374 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[Mabch 13. 
which made it a week or so ere his hand was quite re¬ 
stored. The method of this application is simple; it is 
always at hand—it is speedy—it is a rapid relief to the patient, 
and no one who trys it will ever regret it. As follows—Get 
a basin and cold water, and rags, linen or cotton ; apply 
these wet, almost dripping, all over the burned part, and so 
soon as the patient says they are hot, apply another rag and 
so on until you can see the inflammation is quite removed; 
no covering is to be used until tying it up, when you can 
then cover the wounded part with a wet rag, and a good 
many folds of dry ones, taking care that on opening it again, 
if the inside rag is sticking to the wound, that water is freely 
used ere the removal of the rag is attempted.—W m. R. W. 
Smith, Glmyow. 
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 Row, London.” 
Chinese Primula Culture ( A Lady). —Seeds sown in April in a 
little heat, and the seedlings potted off successively, will give fine flower¬ 
ing plants early in autumn and winter ; those from seeds sown after 
June will come in after Christmas and in the spring. Light sandy loam 
and leaf mould suits them well. If sown soon, the seedlings must be 
kept either in a window, or, better still, in a pit or frame, until they are 
well established. 
Fringed Primula (Ibid). —These are often advertised, and most 
seedsmen will supply it. You may get them nearly all fringed, and 
sometimes scarcely any. We have saved from fringed sorts, kept by 
themselves, and at times we have not had one fringed one from the seed. 
Trumpet Honeysuckle (Ibid). —The transplanting was probably 
the cause of its flowering in 1849 ; improper soil, and smotherings with 
insects, was probably the reason of its not flowering in 1850. These are 
a poor preparation for blooming in 1851. If still alive, proceed as 
follows :—See that the soil is sandy and dry, and add a little peat. Prune 
any small young shoots to the last bud, wash the plant all over with a 
mixture of clay, soot, and tobacco water, when growth commences ; dis¬ 
lodge every insect by the syringe and a little tobacco water ; give water¬ 
ings in dry weather, to perfect growth ; and, if you do not succeed very 
well this season, you are adopting the means of having plenty of bloom 
in 1852. 
The Cloth-of-Gold Rose (Ibid). —This is propagated both by cut¬ 
tings and budding ; and almost any growing stock will do. 
Window Plants (H. H.). —You will find much on this subject lately 
by Mr. Fish and others. As you are fond of small plants, you will find 
notice of some things to day that would suit you—as the annual Mesem - 
bryanthemum, Lobelia, Portulacca, &c.; but if you have no hotbed it 
would be of no use sowing them in the window until May, and then you 
would require a square of glass over every seed-pot. Of course these 
would only last you during the summer. As you have no fire, and wish 
things green in winter, a collection of hardy Sempervivutns and Sedums 
would suit you. If you could merely keep the frost out, another succulent 
group might be added in the shape of the Cacti; and if the large flowering 
varieties would be too large, you could adopt as your proteges those 
strange-looking, but interesting, sections of the group—the Echino cacti, 
the Melo cacti, and the Mammellana. As you want something out of 
the common way, we think this last, along with a few dwarf Aloes and 
Hawortliias, would just suit you. They would require all the heat and 
light you could give them in summer, and a fair supply of water ; and in 
winter as much light as possible, but scarcely a drop of water. They 
would also stand a Sunday’s darkness—synonymous to starvation —better 
than the generality of plants. Whatever other plants you grow, if you 
must have them dark on Sundays, try and leave them in a dryish state 
on Saturday night, and give water if wanted as soon as you admit light 
on Monday morning. If you think of the processes performed by the 
leaves in sunshine and light, you will see the necessity of this. 
Transferring Bees (J. Hudson). —Let your bees remain in their 
present hive; put their first swarm into Taylor’s hive, with empty 
combs ; hive the second swarm into any kind of hive you please ; and in 
the autumn turn the bees in the old hive to the second swarm, either by 
driving or fumigating. Look well to your second swarm, which weighed 
only 3 lbs. in September, and which you have not fed, but which is 
collecting pollen vigorously at the present time. Begin to feed them 
immediately, and continue doing it so long as they will take it. 
Climbers for a Trellis (J. M.), —To cover your trellis so as to 
hide an unsightly corner of the garden, make a rich border on the south 
side, and for this season plant twenty plants of the Canary plant (Tro- 
poeolum canariense), and one or two of the different varieties of Convol¬ 
vulus major between every two of the Canary; sow the seeds now, and 
plant out in May. On the north or garden side of the trellis, and two 
feet from it, sow now a row of mixed sweet peas. All this is to screen for 
one season ; for a more permanent covering put in this spring Evergreen 
Roses, Honeysuckles, and Clematis, and you will soon have an impene¬ 
trable thicket and plenty of flowers. As your seedlings of hardy biennials 
and perennials were kept in the seed-pots through the winter, be in no 
hurry to plant them out yet—the last week in April will be time enough, j 
and if they are very good sorts we would give them a little pot each now ; 
when slugs and other creatures come out in the spring little seedlings 
are very apt to be eaten by them. 
