THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
..‘>02 
[February 28 . 
loo much, which exemplified itself by the chicks not 
feathering in due time ; indeed, to such an extent did 
this run, that the chickens hatched in May were not 
sufficiently clothed hy the end of autumn, to protect them 
from the rigours of winter, and many died in conse¬ 
quence. To obviate this, I made away with the Spanish 
cocks, and purchased some of the Cochin-China breed 
last spring, in hope this cross would he of service; and 
have had the satisfaction of seeing my most sanguine 
expectation surpassed. My flocks have been numerous, 
strong, and healthy; the chickens were reared with very 
little trouble, being much more hardy than either the 
Spanish or the Dorking. They have grown to a large 
size, weighing from six and a-lialf to seven and a-half 
pounds each bird. Their flavour, when cooked, is most 
delicious. Those pullets, hatched in May, began to lay 
early in October, and have continued laying, without any 
intermission, the whole of the past winter. 
T always keep a few hens of the Dorking breed for the 
purpose of sitting, as they make more attentive mothers 
than the Spanish do. For the first three weeks or a month 
alter the chickens are hatched, I have them fed upon 
boiled rice, mixed with softened bread. Tt is the small 
rice we use; the shopkeepers call it riddlings, and costs 
about a penny per pound; but by purchasing a large 
quantity at a time, it may be had at a still lower price. 
J find it a very cheap kind of food, as it goes a great way 
when boiled. 
f am perfectly aware that many judges in poultry would 
object to having a cross breed in their stock ; hut should 
any one be induced, by my example, to cross their pure¬ 
bred Spanish fowls with the Cochin-China, I feel con¬ 
vinced they will be perfectly satisfied with the result, at 
least so far as beauty of plumage and usefulness are com¬ 
bined. Helena M. 
Mistletoe. —T see a doubt expressed, at page 229-230, 
of the number for January 31, whether mistletoe would 
grow upon apple trees. I heartily wish it would not. In 
this apple-growing county (Herefordshire) the old apple 
trees are sadly infested by it, but I never find it on the 
oak or other trees. Yebax. 
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. 
Apple-trees Unhealthy (T. E. 17 .).—We cannot discern any¬ 
thing like disease in the piece of hark which you sent; but if the 
trees do shew blotches in their bark, and as they are exposed to the 
northerly winds so far north as you are (Ormskirkj, we should improve 
the temperature of the soil in which they grow, by draining it. The 
best edging —“partly ornamental, and partly as’shelter”—for your 
flower-beds would be made by planting round them the Laurustinus. 
Fermenting Materials (A Young Gardener ).—The cow-dung 
and straw will do for heating your pit, if they are well worked toge¬ 
ther, and brought into a fermenting state; though they are not so 
good as a similar mixture from the horse-stable. The heat from them 
is not so enduring. Raise your cucumber plants in pots, rather than 
in the earth of the bed, as they are easier managed in case the heat 
becomes too high. If you will refer to the indexes of our numbers 
you will find all your other questions answered. If you raise a. fruit- 
tree from u cutting it will, of course, resemble exactly its parent, of 
which it is actually a part, nourishing itself from the soil, instead of 
from the parent stem. 
Earthing-up Potatoes (J. Norris ).—The reason why it should 
not be done is very simple. It retards the growth of the tubers, and 
diminishes the weight of the crop. It is, therefore, much worse than 
labour thrown away. Keeping potatoes cleared from weeds, and about 
an inch in depth of soil over the tubers nearest the surface, is all that 
they require. In experiments instituted for the purpose, we found, 
in some instances, the crop earthed-up was less by one-fourth than 
those from plants unearthed. Try a few' rows, and convince yourself. 
Dig in your bad crop of vetches, after dressing them over with soot 
and salt, and plant your potatoes there. For carrots on your poor 
sandy soil, trench it, and turn some manure in with the bottom spit 
only, on the plot where potatoes were last year. 
Tank for Liquid Manure (A Regular Subscriber ),—Pray refer 
t .0 our first volume ; you will there find, at pp. 135, 242, 278, 288, 308, 
and 312, every particular you require, except as to a roadway over the 
tank. On this point you must consult a bricklayer about turning an 
arch over it. We have no room to reprint the directions for tank¬ 
making. 
Burhidge’s Eclipse Pea (A Retired Tradesman ).—These need 
not be grown nearer than in rows eighteen inches apart. 
Red Rhubarb (Ibid). —If you sow the seeds of this, or of any 
other variety of rhubarb, it will not invariably produce plants simi¬ 
larly coloured as the parent. Field carrots and parsnips are best 
sow'n in March. The Altringham carrot and the Guernsey parsnip 
are best for cow food. They are equally good keepers, if properly 
stored; and we. should grow both, as all animals like a change of food . 
