284 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[February 21. 
UN-pruned Peaches, Atricots, and Plums (W. W.). —By all 
means pass the pruning-knife over your trees. As they were neglected 
last summer, and growing freely, they must he somewhat crowded. 
Thin out judiciously, in order to admit light; as for shortening back, 
that depends upon the character of the wood in respect of ripeness. 
Shortening must also occasionally be practised, in order to cause the 
tree to fill up any parts deficient. The gross shoots had better be 
reduced a little, and some white lead put on thin upon the cut ends 
to keep air and moisture out. You will see an article on pruning in 
this number. Make up your hotbedfor cuttings immediately. 
Pear Pruning (A, C.). —Do not shorten the short-jointed shoots 
tied down in summer. If none of this proper character occurs, but all 
are rank wood, tic a moderate portion down, and root-prune severely. 
The apple may be managed this way when deficient of natural spurs. 
Apr.icoT, Pears, and Strawberries Unfruitful (Victim ).— 
Our correspondent’s apricot grows above the wall, and is full of 
strong wood, without producing blossom; his pears, also against a 
wall, blossom abundantly, but produce little fruit; and his British 
Queen strawberries are deformed by hard green centres ; and his 
Espalier apple-trees have a great many long shoots among them. 
You must shorten back your shoots above the wall, and root-prune 
immediately ; all other pruning without this will fail. You have made 
your soil too good. Your pears are protected when in blossom ; they 
ought to do better. We would try root-pruning. We have had 
other and similar complaints about the British Queen strawberry, 
but we cannot say, without seeing a case, what it may be. Do you 
water sufficiently when swelling off? Thin out some of the long 
apple shoots entirely ; they will rob the true bearing shoots. 
Salt to Greenhouse Bulbs (T. R.). —How could we possibly 
say how much salt you may put into the water for these, without 
knowing the species ? There are very few that could be benefited by 
the application. You can only get rid of the caterpillars in your 
rockets by carefully hand-picking and searching for the eggs. You 
will find a description of the moth producing them at page 21 of our 
second volume. 
Hemerocallis Japonica (Ibid). —This is quite hardy, and ought 
to llower freely in any soil. Supply it abundantly with water in the 
summer. Charcoal is never used by us for bulb-pots ; but it docs no 
harm, and makes excellent drainage. 
Vines and Greenhouse Plants (L. R. L.). —The shade of vines 
in a greenhouse will certainly injure plants. Keep them on a front 
shelf where there is no shade. Fuchsias will stand more shade than 
most plants. 
Creepers in Vinery (Ibid). —If grapes are a desideratum with 
you, no kind of creeper should be allowed to interfere with the vines 
on the rafters. 
Cyclamen Seed (Ibid). —This will grow very well now from seed. 
Sow them in a light compost, place them in a cucumber bed till they 
vegetate, then remove them to a cooler place. 
Apple-tree Cuttings (Ibid). —These may be struck either in 
April or early in the autumn ; and shoots of the previous year, with a 
heel of the older wood attached, strike the most readily. Soot, after 
being soaked in water, is useful upon heavy soil; but it has been de¬ 
prived of its ammonia, and therefore is not so valuable as a manure. 
Poultry can be over-fed. See an answer to another correspondent. Keep¬ 
ing themshut up in astall, or shed, is quite enough to make them dull. 
We have painted over walls with gas tar, and the effect is excellent. 
It destroys vermin, and certainly advances the trees against the walls. 
Names of Apples (S. D., Ilford ).—As far as we can make out 
from two such bruised specimens, we think your variety is the Court- 
pendu Plat: an apple originally from France, but sometimes called 
Garnon’s apple, because cultivated at Garnons, the seat of Sir J. Cot¬ 
trell, near Hereford. (W. P. L.). —We think your small apples are 
the Boston Russet. 
Mammoth Brocoli (Mr. T. Mould).—A correspondent will be 
obliged by your sending him a little seed, and of the Ohio Squash, to 
“W. G. Cherry, Esq., Bucldand, Leominster.” 
