12 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 1. 
clean straw, or, what is better and more cleanly, the straw 
put into a large sack, not too full, and trod on until it 
becomes flattened, when the sides, being well rubbed with 
salt, as recommended above, may be laid upon it. The usual 
place where they are cured is in the dairy, or any other cool 
convenient place, and the quantity of salt and other ingre¬ 
dients are as follows, namely:—The quantity of salt used is 
j a pound to every stone of pork, i.e., if the pig weigh fourteen 
i stones, then a stone, or fourteen pounds, of salt is used, and 
for a pig of that weight about an ounce of saltpetre, the 
j same of bay-salt, and a pound of brown sugar, and so on in 
proportion to size or weight. The half of these quantities 
only is used when the flitches are first laid by for curing, 
and the remainder at the end of ten or eleven days, when 
they are turned, that is, the undermost flitch is laid at the 
top, and they then remain for other ten days, which makes 
in all three weeks. Of course a pig of thirty stones takes 
more time in curing, four weeks being considered as suffi¬ 
cient time. Care is always taken to exclude the air as much 
as possible from the flitches during the process of curing ; 
for this purpose any old blanket, quilt, or sack, is used to 
cover the flitches with, and a wood deal is laid on the top of 
all, with heavy weights on it, which causes the flitches to lie 
more level and firm, thereby preventing the brine saturating 
the thinner parts too much, and equalizing the effects of the 
salt. Care is also taken to put double the quantity of salt, 
&c., on the hams than on any other part. After thus lying 
for three weeks or a month, according to size, they are then 
hung up in the kitchen, in order to dry, “ no smoking being 
allowed,” for the space of three weeks, and if not then 
allowed to be bacon to set before a queen, those that try it 
and find it not so, may brand me as the greatest deceiver 
who ever contributed to The Cottage Gardener. 
Llebig. 
LEAVING POTATOES IN THE GROUND. 
I have just read the communication of your correspondent 
B., in The Cottage Gardener, vol. vii., page 346, and I 
beg to record my experience on this subject. Wishing to 
try an experiment which was recommended, I believe, in 
your pages, I left a portion of my potatoes in the ground, 
and only dug the last of them on the 21st February. They 
were of the description known here as “ Prince Regents.” 
At the time when I took up the greater part of my potatoes, 
I covered those which I intended to keep through the 
winter with about four inches of extra soil. I do not 
gather from “B’s” communication that he took any such 
precaution, and I am not surprised at his potatoes being 
rotten. I commenced digging these protected potatoes 
about the 1st of December, and have used no other until 
about a week ago. I am sorry to say my protected potatoes 
are now finished, but the experiment, in my case, has been 
so perfectly satisfactory, that I intend to adopt it extensively 
this year. I intend to take up every other row at the usual 
time for taking up potatoes, and to cover the remaining 
rows with from six to eight inches of soil. Having adopted 
manj', if not most, of the recommendations in The Cottage 
Gardener as to the cultivation of potatoes, I can speak 
from experience of their value. I have had abundant crops, 
and considerably less disease than my neighbours. I may 
i add that I did not find potatoes planted in October, 1850, 
I any better than those planted in February, 1851. My seed 
j potatoes I select from those taken up at the usual time. I 
would strongly advise B. to give the experiment of pre- 
! serving potatoes in the ground another trial, not for the 
! purpose of providing himself with seed, but for regular 
consumption, and I shall be glad to hear that it succeeds as 
well with him as with me.—W m. E. Howlett, Kirion in 
Lindsey, Lincolnshire. 
LABELS FOR PLANTS. 
I have not yet found anything superior to the plan which 
I adopt, and which has stood the test of more than ten years. 
I always keep some good white lead, rather thick, in a small 
i earthenware pot, and pieces of zinc cut according to the 
! sizes wanted ; a little of the paint is smeared on the upper 
I part ot the zinc, and while wcL is written on (in rather a 
round hand) with a black-lead pencil; this soon dries, and 
is then quite fast. For geraniums and other plants, in-doors, 
they will keep legible as long as is necessary, and out-of- 
doors they will continue so for several years ; and are very 
easily re-written, merely scraping them again with an old 
knife, and applying the paint and pencil as before. I think 
this plan is the simplest, plainest, and easiest of adoption, 
that I have yet heard of. If the zinc pieces are made rather 
long and tapering, the ends are easily bent round the 
branches of roses and other trees.—E. C., Chelmsford. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Clearing Cider. — A Ciderist obligingly answers “An Enquirer.” 
“ 1. Put one ounce of isinglass (previously soaked in water), and dissolved 
in one quart of old cider, into the cask, stirring it in well; let it stand a 
week or two. This is sufficient for one hogshead. 2. Toasted bread is 
also recommended. A common-sized loaf, cut into slices and well toasted. 
