THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 10. 
112 
Rough Plan of Garden ( E. C.).—Y on cannot possibly improve 
this plan, nor mar it by any alterations, short of levelling it all over and 
beginning: afresh. It is like the highlandman’s gun, it wants a new 
stock, a new lock, and a new barrel. The key-note is already in your 
hands. From the entrance, 16, and to “the way to the kitchen-garden,” 
)7, is as straight as an arrow; the boundary-line on the left, going along 
that way, is also straight. The walks at both ends, and along the two 
sides, are also straight, then the space these walks inclose or include is 
perfectly regular, although one end of it is wider than the other. Now, 
there is not a man on earth who can lay down irregular beds, or figures, 
on this piece of grass, without some of them at least being out of 
place. There is not one of the present beds in the right place, 
for this reason—there is not a place for any of them. We would not do 
away with the walk across the end from the entrance, by any means, nor 
the border on the right going to the kitchen-garden, as that border, no 
doubt, was intended for evergreens, or some tall things to hide the 
flower-garden, provided the flower-garden remains as at present; but if 
the flower-garden were to be levelled, and laid out in the geometric way, 
that border ought to form a part, and then the grass to reach the side of 
the walk to the kitchen-garden. You will soon see plans that are suitable 
for your situation, with a little altering; and ve shall point to the kind 
of beds that ought to make your corner figures (always the most difficult 
to manage well), and also those along your walks. All round the centre 
you will have no difficulty about. 
Deutzias and Weigela ( Subscriber ).—The best way with young 
plants of Deutzia scabra and gracilis, and also of Weigela rosea, is not 
to prune them at all for the first four or five years. By that means they 
will be stronger and bigger. After that, they should be pruned like 
gooseberries and black currants—that is, getting rid of as much old wood 
as you can, and leaving the young to flower and make flowering wood ; 
in two words, remove the old and spare the young wood every time 
you prune them; but then, you are not on that account to cut away 
more old wood than will keep the bushes moderately thin. A young 
shoot, here and there, that is longer than the rest, or out of shape, is to 
be cut-in for keeping the bush uniform in shape. Crown Imperials want 
good garden soil; on “burning gravel” it is useless to expect flowers 
from them. 
Lawn-tref.s {S. T.).— Picea Webbiana, Araucaria imhricata, Cu- 
pressus macrocarp a (your Lumbcrtianu ), and Cuprcssus torrolosa will 
not be out of place, nor yet too high, on a narrow lawn, in ten or twelve 
years ; but in thirty years they may be too close together, and too near 
the house. Juniperus sinensis is just in the right place, and so are the 
others for the time you specify. 
Peaches and Vines in a Greenhouse {II. B. and others).— See 
an article to-day by Mr. Fish. 
Height of Front of Greenhouse (H. B.).— If your wall-plate is 
six inches in depth, five feet nine inches will do, and even without that, 
I if a six-foot man does not require to go close to the front in walking. 
Hartley’s Patent Rough Plate Glass {Ibid.). —This will super- 
' sede a blind for all such houses. In our own practice, we have not proved 
1 it for very early forcing ; but first-rate gardeners commend it even for 
I this. 
I Bedding-plants in Frames {Tyro). —Give air back and front in 
moist rainy days, when the temperature is above 36° ; but do not let the 
1 rain get among them. In dense fogs the lights will be better shut. 
Daisies on Lawns {Ibid.). —Unfortunately, we know of no better 
I plan than picking them out, and that may be done now as well as in 
spring. A little white Dutch clover might be sown in spring. Many of 
our lawns get crammed, owing to a false economy in not mowing early 
and regularly; the seeds are soon perfected. 
American Aloe Keeping (A Subscriber). —This will do very well in 
i the hall, if the Arnott’s stove does not raise the temperature above 50°. 
