74 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 29. 
return to tire shelter and warmth of a room or aviary, from 
which their supply of food had all along been chiefly de¬ 
rived. There are, however, other foreign songsters quite 
hardy enough to stand our out-door climate throughout the 
year. I will confine myself at present to one kind only—the 
Loxia cardinalis, commonly termed amongst English bird- 
fanciers the Virginian Nightingale, or Cardinal Grosbeak. 
It is found in various parts of the United States, where, as 
Wilson in his American Ornithology informs us, it is an 
especial favourite, under the term Red-bird, frequenting 
bushy ground, particularly near water, with many of the 
habits of our blackbird and thrush. In size it is almost the 
same as these, existing on corn, seeds, fruits, worms, snails, 
and the larva 1 of insects. A friend of my own, many years 
a resident of Virginia, informs me this bird may be seen in 
its native woods when an occasional much lower degree of 
temperature prevails than is ever experienced here. Its 
song is excellent, and continues during eight months in the 
year. In plumage it is nearly a bright scarlet, of which in 
our native birds we have no instance, so that our woods 
would at once receive, in such an exotic, a pleasing novelty 
to the eye and the ear. The female, though differing in 
plumage from the male, is nevertheless extremely graceful 
and beautiful, and she possesses the unusual, if not unique, 
accomplishment of a song equal, or I might almost say 
superior, to that of her mate. In my own (cold) conserva¬ 
tory a male specimen of the Virginian nightingale has been 
in uniform health for nearly four years ; but it was only in 
April, 1851, that I succeeded in procuring a female. They 
paired soon after, and three nests resulted before the 
autumn, the eggs being of a dusky white colour. The 
favourite place of building was a large dwarf box plant, in a. 
pot, the nest being constructed of hay, twigs, pieces of bass 
matting, and bits of paper, or dry leaves. The male was 
frequently heard to sing before daylight in the last February, 
and the pair are at the present moment again occupied in 
the work of nidification, amid incessant jugging, a box-tree 
being once more selected for their operations. It may be ' 
well here to observe, that these birds are, by their active | 
habits, unsuited to the constraint of a close cage, in which : 
they are extremely pugnacious, and frequently die in a short j 
time. In a large airy room, or conservatory, I believe no | 
bird will be found more docile, or to breed more readily, I 
the convenience being supplied of some bushy evergreens, | 
at the same time varying their aliment, especially after hatch¬ 
ing, when a little boiled egg and insect food are useful. 
But to return to my main object—that of shewing how 
readily this lovely bird might be naturalised in Great Britain. 
Let a few pairs be turned out in the spring, as soon as 
the trees and hedges afford a leafy shelter and screen from 
enemies, and success is, I think, certain, where the locality 
is secure from molestation and depredators, as in numbers 
of our parks and ornamental grounds. We have heard of 
the proffered reward to the inventor of a new pleasure; 
have I not suggested one ? and one, too, that might be 
realised at a cost trifling indeed in comparison with the 
sums frequently squandered in far less rational and in¬ 
teresting objects. Let us imagine for a moment the addition 
to the scenery in Windsor Park, and Virginia water, of the 
plumage and carolling of an enchanting new songster like 
this, which would in such a locality find a secure home, and 
become thenceforth a denizen of the forest. Specimens of 
this bird may often be seen at the Pantheon, in Oxford- 
street, London; or in the possession of the importers of 
foreign birds, amongst whom I believe one of- the principal 
is Mr. W. .1. Marrott, 54, King William-street, London 
Bridge. In stocking a domain, it is recommended that the 
females should outnumber the males, to avoid the tierce and 
sometimes fatal conflicts of the latter. Moreover, it would 
be well not to rest satisfied with one year's importation of 
the birds, but to repeat it in the succeeding spring, if prac¬ 
ticable. In carrying into execution the scheme I have been 
pointing out, let it be observed, we are but following the 
example of an English proprietor in America, who gave 
instructions to one of our dealers to send him out, during 
several years, twenty to thirty pairs of blackbirds and 
thrushes, to remind him, in his adopted woods, of the fea¬ 
thered songsters of his early days at home.— Henry Taylor. 
[We like this suggestion much, and shall be obliged by 
other communications on the subject.—E d. C. G.] 
PEAR-TREES FROM LAYERS. 