Earth Nut. —The same correspondent wishes to know where he 
can obtain some tubers of this. 
Wire-worm (A Young Beginner). —A ton of gas lime, mixed with 
five loads of earth six weeks since, will not destroy the wire-worm, nor 
yet spoil the garden, as your landlord fears. Salt and soot mixed with 
the soil for a foot square, round where you purpose to insert each po¬ 
tato-set (whole), will be more likely to keep the wire-worms from them. 
The Hnoped-peticoat Narcissus requires no particular culture. The 
bulbs only have to be buried about two inches below the surface of 
the border. Abutilon Striatum is a very pretty flower. See all about 
it at page 13" of our last volume. We do not know which you mean 
by Semper florens roses ; perhaps you mean either the Perpetuuls 
or the Evergreens (Sempervirens). 
Fowls with Diseased Eyes (Rem). —Our correspondent says, 
“ Lumps come near the eyes in some, like a white swelling, and in 
others red. It seems to be a hard substance, like bone.” We never 
met with such a case before, and, if the fowls are in good health, 
should leave the lumps untouched. If these increase in size incon¬ 
veniently, we should rub them with lunar-caustic. 
Royal Muscadine Grape (W. H. G.). —We have no cuttings of 
this. It is sometimes called the White Chasselas, but it is very dif¬ 
ferent from the White Muscadine of Langley, Speechley, and others. 
Our correspondent would gladly send postage stamps to any one who 
can let him have cuttings. 
Name of Salvia (E. B. W .).—If either of the two you name, it is 
Salvia fulgens; but no one, merely from a flattened blossom, can tell 
whether it is not S. formosa. Tree mignonette: we cannot conceive 
that any one can need more instructions than are given in our second 
volume ; but we will see what Mr. Beaton thinks about the matter. 
Super-phosphate of Lime to Carrots (Alfred A.). —The very 
slight dressing of this which is desirable to apply to any crop, should 
be sprinkled over the surface, and dug in. It is not a manure, like 
the dung of animals, of that stimulating nature, or entering so largely 
into the composition of the plant, that its roots will travel in the di¬ 
rection where it abounds. We, therefore, think it would be useless 
to bury it in a trench, for the purpose of inducing the roots of carrots 
to strike down to it, as they wall to stable manure so buried. 
Fuchsias (T. M. If'.).—See an article by Mr. Fish lately. As the 
leaves of vour fuchsias are so fresh, do not cut them down, but prune 
them in a little. Examine the roots; prune these slightly, but give 
them a portion of good, lumpy, fresh soil; making room for it by 
shaking away a good portion of the old soil. 
Cactus and Hoya (Margaret Reymer). —We should be quite 
concerned if you lost your pets; but, unless they are quite dead, do 
not be alarmed. (See answers to correspondents lately.) When you 
kept them in a frame in winter, and they never flowered, we fear you 
did not keep them dry enough in winter, nor give them plenty of sun 
in summer. These, with proper soil, are the chief secrets of success. 
As you have them now in a warm room, give them as much light as you 
can ; sponge the leaves on a fine warm day; and by-and-bye, if not 
pleasing you before, transfer them to yourpit in April or May, and there 
keep them close and warm, and in a moist atmosphere, by giving them 
little or no air. Here, if they do not flower, they will get healthy. 
Set them full in the sun in July, against a wall; and we think that 
you will have plenty of bloom in future. 
Bleroma Elegans, &c. (A Young but Ardent Gardener). —The 
leaves sent are eaten up with that little jumping rascal, the Thrip; 
and there is none worse to dislodge. Look at our back numbers, and 
you will see what is recommended to keep him down. In addition, we 
would'advise you to try weak laurel-water, thrown forcibly over the 
foliage, but preventing it sinking into the pot by turning it over on 
its broad side. Cut and bruise the leaves of the laurel, put them in 
a vessel which you can cover close, pour over them boiling water, as 
if making tea, and then, some time afterwards, increase the water to 
three gallons to every pint of bruised leaves, and syringe when it is 
lukewarm. Your main hope of a complete riddance of the thrip is 
the use of the syringe, and a moist atmosphere in spring and summer. 
