THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
403 
September 23. 
Cape Heaths {Ibid). —Who has proclaimed more lustily than The 
Cottage Gardener, that cold turf-pits are better for young Heaths 
than all the greenhouses out of Greenland. Here then is another opening 
for “a splendid spectacle.” Begin with the varieties of Vent ri cos a, and 
! lots of Cuvcndishii, Elegans, and such hardy kinds, till you get into the 
right way of growing them. Also look for Erica and Heath in the indexes 
of our former volumes. 
Trop(Eolum Seeds {Ibid). —This is just the right time to sow the 
I seeds of Tricolorum and Pcntuphyflum , only, as Pat would say, they ought 
> to have been in two months ago, if they wore ripe so early ; but now is a 
very good time. Last year’s seeds are of no use now ; they would not 
I all come up for three or four years. 
Wiiat ought a Gardener to do? — A Green One writes thus:— 
“ I have 3£ acres of garden divided thus—Lawn, three-quarters-of-an- 
acre; paths and shrubberies, three-quarters-of-an-acrc ; fruit-garden, 
one-quarter-of-an-acre; kitchen-garden, open, no walls therein, one- 
acre-and-three-quarters. I also have one conservatory, twenty-eight feet 
by fourteen feet; one forcing-house, twenty-four feet by twelve feet ; one 
grape-house, twenty-four feet by twelve feet; and two cold-pits and some 
boxes and lights. Now, I want to know how much labour I want, to 
keep it in good order ? How many hours will it take one man to mow 
three-quarters-of-an-acre ; and ought it to be rolled, and when ? for my 
present man says it should not be rolled through the summer months, 
and finds now it cannot be cut as the grass is weak. If you could give 
a manual for a moderate-sized garden like mine, it would be very 
desirable, to prevent disputes and changes between employer and em¬ 
ployed. What time does it require, at this season, each day , for the 
head gardener to be about his houses and pits ? I have grown some 
tobacco, but don’t know what process it should go through to make it 
fit for smoking houses.” We insert this entire, because we shall be glad 
to hear the opinions of others upon some of the points. It is quite im¬ 
possible to lay down any general rules applicable to all soils, all seasons, 
and all tempers. A master may always see whether a gardener does 
his duty. To two of the queries we will reply. Lawns ought to be both 
rolled and watered in summer, unless there is some special reason to the 
contrary. The mode of drying tobacco is given at page 41 of our last volume. 
Pelargoniums {An Amateur Geranium Grower). —Your present 
collection is good, but if you make the addition you mention, you should 
cast out Rowena, Orion , Hebe's Lip, Titus , and Duke of Cornwall. You 
mention Magnet, Chieftain , Mochunna, Incomparable, Ambassador, 
Enchantress, Ganymede, Rosamond, Prince of Orange, Emily, and 
Mont Blanc. These are all desirable, and Mr. Appleby says you should 
have also a few dark ones, such as Cuyp, Conspicuum, Alderman, 
Aspasia, and Alonso, and a light one named Arnold's Victory. 
Seedling Carnations Flowering ( H .).—Your seedling Carnations, 
sown in August, will scarcely flower next year. You should have sown 
them in April, and then every one would have bloomed. Some of them 
may flower late in the autumn. Your seedlmg Strawberries, sown early 
last spring, may fruit next year, if well nursed, and no runners allowed 
to remain on them ; at least the strongest plants will, and they will all 
fruit the year following. 
Cottagers Horticultural Society.— The Rev. R. Burgess, 
Vicarage , Radclijfe-on-Trent, 7iear Nottingham, says:—“Will any 
reader of The Cottage Gardener kindly favour me with a copy of 
rules for the establishment and regulation of a Horticultural Society, to 
give encouragement to cottagers and labourers exclusively ? ” 
Potato-planting {R.H -, Dublin ).—The Walnut-leaved Kidney, 
and the Hopetoun Early, will ripen with you, and any where in England, 
by the end of July. In anyplace south of the Thames the Ash-leaved 
Kidney will be ripe by the same time. They all keep well. We never 
green the tubers we employ for planting. Mr. Errington recommends 
it to be done. We plant with a dibble six or seven inches deep, as fast 
as sufficient ground for a row is dug, and never allow the soil to be trod 
upon after it is dug. We do not plant upon raised beds ; if our soil was 
at all wet or heavy, or our climate rainy, we should. 
