374 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 9. 
experimented on a small scale, and I have not yet fully 
determined to carry out the plan this year or not. It is a 
mode to obtain an equable, though low, degree of heat, 
sufficient to keep out frost, and especially calculated for 
cold pits. The notion is, I believe, entirely original; but 
there is nothing new under the sun; and it may be, after 
all, that the plan is old and known; but I am only an 
j amateur aud have not yet heard of its adoption. I believe 
it to be well worth a patent, but as I do not intend to dabble 
in such stuff, I make a present of it to The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener. The source of heat for my pits is the earth, at 
certain depths—the deeper the better. Say, a pit is erected 
over a well, and glazed with my mode of double-glazing, and 
built of hollow bricks. We all know that water never 
freezes in wells of any depth; the air in contact with the 
water becoming warmed by it would, of course, rise, and the 
upper stratum, as it cooled, fall; thus the pit would be kept 
at a temperature constantly above the freezing point, which 
is all that is required for cold pits. Now, if this, on trial, 
should be found to be too damp, then a different scheme 
could be adopted, either by interposing, between the well 
and the pit, a sheet of galvanized iron; or, what would be 
best, to immerse a coil of cast iron, or other pipe, in the 
well, or deep hole, and have another coil once or twice round 
the pit; by this mode the warmth, without the damp, would 
be obtained. The first of these plans would be very cheap— 
all cost of fuel would be avoided; and, by the second plan, 
the first expense would be all the cost. I have not yet 
erected a pit on this plan; but last year I made the following 
experiment: I have a deep drain going through my garden 
which is about fourteen feet below the surface; over a 
six-inch pipe, which leads down to the main drain, I hung 
a self-registering thermometer, and covered it with two 
hand-lights, one above the other; near to the spot I sus¬ 
pended another thermometer of the same make, and while 
this fell as low as 28°, that over the drain, and, protected 
by the double glass, never got lower than 42°. 
The advantages of this plan may be thus summed up: 
an equable heat; never too hot or too cold. Constant 
action without attention. No expense for fuel.—W. H. 0. 
[A well in a greenhouse will not keep the ah* in that 
house from sinking below freezing. The water becomes 
cooled down to 33°, and then the air above it does not 
perceptibly circulate, though the air in the greenhouse is 
much colder. Double-glazing, which is an old plan, may 
be frequently adopted with economy now that glass is so 
cheap.— Ed. C. G.] 
PREPARING STOCK OF BEDDING PLANTS. 
As the season is fast approaching when we begin to 
prepare our winter stock of bedding plants, I venture to 
send you the particulars of a plan which I have pursued for 
several years with the most satisfactory results, and which, 
I think, may possibly be of service to many of your readers. 
Towards the latter end of August, I mark out a space in the 
warmest corner of my garden, about two-feet-and-a-half 
wide, and large enough to take all the hand-glasses I can 
muster. The soil is dug out about lialf-a-spit deep, aud 
I fill up the vacancy to the surface with broken crocks and 
cinders ; on this is spread a layer of light sandy soil, about 
four inches thick, and then a layer of white sand, over 
which I then give a moderate watering. The first hand¬ 
glass is then pressed for a moment firmly down on the wet 
sand, and the marks which the edges leave behind are a 
guide in planting. I then insert, in rows about three inches 
apart, cuttings of the different Verbenas that I intend to 
bed next year. They have a gentle watering, and the glass 
is placed over them. They are kept damp, and carefully 
shaded from the sun until they begin to grow. When they 
are well-rooted the glasses are removed for a week or two, 
but these must be replaced before the autumn rains com¬ 
mence. If the winter is very severe, I may, perhaps, throw 
an old carpet over the glasses after two or three nights' 
frost, and if I do so, I always allow the covering to remain 
until the weather breaks, but I scarcely think that this is 
necessary.—T. B. 
IMPORTED COCHIN-CHINA FOWLS: GAPES. 
