THE COTTAGE GARDENED. 
217 
January 81 .] 
Vinegar Plant (it/. F . G.). — Can any one Inform our corre¬ 
spondent where he can purchase one ? The leaves of the Green Beet 
may be boiled as spinach, but they are not so good as those of the 
White Beet. You ought to have received a copy of The Domestic 
Economist. Do you receive your numbers through a bookseller? 
Hothouse, Greenhouse, and Bath (.4 Header). — You ask 
whether all three of these structures, each small, could be heated by 
one boiler, and the boiler be kept hot by means of gas ? To both 
questions we answer—Yes; but it would require a peculiar, though 
easy arrangement, and would not be economical. We do not know 
of any such arrangement in operation. 
Edible Fungi (J. C -»).—We are quite aware that this sub¬ 
ject has attracted attention, and we are also aware that, in warmer 
climates, some prefer other kinds before our common mushroom. 
But we cannot recommend a similar preference; and he would be a 
rash and untrustworthy writer who acted otherwise. The deadly and 
the harmless (if any fungus is harmless) are separated by such slight 
differences, and we are so totally without information as to whether 
a fungus edible, under certain circumstances of climate and soil, may 
not seriously change its secretions, under an altered state of those 
circumstances, that we can do no more than warn you, and all our 
readers, from such experiments. 
Vines in Pots (X). —You will find the principles of vine-forcing 
in pots, in our present number. Of the three sorts you name, we 
should choose the Muscat of Fontainebleau, from what we have 
heard of it. August Muscat is said to be a shy and slender sort. 
Golden Muscat we are ignorant of, unless you mean, Muscat of 
Alexandria. 
Bark-Bound Pear-trebs (IF. H. G.). — The stems may be 
scraped and cleared of any mossy gatherings, and three ounces of 
soft-soap, made in a lather, added to a gallon of stable or cow-house 
urine. Brush this well into every crevice, and pour plenty of dung¬ 
hill drainings over the roots immediately, first boring several holes 
(to receive it) with an iron bar. 
Apple-tree Cuttings (S. Hayes). —Apple cuttings strike with 
the greatest ease, either in pots or out. Any ordinary garden soil will 
do. They strike very rapidly in dung-heat frames, or even in green¬ 
houses. Any first-iate kinds, such as you will find in our back num¬ 
bers, will answer. Cuttings made about fifteen inches long, three 
or four of which must be in the pot, letting the cutting touch the 
bottom. 
Stocking Fruit Garden ( Salisbury ).—Your query would re¬ 
quire a long paper to answer it in full. Our back numbers are replete 
with information of the kind. You will find select lists of fruits, 
commencing at page 32, and running through a few following num¬ 
bers. Amongst pears for espaliers, do not forget such as Althorpe 
Crassanne, Dunmore, Fondante d’Autumne, Louis Bonne of Jersey, 
Maria Louise, Hacon’s Incomparable, Beurre Langeliar; also, Or- 
pheline d’Engheinne, Josephine de Malines, &c. Apples, also, such 
as Kerry Pippin, the Nonpareil, Pearson’s Plate, Ashmead’s Kernel, 
Stunner Pippin, Itibstone Pippin, &c. &c. Wall-fruits will be 
found in previous numbers. In all your proceedings, pray let us beg 
of you to attend to principles connected with root culture. One 
hour’s keen examination of what runs through our previous numbers, 
will set all right. 
Heating, &c. (A Novice). — Before deciding upon your stove, see 
what is stated, p. 216 , which partly meets your case. We can see 
little difference in the mode of action of Price’s, Herberts, and 
Walker’s. They will all require piping to convey away the smoke; 
and though being moveable is an advantage, there is the trouble of 
unfixing, fixing, and the botheration of the escape of smoke, gases, 
&c. 2 . If you should decide upon having one, it ought to stand as 
near the door as convenient, that the heat may be equally diffused. 