Having read at times of fruit-trees from cuttings, and 
having tried that mode of propagation without success, it 
struck me last spring that they might grow from layers. 1 
accordingly brought down two shoots of a pear-tree, and 
layered them the same as a carnation, and on taking them 
up in December, one had made a good mass of roots, but 
the other had only showed symptoms of rooting, yet from 
its appearance would have rooted this summer. I have no 
doubt but pears, and also apples, might be propagated on 
this plan with good success, were dwarf trees kept for the 
purpose. — Wm. Salcombe, Sussex. 
ROOT-PRUNING LARGE FRUIT-TREES. 
In looking over one of your numbers, a short time since, 
T noticed one of the writers has his doubts about root- 
pruning large trees. Now, to remove that doubt, I can 
state that I have root-pruned four large pear-trees with good 
success. One which I so pruned in August, 1850, was 
covered with breast-wood from one to two feet long, and the 
day after the operation the shoots flagged very much. 
These, were soon cut back, and since then the tree has not 
required much pruning, but is now covered with fruit-spurs, 
and last year had a good sprinkling of fruit on it, and looks 
as healthy as I could wish. In fact, it answered the 
purpose so well, that I was induced to root-prune the other 
three last summer. These trees are about twenty years old, 
growing against a wall, making very much wood annually, 
and bearing little or no fruit. They did not throw up so 
much wood last autumn. But how it trill act as regards the 
future crop of fruit, time alone must prove.—W m. Sai.- 
combe, Sussex. 
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 Coi'ner, Paternoster Row, London .” 
Enclosed Heath Land (J. H.). —Two acres of your light heath soil, 
properly managed, should keep your cow and pony. If the subsoil is 
really marl, that is, has some chalk mixed with the earth, you cannot do 
better than have some of it brought up by trenching, and mixed with the 
surface soil. What you require in your ground, if we correctly remember 
the soil about East Grinsted, is a stronger staple, and, to give this, chalk 
and clay will be the best application. When you have got the ground 
into proper order, we should divide the two acres into three parts ; one 
acre to grow roots, half an acre for lucerne, and half an acre for grass, to 
be sown with grass seeds specially suited for such a soil. As for the time 
of sowing the root crops, Ac., consult our “ allotment” monthly papers. 
If you require specific information on any point, write again. 
Egg-eating Hens.— A correspondent (G. H. Smith), says:—“I felt 
very much surprised at Anster Bonn recommending beating hens with a 
switch to cure them of this habit. Perhaps you will give my advice. 
Having kept fowls for a number of years of different varieties, in confine¬ 
ment, I have always found it necessary to give them a sufficient supply 
(daily) of (egg shells) phosphate of lime, they cannot lay eggs without it. 
I never have any eat the eggs, although kept in aviaries, some of them 
only HI ft. by 6 ft.; and where they will lay abundantly with proper food. 
I often leave a dozen or more eggs in the nest at one time, and they never 
interfere or break one. It is a craving for the components of eggshell, 
pulverised bones, calcined oyster shells, or, indeed, milk mixed with 
barley-meal; for any of these will answer the purpose. A young 
child finds sufficient in its mother’s milk, and the milk of the cow, 
to make bone and muscle. You cannot produce any of the large 
varieties of fowls—Cochin China, Dorking, Spanish, Ac., from full- 
grown stock birds, without giving your chickens plenty of the above, or 
they will never reach anything like the size of the parent stock. I have 
known this for years, and you will find the Rev. Mr. Dixon strongly re¬ 
commends it. Fowls require seeds or meal, grass or greens, and worms 
or meat. I get about two pounds of greaves, or meat paunches, and boil 
them well, put into the broth two or three cabbages, or turnips in winter, 
and thicken it with barley-meal. You can feed fowls cheap and well upon 
this, their necessary food, with a little dry barley occasionally. 
[It is a great mistake to suppose that there is much phosphate of lime 
in egg shells. In 100 grains of them, 97 are chalk, (carbonate of lime), 
and only 1 grain of phosphate of lime and magnesia.—E d. C. G.] 
Removing Trees. —A correspondent, ( C. S.), writes as follows :— 
“Your correspondent, ‘Novice,’ atp. 27, asks ‘ whether a tenant can 
remove trees ? ’ and you reply, ‘ the law is, that no trees can be removed 
without the consent of his landlord.’ Such was formerly the impression 
