May 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
119 
I we have the beat, for though blooming , it has not done so freely with us 
as other kinds. As you have the means, we would first get the plant 
into a forcing-frame or pit, then by the end of June into a cold pit, kept 
rather close, and then as advised above, into the open air. Of course, if so 
injured as not to grow much, there would be little use in putting it out- 
of-doors this season. Cactus Jenkinsonii. —The healthy plant you 
describe should be fresh potted when the flower is gone, provided there 
are not a number of more buds swelling, when the potting should be 
delayed. If well managed, a plant of that size should have a number 
of flowers. Give it a good position in your window in any case, 
and. treat exactly for next season as Mr. Fish recommended lately. 
I Cactus Ackermannii. —This similar, but better fitted for a window, 
j Epiphyllum truncatum is rather different, as it blooms in winter, spring, 
| and very early summer. If in a window, it should be kept cool in 
winter, so that the flower-buds will not open until the days are long, as 
in dull cold weather in winter there would not be enough of heat in the 
window, and the flowers would be pale if opened at a distance from it 
nearer the fire. By ripening well in the autumn, you may have the 
flowers at will in spring, by putting plants into your cucumber pit for a 
week or two. Tuberose. —\Ve would have given you more encouragement 
if they had been planted a fortnight ago, instead of to be purchased a 
fortnight hence, The best bulbs will be gone ; but if you get some good 
j sound ones you may try. They will do well in the window. Cucumbers' 
leaves spotting and going into holes , &c.—When we see a leaf carefully 
sent we may judge ; at present, as there is no appearance of insects, and 
you have such abundance of atmospheric moisture, we think it likely 
that one of these bright mornings or forenoons air has not been given 
soon enough , and a scalding has been the consequence. Pull off the 
most of the fruit, and if the roots are all right, you may yet get fresh 
I foliage and good fruit too. Be careful how you Use the sulphur ; if 
there is neither mildew nor insects, keep its application, and hat mildly, 
| to the back of the frame, and shade for some time to come. 
I Weeds Destruction (G F.H.). —Quite right, destroy before they seed, 
is the thing. We have written, exhorted, lectured on this great subject, 
and the very men who applauded convincing statements to the echo, will 
let the hedge-rows of their fields be a perfect brake of thistle, and other 
winged seeds, that will give them a fine crop of unwished-fors’, during 
many a year to come. It takes many a long year to clear land of even 
annual seed weeds. Every fresh turning of the soil brings a fresh bevy 
into vegetation. Would that some seedsmen got into the knack of pre¬ 
serving valuable seeds as carefully as mother earth keeps those confided 
to her care. 
Failure of Grapes ( Blcgthon ).—Your case is very lamentable. It 
is impossible to say for certain what may have been the cause of your 
grape failure. The brown seams, you describe, scars, &c., may, indeed, 
arise from an unusually low temperature continued for many hours. 
Anything that would arrest the circulation of the sap might cause it; 
such as a sudden declension of ground heat, stagnated root moisture, and 
the application of manurial liquids too highly concentrated. We cannot 
think that snow-water simply penetrating through the roof could possibly 
occasion it. Please to look over our back numbers on vine culture. 
Few yet thoroughly appreciate the importance of proper root culture. 
Too much stress by half has been laid on modes of pruning and training ; 
such has tended to draw attention from points of higher import still. 
We think that you will find few liquid jnanures more generally useful 
than guano water, from the best Peruvian. For enriching vine roots, we 
should use three ounces to a gallon of water, applied at a temperature 
of 90°. We, however, as a matter of economy, use daily a mixture of 
dunghill drainings and soot water, in which a little guano is mixed. 
The dunghill drainings are stale, and the whole much reduced by more 
water. All these things require caution. 
Bees (Doncaster) .— 44 Your Mr. Payne tells us, in this week’s number 
of your valuable periodical, to hive a swarm, and put it in the place of 
the stock from which it proceeded, and to remove the stock two or three 
hundred yards from its old place. Will the bees therein be reconciled to 
this new position ? Is there not great danger of the stock being entirely 
deserted V” All the bees in the stock-hive that have flown will join 
the swarm ; this is the thing desired. The large quantity of brood in a 
hive at the time a swarm departs from it, will be quite sufficient to re¬ 
people it, but not so abundantly as to cause the departure of a second 
swarm. 