Bees (Ibid). —Our correspondent says :—“ In the Bee-keeper’s 
Calendar for September, 1849, I read: ‘where it has been found 
necessary to place two or three receptacles for honey upon the stock 
hive, the uppermost one’ (of the three) * may certainly be removed, 
and generally the one next to it.’ Now', I shall feel obliged by your 
informing me whether it is necessary, or at least sometimes desirable, 
and if so, under what circumstances, for the sake of giving more 
room, &e., to a crowded population, to allow three receptacles to 
remain on during the season?” It is sometimes necessary to place 
three receptacles for honey upon a stock hive, because one is placed at 
the commencement of the honey season ; but, before it is sufficiently 
filled to be removed, symptoms of a crowded population are seen ; 
another is then given in addition, which is immediately filled with 
bees, and combs worked in it; rain then sets in, no honey can be 
collected, hut breeding goes on as usual ; the population again becomes 
too large for the hives, and, if a third be not given, either swarming 
or clustering at the entrance (both of which it is desirable to prevent) 
will certainly follow, although neither of the hives are sufficiently 
filled to be taken away. 
Bees. — A would-be Apiarian says“ My object is to obtain honey 
in small glasses, without holes in the top, for the sake of their greater 
sightliness, and the greater convenience in sending them to friends. 
I propose to jilace on each adapting board at the same time four 
glasses, in shape resembling a small hive, over a corresponding num¬ 
ber of holes, about three inches in diameter.” You may succeed 
very well with four glasses of the size you mention ; but it will be 
necessary to put a piece of guide comb into each of them, as directed 
in The Cottage Gardener, page 42, vol. ii. Tivo inches diameter 
will he better thau three inches for the holes; but the quantity of 
honey in small glasses will be much less than if stored in one large 
one. The guide comb must be perfectly white, and in which no 
honey has been stored ; a very small piece, sav half an inch deep, 
fixed at the top of the glass will be sufficient. 
An Amateur will find his case lias been attended to this dav liv 
Mr. Fish. 
Tan in Brick Pit (T. E .).—We see no objection to the use of 
tan, instead of dung as a means of heat. Leave a space w’here you 
may examine if its coldness afterwards proceeds from dryness, as that 
may be obviated by pouring water through a tube, which will cause 
the tan to ferment again. There will be no difficulty in heating the 
bed, when the heat declines, by placing a lining round the solid wall; 
and there will be the advantage, in such circumstances, of having no 
reason to dread steam. A brick wall is a capital conductor of heat. 
You are quite right in proposing to raise the melon-plants in the small 
dung frame appropriated to cucumbers. You may thus be getting on 
while the bed in the brick pit is preparing. 
Green Bank in Conservatory (H. Y. B.). —This, raised over 
a passage which connects the front and back gardens, you wish to he 
always “green, varied, and airy in character.” For this purpose, we 
do not think you could do better than supply the bank with sandy 
peat and loam, and plant it chiefly with ferns—for the proper kinds, 
see first volume; and between, and near the front, use the differ¬ 
ent Lycopodiums, such as L. denticulatum, densium, depressum, 
&c.; and in a warm corner, stoloniferum. Near the front, if there is 
a piece of wall to cover, the Ficus stipulata will cling to it, or the 
bank either, and present a pretty green carpet, though neither so 
pretty and interesting as the ferns and mosses. Small "fancy plants, 
such as cyclamens, and bulbs, such as hyacinths, ixias, lachenulia, 
the., might either he planted at once, or introduced when in bloom, 
the pots being concealed hy the mosses. Climbers for the roof, if to 
be planted in the bank, should have their roots confined in large pots, 
or places enclosed with brick or wood, or they would soon monopolise 
all the virtue of the soil to themselves. In such a roof (dome-shaped) 
Passiflora Belottii, P. edulis, and P. racemosa coerulea, would answer 
admirably, in conjunction with Mandevilla suaveolens, and Ipomea 
Learii, presuming that the average temperature in winter is not below 
45°. See a late article by Mr. Fish on “conservatory climbers.” 
Cyclamens (Tooting). —Have you attended to watering properly? 
With such few leaves on them as yours had, very little would be re¬ 
quired. If they have strong roots, they may yet flower well, as they 
do not like to be hurried. If kept very dry before being potted, they 
take longer time to throw out their flowers, and require to be more 
carefully watered, not allowing the soil to be wet until it is occupied 
by roots. 
Pruning Timber and other Trees (F. P.). —The reason your 
neighbour assigns for cutting off all the branches of his trees within 
six inches or a foot of the trunk, leaving a few entire at the top— 
namely, “that a tree with its branches is like a man with a large 
family, that keep drawing him until he grows as thin as a cat”—we 
consider more witty than convincing, inasmuch as we doubt his pre¬ 
mises, and therefore can have nothing to do with his conclusions—our 
own cats being anything but thin ; and the happy fellows of our 
acquaintance that can sit at the ingle cheek, and smile upon their off¬ 
spring as sources of their strength, being more distinguished for 
rotundity and rubicundity than lanky-looking, desolate, solitary bat- 
chelors. The subject is one too great to be entered upon here ; but 
we will answer your queries by two propositions. 1st. The more 
numerous and extended the branches of a tree, the greater will be its 
size and weight; but that weight is weight as a whole, without 
any reference to the question of fitness. 2nd. The object of the 
pruner, therefore, is not so much to increase weight as to direct the 
strength of the plant into a definite channel ; that a fine large bole for 
the carpenter may he obtained, instead of large, uncouth limbs, fit 
only for the faggot-stick ; and to effect this purpose all pruning should 
be done e? fly, when the wound will heal over in a season. The trees 
