January 3.] 
strong, tliat they were able to withstand the decaying 
influence of so much moisture, and repel the advance 
of mould, &c. Of course I protected them from frost, 
and soon after stored them away in pits, with other 
things. The autumn continuing mild, I afterwards 
put in a few pots of cuttings, in the middle of January, 
taken from plants that were growing in the borders, 
and which had, notwithstanding, endured a pretty 
sharp frost; these I placed on the shelf of the green¬ 
house, in rather a shady part, and even these did 
well; so that, amongst the whole lot of cuttings that 
I put in, I don’t think more than one or two per 
cent, failed. Ever since then I have practised the 
samo with equal success, never putting in my winter 
stock of calceolarias until the middle or end of 
October. They will certainly do very well if taken 
off sooner, and kept damp, and in the shade; and if 
large plants be wanted in spring, of course it would 
be advisable to treat them so. But with me space in 
winter is very limited, so that I am (and I believe 
many others are also) obliged to concentrate our 
stock, that all my bedding-out plants stand over 
winter in the cutting pots. I may observe, that the 
calceolarias I treat as above are all shruby kinds; 
and if Mr. Penny’s Kentish Hero be, as I have seen 
it to appear, half shrubby, then I think the same 
treatment will suit it very well. The kinds I grow 
are old viscosissima, (than which I know no better 
yellow), the old ritgosa, integrifolia, and a straw- 
coloured one, with a dark one or two, and a useful 
clouded one, but all having only local names useless 
to mention here. It may be useful to the amateur 
for me to say, that I have tried very late and damp 
propagating, as in calceolarias, with several other 
things, but I don’t find it succeed so well as the usual 
method, except in the Oaillardia, which certainly does 
equally as well as the calceolaria. I am trying some 
other things this autumn, the result of which I will, 
if you think well of it, apprize you of hereafter, as 
well as my method of early spring management of 
bedding out plants, especially calceolarias. In the 
mean time, should there be any of your readers dubi¬ 
ous of the stock they have got, and have a few plants 
in some place in the flower borders, where they can 
get a few cuttings from, I earnestly intreat them to 
try a few pots. I am convinced they will not be dis¬ 
appointed, and the amateur who has no pit or green¬ 
house, might try a pot or two in the window of any 
outhouse, taking care to move them, if required, 
when severe frost sets in.—J. N. V. 
\You are quite wrong in thinking that “we do not 
invite communications,” and we shall be very glad to 
receive your proffered contributions. Wear every ready 
to insert genuine information from any one. —Ed. 0. G.] 
EXTRACTS EROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
Striking Cuttings, and Protecting them Dur¬ 
ing Winter. —Many of your readers, like myself, 
are only amateur gardeners, with small gardens, and 
have not the conveniences of either pit, frame, or 
greenhouse to aid their operations; nevertheless, 
with a little management, and a comparatively small 
cost, it is quite possible to look gay nine months out 
of the twelve. My plan for striking and protecting 
cuttings is this: I select a vacant spot, say 8 feet by 
6, cover it with two inches of sand, dig and mix 
this in till the whole is well incorporated; then, at 
each corner drive in a stake, leaving it one foot out 
of the ground; upon these four stakes nail four 
splines, so as to form a frame, and across this frame, 
at intervals, fasten strands of rope-yarn (the strands 
191 
of an old cable are best); let these be recrossed in 
like manner, so as to produce squares of one foot in 
diameter, and the work is finished. To accomplish 
this, it will take about an hour, and the cost of ma¬ 
terials will be sixpence. If this frame be made at 
the end of August, cuttings and slips of hardy per¬ 
ennials and biennials may be inserted under it till 
the month of December, and will require only occa¬ 
sional watering, and the shade of a few whins or fir 
branches laid on the top. As winter approaches, 
secure the branches by drawing their ends in under 
the strands; and in April, when uncovered, a fine 
collection of healthy, well-rooted young plants will 
be ready for removal to the flower-borders. Many 
of the half-liardy perennial and biennial kinds may 
be thus preserved. The same kind of frame does 
equally well for the autumn-sowing of hardy an¬ 
nuals ; and those who know the superiority of these 
over spring-sown ones, will not fail to have a lot 
thus ready to bed out.—S. P., Rushmere.. 
Protecting Peas from Mice. — The following 
method of persevering autumn-sown peas from the 
attacks of mice was communicated to me by a friend, 
who has practised it with singular success. He 
pounds some rosin very fine, puts his peas into water 
just to make them wet, then sprinkles the rosin over 
them, and, by its adhesion to the peas, gives them 
such a disagreable taste that the'mice will not touch 
them.— John Robinson, Ardsley, near Barnsley. 
[Although this mode of protection is not new, it 
maybe unknown to some of our readers.—E d. C. G.] 
Heating by Gas. —Having seen in The Cottage 
Gardener for November, a statement respecting the 
heating of a greenhouse with gas, and in other num¬ 
bers there seems to exist much prejudice against this 
mode, I think it desirable to give you the result of 
an experiment on this method of heating a green¬ 
house. In the spring of 1848, we erected, what was 
intended to be a summer-house, but soon changed 
our ideas, and turned it into a greenhouse; and, as 
nothing was provided in the erection for heating the 
house, we had to contrive, as winter approached, 
some way for the preservation of our plants, and 
determined to give gas a trial, which we did, and in 
every way it has answered the purpose. We have 
not observed the slightest injury to the plants. The 
size of our greenhouse is 9 feet long, by 8 feet wide ; 
the stove 28 inches high, 12 inches wide. The latter 
consists of an inner tube about 8 inches in diameter, 
and the outer case. There are six burners between 
the cases, and by a tap they can be regulated to any 
heat desired. The air flows from the bottom of the 
inner tube to the top, which is perforated. The pro¬ 
ducts of the combustion of the gas pass between the 
inner tube and outer case to the chimney. I shall 
be glad if this information is of any service to any of 
the readers of your valuable publication.— Clarice 
It. Eccles, 43, Roscommon-street, Everton, Liverpool. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers 
of The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble 
and expense ; and we also request our coadjutors, under no circum - 
stanees , to reply to such private communications. 
Roses for Arbour ( W . Williamson ). —You had much better 
not plant climbing roses at all against your arbour, one side of which 
is 4 feet 7 inches long, and the other side only 3 feet G inches. One 
good climbing rose, in good soil, would cover the whole in three or 
four years, even supposing the height to be ten or twelve feet; and if 
you were to prune close, as you propose, you would seldom see a 
bloom. If the aspect of the sides of the arbour is good, you had 
better plant strong growing Bourbon roses, and they are all autumn 
flowerers, or perpetuals. 1 , Madame Lacharme ; the most splendid 
light autumn rose we have, and nearly white. 2, Souvenir de Mal - 
maisnn ; next light shade to No. 1, being pale flesh. :t, Piei~re de 
St . Cyr ; strong, pale rose. 4, Triomphe de Guillotiere ; reddish 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