Tree Bleeding. — 44 In your number of the 29th April, I observed a 
question, 4 Elm-tree Bleeding ((?.). In reply, I beg to give him my ex¬ 
perience in curing bleeding in vines. In one of my hothouses where the 
wood last year had not been properly ripened, in pruning them this 
season, they bled very much, so much so, that the sap came out in little 
globes and trickled down the shoots. I caused my gardener to wipe off 
the moisture, and take a camel hair brush and apply to the place a 
coating of an article called 4 Collodion,’ which may be had from any 
respectable chemist. You could get a 2oz. vial for about 6d, Collodion, 
when applied, instantly dries, and forms a sort of varnish, which is quite 
impervious by moisture. The bleeding instantly stopped, and perma- 
mently too, although it is three months since I applied it. If this should 
be effectual in the elm-tree case, I shall be glad to hear of that through 
your columns. I shall be glad if you add my name to the list of those 
I willing to exchange plants. — Robt. Wotherspoon, Maxwclton House, 
Paisley. 
j (Enotiiera macrocarpa (S. R.). —Large plants of this may be 
turned out of the pots at once, or at any time between this and the 
| middle of July, and they will run and cover a bed the same season. Let 
the shoots be trained down and fixed till the roots get hold of the bed. 
Dorking Fowls ( E. W. P .).—I know these to be bad layers in some 
I localities. If yours arc very fat, feed sparingly for a short time, and try 
i an entire change of food. Give them porridge of barley-meal or 
, middlings, and let them eat it quite warm—a meal every morning. Are 
I you sure, however, that the lien-housc is safe from rats and other depre¬ 
dators ?— Anster Bonn. 
Egg-f.ating Hens (A Constant Reader ).—I have no reason to think 
eating egg-shell teaches fowls to eat their eggs, for our egg-shells have 
1 been broken up and thrown out for the last ten years, without producing 
j mischief. Watch your fowls narrowly, discover the delinquent, place her 
where she can be constantly watched at laying time, and prevent her 
having a chance of eating eggs until she loses the habit. An indifferent 
hen I would sacrifice at. once, but a handsome Cochin-China one cannot 
relinquish so easily. Make sure, however, before blaming the hens, that 
the eggs are laid With shells, for soft eggs, and those which are broken by 
accident, the very best disposed hens will eat. In addition to the ex¬ 
cellent feeding which you give your fowls do not forget that they require 
gravel-stones. To the cock still suffering from cold after being cured of 
the pip, give one dose of castor-oil, a teaspoonful, and afterwards a desert- 
spoonful of cod-liver oil, every morning. Shelter him as much as j 
possible from cold wind and heavy rain.— Anstek Bonn. 
Roses (Thomas L.). —The classes are as follows:—Charles Duval, 
Coupe de Hebe, and Great Western, are Hybrid Bourbons; Fulgens, 
Hybrid China; Celina, a Moss ; Blush Hip, a Hybrid Provence. There 
have been Kings and Ne plus ultras in more than one section, so we cannot 
determine to which yours belong; but, after all, we would place no 
reliance whatever on the names of plants sold at these marts. All your 
roses may turn out to be one sort. We cannot tell if they arc worked i 
plants without seeing them ; if they are, you can easily see the parts of | 
union ; being dwarfs, they arc likely to be on their own roots. 
Buo wallia.—M r. Beaton has received some specimens of B. Jumeisonii | 
just coming into flower very freely, but had no communication along with i 
them. 
Tobacco Pater. —T. B, L. Y., writes to us from Leeds as follows :— i 
1 have seen a report in The Cottage Gardener, April 15th, from Mr. ! 
Errington, stating the gardening world should set their faces against ' 
tobacco paper, because the dealers have adulterated it. A great portion 
of it is, we are informed, rough paper from paper warehouses, deluged in 
lamp-black water, to which a little tobacco juice has been added for con¬ 
science (?) sake. I quite agree w ith Mr. Errington on that point; a great 
portion of it is sent out from Leeds, 1 believe, but I beg leave to inform 
Mr. Errington that he can be supplied with a genuine article at lOd. per 
pound, if he applies either to Mr. John Ivearsley, nurseryman, Woodhouse* 
hill, Leeds, or to Mr. John Wilkinson, 1, Boar-lane, Leeds, which I am 
certain will give Mr. E. satisfaction, if he gives it a fair trial.” 
