of a fungus. 
Dyeing Woollens Black (M. A'.).—In explanation of the recipe 
given at page 27 of our 4 th volume, an ounce of ascetate of iron is required 
for a quart of water, and half a pound each of logwood chips and madder. 
Exotic Ferns (A Subscriber). —We cannot recommend nurserymen. 
Any of the principal houses will supply them. 
Manuring Apple-trees (C. G.).—There is very little probability of 
your over-stimulating these by applying liquid-manure to the grass of 
your orchard. If the trees are old, most likely you will greatly benefit 
them. In more than one instance we have recommended to an emigrant 
cultivator Stevens’ Book of the Farm, and the four volumes of The 
Cottage Gardener. Thanks for your hint. 
Sauari Nuts (Sister Ann )•■—These, the Suwarrow nuts of the shops, 
are the produce of the Caryocar nuciferum , which is a tree reaching the 
height of 100 feet, and is a native of Guiana. We are not aware that 
there is a living specimen of it in England. An answer to your other 
question next week. 
Sloping Bank (W. D .).—You may plant lettuces or any other crop 
that you wish to retard on the north side of this. Without knowing the 
nature of your soil we cannot adv ise you as to the trees you should plant 
for a screen. 
Scrapings of a Train-road (J. P.). —These which you say consist 
nearly all of horse dung mixed with coal-tar dropped from the wheels of 
the trains, you will find a very rich manure. They will do very well to 
mix with the soil in making your new asparagus-bed. 
Tiie Use of Tobacco. —A gardener writes to us thus:—“ I have been 
a subscriber from the beginning, and am a great admirer of your work, 
The Cottage Gardener, but I think of late there has been too much 
levelled at the cottager. I have the happiness of living among many 
cottage gardeners, and take great pleasure in them, for I love the man 
that loves his garden and his home ; and well may the authoress of My 
Flowers say, for October 31st, ‘although they are poor they have wills 
and ways of their own, each in his British castle.’ I like to see them 
treated with tenderness; and why may not the labourer enjoy the 
fruits of his labour?—the rich have their wine, and the comforts of this 
life ; but I am sorry to say some think the poor require nothing but 
work. And why should the poor man be deprived of his pipe, which is 
the only enjoyment for hundreds of our fellow men in humble life, when 
walking round their gardens or allotments in the company of their wife 
and children, after their hard day’s labour? Those men that spend 
their money at the beer-house are not the men that cultivate the cottage 
gardens. Hundreds of labourers take their pipe after their frugal meal 
without tasting beer for months ; but I should also like to sec them have, 
as well as they can afford, their own home-brewed, for a hard-working 
man requires it. The man that looks well to his garden is, I am quite 
sure, the man that also looks well to his home.” We agree for the most 
part with what our correspondent says, except in charging us with being 
too hard upon the cottager. There is not an applicable line in our 
pages that is not written for his good. If tobacco is smoked medicinally, 
we have not a word to say against it ; and if it proceeds no farther than a 
pipe during a walk in the garden there is no great harm there, though wc 
do not feel that the society of the wife and children could not be enjoyed 
without one. We always remember that 365 pipes cost 30s.; and even 
if it stopped there, the cottage smoker at the end of the twelve months 
would look with more satisfaction upon 30s. in the savings’ bank than 
upon the reflection that they had been dissipated in smoke. Our corres¬ 
pondent should remember, also, that we write against general conse¬ 
quences.* The consequence usually is, that a smoker is a drinker; and such 
as our correspondent are the rare exceptions. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christchurch, City of London.—February 6th, 1851. 
