358 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[March 28. 
Put into a boiler as many bucketsful of water as 
you require (one bucketful will do for 20 trees); add 
1 lb. of soft soap, and 1 oz. of ground black pepper 
for each bucket. Let the water boil, and then pnt 
out the fire, and let it stand till cool. A bunch of 
twigs from the birch, about twice tlie size of an ordi¬ 
nary birch-rod, must be used to beat up the pre¬ 
paration, and to dash it over the bushes. If possible, 
every leaf should get some, to effect which, the Lan¬ 
cashire, or goblet way, of training is most favourable. 
Once perhaps in five years they may require a second 
dressing, a fortnight or three weeks after the first. 
The time for applying it is generally about the middle 
of April. When the first set of leaves are out, look 
carefully over the bushes, and you will see here and 
there a leaf with a round hole in it, from the size of 
a mustard seed to that of a split-pea. On looking at 
the other side of the leaf, you will see the young 
brood, four or five in number, about a tenth of an 
inch long. Choose a day for the work when it is 
likely to keep fair until the lather is dry.— John 
Bekver, Coniston, Ambleside. 
Balsam Culture. —I saw in The Cottage Gar- 
dener, some time since, a method to grow balsams, 
but as I believe many do not grow them on account 
of the supposed trouble, I send a very simple method 
which I have practised for years. Sow the seeds in 
heat, about the middle of April; as soon as the seed¬ 
lings are up. remove them to a cooler place. When 
the seed leaves are well expanded, pot them singly 
into the pots you wish to bloom in. If large plants 
are required, put them into 12’s. Set them in a 
frame or pit, give but very little water until they 
begin to grow freely, then water plentifully, and give 
them manure-water twice a week. Shut up the pit or 
frame early, according to the day, with 90° of heat; 
water over head at sliutting-up time. Give abundance 
of air in the early part of every day. In six weeks 
from the potting they will be full-grown, and by the 
middle of July be in full bloom, as fine as any 
person may wish. I had some here last year that 
were admired by all that saw them. Some said they 
never saw finer, though they keep a thoroughly prac¬ 
tical gardener, and have pits and houses. No 
bottom-heat is required, or any artificial heat of any 
kind, only solar heat. I place mine on a lattice stage, 
fiat in a pit that I winter bedding-out tilings in.— 
Joseph Hunt, Gard&ner to W. D. C. Cooper, Esq., 
Feddington Manor, Beds. 
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. 
Planting out large Greenhouse Plants (A Flower Lover 
from Childhood ).—Vour plan of planting out these in summer, and 
repotting them for winter housing, cutting the roots round by de¬ 
grees, and watering as directed by Mr. Beaton, without cutting them 
down, is very feasible, and we will ask this master in floriculture, to 
write upon the subject early in May, before the time for trying the 
plan arrives. We cannot tell the name of your Mahonia or Berberis 
unless you send us a specimen in flower. 
Promoting the Decay of Dung [Inquirer). — .You have mixed 
vour dry littery stable manure with fresh pig manure, and wish to 
know if there is any method whereby you can make it fit for present 
use, especially for early celery? There is no better plan than that 
which you have adopted. Turn it over once a fortnight, mixing the 
dry well with the moist parts, and where any parts are particularly 
dry, throwing over them a little water, or, in preference, the house 
slops. When you require the manure, be not afraid to use it, though 
not fully decayed. Half decomposed dung is more economical and 
nearly as effectual as quite decayed. 
Arnott’s Stove for Conservatory (H. WincJcworth). —If you 
had consulted our indexes, you would have found that we deprecate, 
and the reasons why we deprecate, the introduction of any iron stove 
into a plant house. Under the circumstances of the best construction 
and management they give out or form gases injurious to the plants. 
A conservatory ten feet square, communicating with your drawing¬ 
room, is small; and we would recommend an ornamental tank or 
vase of some kind, that you could fill with boiling water when the 
temperature rendered it necessary. 
Cow-tree, Bread-fruit, and Yam (A Cottager).— This is the 
Gulactoden utile of Humboldt. It is a native of the jCaraccas, re¬ 
ceiving its names from producing a wholesome milky juice, given by 
the natives to their children. You can see a specimen growing in one 
of the hothouses at the Kew Gardens. At the same richly inhabited 
and excellently managed gardens you will also see the bread-fruit- 
tree, Artocarpus incisa. The Dioscorea sativa, or yam, is a tuberous- 
rooted plant, cultivated in the West Indies for its potato-like tubers. 
Not one of the three could be grown here in the open ground, for 
they are all natives of tropical climates. 
Flowers fop. Beds (A Subscriber). —It is too late now to plant 
anything in the flower beds that are to be planted with geraniums and 
verbenas, &c , in the summer, unless you had some of the hardy an¬ 
nuals sown last autumn, and some of them may yet be transplanted. 