Hen’s Nests. — A Constant Subscriber says: — 44 Having read an 
article in your 187th number upon poultry, making a remark upon the 
very spare broods of this spring, supposed to arise from the long continued 
dry weather, perhaps the following plan of preparing the nests may be 
acceptable (it not being in many localities safe on the ground or banks). 
I place some mould in the usual nests, then line it neatly with fresh-cut 
turf, perfectly smooth, and formed a little hollow ; placing on this a very 
little soft straw. I occasionally sprinkle the nest and eggs with lukewarm 
water. Under the above plan I last week hatched forty-seven chicks 
from live hens, and the hens are free from that intense itching, so common 
after setting. Should the above hint be useful to the success of poultry¬ 
rearing, it will prove a gratification to an old amateur.” 
Moving Crocuses (A Would-be Good Gardener). — It is not a good 
plan at all to take up crocuses now, or till their leaves die, and then only 
once in three or four years, for the purpose of dividing the roots to allow 
them more room. If you have a bed of them this spring, and you wish 
to clear it for summer plants, you must take up the roots carefully, and 
preserve the leaves green as long as possible in another part of the 
garden by watering them well. Alter the leaves die you may take up 
the roots, and keep them dry till the beginning of October, then plant 
them. Your Magnolia must be one of the varieties of granditlora which 
never flowers ; the flowering sorts are very rusty-like on the under side 
of the leaves. We never make plans, or alter plans, of flower-gardens, 
because that would expose us to endless annoyance. 
Diseased Orchids (Orient). —The leaves you sent have very much 
surprised us. Yours is a fearful case, and your graphic account of the 
progress of the disease amongst your best orchids is really distressing. 
No doubt the disease comes from using hard water, and that from the 
iron tanks. The drip from the roof of the house has nothing to do with 
it, even had any fallen, which you say there has not. We are almost 
sure it proceeds from water strongly impregnated with iron. We would 
advise you to procure a number of earthenware pots in the form of a wide 
cylinder, l£ feet deep, placed near the tank ; let these be filled up every 
day with soft water as it is used, and use that only to water the plants, 
and for syringing them. The steam from the hot water in the iron tank will 
not hurt them. We condole sincerely with you, and heartily wish the 
change of water may have the effect of bringing your plants into health 
again. 
Roses (F. W. T.). —The roses you mention as having been neglected 
in potting, and yet have bloomed tolerably, should be set out of doors as 
the weather will permit. In a month’s time they will be, in a degree, in 
a state of rest; theu you may repot them, correcting at the time the 
fault of drainage. Prune them in then, but very moderately, leaving 
every leaf on below the cuts. They will break, and some will show 
flower, but these must be all nipped off. In the autumn, prune as directed 
in our back numbers, and do not force them very early. By this treat¬ 
ment you will bring them round into a good healthy condition, and in 
another year will find them bloom better than ever. 
Indian Seeds (F. B.). —Your Indian seeds are not much worth. They 
arc mostly tall-growing shrubs, and require much space to grow them 
well. However, if you like to try them, sow them in alight soil thinly 
covered, and place them cither in a hotbed or in a warm stove near the 
glass, potting them off singly into small pots as they grow up, and after¬ 
wards treating them in the usual manner. Those from Nepaul, without 
specific names, we can tell you nothing about; they may be good, and 
are worth trying. No. 1 is a stove shrub, with yellow flowers ; 2 is also 
a tall stove shrub, with large yellow spotted with crimson flowers; 4 we 
do not know, nor can we find it in any catalogue; 5 is a stove shrub, with 
small blue flowers ; 6 is a pretty foliaged plant requiring the stove. The 
rest are unknown. 
Greenhouse Shading (An old Subscriber).— Your greenhouse, vou 
say, is at an angle of 30°, and often, during the hottest part of the day, 
the thermometer stands at 90°. This is a heat with a vengeance. Your 
plants must suffer greatly. Your means of giving air must be very bad. 
This must be remedied immediately. You ask, would it be desirable to 