If it raised the heat much above that, it ought to stand near a window ; 
and if not suitable to give it light, you will keep it better in the stable, 
j at the farthest corner from the horse, allowing it to be dry ; covering it 
with a cloth and hay in bad cold weather; and, now and then, when 
l the weather was fine and mild, setting it out-of-doors for a few years. 
| If, however, you have treated it, as recommended, some time ago, by Mr. 
I Fish, for Cactus, and have had it full in the sun, and allowed to get dry, 
it will keep very well in any dry, cool place, provided frost is excluded, 
If the soil is wet now, you might keep it in the hall until it was dry, 
and then move it to the stable. 
I 
Greenhouse Vinery Roof without Rafters {Clericus). —Where 
( to introduce, and how to support Vines there? We do not see whether 
your squares arc to be twenty-one inches in width or in length. If plants 
are to be at all an object, your Vine-stems should be four feet from each 
other. ByreadingMr. Fish’s article to-day you will perceive, that if placed 
so close as two feet eight inches, or three feet, you will be able to grow 
nothing beneath them when the vines are in foliage. In training, wc cannot 
fancy anything better than small rods of iron, or stout wire, fastened to 
the wall-plate in front and behind, tied to the supportin ; pieces of iron 
of which you speak, and still further supported by wire suspenders, 
fastened in drilled holes in the sash bar. 
How Heat or how Use a five-light Pit {E. H. Hampstead). 
—See some articles by Mr. Fish lately. A hot-water pipe would cost 
from yd. to Is. per foot, according to its size of three or four inches, and 
that independent of carriage and fixing. A flue would do well enough 
for Melons and Cucumbers, if securely constructed, and you could give 
moisture enough; but pipes, or a tank, would be better. In some dis¬ 
tricts, a small wooden tank, some four inches deep, two-and-a-half feet 
or three feet wide, divided in the middle, unless at the ends, and covered 
! with slate, communicating with a small boiler, would be the cheapest and 
| most appropriate for Cucumbers. If you have plenty of manure there is 
no occasion to arch the back ; if a good deep ditch-like lining is formed, 
and plenty of manure in a fresh state placed back and front, it will give 
heat enough, with plenty of labour. Failing that, we would keep Melons 
and Cucumbers to frames, where you can line and keep the pit as you 
propose, as a cold pit, in which to keep bedding plants, and hardier 
greenhouse plants in winter, and all kinds of plants during summer, 
j according to the air you give them. 
Mode of making Vine-borders and Planting three Vineries 
{P . Marriut , Tring , Herts .).—By referring to the correspondents’ column 
of last week, you will see a mode of making Vine-borders similar to your 
own ; only, that it is not proposed to sweeten the loam by decomposition 
so much, nor yet to have the loam so strong ; calcareous matter is also 
recommended, and bruised bones, in preference to so much rotten dung, 
the bones containing nourishment much longer, and giving it out slowly. 
We greatly approve of your mode of planting, as there is nothing like a 
good start. We also approve of the selection for the three houses, with 
the exception of the first; for, unless you are quite certain, from previous 
experience, and your planting inside, that the Joslin’s St. Albans will 
not split in company with the Hamburghs and Sweet Waters, we would 
discard it altogether, and substitute a Muscadine and a Frontignac—the 
latter almost as good as Joslin’s, and free from the splitting evil. 
Pears {{J. Y., Dublin). —Why did you not state if your pyramidal 
Pears are on Quince Stocks or not ? Pray write again, and we will file 
your first letter. 
Cutting-down old Fruit-trees {E. M. t Aberystwith). — We 
never knew Damsons of that uge (and twenty feet high) cut back, and we 
should much doubt success. Apples, if in health, are frequently thus 
handled, and sometimes very successfully. 
Beak of Silver-spangled Hamburgh {Amateur). —“Isitabso- 
lutely necessary for a Silver-spangled Hamburgh cock to have a white 
beak? or would one having a blue beak (similar colour to his legs) 
be considered an imperfect bird ?”—There are few Silver-spangled Ham- 
burghs where a blue tinge is not visible on the bill, especially at its 
extremity; but this would not be considered as a cause for disqua¬ 
lification.—W. 
