March 13.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
375 
a wet season; those sown in May will flower from the middle of July till 
the frost cuts them down. 
Tender Daphnes (F. W. T.). —There are not many Daphnes known 
The following are the principal:— D. pontica rubra, a hybrid ; D. tini - 
folia, stove, from Jamaica; D. odora ; D. odora variegata ; D. indica 
rubra ; D. Chinensis, from China; D. hybrida, garden, nearly hardy; 
D. papyracea, Nepaul; and D. tomentosa, from Asia. You may cut 
down 7iow your long-legged specimens, and put in the cuttings; put 
them into heat till they break ; use tops only. Put them in sand under a 
bell-glass, they will strike, but with some difficulty; or you may graft 
them upon the common Spurge laurel ( D. lauriola), which is the best 
way to propagate them. The grafted plants should be put under hand¬ 
glasses in a gentle heat. The flower buds will set without any trouble if 
you grow the plants in a heat of 55° to 60 ° in April and May, just as 
you would a Camellia; place them out of doors after that till autumn. 
Crowe a S align a ( Ibid ).—This is a tender greenhouse plant that 
will not bear full exposure in summer. It should be treated with the 
Daphnes in April, and afterwards be placed in an airy part of the green¬ 
house. Your present sickly plant will not recover, you had better procure 
a healthy young one and try again. Cold water, when the plants are in 
heat, is always injurious, as is also the smoke of a large town like that 
where you live. 
Window Gardener should have looked into our number for February 
2/th before he wrote his last letter. 
Melilotus leucantha ( R. A.). —Send a stamped envelope with 
your direction on it to J. H. Payne, Esq., Bury St. Edmund’s, 
'Suffolk. 
Ferns from seed (iff— y H.). —See what is said at p. 344 of our present 
volume. For Bee-hives, apply to Mr. Payne, as above. 
Cow-keeping ( M.L.D, ).—See the statements at pp. 154 and 334 of 
I our last volume, and at pp. 17 and 80 of the present. The details are 
sufficient for any cottager. There is The Modern Dairy and Cow-keeper, 
by Cuthbert W. Johnson, price 3s. 6d. 
Tobacco smoking (A Constant Reader).—' Thanks for your very good 
letter. You say, and probably truly, that 365 pipes full of tobacco cost 
only 15s. 2£d. But one pipe is the gentleman-usher to a second, and a 
glass of something! 
Eggs. —In answer to several inquiries, Cochin China Fowls’ eggs may 
be obtained from Mrs. E. Watts, Monk Barnes, Haverstock Hill, Hamp¬ 
stead, a dozen for a guinea. Spanish fowls’ eggs may be had for four- 
pence each, and Cochin China fowls’ eggs for sixpence each, of Mr. W. 
Roberts, Bank-street, Bishop’s Waltham, Hants. See also an advertise¬ 
ment in to-day’s paper. TV. J. M., 37, Bridport-place, New North Road, 
charges eightpence each for Spanish fowls’ eggs. 
Red-juiced Orange ( M. H.).— Our correspondent wishes to know 
where he could obtain some grafts of this. Your Bees will do with a 
west aspect, but it is very far from a good one. 
Indian-rubber Rings (W. J. M.).— These have been successfully 
used to prevent the splitting of the calyx of the Carnation. We do not 
know any particular Rabbit fancier; if we did we would endeavour to 
obtain from him a series of papers on the management of rabbits. 
Libocedrus chilense (F.).—Mr. Beaton says you are quite right; it 
was Mr. Low, of Clapton, that introduced this tree. Mr. Veitch was not 
a party to the introduction. 
Ranunculus-bed ( Samohet ).—We cannot advise you to pour whale 
oil over this to keep in the moisture. It would not answer the purpose, 
and would probably injure the flowers. 
Cement to Unite Zinc and Glass. — Incubator writes to us thus : 
“ In answer to the inquiry of ‘ TV. M. J.,’ for a ‘ cement or glue suitable 
for uniting lapped joints of zinc and glass, so as to resist the constant 
action of hot water,* I beg to say that a cement suitable for his purpose 
may be made by thoroughly mixing white and red lead together till they 
become of the consistence of fresh putty. It is better (as in the case of 
putty) to work it iu the hands before using. Some correspondent will, 
perhaps, inform me where I can obtain some thorough-bred Poland fowls, 
of the * Silver * Spangled and ‘ Gold ’ Spangled varieties.” 
Hyacinths in Glasses (An Inoaporienoed Admirer ).— The flower- 
stem of these being too tall intimates that you grew them in too much 
warmth and too little light. Why do you not use for them Hamilton’s 
Hyacinth supporters ? Those bulbs forced this year will not bloom next 
year. They are scarcely worth taking any trouble about. 
Haricot Bean (J. D. B .).—The best mode of raising this is by sow¬ 
ing it in boxes or pots early in April in a greenhouse, and transplanting 
the plants into the open border when frosts are no longer to be dreaded 
in May. _ _. _ . 
Tobacco Growing (TV. J. M.)— You may do this for fumigating your 
greenhouse. All that we know about its culture is given at p. 316 of our 
second volume, and all that we know of drying it, at p. 374 of our third. 
Your other questions next week. 
Liquid-manure (R. P.).— Apply this very sparingly to your peas and 
I beans “ growing in ground unmanured for a long time,” until the 
| blossom-buds appear, then you may give it more frequently. Cauli¬ 
flowers sown at the end of April, will be ready for planting out in June. 
A cow’s life is often saved by some one being with her when calving. 
Your other questions next week. Thanks for the seed. 
