408 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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 .” 
I Cociiin China Fowls.— Mr. R. H . Bowman, Rose Vale, Penzance, 
i writes to us as follows :—“ I would strongly recommend your Cheshire 
correspondent, who wishes to buy fowls of the genuine Cochin China 
breed, to obtain them of the stock recently imported, and which took the 
first prizes, and also an extra silver medal for unusual merit, at the Bir¬ 
mingham Exhibition in December last. There are very few of them in 
this country, and I consider myself fortunate in having secured some, 
i though at a high price.” 
Waste Chloride of Lime (A Constant Subscriber). —This refuse 
i from the bleachers will be a good addition to your decayed vegetable mat¬ 
ters. It speedily is converted into muriate of lime, which absorbs mois¬ 
ture from the air, and is very beneficial to light soils. Ten or fifteen 
' bushels per acre will be enough. 
| Teacher of Botany. —Mr. W. F. Rogers, 6, Loughborough Park, 
near London, wishes to meet with a person who teaches botany. 
Payne’s Cottagers’ Hives. —The prices of these are eighteen])enne 
for the hive itself, and twenty-pence for the small depriving hive attached. 
I The Winter Cherry (N. C.). —This plant is the Physalis edulis. It 
) would grow from seeds, but we cannot tell where you could get them, 
i Carter, seedsman, Holborn, keeps such uncommon things, and possibly 
| might have them. If you get seeds, sow them in a hotbed directly; 
j transplant the seedlings into small pots, and grow them on as you would 
| a Balsam. As soon as they are large enough, plant them out against the 
j back wall of a vinery. We once saw a wall 30 feet long and 12 feet high 
quite covered with this plant, having hundreds of fruit upon it. If you 
cannot get seed, we think Mr. Appleby could procure you a plant or two— 
It fruits the first year ; he also can supply you with plants of green 
ginger. 
The Lily of the Nile (Ibid). —This is the Egyptian Lotus, 
Nymphcea cccrulea. It should be kept constantly in water, but more 
shallow in winter than in summer. It requires a moderate stove heat. 
Rotted grass will make vegetable mould, but it is too close for potting 
purposes. Your seedling Turkey fig-trees will fruit, but require at least 
three or four years’ growth first. 
Hardy Herbaceous Plants (J. H. B.). —The following are good 
hardy, herbaceous flowering plants :—Adonis vernalis, Aconitum varie- 
gatum novum, Alyssum saxatile, Anchusa Italica, Anemone Japonica, 
Aquilegia glandulosa, Asclepias tuberosa, Aster amellus, Campanula 
carpatica, C. pyramidalis, Chelone ceutranthifolia, Coreopsis lanceolata, 
Delphinium Barlowii, D. Atkinsii, Gentiana asclepiadia, G. gelida, G. 
saponaria, Geum splendens, Iris, many varieties ; Lobelia cardinalis, 
Lupinus grandifolius, L. polypliyllus, Pceonias, Penstcmon speciosus, 
Phlox, many varieties ; Potentilla Maudyana, Pulmonaria virginica, 
Statice latifolia, Yucca filamentosa, and Y. gloriosa. 
Anemone and Ranunculus Beds (A very Young Gardener). — 
These are in light good soil. This is not right; they will do better, and 
ought to be, in good heavy loamy soil. This year you can only try to 
mend yours by treading very hard between the rows. You do right to 
shelter from frost, but uncover directly the frost disappears. You may 
water them if they appear dry, but only in a dry warm morning as yet; 
weak liquid manure may be applied occasionally. All the other flower 
roots you mention may be benefited by the same application, but dilute 
it with three times the quantity of water, and expose it to air a day or 
two previously to using. Roses will bear it much stronger. 
Heaths Diseased (J. W. F .).—What you callrwstf in Ericas is, we 
suppose, what cultivators in general call mildew. It is a parasitical 
| disease, which may be got rid of by dusting the plants infected with it 
j with flower of sulphur. The cause of it is too close treatment: a free 
circulation of air, with plenty of light, is the best preventive. 
Miniature Stove (B. T., Bath). —You have converted a Wardian 
| case into a miniature stove by heating it with small hot-water tin pipes, 
and a lilliputian boiler. We admire your ingenuity, and think it will 
j answer in a small way for all the things you mention. The way to 
manage it will be exactly as you would a stove. Give air when the sun 
! shines, shade at the same time; give moisture in the air by syringing 
the plants. Cuttings will strike readily in such a little warm pit. We 
can only give you hints for its management; having, we confess, had no 
i experience with such a “ case.” The Bignonia capreolata is a cool 
greenhouse creeper. 
Flowers for a North Border (I. I., London ).—You wish for a 
, list of creepers and flowers to grow against and in front of a north wall. 
1 Very few things will do. Ivy is the best thing as a creeper, but you 
J might try the hardy Clematis montuna , and a few common honeysuckles . 
I On the border you might plant the Christmas rose, Primroses of sorts, 
Violets, Lily-of-the-valley, London pride, some few bulbs, with biennials 
such as Wallflowers and Sweet Williams, to be renewed every March ; 
but do not expect too much. 
j Calceolarias ( I . K .). —It is not an easy matter to inform you where 
to obtain the calceolarias you mention : some of them were exhibited by 
gentlemen’s gardeners, who raised them themselves; and, consequently, 
they are not in the possession of any nurseryman. About half a dozen 
| may be obtained of Mr. Appleby, Pine-apple-place, and a few of Mr. 