Moving Budded Roses {Discipulus). —See what Mr. Beaton says 
to-dav. 
Acorns for New Zealand {P. V. M. F.).— We should sow some 
thickly in soil in shallow Wardian Cases, and have them sown in drills, 
if sprouted directly they reached there. Some we should have put in can¬ 
vass bags, and hung up between decks. If put into the hold they heat, 
germinate, and are spoiled. 
White Cochin-Chinas {W. S.).— Write to the parties we mentioned 
the other day. 
Melon (M. Binns).—Y out Melon, green-fleshed, pale-grccn-slunned, 
somewhat netted, flattened globe-shaped, very deeply ribbed, about six 
inches in diameter, and weighing four-pounds-and-a-lialf, had the most 
juicy, melting, and deliciously-flavoured flesh we ever tasted. It well 
| deserved the first prize it had awarded at Binglcy. 
Mi lde w on Grapes {M. Morgan). —Lusting with sulphur, and 
syringing with a weak solution of sulphuretof potash, arc the only known 
remedies. If )’ou will refer to some of the back numbers of our present 
volume, you will find what Mr. Errington says upon the subject. 
Althea Frutex {E. H. F.).—* This is now named Hibiscus. Your 
other query next week. 
Cochin-China Fowls Roosting (I>. W.).— It is not unnatural for 
them to roost, but their wings are so defective, that they cannot fly up 
any height, and if enabled to mount up by a ladder, they are apt to maim 
themselves in leaping down. A bench with a top six inches broad, and 
raised a foot from the ground, is the best roosting place for them. 
Have the floor sanded, swept out, and fresh sanded every morning. 
Tan-bed {Simplex).— You will sec an article by Mr. Robson on the 
tan or bark-bed adapted to your case. You will there see that his de¬ 
scription of one where cucumbers may be grown as early as by any other 
mode short of a hot-water-heated structure. If you wish (in addition to 
making your pit a forcing one in spring) that it should act as a greenhouse 
to your plants in winter, a small flue will be advisable, not but that 
many plants will live there by being covered up in severe weather, but 
that they will keep so much better by the application of a little fire-heat 
to drive* out damp, which would only be increased by linings of a fer- 
meuting material like tan ; but as you say the latter is plentiful around 
you, a tan-pit may be converted into a great number of purposes the 
whole year round. 
Melting Wax {B. B.). —When the wax is melted for the purpose of 
being poured into the moulds, it should be allowed to simmer, when the 
dross will rise to the top, and may readily be taken off with a spoon. 
Barley Sugar for Bees {Ibid). —This will cost to make about 5.Ad. 
per lb.; it should be made expressly for feeding bees, without any 
additional flavour. Any wholesale confectioner would be satisfied with 
2d. profit, if a quantity is required. 
Two Eggs per Day. —Mr. Trotter, of Hexham Hill, says, “I am j 
glad that the extract which you were so kind to insert in the The Cot- | 
tage Gardener, from my Essay, has drawn forth notices from some of 
your able correspondents on the subject of Cochins laying more than one 1 
egg in a day. I doubt not our mutual object is that of making truth 
plain; but granting one hen in a hundred may lay two eggs in a day, 
once or twice in a season, I think it would be unfair to allow this to go 
forth to the public for anything more than it really is. It is with great | 
reluctance 1 advance statements w'hich would seem to detract from the 
value of Mr. Richardson's writings (viewing them, as I do, as having 
done more towards promoting the cultivation of poultry than those of 
any other gentleman): yet truth must prevail, and to allow the state¬ 
ment of Cochin hens ‘frequently laying two, and occasionally three eggs 
on the same day,’ to remain unquestioned, is likely to mislead purchasers 
of fowls, and to create disappointment, if not disgust.” 
Various Queries (Z. Z.).— Root-prune your apricots and greengages 
in October. There is no really good separate treatise on Rose-culture. 
Have you seen the essay upon it in The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary ? 
Six feet apart is a good distance between either standard or half-standard 
Roses, planted in a straight line by the side of a walk. Suit to Asparagus 
beds is best applied, a slight sprinkling at a time, about once a fortnight 
during the whole of the growing season, from March to the end of August. 
