2i6 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. [January 17. 
showing trusses of bloom, and not 'an insect to be 
seen on them. 
I should tell you, that I have very few plants 
of the kind mentioned, owing to my failure last 
year; but if the plan answers with half-a-dozen, it 
will with a hundred. It has the advantage of saving 
much trouble, and is by no means unsightly. 
Soot. —The next piece of advice I have to offer to 
your cottage readers and amateurs, is, “ save your 
soot; ” do not allow a particle of it to be taken from 
your premises. If it is so valuable to the farmer, 
that he will give 6 d or Sd for what is called a bushel, 
it is surely valuable to every cultivator of even a rod 
of ground. In proof of the high estimation in which 
it is held in this district, I have a case in point. I 
have never allowed the sweepers to take it from my 
premises, but pay them extra for cleansing the 
chimnies. This week, a fresh hand came to perform 
the operation of sweeping my parlour chimney, 
which, when done, I tendered the sum I had always 
paid—one shilling; our black prince shook his head, 
saying, “ that would’nt do ; if lie left the sut, he 
must have Is del.” I asked the reason he demanded 
more, to which he replied, “ the sut’s worth its to 
me.” The chimney being very foul, there was what 
I would call a bushel. This will prove very accept 
able; and I will now explain my mode of using it. 
We all know what a terror the sparrows, the slugs, 
the snails, and the mice are in early spring, just as 
our pease, &c., are peering above ground, when the 
earth offers scarcely a blade or berry for the suste¬ 
nance of any animal that either crawls or flies. All 
manner of contrivances are adopted to save the rising 
crops from their ravages, which, in nine cases out of 
ten, may be avoided by the simple application of 
soot. 
When I sow my first crops of pease, I cover the 
rows, about three inches in width, and half an inch 
deep, with soot, and they are safe ; for under that, 
beast, bird, insect, or worm durst not enter. 
My friend, who saw the application, observed, 
“ That will not do—it will burn the young plant im¬ 
mediately it rises above the soil.” But I urged, that 
the frequent rains in spring would destroy its caustic 
property, before the young shoot reached it; mean¬ 
time, its dark colour would, by its attraction of the 
heat of the sun, promote the growth of the plant, its 
essence would be washed down gradually to the young 
roots, and when the plant is at maturity, nothing 
would be so beneficial as to go along each side of the 
rows, turning in that which has not been hoed up as 
deep as the spade will reach. 
I felt the advantage of this treatment in the splen¬ 
did crops of pease I gathered last year, which were 
most abundant, and of very superior quality. I have 
known its application to prove exceedingly advan¬ 
tageous at the time of sowing any kind of seed in 
early spring, but it nmst, on no account, be used 
when the tender plant is just above ground, or the 
whole may be destroyed; nor can I advise its em¬ 
ployment in summer, as I have not yet tried it. 
This paper having extended beyond what I in¬ 
tended, I must postpone further remarks for the pre 
sent. W. Savage, Friary Cottage, Winchester, 
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¬ 
stances to reply to such private communications. 
Register of Rain {R. Denison ).—Thanks for this. It will be 
of use both to ourselves and a friend who is preparing a work on 
meteorological statistics. It was quite impossible to answer your 
question earlier. We are obliged to be nearly a week in advance in 
printing. 
Colours Harmonising {P. L. S.). —Red, yellow, and blue are 
contrasts. The unpleasantness of their association may be softened 
by putting other colours between them. The three can never be 
said to be harmonious colours, however mixed together. In all 
specimens of good colouring, the key colour should predominate. 
Cochin China Fowls {D. T — k, and A Poultry Fancier ).—Our 
correspondents wish to know whether these are purchaseable any 
! where ? 
Thomson’s Elements op Meteorology (H. N.). — Black¬ 
wood & Sons, Paternoster Row. 18s. 
Verbena and Heliotrope Cuttings (A. 31 .).—We presume 
your plants are thin, long-legged, and straggling, from want of 
plenty of air, and neglect of judicious stopping—that is, nipping out 
the points of the shoots, just to make them bushy. You might do 
so now; or, if you want greatly to increase your stock, you might 
get a mild hot-bed in the course of a month, and take off all the 
points of the shoots as cuttings, when they would strike root readily, 
and, in all probability, make better plants than their parents. 
