June 24. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
203 
profitable kind of fowls ? but I find 1 have not time just 
now to do so.—W. T. 
[The above is from an extensive poultry keeper, and the 
oftener we see his handwriting the more we are pleased.— 
Ed. C. G.] 
MONTHLY WEIGHT OE A HIVE. 
Some years ago I kept bees at Blackheath, and as I 
weighed one of the hives very regularly on the first of each 
month, for one year, I have thought that the list of weights 
may be interesting to some of your readers. 
Nett weight; the hive and board having been weighed:— 
Oet. 1, 23lbs.; Nov. 1,21ilbs.; Dec. 1,211 lbs.; Jan. 1,201bs; 
Feb. 1, l?j lbs.; March 1, 15§ lbs.; April 1,13 lbs.; May 1, 
lTJlbs. j June 1, 20^ lbs.; July 1, 101 lbs., having swarmed 
in June; Aug. 1, 18 lbs.: Sep. 1, not weighed; Oct. 1, 
15$ lbs. Constant Header. 
NOTES ON VEGETABLES AND NEW 
VARIETIES. 
I bought, last year, a number of new sorts, advertised in 
various works on gardening, several of which turned out 
quite worthless, and many were the same variety I bad grown 
before. I bought them chiefly to give them a trial, and to 
prove their qualities with the older sorts. The observations 
I made on their merits will perhaps interest your readers ; 
and I have also added a few remarks on such old varieties 
as are fit for the cottage gardener, as I really think that the 
growth of vegetables has been a little neglected of late years, 
the rage for flowers only giving them a secondary thought 
with many gardeners; but with cottagers they ought to be 
certainly the primary object, as they are surely the greatest 
addition to the comfort of a family. 
Beans. —I never plant but three kinds of these. In the 
first or second week in January I plant a few of the Green 
Mazagan for the first crop ; the last week in the same month 
a few rows of Long Pods ; and after that, in succession, I 
plant once a fortnight some of the Old Broad Windsor, and 
I have seen them grown to a very large size in this part of 
the country (Wiltshire), as there are many bean shows held 
; at the various village public houses, where prizes are given 
for the largest and best-shaped beans, and they are certainly 
grown to a state of great perfection. Marshall's Prolific I 
grew last season, and find that it is very useful as an early 
and good cropping sort. 
Borecole. —I find the Dwarf Green Curled and the Chou 
de Milan the very best varieties for the cottage garden. 
Brussels Sprouts. —This is an excellent vegetable, and 
the seed cannot be sown too early, so as to get the plants 
forward for planting out; and they require good ground, 
with plenty of manure, otherwise they will not cabbage. I 
do not think that any vegetable can be nicer than a dish of 
Brussels sprouts well-boiled and served up after the manner 
of asparagus. The imported seed is the best. 
Brocoli. —I sow Grange's Early White for the first crops; 
also a little Cape, as it is not long in coming to perfection ; 
Knight's Protecting, and the Portsmouth, for late crops. 
Cabbages. —There are many sorts of these, yet if you buy 
ten different sorts of seed you could scarcely perceive a dif¬ 
ference in their produce. Nearly' every district has its fa¬ 
vourite kind; the best that I ever saw for autumn sowing and 
planting to stand the winter, is Wheeler's Imperial. It is both 
early and will never run to seed; you may plant out ten 
thousand of them, and never have a running plant among 
the number; and it is the best sort grown for small gardens; 
for what is a greater disappointment to a cottager to find 
that, after having bestowed a winter’s care on his plot of 
cabbage plants, ninety out of every hundred start to 
! seed. I have grown this sort for the last ten years, and 
j never saw an instance of one running plant in my garden, 
when I have purchased of Mr. Wheeler. 
Savoys. —I purchased a variety of the Savoy cabbage 
called the New Ulm Savoy, but which was not so good as the 
! old Dwarf Green. A good Savoy cabbage is a very useful 
vegetable for the cottager. I consider the first week in May 
quite early enough to sow the seed, for if planted too early, 
they often crack and spoil before they are wanted for use. 
Carrot. —For the cottager and small gardens the Early 
Horn is the best variety, as it may be sown very thick, so as 
to begin drawing them early, and leave the others room to 
grow. The Early Green Topt is also a good variety where 
some are wanted for the winter. 
Onions. —The White Spanish and James's Long Keeping 
are the best sorts for the cottage garden. I generally mix 
the seeds together, and sow in drills for the convenience of 
keeping them free from weeds. J. K. T. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
Calceolaria (.7. S.).— Form good ; colour rich crimson, netted with 
gold. A desirable flower. 
Pansey ( Irlanduis ).—Your Panscy, Cunilidate, is of good form, but the 
blue and straw colours are too clouded, or muddled together, to permit it 
to be a first-rate flower. 