3. The chimney outside, if seen at all, might be surmounted with a 
chimney in make the same style as the building. 4. Do you mean 
that you are to be charged 4s per foot merely for the putty and the 
trouble of glazing? 5. The soft-water drain might be so far con¬ 
structed as to furnish you with a cistern for watering, when the rain 
that fell on the roof would not be suffieient. 6 . The roof may be 
curvelinear as well as straight. The squares of glass would require 
to be shorter, or have them bent on purpose. 7- Your stage should 
be in unison with the roof, and high or low, according to the nature 
of the plants you intend growing. 8 . Many of the plants men¬ 
tioned, p. 167 , would suit you for a commencement; and lists of 
fuchsias, cinerarias, &c., have been given. You had better commence 
with soft, border plants first. 9 . There is nothing to prevent your 
having a vine or two, or, if you use other means of heating, making 
it partly a forcing-house. See Answers to Correspondents, p. 204. 
Honeysuckles, Jasmines, Syringa (D.P - 1). —We presume 
you mean the hardy varieties of these. If so, the best time to bud 
them is in summer, when the bark runs; and the best time to graft 
would be the spring, just when the sap is getting into motion; 
choosing the common woodbine as a stock for the first, the common 
white jasmine for the second—or rather heterophyllum, and the 
common lilac for the third. Of course, you would only think of 
doing so, in the case of the weaker and scarcer kinds, as most of the 
two first will strike freely, if planted at any time, from cuttings ; but 
chiefly in the autumn, under a hand-light, in a shady place ; and the 
third is, generally, easily procurable from layers or suckers. See what 
Mr. Beaton says on Climbers, Greenhouse and Forcing-house, 
See, in the meantime, what is stated, p. 204. The subject will, if 
possible, be adverted to in detail before long. 
Various Questions (L. M. and M. M.). —1. The Cactus, kept 
in a warm room, and watered up to this time, should now be kept 
dry for a couple of months, if it is desired to flower next summer. 
It should scarcely have known the taste of water for two months 
past. 2. Sand from the Severn will do as well as any other river 
sand, for striking cuttings and rooting leaves, provided it is clean, and 
not procured too near the Bristol Channel, to have a dash of salt in 
it. A little fine pit, or silver sand, to dust the surface, will be an 
advantage. 3. Many leaves will form roots besides fuchsias ; but 
many that will form roots, cannot form enough of organizable 
matter to emit fresh buds and shoots. In the case of the Verbenas 
to which you refer, as they strike so freely and quickly from cuttings, 
consisting of one or two joints, the attempt to grow them from 
leaves would be more interesting than practically useful. 4. The 
room in which your plants are kept must be well protected, or they 
would, in suchbveatlier as we have lately had, require fire on Sundays, 
as well as other days. 5. In fine weather, the fire, on other days, 
had better be dispensed with, and air given ; or, if the fire must be 
there, more air must be given ; and, even then, the moistening of the 
foliage will often be attended with advantage. 6 . We presume the 
want of air, and light, is the reason why your Geraniums get weakly 
and drawn, and the cause why your Verbenas die; though, being 
lifted out of the border late, was rather against them. Try a pot or 
two of younger plants next time. 7 . The want of air, and watering 
over much, was most likely the cause of the death of your Mcsem- 
bryanthemum. Keep all succulents dry in winter. We presume 
that the table for your plants is as near the window as possible during 
the day. 8 . Hyacinths will do admirably, either in pots or glasses, 
in such a room. They will do little good the second year. 9 . See 
that the Pyrus (Cydonia) Japonica, has a sufficiency of soil against 
the brick house, as it is not at all particular. 10 . Whether the piece 
of Scarlet Anemone will bloom, will depend upon its size; and, as to 
whether it contains flower buds—it most likely will. 