Heating a Small Greenhouse (J. F. D.). — The leaves of 
your Cinerarias, &c., are injured, owing to the gases which escaped 
from the stoves you used in the interior of the house, which is apt to 
be the case with all of them, whatever the construction—vegetation, 
in this respect, being even more sensitive than men. The evil would 
be greatly increased by the stoves getting heated red, as yours did. 
There is a want of a remedy for such cases as yours, merely because 
great tradesmen hardly think it worth their while to trouble them¬ 
selves about devising the cheapest and best mode of heating a greeu- 
house, ten feet by ten, with a span-roof. Hot water would give you 
most satisfaction, and entail upon you least trouble. One of Eiey 
and Foulchcrs 14-incli saddle boilers would cost two pounds. If you 
are near a foundry, you might get one cast with two flanges to fix a 
flow and return-pipe upon, for less than the half of the money, and, 
although you had to cover the top with a lid, it would answer well 
enough. Then 20 feet of 4-inch pipe would cost a pound more. If 
the boiler was so elevated that the pipes came straight from it, then 
you would incur no additional price for elbows there, and would 
merely require one to connect the flow and return-pipe together. 
The bricks required would depend upon circumstances. Such a 
house could be effectually, and more econimically, heated by a small 
flue running round the house, or even beneath the floor of the house; 
but in the latter case the fire-place must be sunk deep, to give a 
good draught. A very clever gardener has heated several small 
houses by this latter means. His flues are extremely small—merely 
the depth of a brick set upon its edge, and only a little wider; a 
thinnish tile covers it; and then over that, overlapping the joints, 
is placed another tile, which forms part of the flooring, so that you 
see no means of heating whatever. An open space is left on each 
side of the flue, below the flooring-tiles, to allow the heat to spread. 
We saw them on a very cold day, and the houses were quite comfort¬ 
able. The secret of success, in such narrow flues, is giving a good 
rise from the fire-place. Such a house might also be heated from a 
fire-place in the dwelling-house, if contiguous ; but the botheration 
counterbalances the saving. Any one may fix the water-pipes, and 
any bricklayer can make the flue. 
Cats {Ibid). —We quite feel for you, and the more so that we can 
offer you no effectual assistance. We know they are sad gardeners, 
but they are not an unmixed evil. Where they congregate, mice and 
rats, &c., will keep at a respectful distance. A well-trained dog 
would keep them away); but then [he w'ould disturb you and your 
neighbours, and might prove a bad gardener too at times. Cats are 
most easily trapped, and easily poisoned ; but then these are no 
humane methods for preventing their intrusion ; and, if at all in¬ 
dulged in, would bring a host of old women about your ears. 
Aspect for an Apricot (G. B. It., S. bank ).—It is hard to 
choose. We fear that in the first case you propose, there w'ould be a 
serious compromise, provided plants, and perhaps vines, were in the 
house. The chances in the second and third cases given, are nearly 
balanced. We should prefer the last, provided the wall, generally, 
is warmed by tbe fire behind. Apricots delight in a warm wall. 
Moving a Vine {Ibid ).—There is no use in shortening the long 
roots of your Vines ; we would rather lengthen them. The bruised 
ends should be pruned. 
Protection for Wall-trees {S. 0. L .).—We have covered 
with canvas for twenty years, and find it everything we desire; for 
we rarely miss a crop of fruit. Staples are driven in beneath the 
coping, 8 feet apart. At every staple, in the beginning of March, we 
affix a pole half a yard away from the wall, at bottom, and fastened 
beneath the coping at top. The canvas has a rope let in for selvage, 
and ropes from that are passed through the staples at top, and hence 
it is readily pulled up and down, within a foot of the ground. Augur- 
holes are bored through the poles, and a large peg, projecting nearly 
a foot, stuck in each hole. The canvas, when off, is lowered on to 
these pegs, to prevent it touching the ground, and thence rotting ; 
and the rope readily reinstates the canvas. Many other plans there 
are, but we have seen no better. Of course, pullies would be more 
complete than staples. Our canvas costs about fivepence a square 
yard ; and has hitherto been purchased of “ Hulme, Paradise-green, 
Knutsford.” The Fring-Park scheme we are ignorant of. 
Chicory {J. N. Baft ).—Can any one inform our correspondent 
whether chicory roots are sold in the London market in a green or 
dry state, and who are the purchasers ? 
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 tiie Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.—January 17 th, 1850. 
