March C.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
361 
not to be overlooked by those who keep but a few fowls— 
being less than a year old they make good fowls for roasting 
or boiling: and, if well fed, are in good condition without 
putting up to fat; while old hens, on the contrary, are only 
fit for broth. If, after taking away the unnecessary cock- 
birds and all the pullets, which, having begun to lay—lay 
badly—the number is still too great, some of the old hens 
must of course go too. By February the stock should be 
reduced to a number small in proportion to the place where 
they run, allowing not more than six or eight liens to each 
cock. 
You may after this begin to preserve eggs for hatching. 
Notice those which are laid by your best hens, and let them 
be put aside with care ; place them on end in a box of bran 
with the broad end downwards. Eggs for hatching must 
not on any account be more than a month old: they should 
not have been laid above a fortnight. 
Some persons coop and fatten fowls intended for the 
table . I do not find that much is gained by this; and the 
poor birds are very uncomfortable all the time. Birds 
which are well fed will generally be fit for killing without 
fatting, but if on taking them up the breast bone feels too 
sharp, get them aside in the middle of the day and let them 
eat as much meal porridge as they choose; this, with a good 
meal morning and afternoon among the other fowls, will 
soon bring them into good condition. 
WORK TO BE DONE IN JANUARY AND FERRUARY. 
Feed all the fowls abundantly twice a day. 
Separate bnd layers, and feed them as directed. 
Give a mid-day meal to fowls soon to be killed. 
Towards the end of February store the eggs of your best 
hens for hatching. Anster Bonn. 
(To be continued.) 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
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 Rote, London.” 
Heating from Iron Plate at back of Kitchen Fire (A Begin¬ 
ner ).—We should have thought you would have obtained sufficient heat 
for the purposes you mention ; of course, much depends upon the heat 
of the plate. If that was very warm, eighteen inches of it exposed ought 
to have thrown out heat sufficient. Have you tried taking a small pipe 
from the greenhouse into this chamber near the plate, and another small 
one out, stoppable at pleasure, so as to give a circulation of air ? We 
cannot advise you to have anything to do with a tank in such circum¬ 
stances. If your plate will not give you enough of heated air, neither 
would it give you enough of heated water. If you were to fix two small 
pipes to your kitchen boiler, you might heat your greenhouse, and have 
a tank for propagating at your pleasure. If you had given a section, 
however rough, we should have better understood you. 
Annuals for Greenhouse ( G . I. T.).—As you have the advantage 
of a hot-bed, there arc Balsams, Browallias, Cockscombs, Thunbergias, 
Ipomeas, Eeg plants, and Sensitive plants, &c. The culture of all, or 
most of them, has been given, but we will keep your request in mind. 
Daphne Fortunii (/?. W.). —We have no doubt this may be culti¬ 
vated in a cold greenhouse where frost is excluded. It may not, however, 
look so fresh as in a warmer house, and it will not flower so soon ; but if 
the wood was well matured, it will bloom equally well though later. 
Shifting Camellias and Azaleas (Ibid). —You are quite right; 
there is no necessity at all for shifting these every year. We have some 
splendidly in bloom now that have not been shifted for several years, but 
they drink like topers. When the growth becomes very stunted, it is as 
much as saying “enlarge my pasture.” For large plants it often becomes 
unsuitable to shift often, as the pots would get so heavy. Weak cool 
manure water, such as from cow dung, must in these cases be frequently 
given. See some late articles on potting. 
Yellow Bed (Bruno). — Bartonia aurea and Sphenogene speciosa 
are only six weeks’ flowers. Sanvitalia t though not so bright as they, 
will answer better to match the height of the Emma Vei'bena. Phlox 
Drummondii will not do well in a shady place; it would run too much 
to straw, as a farmer would say. 
Hieracleum giganteum (T. T.).—It will do well where you propose. 
Give it rich soil; it is a biennial, recollect, and you must sow a few seeds 
of it every year as soon as they are ripe; but you can transplant it next 
spring. 
Walks (Ibid). —A sensible gardener like you, though without the 
advantages of the “profession,” should not be led away by a bricklayer’s 
labourer. If the lime does not slack equally, sift out, or rake out the 
lumps, and keep them at the bottom. For your clay gravel, use only one- 
twelfth part of lime. Try and write more concisely: it is the best point 
in letter writing. 
Exclusiveness of the Ash-tree (Odo). —No plant, evergreen or 
otherwise, can be established in the usual way under an ash-tree any¬ 
where. The roots of the ash will suck away the goodness out of the soil 
before the new planted things can get hold of it. Yews, box, or laurel, 
might be managed so as to compete with the ash roots after a time, by 
using old tar barrels sunk in the earth, as we have often advised. 
Cuttings in Water (Ibid). —The best way to establish in pots cut¬ 
tings that have been rooted in water, is to place the pots under a hand¬ 
glass, or some close covering for a week or so, and to keep the air very 
moist about them, say by damping with water before the pots are placed 
under the glass. 