Cuttings of Double Chinese Primula (Ibid). — Place the 
cuttings in a sweet bottom-heat, free from damp steam ; it is worthy 
of all your care. 
Aloe (T. M. W.).— You may take off the sucker from your aloe in 
March, especially if it has got any roots; if it has no roots, you might 
wait a month longer ; and if, after placing it in a small pot you could 
give it a little bottom-heat, roots would sooner be formed. The sandy 
loam that suits the parent plant will also suit the youngster; but if the 
soilisheavy, alittle brick or lime rubbish may be added with advantage. 
Orange-tree (A. H .).—The plant imported from Lisbon would 
have suffered less from frost if, instead of being “ freely watered,” it 
had not been watered at all before leaving Liverpool. The leaves 
having dropped, and the points of the shoots becoming blacked, are 
proofs that the cold frosty weather has injured it. Your chief hope 
of restoring it to health consists in keeping it a little longer where it 
is, in a greenhouse, with a temperature of 50°, but shaded; and then 
contriving to place the plant, with its roots, in bottom-heat, and its 
top in a close, warm, moist atmosphere. If vitality is not altogether 
gone, this will cause it to break out afresh. 
Bedding-out Plants in a Vinery (A Young Labourer). —AVe 
presume, you want a place to transfer them to when you commence 
forcing, as your cow-slied was too dark for them. See what Mr. 
Fish and others have said upon turf-pits, and your own ingenuity 
would soon enable you to fix upon a method by which, at little cost, 
you might give the plants light in fine weather especially. If you 
have a spare space of wall, that would save you one side of a pit at 
once; and the front might soon be made with boards and posts. 
Have asphalt wood, glazed calico, straw or mat coverings, so made 
as to keep them dry. 
Ants (fil'd).—May easily be poisoned, by mixing arsenic with 
sugar or honey; and easily dislodged, by pouring lime-water into 
their fortresses* 
Wash for Vines (fil'd).—This may be put on cold or hot. If 
not too hot, it will be all the better to be warm. , 
Drawing-board (Young Gardener). —Any carpenter (you giving 
him directions, and seeing that he uses seasoned wood, and lets in 
some pieces across the grain to keep it from warping) could make 
you a drawing-board, If he uses old wood, he could make you a 
T-piece also. You may obtain cloth covers for The Cottage 
Gardener at our office. 
Geese (F. T. Herrick).— Water is necessary; but a large tub 
would answer, if five feet in diameter, and constantly full of water. 
Geese, for breeding, will not bear constant confinement. 
Asparagus (J. B. C.).—' The plants, if grown in a single row, 
need not be more than nine inches apart. We once had a garden, 
the soil of which, like yours, would never bear a crop of the common 
garden cress. Black currants similarly failed. It was a very light 
soil, and we overcame the deficiency by giving the soil a very thick 
dressing of clay and lime rubbish. 
Black Barley ( Pastor Rusticus).— Our correspondent wishes to 
know where he can obtain some of this grain ; and whether birds are 
less inclined to attack it than they are the common barley, 
Roses (Captain Forrest).— You may obtain everyone of the roses 
in the list at page 24 of our first volume of any of the great rose- 
growers: Rivers, Paul, Law, Francis, Curtis, &c. You are about to 
plant fruit-trees in a border covered with strawberries. These may 
remain for the present year, but will be injurious if left longer. 
Capons (Tyro). —Look at the answer we gave at page 136. 
Payne’s Improved Cottage Hives (A Subscriber, Rye). — 
You may purchase these of Messrs. Neighbour & Son, High Hoiborn, 
London. Drawings and full descriptions of them are in our first 
volume, pages 239 and 305. 
London : Printed by Harry AA'ooldridge, AA’inchester High Street, 
in the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar, and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the parish 
of Christ Church, City of London.—February 21st, 1850. 
