December :fi). 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
215 
ALLOTMENT EARMING—JANUARY. 
The compliments of the season to our allotment ancl 
cottage, gardeners; may the new year afford them every 
chance of laying the foundation of prosperous cultivation; 
and may they enjoy the inestimable blessing of good health, 
to carry out their views. In casting our eyes on the past 
we shall find abundant cause to be exceedingly thankful; 
the Potatoe disease, which at one time threatened almost 
the entire destruction of this valuable root, has not been 
so bad as was anticipated; and although harvesting was, 
in the main, carried out under very untoward circum¬ 
stances, yet we have enjoyed, what I must term, a cheap 
loaf, as compared with some of the prices in by-gone days. 
Let those who cannot duly estimate the latter blessing just 
be reminded, that in the year 1790 the four pound loaf was 
about two shillings ! What would folks say in these times to 
sixpence a pound for bread? Thanks to God, all seas are 
now covered with the trading vessels of Britain, and were it 
not for that dreadful scourge of humanity, warfare, it would 
be all but impossible that famine could again be known; 
for we have never known harvests to fail in the same year 
all over the world. 
Let, then, working men consider these blessings, take fresh 
heart, and screw up their courage anew, to meet the require¬ 
ments of the rising spring. 
I hope that my former advices concerning the improve¬ 
ment of the soil have been, at least, in part, carried out; 
and let me impress on my friends, the small gardeners or 
farmers—whom I feel very desirous of advising in a practical 
and profitable way—the propriety (let us say the necessity) 
of not losing a chance during this month of persevering in 
such a course. Some of our readers may, perhaps, he 
necessitated to lose a little time, by chance, at their regular 
calling; let it not, however, be lost time in reality; let it 
record double duty. A willing man who feels areal interest 
in his own plot, and whose mind occasionally glows with the 
anticipation of manufacturing a fat hog or two annually, 
and of seeing his children with ruddy and contented faces 
—such an one, I say, armed with a good spade, and with a 
fork, and wheelbarrow at his elbow, will do much, even in a 
few hours, if the weather will favour his operations. 
Over-hours, this month, are entirely out of the question; 
and sooner than omit real improvements, or postpone them 
until spring has arrived, let me advise that a day he occa¬ 
sionally solicited from regular employ. February, let it be 
: remembered, is already, as it were, appearing plain in the 
foreground of time’s picture, and being notorious for weep¬ 
ing propensities, let our friends bear in mind the utility of look- 
j ing well to gutters, drains, or other water-courses. I should 
hope, that where a regular allotment system is established 
of any consequence, that the founders have so managed 
matters, as that what we will call a “main” has been provided; 
that is to say, one outlet common to every secondary drain 
or gutter which after-experience may introduce. If such 
main exist, of course it will be ever necessary to see that 
no obstructions occur, no mud, coarse herbage, or other 
matter, be allowed to obstruct the passage of water. 
I have before alluded to the charring of weeds, &e., and 
the gathering of soot as manure. The young crops must 
be pushed forward at railway speed when once above 
ground, for it is not he who sows or plants earliest, but he 
who, when he does so, makes a plant in the least time, that 
will command the greater share of success. The soot well 
husbanded may be put in any corner where rain cannot 
reach it, and as I have before advised, so I repeat, that a 
little guano should be added to it, and this needs nothing more 
to make it a compost (or what we call priming), but a few 
barrowfuls of old, dry, and mellowed dung, or rich soil, 
which will divide the atoms of guano and soot; such a 
mixture will force almost any young vegetable forward in 
an ustonishing degree, and this is the best way to escape 
grubs, the fly, &c. 
Our great Turnip-growers know all this ; and it applies to 
almost all our crops as well as Turnips. 
After preparing the soil, as thus advised, for the coming 
spring, in the next place, let me advise, once more, that our 
friends make up their minds to their course of cropping. 
This done, let them look well to their manure-heap, and see 
if anything can be done for it, I have so often said that 
ordinary manure-heaps should he turned in the autumn, 
and formed into two portions, that I need scarcely repeat 
the suggestion. 
The muck-heap of the ordinary cottager will show, at this 
period, two characters distinct enough to point to a couple 
of uses. The very coarsest, or recently made manure, 
should, in December or January, be separated, and the older 
residue turned by itself, and well mixed for peculiar purposes. 
As to cropping affairs, in January, little can be done. If 
the occupier desire to have some early Peas or Beans, let 
him sow some Prince Albert Peas and Marshall's Prolific 
Beans, as early in the month as the weather will let him. 
If he wants early Radishes, he may sow an ounce of Wood's 
Early Frame at the same time. At the end of the month 
he may sow a bed of early Horn Carrots, in a warm corner, 
and, indeed, the Radishes may be sprinkled amongst them, 
to save labour. The Rhubarb, for early work, should have 
been covered in the beginning of November, on the prin¬ 
ciple of keeping in the ground-heat; if not done then, let 
the cultivator watch a mild period and do the thing now. 
If there be any Lettuce or other matter intended to be 
early in spring, they will he safer with some protection in 
hard weather; and even “ pricked-out ” Cabbage plants will 
amply repay for a little loose litter scattered over them 
occasionally in severe weather. 
Having little more advice to give, I must now put in 
practice the advice once given by a sage adviser to great 
talkers and great writers, “ to be sure to leave oft’ when 
they had done.” R. Errington. 
WHITE COMB. 
Having lately had a very bad case of this complaint in a 
Cochin cockerel, I endeavoured to procure some cocoa-nut 
oil to dress it with, according to the recommendation in 
The Cottage Gardener, but being unable to procure it, 
I I determined to try an ointment known at the druggists as 
! “ citrine ointment,” into which I had a little turmeric and 
olive oil introduced; the latter, to make it more easy of 
application. I rubbed the comb and roots of the feathers 
near the same with this ointment, and repeated the same 
every three or four days. After applying it four times the 
bird was quite well of the complaint; and as the cure was 
[ so effectual, and the trouble and cost so trilling, I think it 
well worth making public.—“ One in the Ring.” 
APIARIAN'S CALENDAR.— January. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper's 
Guide,” Ac. 
The sun has again begun to climb, and with the length¬ 
ening and brightening days the apiarian must increase his 
diligence towards his little pets by attending carefully and 
- unceasingly to their wants, for as surely as they are neg¬ 
lected, if only for a day, their ruin will follow; for of all 
seasons, during the. present century’, this may certainly be 
pronounced the worst, and without the greatest attention 
being given, utter ruin to every stock must follow, lor 
scarcely one in a hundred has been able to store sufficient 
food to carry them through the winter; and where the popu¬ 
lation is low (which is the case, I fear, in many stocks), it 
is a doubtful matter if even with the most careful feeding 
they can be made to survive the winter. 
Hives.—S hould any of the readers of The Cottage 
Gardener wish to be supplied with hives from my maker, 
let the order be given early, for it will save delay and incon¬ 
venience, as well as give him employment during the winter 
months, for his infirmities prevent his engaging in any 
other occupation at that season. 
Floor-boards. —The necessity of cleaning floor-boards, 
shutting-up the hives when snow is on the ground, watching 
against birds, Ac., has already been fully insisted upon. 
Food. —When the hives are very weak, that is, having 
only two or three pounds of honey in store, I would recom¬ 
mend a few pounds of syrup being given as before directed, 
viz., one pound of loaf-sugar, one-quarter-pint of water, 
