April 8. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
27 
close to it, and the hives firmly fastened to them, and 
plastered about their points of junction; take care to have 
one good-sized hole. The bees will descend from the upper 
hive, hatch out the young brood, which will strengthen it 
very much, and help to produce earlier swarms another 
year.—A Country Curate. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Greaves—Canvass for Walls.— A correspondent (G. I.) writes to 
us obligingly as follows:—“A correspondent, a fortnight back, was 
inquiring where greaves for ducks and fowls could be bought? Of any 
tallow-me//er in town or country. The trade price is ^8 per ton; I 
should consider 10s. per cwt. a fair price; if carted any distance, a pro¬ 
portionate increase must be paid. In reply to Mr. Fish ( canvass for 
wall-trees), I use, because I had them free of cost, some waste canvass 
bags, which I have always found to exclude frost; and my cotton-mer¬ 
chant informs me he buys the canvass of T. & D. Henry, 44, Mark-lane, 
Sailmakers, in pieces of thirty-six yards long and one yard wide; cost 
about 3|d. per yard. 
Covering Walls (J. N. Gibson ).—We have covered fruits for some 
twenty-five years, and every year we try to cover more. Retardation is 
one of the chief secrets of success in this ; take care that your gardener 
rightly distinguishes between this and protection, although the same 
material be used. It is the handling it makes the difference. Our doc¬ 
trine alarmed a worthy lately; “What,” said he, “uncover in such an 
east wind?” “Yes,” we reply; “uncover on very cold and dull days, and 
cover on sunny and warm ones.” Now, however, the trees are in full | 
bloom our policy is just reversed. About greenhouse vinery, see an 
article by Mr. Errington in our number for April 1st. 
Mildew on Vines (Ibid). —Let us advise you to use a little fire-heat | 
in the afternoon only of every cold and unseasonable day, whether in ! 
April or August; conditions frequently go before mere periods. Sulphur ! 
applications will be found fully described in back numbers. We apply 
four to six ounces to a house 30 ft. long, l6ft. wide, 9 ft. high at back. 
It is simply applied by a painting brush, once a month, on the lower or 
return hot water pipe, which is never above 120°. Be cautious with ! 
greater heat. We hold the monthly application of sulphur as the best j 
safeguard in modern practice. Vines, in pots, feed well at root, and j 
expose every leaf to the light, stopping occasionally rambling shoots. 
Sundries (X. Y. Z.).— Richardia is the same genus as Calla. Du- \ 
vacua ovata is a half-hardy shrub, allied to Schinus , a Terebinth. The 
Peganum you mention, was not recorded when The Cottage Gardeners' 
Dictionary was in the press. It is a Ruewort, and not worth much. 
Stauntonia latifolia , you mention from Veitch’s list, is Holbollia latifolia 
in The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary . The Benthamia must be trained 
against the wall, unless you are in the south-west of England. We can 
say nothing of your other lists for a wall, not knowing your whereabouts, 
but the plants are all well worth a wall, except the Periploca, Celastrus, 
and Lycium. The other list you want cannot he made out properly for 
the same reason. Our correspondent cannot find the following plants 
in sale catalogues, and hopes some one will be able to put him on the 
right tract to find them— Hottonia palustris, Nuphcea advena, Apono- 
geton distachyon, Typha latifolia, Ranunculus plantagineus, and Saxi- 
fraga ciliaris. Some of these names we can only guess at from the M.S. ; 
but our readers may learn two useful lessons from it, the first is, that the 
locality should be named when fine half-hardy plants are inquired about; 
and the second, that all names, whether of persons or plants, should be 
written in a clear hand, because a single letter puts us on the wrong 
scent. 
Hotbed (A Young Gardener). —It is now too late to make a hotbed of 
tan for your cuttings. As you do not know much about tan, you would 
lose a considerable time in getting the tan ready, and also some trouble 
in making the bed, therefore use the dung-bed this spring, and we shall put 
you in possession of all the details about tan in time for your next bed. 
Mignonette (Minnie). —There is only one kind of mignonette, and 
that is the one trained as tree mignonette. 
