330 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 2G. 
up, and the chicken, in a very large proportion of cases, will 
live anil do well. 
Croup, or inflammation of the windpipe, generally attacks 
full-grown fowls, and is distinguished from gapes in that the 
beak is constantly kept open, while the breathing is harsh and 
stridulous; this being evidently an inflammatory affection 
is treated successfully with Tartar Emetic and warmth, and 
would be manifestly injured by the application of turpentine, 
so useful in curing “ gapes.” 
It will be seen, at once, that many of the foregoing 
symptoms are extracted from the excellent and practical 
letter of Mr. Tegetmeier, in a late number, and who is so 
good an authority that I believe I may assume them as 
facts; I have endeavoured to shew how muck they prove, 
and, that they are of enormous importance, I am sure will 
be felt by all owners of the valuable breeds of poultry. 
I should think the general remarks of Mr. Tegetmeier, 
together with the undisputed matter in evidence, has put the 
matter of “gapes,” quietly to rest: we are tolerably good 
practitioners in the disease, considering wo had not much 
guidance from the lamp of science; indeed, the only 
point which remains is of quite minor importance, though it 
is of some interest; How do these parasitic creatures get in 
such quantities into the windpipes of such young chickens ? 
So young as to be only a few days old! I can easily 
understand parasites hatched from ova, but in the case of 
the chickens there would be no time for this; and it is 
difficult to imagine the ova as present in the chicken before 
it makes its exit from the egg.— John Anthony, Washwood, 
near Birmingham. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writersof 
Tun Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London.” 
Greenhouse and Melon-pit (Rev. J. S. L.). —You wish to heat 
both by one fire. The greenhouse is 13 feet by 11 feet inches, the 
melon-pit is 6 feet from it in front, and 13 feet by 6 inside measure; 
an open tank has been made of brick and cement, and top-heat, as well 
as bottom-heat, is required. The first thing, then, to do, is to fix the 
site of the stock-hole, which should be between the house and pit, or at 
the end of the latter. In either case, it must be sunk enough to allow 
the top of the boiler to be lower, six inches or so, than the bottom of 
your tank. Then, if your stock-hole was between the two, you might 
have a T piece for a flow and return, taking one into the greenhouse, and 
the other into the melon-pit, and both in nearly the same level; but, in 
the latter, it should terminate in a small cistern, to which the flow-pipe 
for top-heat, and the one for bottom-heat, should be attached, and 
supplied with plugs or valves to take the heat off, or let it on, at pleasure. 
If your stock-hole was at the end of the melon-pit, it would be preferable 
to have the flow-pipe taken into an open cistern there, higher by a foot 
or two than your pipes for top-heat, and have three holes in that cistern 
for pipes being fastened to,—one for the greenhouse, one for top-heat in 
melon-pit, and one for bottom-heat ditto, so that you could stop and 
regulate the heat in either at discretion. Under such a supposition, you 
would require two four-inch pipes—a flow and return—round the front 
and part of the ends of your greenhouse, two three-inch pipes for top, 
and two for bottom, in your tank, for melons. In each of these cases, 
see that the flow-pipe rises a few inches to the farthest extremity from 
the boiler or cistern, and there fix a small open pipe, to be taken outside 
the building to allow the escape of air. If the bottom of your tank was 
no lower than you could put your pipes in the greenhouse, and you 
could depend on your tank holding water, then you might dispense with 
pipes altogether in your melon-pit, by running a division up the middle 
of your tank, except at the farther end, taking one end of your T piece 
into the tank, and the other into the greenhouse, and covering your tank 
with strong slate, and leaving part of that uncovered, so as to supply you 
with top-heat. We have seen such contrivances act admirably, but they 
are not to be depended on like separate pipes. Near the end of our 
second volume, you will find a most economical arrangement by means 
of a wooden tank, described and illustrated by Mr. Fish. You will per¬ 
ceive, that under this mode, were the pipes in the greenhouse higher than 
your tank they would empty themselves into it. Taking the water from 
the boiler at once to a cistern higher than the highest pipes, and then by 
means of plugs or valves letting it on where you wish, is the m,,st ma¬ 
nageable mode, and, perhaps, the cheapest in the end. You would see, 
by some articles of Mr. Fish, lately, that when pipes are used for bottom- 
heat, with plenty of rubble, tanks may be dispensed with ; but the latter, 
even with pipes, are useful for affording a moist bottom-heat. Any of 
the tradesmen who advertise in our columns would do your work well. 
Various (C. I. S. A.). —Your Coheea has very likely robbed your 
Mandevillu; they should have been planted in brick divisions. Do not 
mind the sickly look of the latter now; ours has long ago lost its foliage ; 
prune it rather close by-and-by. Your temperature, 40° at night, and a 
rise of 10° during the day, is all right. We are pleased the plants you 
name are so healthy,—a sure sign you know what you are doing. Do not 
fret about [the Habrothamnus fusciculatus, it is not worth room in the 
house ; it will repay your attention far better against a wall out-of-doors. 
H. elegans, if planted out against a pillar, is one of the prettiest things 
we know. We have a large plant just now one mass of bloom, and it 
has never been destitute of flowers for several years. 