Guano for Potatoes (C. Stevens ).— Never apply this. It is the 
worst of all applications. If your soil is so poor that it must have a fer¬ 
tilizer, give it a dressing of peat charcoal and Epsom salt just before 
digging the ground for planting. 
Vinegar Plant (J. Currie). —If you remit six postage stamps, and 
order No. 35 of The Cottage Gardener, you will have it sent post- 
free. It is a double number, and contains a drawing of the plant. 
Names of Plants (TV. R. F.). —It is impossible from such fragments 
of Cacti, to tell their names with certainty. No. 1 seems to be Cereus 
grandiflorus, and 2, Cactus speciosissimus. 
A Cottage Built for ^10 (E. Hannam ).—The following facts 
will be the best answer to your inquiry about a cheap cottage. They are 
from a correspondent (TV. H. W.). The cottage he describes is at 
Enville, near Ongar, in Essex, and was built by its proprietor, Mr. Clay, 
assisted by a skilful farm labourer. tf It is a building, three rooms in 
length, erected at the corner of a meadow, on a spare nook which could 
not well be turned to any other profitable purpose ; and it is a leading 
feature in it, that, with the exception of the deal boards for the doors 
and the glass for the windows, the whole of the materials have been pro¬ 
duced on the farm. The walls are built of “ clay lumps ”—that is, clay 
worked in the same manner as for bricks, moulded into lumps twenty 
inches long, seven deep, and ten wide, and well dried in the sun in the 
heat of summer; these are laid wijth the same material, just as if building 
with bricks and mortar, and when plastered over on both sides, and 
thoroughly dried, form a wall exceedingly hard and firm, which no cold 
or damp can penetrate. The roof is shaped with poles cut from a wood 
on the farm, the place of thatch laths being supplied with straight sticks ; 
over this an excellent coating of thatch is neatly laid, and the inside 
is plastered and whitewashed. The windows, which are of ample size 
for a cottage, are formed of large panes, a bar passing down the centre ; 
and the transverse supports of the glass are of lead, so that the expense 
of a regular window-frame is saved ; and, as a further proof of the extent 
to which economy is carried, the door is made folding, and the half being 
thus light swings on gudgeons, by which the outlay for hinges is spared. 
The floor is composed of a sort of concrete, made of the brick earth and 
fine sand; and the chimney, which contains a cosy enclosed corner for 
the labourer at night, is built of clay lumps. An extra window in the 
shape of a cross, studded with fragments of coloured glass, has been 
introduced by the taste of the architect into the end of the bedroom, and 
answers the double purpose of furnishing light and ornament. The whole 
length of the building is 32 ft.; width, J 2 ft.; height of walls inside, about 
8 ft. ; and to the canopy of the roof, 11 ft. The size of the keeping-room is 
10 ft. by 12 ft.; bed-room , 11 ft. by 10 ft.; kitchen, 9 ft. by 10 ft. We come 
now to the actual cost. The following were the figures furnished to us, and 
which we tested by the statements of the man by whom the work was done. 
Making 300 clay lumps, at 3s. 6d. per 100, £l 8s. Od,; laying do., at 
2s. 6d. per 100, £\ ; thatching £\ l6s. : glass for windows 6s. 6d. ; 
glazing and putty 5s.; wood for doors, and making doors and window 
frames Is. ; rough wood for rafters and thatching laths 10s.; nails 
and forming roof 12s.; claying inside and whitewashing £l ; chimney 
pots, &c., 12s.; making a total of ^8 10s. 6d. Thus it will be 
seen that Mr. Clay, unlike most architects, has completed his building 
for less than the estimate; and we think if the £\ 9s. 6d. were 
laid out in providing some other material for the floor—for the idea 
of a clay bottom does not strike us very pleasantly—it would remedy 
the only thing about the cottage we were disposed to find fault with. 
The house was furnished and occupied when we visited it, being 
let, we believe, to a person on the farm, atfourpence a week, which yields 
good interest for the outlay ; and Mr. Clay assured us he could readily 
let it, if disposed, at 45s. per annum. Of course the idea may be ampli¬ 
fied, and a cottage with the same materials built for a labourer having a 
family at a proportionate increase of cost.” 
Profit of Poultry (A Widow). —We forwarded your letter to a good 
authority, and this is her reply:—“ I am rather at a loss in giving an 
opinion from not knowing what facilities the widow may possess in the 
disposal of her produce. If she knows a number of families who would 
deal with her, it would most likely prove a mutual advantage, and render 
her task much easier; for I believe the intervention of the retail dealer 
wipes off the profit of the producer to a very great extent. I think fowls j 
kept by a person who could give them much attention might be made 
very profitable; but whether they would positively keep a person or a 
family I cannot say. The produce of a garden, and the trouble of cook¬ 
ing the vegetables for the fowls, would reduce the expense to one feed of 
corn a day, and some meal for the young ones ; I do not think this would 
come to more than one halfpenny a week for each fowl; and I believe 
fine fresh eggs in London would be purchased readily (by families who 
might hear of them) eight or ten for a shilling. A good hen will lay nine 
eggs in a fortnight. With regard to fowls for the table, they may be put | 
up to fat at from three to five months old ; penned rather than cooped, as j 
there is sufficient space; and the cheapest feeding is a kind of meal called , 
middlings, with potatoes and other vegetables cut small. A little cheap 
boiled rice is very good. Some corn, of course. Ducks are such ravenous 
feeders that I consider them less profitable than fowls. The widow’s 
premises must be admirably adapted for keeping poultry, and the cross 
breed she mentions would be excellent fowls ; and, for the table, would, 
no doubt, bring a good price in London.” 
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.—March 13th, 1851. 