Flower-beds — Petunias (Phelanthe). — We have said a hundred 
times we never undertake to plant flower-beds on paper, and as often 
assigned the reason. Petunias are trained on the ground, first, by j 
hooked pegs, or by doubling thin pieces of matting round the shoots and 
fixing the ends in the earth. After the ground is covered, and they grow 
nine or ten inches high, place the spray from the top of peas’-stakes, or 
from the remains of old birch brooms among them—say ten inches apart 
all over the bed. These sticks not to stand higher than the tops of the 
plants ; ten days afterwards stop the shoots all over the bed, both to 
make them come up thicker and to look of equal heights. Keep all 
parts of the bed to a uniform height for the rest of the season, by stop¬ 
ping such tops as grow faster than the rest; and whenever the shoots 
get top heavy, stick in a few short branches as before, and no rain or i 
wind can displace them. 
Vinery (G. L .).—Your views, although exhibited in a much more j 
business like way than many queries, are still not clearly defined, j 
Gentlemen situated like you should at once make up your mind as to i 
whether you will have Pines or not. The latter can be grown with 
grapes, but much better separately. We will, therefore, give you the 
measurements of a good vinery, admitting, of course, of some front or 
end shelves for plants, &c. We suppose that a wall stands already 
against which to put the house; back of house twelve feet above the 
“ floor-line ;” front wall five feet above ditto ; house thirteen feet wide ; 
the floor-line thirty inches above the ordinary ground level; by no means 
below. Border outside at least twelve feet wide, and inclining nearly as 
the slope of the roof. The front wall, if possible, on arches ; the Vines 
planted inside ; the mouth of the arch communicating freely with the 
volume of the border. Soil porous, two feet deep, and most thoroughly 
drained. You will thus ascend by some four steps into the house, and this 
simple affair will, less or more, rule all other operations. Get a Burbidge’s 
boiler full size Run two four-inch pipes, a flow and return, along the front 
and two ends, the top pipe four feet from the roof at front, and the 
bottom lying on the floor, having cemented sides to hold water occasion¬ 
ally; and thus lying in a kind of trough of some eighteen inches wide. 
If you want great heat you may even carry the flue through the house, 
exactly in the middle and parallel with the frontage. We dare add no 
more; we are now trespassing on room ill spared. 
Raspberries (Philocarpus). —The “ professional gardeners” who 
rubbed all the buds off the raspberry canes, were guilty of a most unpro¬ 
fessional proceeding. We know no reason unless it be to prevent them 
bearing. Strawberry seed will “come up” anywhere if the air is mild, 
and the soil is kept continually moist, not wet. If such seeds are to be 
reared in a room with a fire, place a thin coat of moss on the hot surface 
until the seeds vegetate. Most plants which love a dry air will do as well 
in a room as in a greenhouse, provided the amount of light is sufficient. 
Such things, however, as orchids must have a damp air. 
Weigela Rosea (L. HI. N .).—This will do well in the centre of your 
bed; but why have a shrub there at all: your bed will look better filled 
with flowering plants during the summer, and evergreens in pots during 
the winter; these latter to be removed and placed in some hidden nook 
of the garden during summer. Weigela Rosea requires a light dry soil, 
and severe pruning in winter, and then the young shoot9 will grow strong 
and flower well. 
Ixia Seed (J. V .)—It is very likely you will get Ixia seed at Mr. 
Carter’s 238, Holborn. The three plants you allude to are Hepatica 
triloba rubra , and cerulea , and Aster alpina. 
Evergreen for Pond Edge. — H. D. C. has obliged us with the 
following good suggestion:—“ I beg to suggest to the inquirer for a 
plant to ornament ‘ a large circular pond,’ in the number for February 20, 
by naming Gaultheria procumbens as a dwarf plant of compact habit, 
and of a very attractive appearance, and easily managed in a confined 
border. If planted in peat earth and leaf mould equal parts, in a moist 
situation, it will thrive well It seldom is more than three inches high, 
and its procumbent habit would be desirable in a narrow border, and the 
effect of the scarlet berries and dark foliage would render the plant very 
effective in such a situation.” 
Guide Combs (J. B. P.) —If worker’s cells are not to be had, drone 
cells must suffice, for guide-comb of some kind must be used to insure 
the bees working upon the bars ; and it is more important still that the 
guide-comb in the additional storing place should be worker’s-comb. 
We believe that bees do not store honey in drones cells until after drones 
have been bred in them, which in the additional boxes, &c., every means 
are taken to prevent. 
Time of Bees being Torpid (Ibid). —Our correspondent says— 
“ My bees have only hybernated, or remained inactive, for about six 
weeks; and three stocks weighing in November last, viz., No. 1, 211bs., 
has lost 7 lbs. in weight. No. 2, 26 lbs., has lost 5$ lbs. in weight. No. 
3, 26 lbs., has lost 5 pounds in weight. My note book shows that they 
