24 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 11. 
considered as naturalized. Your plant is Origanum majorana, the 
common knotted marjoram. 
Oleander Cuttings ( L. R. L). —You will find your questions 
answered at p. 291 , and the mode of striking oleander cuttings re¬ 
marked upon at ]). 266 . Your mode shall be inserted. 
Destroying Roots of Trees (Ibid). —Cutting down the poplar 
trees will not kill their roots extending into your garden. It will 
cause them to throw up suckers still more abundantly. You must 
dig down to the roots, cut through them close to your hedge, and 
then grub them up. Verbenas cannot be protected out of doors 
through the winter by turning a flower-pot over them and putting a 
piece of glass over the bottom hole. They would damp off. The 
plan mentioned at p. 108 of our last volume is a good one. In your 
proposed greenhouse, the top lights may be fixed, provided the open¬ 
ings into the granary behind are of a large size, and the front sashes 
•an be opened wide when required. One of Mr. Rivers’ stoves will 
thoroughly heat your greenhouse, lG feet long by 12 feet wide. 
Wintering FucnsiAS and Geraniums (Onewith a very Small 
Garden). —No wonder you killed your plants last winter by starting 
them into growth by keeping them in a warm kitchen, and then re¬ 
moving them into the cellar. You will have seen what we have lately 
said on the subject. All that is necessary may be summed up in seven 
words—keep your plants dry, cold, and dark. If your cellar is quite 
dry and keeps out the frost, put the plants there altogether. 
Meteorological Observations (J. B., Knutsford). —Our ob¬ 
servations are founded upon tables, kept in the vicinity of London. 
Horticultural Society's rules, for rural districts, generally require 
modification for every locality, but we will consider whether we can 
usefully publish a list of rules generally applicable, subject to such 
modifications. Can any one inform our correspondent whether Beauty 
of Clapham and Manchester are the same variety of geranium ? We 
do not know the latter. Is there such a variety of fuchsia as Albiciensis, 
or some such name ? 
Answers to Correspondents (Rliodon). —We will see whethe r 
we can arrange these alphabetically, without hindrance to answering 
with the least possible delay. We fear not. 
Monthly Parts ( Schol, Chelmsfordiensis). —Why do you no 4 
take “ The Cottage Gardener ” in weekly numbers ? We cannot do 
more to make the monthly parts prospective than by giving the 
calendar we do for the coming month. Why did you not put the 
initials of your name ? We recollect every schoolfellow, but remember 
none but Coote destined for the army. We shall be very pleased 
indeed to hear from you in your proper name, and can tell you of 
many of our old playmates; but it is a melancholy catalogue, for the 
most part. 
Turf under Trees (0. S .).—It is chiefly the exclusion of light 
by the branches and foliage of the chesnut tree upon your lawn which 
kills the grass beneath it. Thin these branches as much as you can 
without spoiling their beauty, and early in the spring scratch the 
bare surface of the turf, and sow it with a mixture of the seeds of Poa 
trivialis and Poa nemoralis, two of the finest grasses which will grow 
tolerably beneath trees. There are other grasses which will grow 
there, but they are very coarse. Roll the ground after sowing. 
Horse Chesnut (Ibid). —The bitter principle in the nuts of the 
horse chesnut is not poisonous. It very probably resembles the 
cesculin, or bitter alkaloid, found in the bark of the same tree, and 
which partakes of the medicinal qualities of quinine. The chief com¬ 
ponent of the horse chesnut is starch, and, to render it fit for food, 
nothing more is necessary than to peel the nuts, slice them, and boil 
them very gently. The water will dissolve all the bitterness, and 
may be removed by straining. They might then be mashed, and 
would make a good food for pigs. 
Insect in Beans (Basil Ferrar). —You will find, in our paper 
to-day, a drawing and particulars relative to the little beetle boring 
holes in your beans. Even if the grub from which it came has not 
destroyed the embryo of the seed, yet the hole it makes so lets in the 
wet and air that the seed decays without growing. 
Thunbergias in Window (J. C., Gateshead). —You wish to pre¬ 
serve these through the winter, for blooming again next year. This 
cannot be ; you must treat them as annuals, and not attempt to keep 
them as you wish. If the plants were very late in coming into bloom 
this autumn, they might flower on for two months next summer, but 
they would then die off. 
Cups on Box-edging (N. S. S.) —We received a box, smashed 
and flattened by the Post-office stampers, but no cups. Cut down 
your privet now. 
Meteorological Table (J. Bonsfield). —Thanks for your offer, 
but we have no spare space. Your request for the volume for your 
society is granted. 
Water Melon ( Clericus ).—The leaf you sent us was certainly 
like the leaf of the bitter cucumber, and not like that of the water 
melon. The black seed you have sent (for which thanks) is certainly 
that of the water melon. Were all your plant’s leaves the same shape 
as that you sent ? 
Vinegar Plant (Rev. E. Bannister). —We have this reply from 
Mr. Middlemiss :—“ It is more than probable that the small circles, 
of which the Rev. Gentleman speaks, contain the germs of the future 
vinegar plant. But it appears to me that he has been rather too 
kind to the mixture, having given it a place in his greenhouse. 
