THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[March 14. 
328 
Tree Onion (J. B., §• J- B.).— Our correspondents wish to know i 
where, and at what price, they can buy some bulbs of this. 
Semi-transparent Calico (Several Old Subscribers). —You will j 
find the recipe for malting this at page 123 of Vol. ii., and is in its 
index. The mixture does as well for linen as for calico. 
Poultry Diseased (C. C. Muster, and Un Lecteur). —Your 
fowls, troubled with a discharge from their nostrils, weakness of the 
eyes, and loss of appetite, are affected with the roup. Wash their nos¬ 
trils thoroughly every morning with a little solution of chloride of 
lime; and give each a pellet as large as a horse-bean every morning, 
of the following mixture: gentian powder, and ginger powder, one 
ounce each; Epsom salts, one ounce and a half; sulphur, half an 
ounce ; made into a paste with dripping. 
Weigela Rosea and Forsythia Viridissima (J. H .).— 
Young plants of these, 15 inches high, and now breaking strongly 
from the bottom, should be cut down better than half their height, 
to render them compact and bushy. 
Azaleas (Ibid). —Young plants that have got drawn and strag¬ 
gling may be cut well back now, to make them bushy, if you can 
give them a temperature of from 55° to 60° to cause them to break j 
freely. First wait for a month, and then you may almost command 
the same heat in a cold pit, or frame, kept close. 
Cactus (W. H. R .). —Your young plant that has sent up three 
shoots from the bottom, had better be encouraged to grow as freely 
as possible during summer : placing it full in the sun. Four stems 
or leaves will not lie too many for your plant. 
Hydrangea (Ibid).— The fewer shoots you retain the stronger 
they will be. If you can give it plenty of room, and rich soil, we 
should advise you to leave three out of the six, though one huge 
corymb of flow'ers at the top of a single shoot is very pretty. 
Various Queries (Allan Dale). —In grafting fuchsias it is as 
well if both stock and scion should be of the previous season’s growth. 
It matters not what method is adopted, provided the two inner barks 
are made to adhere ; and the plant is kept close, and shaded for a 
time afterwards. Climbers. —The Ipomea Learii had been too tender 
for a pot in such a position ; try Mandevilla suaveolens, or Passiflora 
coerulea racemosa. For the back wall to be green in winter, and 
yellow in spring, the Acacia armata would be beautiful. If climbers 
were desirable, the passiflora named, and P. Ballotii, and Colvilli, 
and Mandevilla suaveolens. To cover it quickly, to be cut out as 
the others grow: Lophosperma scandens, CobcEa scandens, and 
Eccremocarpus scaber. As the Kenneyda coccinea does so well, you 
might place in it K. Maryattae. Lisianthus Russellianus will 
flower well in a cold greenhouse, but it must be raised and grown in 
a higher temperature. If you inquire, we think you will be able to 
get cyclamen seed. See what was said lately about it by Mr. Fish. 
Sow the seed whenever you can get it. 
Primula Sinensis (B. C. Barton). —To have strong plants to 
flower from November, and through the winter, sow any time within 
a fortnight or a month, in a cucumber-bed ; if no such place where 
heat can be given, sow under a glass in the greenhouse ; prick out, 
when up ; occasionally repot during the summer: keeping them in a 
cool shady place during the dog-days; and use soil, consisting of equal 
parts good loam and leaf-mould. 
Gladiolus Gandavensis (Tooting). —It will flower very well in 
the 5-inch pot, although its roots have come through the bottom. 
Give it water freely, so that the soil is never dry, and allow it plenty 
of air every day. 
Ixia Viridiplora (Ibid). —The three bulbs of this having made 
thirteen shoots, must have been in very good condition ; no doubt 
but you will have six or seven spikes of bloom from them. See that 
they get plenty of air and water, as this sort grows tall and dislikes 
confinement. The colour of this Ixia will please you much. 
Yellow Geranium (J. Bousfield).—Pxa.y do not lose sight of it. 