Food for Chickens (/I Novice). —If you mean for those just hatched, 
there is nothing better than barley-meal moderately moistened with milk, 
with each second day a few bread crumbs soaked in ale. Oatmeal groats 
boiled, and an egg boiled hard and chopped fine, shell and all, are excel¬ 
lent changes. 
Characteristics of Pure Cochin-China Fowls {A. G.). — No 
tail feathers, or rather a few scarcely distinguishable from those on the 
body ; quill feathers so deficient in the wings that the bird cannot fly 
to any height; dense Jiuffiness of the stern and thighs ; legs well- 
feathered, or booted, down the outside. These we consider essentials. 
Colour, weight, and symmetry are points of excellence, but the above we 
think essential marks of the pure variety. After the Birmingham Show, 
in December next, we shall have much more to say upon the subject. 
Hints {J. B. R .).—Thanks for your friendly suggestions. We must 
supply the requirements of all our readers, and you will see an announce¬ 
ment to-day of a sacrifice wc are making in the endeavour to do so. 
Taking Queen Bees.— J. W. says: — “ Replying to ‘A Country 
Curate’s’ remarks in No. 204, I beg to assure him, that in stating I 
generally adopted the plan of putting the new swarm in the old stock’s 
place, I did not intend to lay claim to the discovery, for I owe the know¬ 
ledge, and much other useful information, to his interesting writings 
in The Cottage Gardener. I was induced to try the plan fiom 
reading his ‘History of an Apiary’ (page 2/7, vol. v.). I first formed 
three artificial swarms according to his method, and in this instance 
1 took the precaution (after placing each artificial swarm in the 
spot the old stock occupied) of removing the old stocks to a friend’s 
garden about half-a-mile distant; here they did so well, that in about 
a monlli I drove them again, as I considered the stocks too old 
to keep over another year, and each proved quite as large as a good 
second swarm. In the evening I fumigated, and united them each to 
its respective artificial swarm, previously taken from them. In two of 
them I captured the young (newly-born) queen, but could not discover 
the third. I united them by placing them over the box in bell-glasses 
(slightly sprinkling them), and they all united kindly, and proved good 
strong stocks. Since then I have put all my swarms (both natural and 
artificial) in the place of the old stock, and lately have only removed 
the old stock a few yards from its original position, and not even 
taken the precaution of stopping them in, but have contracted the 
entrance, and given them extra covering, and they appear to have 
done pretty well, considering the season. I find more advantages 
than one in this method ; besides; the new swarm being larger, 
the bees go to work sooner, and there is no aunoyancc on the fol¬ 
lowing day or two, from a quantity of bees flying round the spot 
where the swarm alighted, as there are sure to be when the swarm 
is left until the evening on the spot w here they were taken. Finding two 
stocks, which I had removed from their places this summer (after pro- . 
ducing natural swarms), rather short of bees, I have added some bees to 
them from two old stocks which I considered w'ere getting too old 
to prosper. I tried to drive these old stocks, but failed, as the 
queens would not go up ; so in the evening I fumigated them, and after J 
taking their queens, united them (on the top of the box), with scarcely 
any loss of lite. The stocks appear much strengthened, and I think will ; 
require no feeding this winter. I must say, I prefer this plan of disposing ^ 
of the bees, driven (or fumigated) from old stocks that you wish to take i 
in the autumn, lo 4 A Country Curate’s’ method of placing two or three 
lots together in an empty box (or hive), and feeding them until they have 
formed their combs and laid by their winter store, much as I respect 
his great experience in bee-management. I always look with interest 
for something from his pen, and hope he will tell us how he intends 
managing his bees during the next winter, and I hope another time to 
submit to him my plan, and have his opinion on it.” 
Names of Plants {Tirydnil),— The blue flower is Lobelia syphili- 
tica; and the purplish-pink, Chclone obliqua, both excellent and old 
hardy plants. {E. H.).— The shrub is Rhus cotinus , or Venetian 
Sumach. (/I Lady Subscriber).— The little variegated shrub is Sympho- , 
ricarpus vulgaris, variety vuHegutus ; the leal is from a variety of the j 
Common Ivy, Hcdera helix, variety djgitutu. {Evesham)).— Yours is 
the true Wormwood, Artemisia absinthium. (//. M.). —Wc cannot make 
out your plant, but will submit it to other parties. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London.—September 23rd, 1862. 