Calceolaria (A. D.). —Accept our thanks for the offer of your varie¬ 
gated calceolaria, but that kind of variegation is never permanent. The 
leaves will turn quite green in another soil. There is no such plant as 
“ a scarlet candytuft," but the name is often seen in sale lists. There 
is no perennial mignonette, except our own common favourite, which is 
a tolerable perennial in hot countries. The names you cannot find in 
the Dictionary are quite new, or belong to perfectly useless plants. De¬ 
pend upon it, that any old plant not found in The Cottage Gardeners' 
Dictionary , is not worth inquiring about. 
Lawn (W. P. L.). —A lawn that “is very well drained,” and recently 
“covered with new turf,” if that turf was at all good, requires, or ought 
to require, nothing but the constant use of the roller, and to be mowed 
once a-week during summer. If you mean that the new turf was laid 
down on the old turf, it was very bad practice. The old should have 
been removed. 
Burning Clay (T. H. F .).—There was an excellent article on the 
subject given a few weeks ago. See page 387 of vol. vii. 
Canaries (W. M .).—Two hens will breed in the same cage with one 
cock often ; but it would be better to put the two hens together for 
some time before the cock is placed with them, as the hens are apt to 
fight with each other, and it is found, if they are together for some time 
before, they become reconciled. The cock should not be removed, as he 
will feed both hens, and often, while one is sitting on her eggs will con- 
t nuously feed her. Moreover, when the young are hatched, and are not 
sufficiently able to feed themselves, and the mother hatching another 
brood, the cock will not only feed the mother on the nest, but the young 
ones also.— W. Ray tier. 
Sowing Tropceolum Tricolorum (.7. R. P.).—The seeds of this 
plant ought to be sown as soon as they are ripe, because, when they are 
kept dry for a time, some, and the greater part of them, will not vegetate 
till the second season. Suppose the seeds are ripe in June and then 
sown, they will not vegetate till the end of the following September, the 
natural time for the tubers to grow. When they sprout, keep them cool 
and close to the glass, and when they begin to climb, put small sticks 
round the pot for them to run upon, and let them remain in the same 
pot till the first growth is completed, and the bines die down ; then put 
the pots on a dry shelf till the end of the following August, when shake 
them out, and put the tiny roots or tubers in fresh pots and soil, and, as 
they grow, treat them as so many old plants. It is now too late to sow 
them, as, probably, they would not vegetate till next October. Too many 
were printed of the work you name, to render a second edition probable 
for some years to come. 
Sowing Annuals, Sic. (A Novice). —Sow the White Eschscholtzia, 
Leptosiphon, and the Silene, at once, where they are to bloom in the 
open ground ; but you had better sow the Saponaria and Centranthus 
in pots, and prick them out afterwards as you say. The Physalis cdulis, 
or Cape Gooseberry, requires exactly the same treatment as the To¬ 
mato. The fruit is a soft round berry, inclosed in a hood formed by the 
bladder-like calyx. The plant is a coarse, strong grower, and will require 
to be kept well pruned all the summer, and, under similar conditions, it 
will be ripfe about the same time. Whether a tenant can remove trees, 
&c., depends on what agreement he made on entering ; the law is, that 
no trees can be removed without the consent of his landlord. 
Flower-garden (A Learner, S. B,). —Scarcely was the ink dry on 
the remarks on plans in Mr. Beaton’s weekly article, when yours arrived. 
He sees by it that he omitted remarking on the necessity of giving a line 
on the plan to represent the front of the house. On the supposition that 
your house is opposite No. 3 or No. 1, or that you first see the garden 
from one of these points, you have managed remarkably well. We never 
saw the calceolarias so disposed before. Your plan is quite new, and the 
secret of it is in the size of the beds ; had the centre ones, 13, 14, 15, and 
1 6 , been as large as 1 and 3, or 2 and 4, your planting would not do. 
No. 9 is better as it is than with the variegated Alyssum ; but you have 
a fine chance of introducing an edging of it round No. 1, and it will last 
there as long as the scarlet geraniums ; then, if the house is opposite 3, 
12 should change places with 10, but if the house is on the other side, they 
are better as they are. We wish you every success with this beautiful 
arrangement, and the more so, because you have complied with our rules 
to the very letter ; but ladies almost always do. 