The safest way, if it is a species, is to cultivate it at Natal and save 
seeds, which may come in a letter. If it is a tuberous-rooted one, 
the tubers would come dry in brown paper in a box with bulbs, but 
let it not be trusted that way until seeds are first saved. 
Statice Latifolia (A Subscriber ).—It will transplant in Sep¬ 
tember, and now also. It prefers a deep rich sandy soil. You can 
increase it now by pieces of the roots which issue from the collar of 
the plant. 
Removing Vines (Hester S.). —It is too late now to remove your 
out-of-door vine ; but if you must, the thing is not quite impossible, 
but requires great care. A west aspect would do for your vine in the 
southern counties, but you do not say where you reside. 
Branches of Apricots Dying (Ibid). —This is a common com¬ 
plaint ; and there is no cure for it but to train in some young wood to 
fill up the space. Your apricot, 50 feet wide, is a fine tree. Mistletoe 
seeds. —Send a stamped envelope with your address immediately. 
Tropceolum Tuberosum (Ibid). —We veiy much fear your tuber 
of this is dead, as the plant has not yet appeared, but we have known 
them refuse to start for a long time. Shake it out of the soil, and if 
it is sound, repot it, and keep it as warm as you can till you see it 
sprouting. 
Light for Seed Bed (S. C., P. H.). —Shade is best for the an¬ 
nuals until the seeds vegetate, and then sunshine and plenty of air. 
For cuttings, shade them from ten in the morning till three in the 
afternoon, when the days are hot; but in general, the more sun they 
stand, the faster they will root, but it is safer for you to shade. 
Broken Cactus (J. T.). —Your cactus will do yet, though the 
main stem is broken. Cut the bottom of the main stem smooth, and 
also the stumps of the broken side branches, and put it in a small pot 
with sand only, placing it three inches deep, and it will soon form 
roots again. When you remove it to another pot, shake off most of 
the sand; the other pieces will also do for cuttings, and you may put 
them all in one pot, with sand, till they root. Give all a little water 
twice a week, and place them in a warm room. 
Double Blue Hepatica (J. N. P.). —This dwindles, though 
other kinds thrive with you. Your soil does not suit it. Can you not 
change it? It prefers deep, rich, light loam, and an open situation. 
We would water it well in May and June. The maximum heat for 
orange and lemon trees is about "0°, and the minimum 40°, but they 
will bear ten more degrees, and eight degrees less; the grand point is 
to get them well ripened before October. 
Epacris Cuttings (IF. M. H.). — These are treated the same way 
as heath cuttings, and the plants are afterwards managed in most 
respects like heaths. Use good peat, with one-third sand, good 
drainage, and a cool greenhouse for the cuttings ; fill a small pot 
half full of crocks, and then equal parts of fine sifted peat and silver 
sand, with a quarter of an inch of fine sand on the top; press down 
and water, then mark the sand with a bell-glass that will just fit 
inside the pot; make your cuttings half an inch long and of recently 
formed young wood. After planting them within the circle, give 
them a gentle watering, and when they are dry place the glass firmly 
over them, and keep them in a shady part of the greenhouse, or a 
gentle hotbed, and attend to watering and keeping them free from 
damp. 
Tropceolum Tuberosum (Susannah, Coniston).— Our correspon¬ 
dent says :—“ In consequence of Mr. Beaton’s remarks on ‘ Tropa- 
olum tuberosum ’ I procured a tuber, and planted it. and coiled it 
according to his directions. It flourished, and delighted me by its 
extreme delicacy of form, and at the same time was such a little 
spirited elastic creature I called it the baby ! One morning, to my 
extreme regret, I broke off the little green head, but I comforted 
myself by hoping that in time it might perhaps send out another. 
My hopes were more than realized ; in about a fortnight seven or 
eight green heads appeared on different parts of the stalk, and it is 
running about in all directions, so that I really think what I thought 
an accident may prove an improved mode of treatment. May I add 
that I have made it a very pretty trellis of eight slender green sticks, 
about two feet long ; these are placed round the pot, and form a 
pretty shaped vase ; the sticks are bound together with strong green 
cotton, such as is used for crochet work.” You have fully proved 
that Mr. Beaton was right in saying that this Tropceolum ought to 
be trained by ladies. Your plant may do well, but we cannot recom¬ 
mend the tops to be nipped, and Mr. Beaton would never forgive us 
if we did. 