Yellow-berried Holly (G. A.). —You can only increase the 3 'ellow- 
berried holly by grafting, inarching, or budding on the common holly ; i 
you cannot increase it by cuttings, and it will not come true from seed. 
If some of the branches are near the ground you can lay them, and in 
two years they will be rooted sufficiently for removal. The best way . 
of all to use this variety is to bud it in June on the tops of the side j 
branches of the best white variegated hollies you can find ; they will ' 
then grow less luxuriant, produce twice as many berries as by any other 
way, and the yellow, and white, and green, well mixed, will have a fine 
and novel effect. 
Gravel Splashing against a House (Devoniensis). —“As Mr. 
Beaton has been writing lately on the construction of walks, &c., perhaps 
he w'ould kindly suggest some method of preventing the splashing of 
red gravel against a white house. At present the building is discolored 
to the height of two feet or more from the ground. A row of flagstones, 
eighteen inches in width, next the house has been proposed, but this it is 
feared would have an ugly effect. White gravel can be procured ; but is 
this in good taste for a broad terrace round three sides of a white house?” ' 
We have lately heard one of the first architects of the day, Mr. Barry, 
had recommended a stone plinth, eighteen inches wide, to be set against 
the wall of a house that was discoloured by the splashing or drips like 
yours, and a border of stone, of the same width, to be set in between the 
gravel and this plinth. We conclude, therefore, there is no architectural 
law violated by such process. The plinth was fixed, but the proprietor 
objected to the stone border, because, like you, he thought it would look 
“ ugly.” White gravel is very objectionable in front or round a white 
wall. We would not hesitate one moment to put a stone border round 
the house, concrete gravel would soon show a white line under the drip, 
worse than all. 
Fuchsia-bed (Ibid). —The foliage of Fuchsia Coralina is so rich that 
it hides the flowers too much in a bed for the first two seasons after 
planting ; the best remedy is to cut out some of the side branches, say 
one-third of the number, three or four times in the season. 
Grafting Camellias (G. A.). —This is a good time to graft the 
blush Camellia. Stocks of all sorts are best if in advance of the grafts ; 
all grafts should be dormant at the grafting time. 
Propagating Gloxinias (Cottage Gardener). —They must not "be 
divided at the roots like Dahlias ; never cut the tubers of one of them, 
and there is no occasion for it, as every leaf will grow as a cutting, and 
we have seen twenty plants made out of one leaf by scoring the ribs at the 
back and laying the leaf flat on damp sand; after rooting, the leaf was 
divided into little pieces, and every one of them made a little tuber or j 
bulb. 
Longest Cucumbers (Ibid).— Having once heard that Suffolk was 
the “ cradle” of cucumber growing, we sent your query to Shrubland 
Park, and Mr. Beaton says that the Browston Hybrid variety is the 
longest they know in that part of the country; one which was sent to a 
nobleman at Bath last spring was thirty-three inches long, but the Bath 
reporters made it somewhat longer. It is not a profitable one, however, 
to grow for general use, and should not have more than two fruit at a 
time, if grown for length. 
Chinese Azaleas (Ibid). —If “the flowers are not an object,” the 
beginning of April, or just before they begin to grow, is the best time to 
prune them, otherwise when the flowers begin to fade ; by the former 
plan the plants are easier brought to good shapes and vigour. 
Rose-beds (X. Y. Z.).—See what Mr. Beaton says to-day. 
Tropgeolum Speciosum (Render). —After resting all the winter this 
climber is now making its way up out of a five-inch pot; water it and keep 
it as cool as you can till the May frosts are over ; then plant it out on a 
north-west or east aspect; the south is too hot and dry ; but it will flower 
on a trellis away from any wall, if the roots are strong enough. 
Tokay Vine (A Young Gardener). —These are great lovers of a high 
temperature, and yours, at night especially ( 70 °— 7$°), is indeed high. 
It is pretty evident that the heat suits them, as evidenced by the extreme 
point of the shoot from the cool end. Remember, however, that the 
Tokay is easily overcropped; a healthy young Tokay Vine will some¬ 
times show ten times the amount of fruit it should be permitted to 
retain. If such be retained the consequence would be that a few 
bunches only would succeed, and those at the terminal point. You use 
steam two or three times in the daytime. We cannot approve of this 
practice. 
White Campanula Carpatica (F. H.). —This does not come into 
blossom till the beginning of June, and ceases to flower about the middle 
of September. 
Lobelia Ramosa Culture (Ibid). —It must be sown on a slight 
hot-bed in March, and in the greenhouse, or close cold frame, in April 
and May. A hand-glass would be a sufficient protection to the seeds in 
May, and they would even do in the open air were it not that a heavy 
shower would wash them out of the ground. The seeds of all Lobelias 
are so very small that the slightest covering of earth is sufficient for 
them. L. racemosa may be transplanted with safety any time till it is 
in full flower. The plants from the March sowing will be in flower early 
in June, and will keep in flower till the middle of September, or later in 