Darkness is certainly more conducive to the growth of the vinegar 
fungus than light; therefore, I think, if the Rev. E. B. will put the 
mixture, covered over, in a cupboard near his kitchen fire, and let it 
stand undisturbed for a little time, he will yet have a plant off the 
mixture. If the organ of inquisitiveness be large in the cook, the 
Rev. E. B. had better put the mixture in the cupboard without giving 
any strict injunctions about its not being touched; lest, curiosity 
being excited, the mixture may be often shook about. I may add, 
that I lately saw a vinegar plant, almost as tough as leather, taken 
off some old vinegar that had been standing in a cellar for some time. 
It was 1 foot 6 inches in diameter.” 
Fowl’s Dung (W. A. Hadleigli ).—This, especially if mixed with 
that of the duck, is nearly as stimulating and promotive of luxuriant 
growth as the best guano. It is too rich for flowers, but most excel¬ 
lent for asparagus, rhubarb, spinach, cabbages, and other plants re¬ 
quired to produce abundance of leaves or sprouts. The best time 
for applying it is early in the spring. 
Asii-leaved Kidneys (Ibid). —These are best planted in the 
autumn, but Walnut-leaved kidneys not until the spring, but keep 
all between layers of earth until required for planting. 
Geranium Cuttings ( Hortus siccus).— It is common for the old 
leaves to turn yellow and fall when the young leaves come, which are 
more active to perform the requisite processes. You need not repot 
your cuttings until next spring. You may preserve your cuttings 
plunged in coal-ashes within a cucumber-frame if you take care to 
cover the glass so as to exclude the frosts, and open it every fine dry 
day to prevent the ill effects of damp. 
Exposing Vines to Cold (G. F. of F. W.). —You have been 
advised to draw the stems of your vines out from the vinery, and ex¬ 
pose them, covered with straw, to the winter. We are altogether 
opposed to such treatment; there never is any advantage obtained by 
so doing, but there is much unnecessary labour, and much liability 
to injury. 
Crassulas done Flowering (Ibid). —Cut down those shoots of 
your crassulas which have flowered to within two inches of the old 
stems. If there are any green shoots that have not flowered, leave 
them as they are, and they will flower next summer. Those shoots 
which you cut now will not flower again till the summer after next. 
Tropieolum Tricolorum (A Constant Subscriber). —We cannot 
name tradesmen, but it so happens that the nurserymen you mention 
are those from whom we had this flower. 
Index (Currig Cathol). —It would not pay to have a reprint of the 
two indexes in one. We are considering whether we will not have 
the next twelve months in one volume only. We will have the date 
put in as you suggest. Your questions shall be answered fully next 
week. 
Removing Bees (FI. B. S.).— You may safely remove a this-year’s 
May swarm to a distance of two miles next month. Place the hive 
on a board, stop up the entrance, tie the whole up in a cloth, pass a 
pole through the openings left where the four corners are tied toge¬ 
ther, and let the two men who carry it step together as they walk. 
Pure Sand (Ibid). —By “ pure sand” is meant sand alone, sand 
unmixed with anything else. River sand is the best for potting pur¬ 
poses. Your other question next week. 
Oleander Buds Dropping (31. S.).— The roots of your plants 
are probably in difficulties. Examine the soil in the pot, and if it be 
hard and bound pick out as much as you can without disturbing the 
roots, and repot it in the same pot, giving it some fresh mould. Keep 
it near the glass, water it freely, and do not let it go to rest until late 
in next month. 
Best Cucumber (W. II., Cheetliam). —If you merely require a 
prolific useful sort use the common Long Prickly for forcing ; if you 
wish more for size and beauty sow Latter’s Victory of England, 
Allen’s Victory of Suffolk, Victory of Bath, or Browston Hybrid. 
Best Pea for Winter Sowing (Ibid). — Prince Albert comes 
into bearing the earliest, and is both a good bearer and well-flavoured 
for an early pea. We cannot recommend sowing peas at this time ; if 
you sow in strips of turf and place in a gentle hotbed at the end of 
January, you may plant out the seedlings at the end of March, turf 
and all, and have a forwarder crop than if you sow now, and without 
any danger from birds, slugs, and frosts. 
Wintering Scarlet Geraniums (Ibid). —You will have seen 
full particulars how to winter young stock in one or two of our last 
numbers, and in our pages to-day. The name of your plant is Pen - 
stemon gentianoides coccinea; if you wish to propagate from it you 
may take it up and divide it into as many pieces as it will bear, pot 
the pieces, and keep them during the winter in a cold frame ; or you 
may take cuttings from the stems now, pot them, and keep them in 
a cold frame. If you do not want to propagate from the plant, and 
your soil is dry and elevated, you may leave it in your border. 
Names of. Plants. —[*** We have again to request that good 
specimens of flowers may be sent to us, and so packed as to come in 
good preservation. No one can tell certainly from mere leaves.]— (R. 
J. Y.). —Your plant is Cuphea platycentra, one of the best of green¬ 
house or window plants ; it is a native of Mexico, and introduced here 
in 1845. Like the scarlet geranium in summer it does well almost 
anywhere and anyhow; it is not particular about its soil, and flowers 
throughout the year ; in winter it requires more warmth than that of 
a cold greenhouse. See p. 14/ of our 2nd vol. and p. 268 of our first. 
(John Lee). —As far as we can judge from the faded flowers yours is 
Fuchsia splendens. (Verax). —We have no recollection of the plant 
named by us on Sept. 27 th, but the plant of which you now enclose 
us a good specimen is certainly not a Coreopsis nor a Madia, but 
Gaillardia aristuta. 
London : Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.—October 11th, 1849. 
