January 31.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
245 
of too vague and arbitrary construction. It may, 
therefore, not be amiss to endeavour here to rectify 
this omission by specifying more exactly the fre¬ 
quency, as well as the quantity and strength, with 
which I am in the habit of using this valuable fer¬ 
tiliser to my celery crops. And this, as well with 
the view of attempting to reconcile the difference 
in our opinions, especially as those opinions are the 
result of our respective experience (though I by no 
means wish to claim for mine the importance which 
is justly due to Mr. Turner’s more extended observa¬ 
tions), as for the benefit of your less experienced 
readers, who may be interested in the subject. 
From the time the plants are first set out, until 
they have fairly taken hold of the soil, and appear 
to be growing freely in their new quarters, I give 
simply pond or rain-water, and this as often as, from 
the surface of the trench becoming dry, they seem to 
require moisture. I then commence with the liquid 
manure, which I apply, on an average, once a week, 
taking care that the first few applications are con¬ 
siderably more diluted than the subsequent ones, 
about the strength of which I am not very parti¬ 
cular, using it merely in the state of dilution in 
which it may happen to be in the main receptacle 
when required. This (the state of dilution) is, how¬ 
ever, a point of considerable importance; and I can 
only enable you to judge of the average strength of 
mine by describing shortly of what it consists, and 
the method of collecting it, which are as follows :— 
In a convenient corner, adjoining the pig-sty, are two 
large hogsheads (each capable of containing upwards 
of 100 gallons), sunk two-thirds of their depth in the 
ground; into these is emptied, daily, all the house 
slop from the bed-rooms, and any dirty water which, 
in the various processes of cleansing, has been im¬ 
pregnated with soap or soda; also all the foul water 
and suds procurable at the fortnightly clothes-wash 
ing. Besides these two large receptacles are three 
smaller ones, buried brim deep in the soil, immedi¬ 
ately outside the respective drains leading from the 
stable, cow-house, and pig-sty. These receive the 
liquid excretions of one horse, one cow, and two or 
three pigs; and when full—which, in wet weather, 
owing to rain and droppings from the eaves having 
partial access to them, is frequently the case—their 
contents are likewise added to the hogsheads; or, 
when the latter happen to be full, any surplus is 
poured over the manure heap, which is so contrived 
as, when saturated, to allow the drainage from it to 
run back into one of the three smaller tanks. 
Now, it is the mixture of these various fluids, in the 
varying proportions in which they may chance to be, 
when required for use, that I apply to my celery- 
trenches ; and, although it will be obvious that it 
must vary considerably in strength, according to the 
dryness, or otherwise, of the season, still it is gene¬ 
rally of that medium degree of potency, that I can 
venture to use it with impunity, even to such vege¬ 
tables as are generally supposed to be less tolerant of 
strong liquid applications than celery. 
The quantity given at each dose is not always alike, 
and is regulated by the quantity each trench will 
readily imbibe, which is generally about five or six 
gallons to each side of a trench, seven or eight yards 
long; but this amount will necessarily vary, not only 
with the condition of the weather, but also with the 
particular texture of the soil in which the trenches 
are made. This last consideration is, I think, an im¬ 
portant one; and it was in this persuasion that I was 
careful to qualify my remarks, on the liberal use of 
pquid, by the statement that “ such, at least, was my 
experience, in the light porous soil of my garden ; ’’ 
for, I think, it will be admitted that it may be more 
freely administered, both as regards quantity and fre¬ 
quency, in a soil of this description, than on oik) of a 
stiff, tenacious, and less hungry nature The staple 
composition of the soil of my garden is a light, rich, 
and open sand, resting on a thick stratum of pure 
sand; and there is a quaint saying, applied to this 
kind of soil, which not unaptly illustrates its cha¬ 
racter and avidity for moisture, viz., “ that it will 
bear a good shower every day and two on Sundays." 
I am glad Mr. Turner has given us the result of 
his only trial for prize celery. The simple fact of its 
having been grown to the enormous weight he men¬ 
tions, is to me highly interesting, and a great triumph 
in horticulture; but, as a question of economy, and 
general utility, the end for which it is generally 
grown, will, perhaps, be better answered, by raising it 
of about half that weight; and if, as Mr. Turner ad¬ 
mits, it may be grown five or six pounds, by the double 
row plan I have recommended, I confess, I think it 
a high argument in favour of its adoption.—W. 0. G. 
EXTRACTS EROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
Quickset Hedges. —You tell your correspondent, 
at page 204, that you never could understand what 
advantage was gained by planting on the side of the 
bank, and recommend planting on the top. Now, I 
have a neighbour who is very particular about his 
hedges, and successful in managing them. Between 
his fields he plants in single rows (as you advise) 
upon the flat surface, where the soil will admit of it, 
and upon a small raised bank, where it will not; but 
when he comes to his roadside hedges, he plants double 
rows of quick, one along the top, the other along the 
face of the bank next the road, and about midway 
between the top and bottom of the bank. The ad¬ 
vantage of the latter plan is this: a single line of 
quick on the top, will, in a few years, in spite of all 
you can do to it, become naked below (This we 
deny. Ed. C. G.), and gaps are thus left for dogs, 
fowls, and small animals freely to pass through— 
a great annoyance if it encloses a garden—added 
to which, the face of the bank being exposed, is 
very liable to crumble down with frost, and chil¬ 
dren and larger animals will deface it. Now, a 
front line of quick cures those evils ; and the young 
quicks, being cut back to two or three eyes, at the 
time of planting, will shoot thick and strong, protect 
the face of the bank, and, taking an upward direction, 
cover the gaps left in the top row, and unite witli it 
to form a handsome and impenetrable hedge. In 
mailing these hedges, the plan is, when the bank is 
half raised, to lay in the first row of quicks on a 
straight ledge, sloping inwards and downwards ; the 
remainder of the bank is then carried up, and the top 
row inserted, taking care, however, that the plants 
in the two rows stand opposite the intervals between 
each other. The lower quicks should be a year older, 
that they may grow faster, and incorporate sooner 
with the upper ones. 
It now occurs to me, that your observation may 
have applied to single, and not double-row planting; 
and if so, these remarks stand for nothing; although 
I must add, that I believe it next to impossible to 
maintain for long a proper fence, with a single row, 
between a garden and public road; at all events, I 
have been preciously bothered with mine.—S. P. 
Cochin-China Fowls. —-Mr. Doyle’s article in The 
Cottage Gardener for the 27th ult., induces me to 
trespass on your valuable time for a few minutes. 