Burgundy Pear-tree (J. S .).—Your tree is about 12 years old, 
and to a casual observer a flourishing tree. For several years past it 
has borne no fruit, but many of the small branches are dead, and the 
tree is full of small shoots which grow out of all the live branches, 
and not a fruit appears. Cutting out these twigs appears to be use¬ 
less. Your pear is a common case, and, we fear, a hopeless one. 
Sometimes the dying tops are induced by a bad subsoil, but frequently 
also by the “ worn out ” character of the kind; for there is a “ wear¬ 
ing out” in pears as sure as there is in apples. Thus, few can now 
grow the 3t. Germains, the D’Auch, the Crassanne, or the Brown 
Beurre, some of the finest pears we ever had, and perhaps equal to 
most of our new ones; they are doubtless wearing out, hence the 
necessity of encouraging fresh kinds. Vou will do well (as we think) 
to make the tree a flower support. 
Shell-less Eggs (Theydon ).—When a hen habitually lays eggs 
without shells, she has the disease called the lush, or oon. It arises 
from her digestion being torpid, and the certainty of this may be as¬ 
certained by feeling her crop ; if this be hard, there is no doubt. 
Give her two teaspoonsful of gin twice a week, and give her nourish¬ 
ing soft food. 
Vinegar Plant (M. F. G .).—Send your address (free) to Mr. 
George Brewin, Wortley, Sheffield; or to Mrs. Nanney, Caenby Rec¬ 
tory, Spittal, Lincolnshire ; they kindly offer to send you one. 
Spot on the Aciiimenes (-).—The spots on the leaves of this 
are said, by one of our correspondents (F. N.), to be caused by water¬ 
ing over them, instead of putting the water into the saucer. 
Name of Pumpkin (F. N.). —We cannot .tell this (green and 
white-speckled); the varieties are endless. 
Furze or Gorse (Ibid ).—The only successful mode of cultivating 
this is by sowing the seed where the plants are to remain. Sow early 
in April. The soil should be light and well drained. 
Tanners Baric for Plunging (J. C. K. R .).—A correspondent 
writes as follows:—“ In answer.to your correspondent, “A. E. W.,” 
last November, relative to the use of tan in a pit for preserving 
plants, you did not recommend it. I have used it this winter with 
success, - and have not lost one healthy old plant or young cuttings, 
all taken early and potted off.” Notwithstanding this success, we 
prefer sand, or coal-ashes, for the purpose. There is no harbour for 
fungi or insects in these. 
Sap (Pelerin).—' The idea of sap passing into the finer vessels of 
the leaves in the state of gas, is ingenious : but there are too many 
opposing facts and experiments demonstrating that it cannot be true. 
Vines (Tyro ).—The “ small clear globules” on the leaves are 
not mildew, but probably moisture deposited upon them from the air 
of your house. We fear from your account, you keep the air too 
moist, in proportion to the light we have yet. You will see if we are 
right by your vine shoots being too long-jointed and weak. We 
cannot advise as to any book on colours, unless we knew your object. 
Names of Plants (S. Smith ).—No. 1. The Smooth Rivina, 
Rivina he vis. 2. Centradenia rosea.—(Constant Reader, Swansea). 
—The heath-leaved sprig is A T ierembergia filicaulis, a very beautiful 
greenhouse plant; yet good for bedding out. The other plant is 
Alonsoa incisifolia, also a greenhouse plant. 
Lily of the Valley (Ibid).— Notwithstanding this is not the 
time to do so, you may take up a few plants and pot them, and place 
them in a pit with heat, from 50° to 60 °. Do not be too free with the 
water-pot, nor yet let them want for moisture. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester 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.—March 14th, 1850. 