This allowed to soak, not only clears, but gives the cider a good colour.” 
CociiiN-CniNA Fowls Hatching {Evesham). — I have known 
Cochin-China fowls hatch two days too late (also one day too soon), but 
never later than that, and have attributed the delay cither to staleness in 
the eggs, or unsteadiness in the sitter on beginning to sit.— Anster Bonn. 
Poland Fowls (A Subscriber ).—I think the golden Poland as good 
layers as the black. I have known nine hens lay thirty-six eggs per week, 
which is good produce, although less productive than the Cochin-China. 
I have found them as strong and as easy to raise as other fowls.— Am ter 
Bonn, 
Gentianella (Anna). —Your letter corroborates our own experience 
for the last twelve years. The Blue Gentian, Gentiana acaulis , is not 
worth looking at in a chalk soil, and no compost that you can use over 
chalk will ever make this plant flourish. We know edgings of it now 
thirty years old, of which nine or ten inches must be cut away from each 
side every spring, otherwise it would run over the garden. These edgings 
never miss flowering as thickly as daisies. The soil is rich, strong, deep, 
and moist below. % 
Trop(eolum canariense (Ibid). —No plant grows more freely than 
this ; any soil, rich or poor, will do for it, but of course a rich soil suits 
it better. “ It grows very sadly with you in pots, and in the borders.” A 
sure sign of something which W'e do not like to say. Make holes a foot 
deep and ten inches across, where you want to plant it this season, and 
get a man to fill them from the sweepings of the road or street, if he 
cannot get better, and our word for it they will grow fast enough. Mind 
the plants must have plenty of watering till after the middle of July. 
Neighbour’s Hive (W. A. E.). —Po not put the glasses upon your 
Neighbour’s improved cottage hive until the bees show evident signs of 
w ant of room, and then let there be a small piece of guide-comb fixed at 
the top of each glass, and the bees will, in all probability, commence work¬ 
ing in the glasses the day they are put on, and, if so, there need be very 
little fear of their sw'arming ; but they must work in the glasses. If you 
put on an eke, it must not exceed two inches in depth, or the bees will 
forsake the glasses. A wood hoop, w’ith adapter top and bottom, will be 
more convenient than straw. Faint inside a box w’ould annoy the bees 
exceedingly. 
Anemone Beds (Viola). —Certainly, the anemones can be removed to 
a reserve garden as soon as the flow’ers are gone, and, if handled very care¬ 
fully, will take little hurt; but amateurs often destroy plants that way 
for w r ant of knowing the practical mode of handling them. Nothing 
seems more easy and simple to do than laying bricks, when we see a man 
at it, but what a mess any of us would get into if we were to take the 
trowel ; and it is just so with everything else—we must spoil things 
before w r e can get into the right way, even under good instructors, like 
the writers in The Cottage Gardener. Let the bed be well watered 
two days before you move the roots, and in their new bed let them not 
feel the want of it for an hour till the leaves turn colour. Very much 
depends on the watering. 
Rhubarb Wine (A New Subscriber). —We sent your query to a good 
authority, and thus he replies:—“ Abernethy was accustomed, after 
listening somewhat impatiently to long catalogues of complaints, thus to 
address his patients—‘ Read my book—at page so-and-so you will see 
your case exactly.’ So, in the case w'hich you refer to me, I think 
you should say, ‘ Read my book ! ’ For in vol. iv., pages 293 and 319> of | 
The Cottage Gardener, your correspondent will find plain directions i 
how to proceed in order to ensure a wine good, effervescent, and whole- : 
some. She (I presume ‘A New Subscriber’ to be a lady) will there see . 
that the addition of brandy will only make * grog * of her w ? inc, and is, 
therefore, worse than useless,—that w r ater is necessary, to form a good 
artificial * yeast,*—that the addition of yeast is unnecessary, nav, preju¬ 
dicial,—and, above all, that she might as well venture to sea without a 
compass as to try to reduce w’ine-making to a certainty without a sac- 
charometer. ‘ A New Subscriber ’ seems earnest in the matter, and is 
evidently not discouraged by difficulties. Let her then, by all means, try 
again next June; let her buy Vol. iv. of The Cottage Gardener, 
proceed as there directed, order a saccharometer (Roberts’ only costs 6s.), 
and if she follows directions she will be sure to succeed. If I could 
know the specific gravity of the wine made last year by the saccharometer, 
I could offer an opinion as to its future treatment; without this know¬ 
ledge I cannot.”—H. W. Livett. 
Budding (S.). —Yes, the statement to “ all buds whatever’’—apples, i 
pears, plums, cherries, &c., and all fancy plants that come from budding— j 
we referred ; or suppose all the trees and bushes in the world could be in- | 
creased by budding, we would not remove the thin slice of wood from 