I hope ere long, by comparing notes, a more perfect 
criterion will be established; this, at the present time, is 
very much needed to enable amateurs to select thorough¬ 
bred birds. After a perusal of a number of letters I have ; 
lately received upon the subject of Cochin-China fowls, I j 
am completely puzzled to know what constitutes a perfectly 
pure bred fowl; whether the bird should be feathered down 
the legs or not—whether the cock should have any sword 
feathers in the tail or not—whether the bird should be long 
or short upon the legs. From birds in my possession, 
which I know came direct from China, I have made the 
following observations:—The cock bird is of a dark red 
colour, with a dark hackle, edged with yellow; very fluffy 
about the thighs; each fluffy feather presents a very peculiar 
characteristic, viz., being semi-double, or as if it had been 
split from the apex to the base—I have never found the 
feathers thus in half-bred birds; the wings very short, and 
doubled under; comb, single, serrated, but not deeply so ; 
legs, short, flesh-coloured in front, pink down the sides, 
somewhat feathered ; a few sword feathers in the tail; * the 
crow generally ending in a prolonged kind of roar ; weight, 
about 10 lbs. Hens, partridge-coloured ; lay abundantly; 
very dark, middle-sized eggs; weigh about 7 lbs. or 8 lbs. 
each. Chickens feather slowly, cockrels even more so than 
pullets; when about three months old cocks weigh 4§lbs., 
hens, 3lbs. to 3§lbs. each; roost on the ground at night; 
all of a quiet disposition, seldom or never fighting. Hens 
j excellent sitters and kind nurses. 
Having thus briefly particularised the distinctive marks 
belonging to this variety of fowl, allow me to mention a 
| plan by which I have cured many of my friends’ valuable 
j chickens from that terrible disease amongst poultry—the 
Gapes. Many persons recommend tobacco-smoke as a 
■ remedy, but surely this is a very desperate one, at least I 
have always found it so; others recommend the extraction 
j of the worms by means of a feather; this is a very uncertain 
mode, owing to the tenacity with which the worms hold ; if, 
however, a perfectly dry feather is slightly covered with 
bird-lime, and then introduced into the gullet, turning the 
feather round all the while, upon the withdrawing of which 
the worms will generally be found adhering ; by this means 
many a valuable chicken’s life may be saved, provided the 
operation is carefully performed.—M. 
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 Corner, Paternoster Row, London.” 
Climbers for Warm and Cool Conservatory ( Michel ).—You 
will fiud much suitable matter in an article by Mr. Fish last week. From 
that you will perceive that Bignonia venusta will not do well in the cold 
house, even with the assistance of some heat at the roots. Perhaps you 
could get the top introduced into the warmer division, or you could move 
it altogether, and bring Tacsonia manicata out of the warmest division 
in its place. We should also be inclined to substitute Pussiflora Billottii 
in the warmest end of the cool division, instead of Tecoma cupensis , or 
even Ipomeea Learii. Your whole arrangements are good at first sight; 
but we must read your letter again, and think the subject over, before we 
can state affirmatively that the heat requisite for Combretum purpureum, 
Pussiflora alata, Dipladenin erassinoda, in the warmest division, will 
not inconvenience ladies sitting there, and injure the flowers about them, 
as in a floral boudoir. If the panels in the warm part you wish to keep 
green are exposed to a fair portion of light, then you may grow Stepha- 
notis floribunda, or Hoya carnosa, or some of the Mschynathuses ; or, 
if shaded, then the Lycopodiums, or mosses, mentioned lately by Mr. 
Appleby, would suit you. 
Indigofera decora (A. IF.).—It requires exactly the same treatment 
as a Fuchsia. “ Set it to work ” in October or November; any degree 
of heat above 50°, until you come to 70° or 70°, according to sun-hcat, 
will do for it; about G0° is the right heat for it, until the end of January, 
but 50° will do ; a lower degree will not answer. The same pot will do 
for it from October to the first week in February ; then three shifts 
before the middle of May, or blooming time, and no further shift all the 
summer. Any soil that will grow Geraniums well will do for it. 
Sowing small Seeds (S.). —The best course to insure the sprouting 
* If the sword or scimctar feathers are long the breed is not pure.— 
Ed. C. G. 