Sowing Mangold Wurtzel (W. B.).—' The seed should be covered 
about two inches. As to Rape for milch cows, we should prefer coleworts 
sown in the middle of June, and transplanted as you say. The thou¬ 
sand-headed cabbage, too, from plants sown in the middle of May, 
would be very productive crops. These, however, want good soil. On 
poor soil, the Dutch or Stone Turnip might be obtained. All these 
would give way betimes in North Lancashire for spring cropping. 
Various Queries (S. H. /.).—If your annuals are now up in pots or 
pans, you had better prick them off, three or four plants into 4-inch pots, 
and protect still in frames or the like. One of the very worst kinds of 
gardening is that of sowing annuals early in pots or pans, to take up the 
spare room in the greenhouse or frames that other plants of more conse¬ 
quence ought to be occupying. The middle of April is the best season 
to sow cither hardy annuals in the borders, or the half-hardy in pots or 
pans, which may be sown on the same day, and put into some gently- 
heated structure, and when up, and fit to handle well, may be pricked off 
three or four plants into other small pots, gradually inured to the open 
air during May, so as to have stocky, nice plants to transplant out in the 
various spots or beds in the flower-garden. All the plants in your first 
list are generally treated as half-hardy annuals. Your Bartonia aura, 
&c., &c., are best sown out in the open borders where they are to flower. 
Your plants enclosed are Sedum virens, Spiraea fllipendula, Ulex 
stricta (?). The other is too small a bit to be recognised. As you did 
not number your specimens, how can you apply the names ? 
Geometrical Flower-gardens (A Yorkshire Gardener). —There 
is no work upon this subject with working plans. Ketitish Hero is a 
good yellow calceolaria for the borders. 
Sundry Queries (A Subscriber, §•<?.).— Roses may be now grafted, 
inarched, and budded. Divide violets in autumn. You will see what 
Mr. Appleby says about rose cuttings to-day. All the ceanothuses may 
be propagated by cuttings in April and August. Double wall-flowers are 
propagated by cuttings, under a hand-light, in May and June. 
Myrtle Slips (F. Orgill). —These, which have been struck in water, 
should be now potted singly in small pots, in very rich soil, well watered, 
and placed under a hand-light. Your pear-tree , which blossoms pro¬ 
fusely, but produces no fruit, probably has defective flowers. Try one 
branch with the “ ring of Pomona;” that is, remove immediately every 
particle of bark in a circle all round it, an inch wide, and quite down to 
the wood. Let us know if that branch bears better than the others. 
Pits and Frames for Wintering Plants (A young Gardener ).— 
So far as we comprehend your plan, you are quite right. You may have 
a four-inch wall, honey-combed or pigeon-holed to admit heat from ma¬ 
nure into a close chamber, or into a bed of fermenting materials for 
growing things requiring a high temperature. Such a wall, to heat a 
place for keeping frame and greenhouse plants in winter, even though 
the plants stand upon a close-jointed boarded flooring above the chamber 
to which the heat had access, would be inapplicable, as the least crevice 
in the boards, and you used fresh dung, would soon settle all your plants. 
Besides, the heat would be unequal, and you would run the risk of having 
too much or too little, not to say any thing of the damp. All this may 
be obviated by building your wall solid, aud thus you will have what 
heat you want, and no danger from steam or damp. The less artificial 
heat for such a purpose the better. If you filled the linings at the begin¬ 
ning of winter with leaves and dung, and covered them from the weather, 
a mild, genial heat would be given off inside of the wall for months, and 
a turning and a little addition would always renew it. Above ground, 
whether brick or boards, your walls for what you mention would be best 
protected by a couple of inches thick of straw tied neatly along them. It 
will be a fierce frost that will penetrate that, if well done and kept dry. 
Cineraria seed, sow now. 
Anemone Seed (Sarah).— Sow it now on a nice warm border, pro¬ 
tected by a frame, or a thick mat. In May, sow in the open air. 