Pansey (II. R. C.). —Your Pansey, Mary Jane, is striking and novel; 
form good; standard petals violet; under petals yellow, with broad 
violet edge and spot. Your other Pansey, a purple self, with blue tinge 
around the eye ; the eye small and partly white, partly yellow, is of good 
form. Both arc handsome desirable flowers. 
Calceolarias (E. Turner). —Form good in all. No. 2. Large 
reddish plum-coloured blotch on a creamy ground. No. 4. Deep maroon 
mottly blotch, on straw ground. No. 5. Dark plum blotch, on French- 
white ground. These three are striking flowers, and sufficiently novel to 
merit attention. 
Pansey (E. H.J -, Clapton). — Form excellent; medium size; in¬ 
tense purple self so dark as to appear black, with flush of blue round 
yellow eye. A very beautiful flower. 
Calceolarias (ill. E. S.).— Your flowers packed in cotton, instead of 
damp moss, were all shrivelled up. No. 6 is Neighbour's Improved 
Cottage Hive. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Boronia serrulata, &c. ( F . N.). —You will have seen last week 
that you have been partly attended to. The Platylobium was lately 
referred to. The Aotus is a very graceful plant, and fuller notices may 
be given ere long ; meanwhile, you will not err in giving them the treat¬ 
ment recommended for j Boronia serrulata , only the temperature in spring 
need not be so high. We are not quite sure that the flower sent belongs 
to B. pinnata; there is rather more pink in it than that flower generally 
has, unless when in high health and full in the sun. If the shoots are 
very twiggy it may be viminea; if the leaflets are in threes it may be 
triphylla. But we have had pinnata as high coloured, though generally 
described as purple. 
Turf and Earth Pits (Verax).— We have never found any difficulty 
in making these pits, though when of the latter material they require to 
have the mound or wall wider than it is resolved to leave them at last. 
We are, however, much obliged for your suggestion—“ that the earth 
rammed in a frame or mould would be far more durable, and that giving 
an account of the operation would confer a public benefit —frame, 
rammer, &c., covered afterwards with gas-tar.” We have made such 
pits, having a rough stationary frame of old boards and slabs at the 
sides; but we have not made any a piece at a time, with a moveable 
frame, as you describe. We should have no hesitation in having a 
strong frame of wood, made smooth on the two inner sides, and kept a 
little damp where the clay or earth was firmly rammed against it; and, i 
when thus firmly consolidated, the frame moved off, just as a brickmaker 
disengages a brick from its mould. But we would rather some other 
person would give details who had tried some such method. Of course, 
the width between the inner sides of the frame would give the thickness 
of the wall. However made, there can be no question of the utility and ! 
economy of such walls. 
Gas-tar {Ibid). —This, mixed with dry, sharp sand, makes a mortar ' 
very durable and waterproof; and for certain purposes, such as has j 
already been referred to, we have known it applied as a casing to old i 
brick walls, filling every cranny, though it is no enviable job for the 
operator. Would you kindly inform us how you have used such mortar, j 
or seen it used. 
Figs (R. P.). —It is by no means unusual for in-door figs to cast 
autumnal-formed fruits. Why, it is not easy to say, except that the fig, 
as to its fruit, is very susceptible of any changes or extremes of any kind. 
Is your roof very much shaded ? You have not stated the particulars so 
well as we could wish. We have seen figs on back walls of houses 
smothered with vine spray, luxuriating indeed in foliage, hut of very j 
barren character. Although the fig will endure shade, a total deprivation 
of the sun’s rays is by no means desirable. Have you pinched or stopped 
the young wood when five or six eyes long ? Probably your tree is too 
luxuriant. 
Old Orchard (Georgius). —Your worn-out orchard is an awkward 
case to begin with. “The knowledge of a disease is half its cure.” Surely 
your subsoil is bad, and the roots are in it. Your case is put so vaguely 
that it is somewhat unsafe to answer it. Dead points to shoots are gene¬ 
rally sure evidence that stagnated moisture or a bad subsoil exists. Bely 
upon it, pruning alone will not be a cure. If you retain the trees, begin 
by thorough drainage, if damp, and a system of top-dressings, with a 
prohibition of spade culture over the roots. In addition, prune them 
into new growths next winter. Melons are impregnated artificially, by 
inserting the male flower, divested of the corolla, in the interior of the i 
female blossom. For sowing small seeds , there is no implement so cheap , 
as a pint glass bottle, with a small quill passed through the cork. 
Cinerarias and Calceolarias (E. C. Sharpin). —These done 
blooming should be set out-of-doors ; and, as soon as the cinerarias send 
forth side slips, they should be cut off and put in as cuttings, in sand, in 
a little heat. As soon as roots are formed, pot them off into small pots 