We should as likely deceive you as not if we said what flower or 
colour ought to be used for a bed, or set of beds, unless we were on 
the spot; therefore, we decline all such answers. Watch what is, 
and what will be, said on bedding plants, and make your selections 
accordingly. For the rustic tub in the centre of your beds use, for a 
hanging-down plant, the common moneywort, Lysimuchia^nummv- 
laria. 
Mistletoe. —The seeds of this plant are now over for this season ; 
and we cannot supply any more of them now, 
Sprue [B. M. J .).—This is only the market name for the very 
small heads of asparagus. The end of March and early in April are 
good times for sowing salsify. 
Winter Aconite Seedlings (Flora). —These will be three or four 
years before they bloom, but much depends on the treatment. They 
are not worth the trouble and expense of rearing from seeds, as we 
can buy their flowering roots so much cheaper. 
White Forget-me-not (Ibid). —Can any reader tell our corres¬ 
pondent where to procure this variety? “ She has been unsuccessful 
in her attempts to find it.” 
Cyclamen Planting (Ibid). —All the cyclamens must be planted 
“ in the soil,” not on it. If your C. coum is for a pot, plant the root 
or tuber so that the crown of it is just level with the surface of the soil. 
Erratum.. —In p. 323, col. 1,{line 41 from top, insert none for some. 
Striking Verbenas and Petunias Under Bell-glasses (C. 
M .).—If the bell-glasses are conical-shaped, which we consider the 
best, little wiping off of the damp collected will be necessary, as it 
will run down the sides of the glass, without dropping on, and thus 
causing the cuttings to damp. If the glasses are flat-headed, wiping 
may be necessary at times ; but we should think that before this meets 
your eye they will be altogether unnecessary'. If not, we would 
advise you to take them off altogether, or partly at night, and put 
them on in the morning. The reasons for this we must defer. You 
may consider yourself fortunate in possessing bell-glasses for such 
things. If, as you say, you have otherwise followed the instructions 
in The Cottage Gardener, we expect the cuttings, before you see 
this, will be almost lifting up the glasses, as so many nightcaps which 
they can do without. 
Greenhouse (J. G. P. Evert on). —This is not heated, and the 
sun does not reach it until April. With the assistance of a pit, the 
common run of greenhouse plants would fewer nicely in such a house 
all the summer. Half-hardy creepers, such as Passiflora coerulea, 
Coboea scandens, Eccremocarpus scaber, &c., would also flourish, even 
if partly cut down in winter. Mosses and ferns, of which you are 
fond, would also do, a list of which you will find in the preceding 
volume, and, if not quite to your mind, we are quite sure that our 
friend, Mr. Appleby, would farther oblige you. Ferns do not have 
what is commonly called seeds ; but you may propagate them by 
sowing the spore dust, which you can collect from the back and the 
sides of the leaves. Scatter the spores on fine, or even lumpy soil, 
and then set the pots or boxes in a warm, moist, shady situation, 
where you can dispense with watering on the surface. 
Fuchsia Fulgens (Flora). —The flowers dropping is the conse¬ 
quence not so much of setting the plant in the dining-room, though 
a more airy part would suit it better, as of the recent shifting it 
has received. When the roots begin to fill the fresh soil, the dropping 
will cease. 
Mandevilla Suaveolens (E. L. T.). —We think that the plan 
recommended at page 303 is, at least, worth a trial. It is a pity you 
cannot heat your greenhouse, for then there would be no diffiiculty. 
At present, we suppose you have not much in this house in winter ; 
and there, too, we would give it a fair trial. Thus :—procure a strong 
plant, such as recommended by Mr. Fish lately, when treating on 
conservatory climbers ; turn it out into good compost, against a pillar 
in the middle of the house, in the month of May or June ; encourage 
it to grow until the end of August; let the soil then become dry, 
and use every means to harden the wood. Cover the soil at the 
approach of winter with dry moss ; stick some of it all along the 
stems of your plant, and tie all up in a neat wrapper of calico, and 
do not uncover until the middle of March, and we think you will be 
rewarded. 
Gum Cistus (Ibid). —If you keep them in the pots, they should 
have another shift into a size larger. 
Kalmia (Idem). —Would you send a leaf? We cannot see what 
is the matter ; unless they have had bad soil, and improper water. 
Tree-Violets (Idem). —This does not tree naturally; the kind 
has been advertised in our columns; we must not recommend dealers. 
Pines in Vinery (R. C.). —You can ripen pines tolerably well 
in a tan pit, in the centre of your vinery, if you confine your vines 
to the rafter. They can be bought of almost any respectable nursery- 