Mulberry Leaves changing tiif.ir Shape.— A Constant Reader 
says—“ A friend of mine has a Mulberry-tree trained against a wall, over 
which it extends about forty feet. A few j ears since, the leaves in the 
centre of the tree, near the root, began to change their form, and this 
change of shape in the leaf has been every year gradually extending 
itself over the whole tree. Upon the same branch even the variation in 
the foliage is to be seen. I enclose some of the leaves for your inspec¬ 
tion, and shall feel obliged by your informing me the cause.” We never 
saw such a change before, but we do not think it unaccountable. The 
usual shape of the leaves we know is that of a pointed heart; but the 
change here is to a deeply-cut three-lobed form. Now, there is a variety 
growing in Sicily with leaves very much of this form, at all events they are 
palmate, therefore, this form is net quite a stranger to the Mulberry. 
But the true cause of this gradual change of shape, we think, is the 
gradual decrease in the fertility of the soil. It is very common to find 
the indentations in the leaves of plants increase with the poverty of the 
soil on which they are growing. Horse-radish, on a rich soil, has nearly 
smooth-edged, broad leaves, but, on a very poor soil, they become pecti¬ 
nated, that is, divided, like the teeth of a comb. If the soil, to a distance 
of three yards all round the Mulberry-tree’s stem, is well-manured, we 
think the change of shape in the leaves will be stayed after a year or two. 
Meteorology {E. II.). —Some of your suggestions are good, but we 
shall never venture to predict the weather. 
Fatting Cochin Chickens {R. B .).—Barley meal, wheat, and India 
meal, mixed with milk, fats them the most quickly. They are of too 
quiet habits to require shutting up. They should have a free access to 
gravel and water. 
Early Potatoes {Birkenhead ).—'The earliest variety is Vac Walnut- 
leaved Kidney; it is very different from the Ash-leaved Kidney, though 
this name is sometimes applied to it. The Walnut-leaved is not a large 
bearer ; the tubers grow in a cluster round the base of the stem. The 
Julys follow them in being ripe, and are best for the main crop. 
Lovel SiiANGnAES.— An old Subscriber, H. H., will probably obtain 
what he requires of Mrs. Somers Smith, Parsonage, Little Bentley, near 
Colchester. 
Weight of young Geese.— Mr. W. Trotter says “ Seeing that you 
state in your notices to correspondents, ‘ that a young, early-hatched 
Goose, of the Toulouse breed, having had good keep, should weigh 
fourteen pounds at Michaelmas, but the common, at the same age, would 
rarely be above eleven pounds ; I make free to inform you, that my Ganders 
of the common breed, hatched as late as April 20th, 1853, weigh within an 
ounce or two of seventeen-and-a-half pounds, without having had extra 
keep. Perhaps some others of your readers will state the weights and 
ages of their young stock.” 
, Pine-Apple (T. Jones). —The crown is formed of the leaves, and they 
are of the same use to them as are the leaves of all the plants in the 
same tribe. If the crown is proliferous, reduce it to one as soon as 
apparent. Bad cultivation causes an excess of crown, such as too little 
heat and deficient light. Small crowns are always preferred. 
White Forget-me-not.— A Parson’s Sister wishes for some, and 
would be greatly obliged if a former kind correspondent near Malvern 
could let her have some. 
Self-feeder (T. T .).—We never saw one. The Spanish Cockerel, 
with his tail on one side and white-feathered, will never be worth any¬ 
thing. It is quite impossible to prescribe for a lien’s difficulty in 
swallowing unless we knew the cause. 
Name of Plant (T. Wilson) —Pyrus aria, tlie White Beam Tree. 
We should say it is not an eligible plant to graft Pears upon, though 
it would probably take upon it as they aie of the same family. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, of Church Hill, Walthamstow, in the County of 
Essex, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of Christ 
Church, City of London.—November 10th, 1553. 