Hot-bed por Cuttings, &c. (AT. I. S .).—If the materials for 
the small hot-bed have been well worked, as before directed, the bed 
may be made up, and the materials well put together, that the bed 
may settle down even. All being made neat and snug, the frame 
may be put on, and the earth, or sifted coal-aslies (which is better), 
may be put on at the same time the bed is made, which will forward 
the use of the bed at least five or six days ; for, as soon as the heat 
is up, and the earth warm enough, you may commence placing in 
your pots of cuttings, the earth or ashes to be placed over the bed 
6 to 9 inches thick, to plunge the pots in. 
Asparagus (W. W. X .).—Plant two or three-year-old plants this 
spring, and there will be no occasion for you to sow seeds. 
Paint (A. W .).—The cheapest and best application for your 
garden palings is gas-tar, applied very hot, and very fine sand and 
lime rubbish dredged over it, whilst fresh. You may obtain plants 
of most kitchen and flower-garden articles, either from florists or 
market-gardeners. 
Forcing Young Vines ( Lucubrutory). —Those planted last spring 
must not be forced this year, but be allowed to break with the natural 
warmth of the season. 
Forcing Hydrangeas (Ibid). —These may be introduced into heat 
now, or at any time between this and their natural time of starting. 
Melon (Ibid). —We know of no such melon as “The True Prus¬ 
sian and you probably mean the Persian, of w hich there are many 
varieties, such as the Hoosainee. They can be obtained of the seeds¬ 
men. They are more highly-flavoured, but more tender than any of 
the other kinds. 
Heating Pit by a Stove (IF. IF. X.). —If you take care that the 
gases given off by the stove are all carried away into the open air, 
without mixing with the air in the pit; and if you are equally careful 
that the burning fuel is supplied with air from the outside of the pit, 
we think your plan will succeed. It is ingenious, and we shall be 
glad to know from you how it answers. The stove must be against 
the side of the brickwork, for the sake of feeding the fire with fuel. 
There is something wrong with the roots of the Chinese Primrose, 
of which you sent the imperfectly developed leaf. 
Screening Peach Blossoms (A Subscriber, Lancaster). —Nets' 
with half-inch meshes, will do for the purpose, we are told ; but we 
prefer them much finer; and, indeed, use canvas ourselves. The 
screens should be kept on at night, until the fruit is well set. It is 
not necessary to screen during the winter, nor until the blossoms shew 
symptoms of opening. If you obtain “ scores of pounds” of early 
potatoes in your garden, sloping to the south, at Lancaster, by the 
last week in May, you are quite as early as we are in the south of 
England. 
Sprouted Potatoes (F. IF.).—You have kept your asli-leaved 
kidneys in too warm a place, as they have sprouts from three to six 
inches long. Do not rub these off, but plant them uninjured now, as 
soon as you possibly can ; putting them in so that the top of the 
sprouts is three inches below the surface. 
Pruning Gooseberries (Rev. C. IF. L.). —This having been 
neglected, had better be done forthwith. Answers to your other 
questions next week. 
CONSEUUENCES OF A STOVE IN A GREENHOUSE (Re V. S. P.F.). — 
A chunk stove being introduced, and left in your greenhouse for 
twenty minutes, during a frosty day, your plants consequently 
became shrivelled, and the leaves look scorched, “ the most hardy 
having suffered the most.” It is very evident that the temperature 
had fallen below the freezing point, in your greenhouse, and the 
sudden and excessive elevation of temperature produced the conse¬ 
quences you describe. The carbonic acid, given out by the stove, of 
course, added to the injury. You can do nothing but remove the 
leaves as they die, exclude frost, and merely keep the soil damp, as if 
the accident had not happened. In the spring you will see which are 
fatally injured. 
Names of Plants (Lucubrutory). —We cannot tell the name of 
your canna-like plant, from the two leaves sent. (31. Marshall). —We 
think yours is Corrcea pulchella bicolor. The plant from Godaiming 
is the Great River Horsetail, Equisetum fiuviatile. 
Hydrangeas (Rev. H. N.). —These, if in pots, should not be cut 
down in winter, unless they are assisted to make an early spring 
growth. Strong old plants may be cut down, with advantage, and 
they will come into flower next autumn, after those which were not 
cut down- 