, Gaines, at Battersea. They will average about 3s. Gd. each. The leaves 
[March 27• 
you sent with spots upon them are not diseased by anything taken up by 
the roots. We found some eggs of thrip upon them, and suspect they 
! are the cause of the black spots. Pray give your house a good smoking 
for two or three nights in succession. This will kill the living insects ; 
the eggs may be destroyed by washing with a sponge dipped in tepid 
water. 
Hybridising Geraniums and Verbenas (W. J. M.). —This will 
take place naturally during summer, if you place some of the best kinds 
together, and allow them to be rubbed against each other, and flies and 
bees to have access to them. If you wish to be particular, you must 
remove the stamens of the mother plant before the pollen bags open, 
and dust the stigma of the pistil with the pollen from another desirable 
variety. And if you wish to be very particular, you must label such 
fecundated flowers, and cover them with thin guaze bags ; but for general 
results this is seldom done. 
Pit for Wintering Geraniums (Ibid). —What exposure, and how 
heat it most economically ? South will be best in winter, and at other 
times shade can be given if necessary. A small boiler and three-inch 
pipes will be the cheapest for a forty-feet-long pit, by five and a half feet 
in width. 
Salvia patens (R. P.). —The roots will not grow unless they have u 
bud at their top. In this respect they resemble Dahlias; better not 
divide them until they have sprung. Young Heliotropes should have 
their flowers removed ; the plants w ill be stronger in consequence. 
Cayenne Pepper for Fumigating (L. R. Lucas). —How much for 
a house 18ft. by 12ft.? Mr. Fish declines stating, as his experience in 
the matter is next to nothing. Would any other correspondent oblige if 
he can ? Mr. Fish likes prevention better than cure, and for both pur¬ 
poses finds a puff of tobacco frequently applied, and not much at a time, 
an easy way of effecting both objects. When a plant is covered with 
aphides, unless it be very valuable, it will be the best economy to transfer 
it at once to the manure heap. The fly is easily managed if the first visitor 
is sent to the right about. Steeping woollen netting in a tan pit would, 
we imagine, act as a preservative; it does so in common twine netting. 
Pit for Geraniums, Sec., and Gooseberries (A Recent Sub¬ 
scriber). —The idea, so far as we know, is a new one, but scarcely likely to 
be a very successful one. The pit is thirty feet long, eighteen inches at 
back, and twelve at front. Outside, at the back, you propose planting 
gooseberry cuttings, taking the branches through holes in the wall, and 
training them to a trellis close to the glass ; and first you wish to know 
if it will shade the Geraniums, Verbenas, &c., below, too much ; and, 
secondly, the best sorts for such a purpose, combining flavour and proli¬ 
ficacy. You will find the latter in a list of Mr. Errington’s lately. Any 
good soil will do. But as to the first, the shade will be prejudicial as far 
as the gooseberries extend; and we do not see how you are to manage at 
all in such a shallow pit, nor yet the object you have in view ; for if you 
force the gooseberries, by keeping the lights rather close, you will ruin 
the plants below; and if you give abundance of air to suit the plants, 
then your gooseberries will be little earlier than those in the open air ; 
besides, if early gooseberries were your object, the plants should be 
planted inside, instead of in the cold ground at the north side of the back 
wall. Birds are now so common, and their ravages among the buds so 
enormous, that if they are not thinned, some method similar to yours 
must be adopted for securing such valuable fruit. By giving abundance 
of air, having your pit a foot deeper, you may keep your plants until the 
gooseberries are getting into leaf, and then remove them ; and thus you 
may have gooseberries a fortnight or three weeks earlier, and escape the 
ravages of birds, See. ; and by midsummer, or shortly after, you may 
remove the sashes. If you mean to try, the following would best suit 
your purpose:—Pitmaston, Greengage, and Champagne, red; Cham¬ 
pagne, yellow; Rockwood’s Hairy, yellow; Keen’s Seedling, red; 
Whitesmith, white. These are all rather early, and good bearers. Were 
we to select, we should use for such a purpose the Red Champagne and 
Keen’s Seedling. The latter, besides being as large a fruit as the late 
Warrington, is good flavoured, early, and a great bearer. 
Indian Shot (Harriet). —This is the CannaIndica, and other Canna’s. 
You would see it noticed the other week. Having neither a hotbed, nor 
a greenhouse, though you might manage to raise the plants in a window, 
by keeping the seeds in the pot covered with a square of glass, you could 
not do any good w’ith them afterwards. As to their surviving the winter 
out of doors, that is altogether out of the question, as they will not stand 
any amount of frost. The rhisome roots of some of them resemble ginger 
roots, and possess a considerable amount of starchy nourishing matter. 
The seeds of some others are used as a substitute for coffee. All the 
family are ornamental. 
Lilium Lancifolium (Ibid). —This may be left out all the winter, if 
the ground is a light rich soil, well drained ; and the bulbs are from six 
to twelve inches deep. 
Hyacinths (R. W.). —You ask for the treatment of those that flower 
in moss and water, when done flowering, adding—“ I am afraid to turn 
them out of doors, lest frost should kill them ; will they flower next year 
again ? ” That altogether depends upon your treatment. To succeed, 
you must give the leaves as much attention, in either case, as you did 
when you expected a fine flower. If you keep them in the water and 
moss, they must be equally well supplied with change of water, tem¬ 
perature, and light. If you transplant them, you should place those from j 
the glasses in loose light soil, and with those in the moss do the same, I 
keeping all the moss that would adhere about them. But to succeed, not 1 
a leaf should receive a check, either from want of water, cold, See,, until | 