Feeding Bees (Honey Bee).—Tin vessels for feeding bees are not at 
all injurious to them. If your bees are weak, that is, if they have less 
than seven pounds of honey in store, begin feeding immediately. Payne’s 
hives, &c., are to be obtained only through himself—his direction is 
“ Bury St. Edmund’s.” If your bees have nine or ten pounds of food 
in store, give barley sugar; if less, for a week or two, give honey and 
sugar, and then barley-sugar. 
Metropolitan Show.— F. Bernal, Esq., says—“I am writing to 
you on Monday evening. I received my fowls back from Birmingham 
Show on Sunday morning. At six, p.m. to-day, the two pens of Ptar¬ 
migans exhibited by me at Baker-street have not made their appear¬ 
ance ! This, I think you will agree with me, must arise from great care¬ 
lessness somewhere. Next week I will let you know where it has arisen, 
as at present I am not able positively to fix the blame on any one. I 
will also then, if you will give me space, tell you how to produce the 
so-called Andalusian Fowls, and bring forward “facts.” 
Diseased Ear of Rabbits.— To the inquiry, at p. 292, we have 
received these replies—“The disease which affects your correspondent’s 
(Asmit’s) Rabbits, is, I should suppose, by the description, what is 
termed, wax in the ear. I do not know the real cause of the disease, but 
the best remedy I ever tried, or heard of, is to remove the wax, or scurf, 
from the inside of the ear, and apply two or three drops of Sweet Oil 
dropped into the ear; and, if well attended to, I have no hesitation in 
saying a speedy cure may be effected. It may be as well, to add, that the 
symptoms of this disease approaching are continual shaking of the head ; 
and if taken in time may easily be cured. —Orix.” 
“I have frequently found Rabbits subject to the ear disease, but the 
cause I am quite ignorant of. I beg to inform Ascut , if he will occa¬ 
sionally examine the ears of his rabbits, and, on seeing the least symptom 
of the disease recurring, drop a little sweet oil and turpentine into them, 
all will be right. I once kept rabbits; and, at my first onset, w;as nearly 
discouraged by this rather noxious disorder, but an old fancier let me 
into the secret, and ever afterwards all went on well. I had no recipe as 
to proportion of oil and turpentine, but, at the commencement, I pro¬ 
cured a half-pint bottle, into which I put a rather large teaspoonful of 
turpentine, and then filled with sweet oil; this I kept always at hand. 
I object to picking, or in any way meddling with their ears more than is 
necessary to drop in the oil, taking care to always well shake the bottle 
before doing so. I believe the disease is infectious.—D. E.” 
Trellis with Evergreens ( Odemeretaw). —You want just the very 
same things which all great lovers of, and enthusiasts in, gardening want 
when they first begin— very choice, very good, very pretty evergreen 
plants and climbers, or “ pretty flowering evergreens,” but nature has 
never thought fit to indulge mortals in such extravagances ; and there are 
no such plants as you ask for, at least, not in temperate latitudes. Ever¬ 
green Roses would soon cover your„trellis, and soon after that they 
would be too much confined. We would plant a dozen kinds of the best 
hybrid perpetual Roses for a division fence, six feet high; and the index 
to the last volume will show when to look for them, and the best of the 
evergreen Roses as well. 
TEchmea FULGfcNS (Dan) .—Either your plant of this must have been 
very young when you had it, or you put it in a large pot too soon, and 
so prevented its flowering, for no plant flowers more Ireely when well 
used. Do not shift it this spring, but give it strong peat and moisture 
from March till the end of June, then less water and a drier place, and 
you will soon see it in beautiful bloom. 
Orchids (Ibid).— Ill-treated orchids are a long time coming round, 
but you have acted fairly by them since they came into your possession. 
Continue as you have begun, and trust to patience. 
Allamanda (Ibid). —All the Allamandas flower on the young wood 
made the same season, like the grape vine ; therefore, to keep them within 
bounds, and to get them to flower abundantly, they must be cut in very 
close at pruning time ; but, like vines, if you want them to cover a large 
space in a short time, you would not cut them in so close in pots. All 
the wood of last year may be cut down to one, two, or three buds from 
the old wood. 
Cape Bulb (So, Durham).—The leaves sent are those of some 
Babiana, and, we think, of Babiana plicata, with purplish little flowers 
in May. Your plant seems to have been potted early in September, or 
it lias been kept too warm, for it is as forward now as it generally is in 
the middle of March. These Babianas are among the smallest bulhs of 
the Ixia tribe; sandy peat is the best for them in pots, and all the heat 
they require is to keep the frost from them. Your plant will go to rest 
early in May, but it is doubtful if it will flower this season from May to 
the end of September. Keep it dry, and, after potting, keep it cool all 
through the winter; from six to ten of its little bulbs will grow very well 
in our 43-sized pot. 
Spanish Fowls. —Mr. Painter informs us, that his birds at the Me¬ 
tropolitan Show took the third prize for Spanish Chickens, his birds 
having, by mistake, been put into pen 48, which, as in the catalogue, had 
been assigned to Mr. Taylor. 
Food for Ducks (Orix).—' The following are our directions given in 
“The Poultry Book:”—We allow them, morning and evening, a liberal 
mess of steamed Roots, Carrots, Turnips, or Mangel Wurtzel, as the 
case may be, mixed up with bran and a little barley-meal. The refuse 
of the kitchen-garden is eagerly devoured, and, where grass is not obtain¬ 
able by them, must be regularly supplied to them. When feeding them 
for table, a portion of skim-milk with their meal forwards them very 
