February LG. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
301 
| which is sufficient for a house for us; it will have one roof to train 
the plants to. I intend having a short back roof, 2 ft. 6 in. wide, the 
two ends bricked to the roof. I intend the boiler to be at the east end, 
i and the door at the other. My enquiry is, will the top pipes running in 
the chamber from one end to the other be sufficient to heat the house 
for Cucumbers during winter; and what will be the expense of the boiler, 
i and the sized boiler required, and pipes; also, where they can be ob¬ 
tained ; also the lights ; it fronts the south; and is it best to have the 
two pipes in the chamber ? I was thinking of having a flue along the 
back of the house, but only for occasional use.” Two pipes in such a 
chamber will be quite sufficient to heat such a house, provided you have 
openings in the sides of the chamber to allow heat to get into the atmo¬ 
sphere of the house when necessary. It will also be necessary, in the 
case of Cucumbers and Melons, to have troughs fixed on such pipes, as 
| mentioned in the plan, No. 259, p. 456; or, if you wish to avoid that 
extra expense, the pipes should be surrounded with rubble, rough gravel, 
and then, by pouring water amongst that rubble, you may have moist heat 
at command. By thus covering your pipes, you may also dispense with 
! the expense of a slate covering over the chamber. From nine to twelve 
inches of rough, hard stuff over the pipes will be sufficient. If with only 
two pipes, they will require to be four-inch ones. These will be quite 
sufficient, if you carry your flue through the back wall, as that will give 
you a dry heat. If you did not have the flue, and yet wanted fruit all 
winter, you would be safer with two three-inch pipes for bottom-heat, 
and two for top-heat. You would see the mode of doing .this the other 
week. The expense of pipes and boilers was given last year ; that will 
greatly depend upon the distance; the smallest boiler, costing about 
j£2 10s., would be sufficient. Lights will depend on the glass ; about Is. 
per foot would be a fair price; but you would see advertisements. Alto¬ 
gether, if not objected to, we would have pipes for top, and others for 
bottom-heat, to turn off and on at pleasure. We have no doubt, how¬ 
ever, that the plan in No. 259 will answer admirably; but your house 
with the hipped roof will be much larger in proportion for your two 
pipes than that house is with four; the heating power would be as two 
to four ; the space to be heated more than two to three. If expense is no 
object, you cannot keep too close to the mode in No. 259* 
Scale on Fruit-trees (Ibid).— We have tried water almost boiling 
for this, and also a mixture of oil and grease, but both, though killing 
tae scale, injured the trees. We have seen a mixture of lime, soot, and 
clay, tried with good effect. The insects were smothered, and the mixture 
dropt off before the bark was injured. 
Indian-rubber Plant—Ficus elasticus (Peckhain).— We fear 
your plant has been kept too cold, and, perhaps, in these circumstances, 
too wet. Try a sharp knife, and make an incision in a fair-sized shoot. 
If no white juice comes, you may almost despair; if that exudes, keep 
the plant in the warmest part of the greenhouse, if you have no better 
place; sponge the shoots on a sunny day, but give very little water to 
the roots until the buds begin to swell. Let the water used for syring¬ 
ing, and also for watering the roots, be warm, say 7b° to 80°. It ought 
to be all right if you gave it from 50° to 6o° during winter. Most likely 
the frost has had access. If there is healthy juice in it, it will break 
again. We require an address from writers and critics; but enquiries 
may, or may not be so accompanied. 
Hen-featiiered Silver-pencilled Hamburgh Cock. E . A. 
asks—“ Whether a Hen-feathered Silver-pencilled Hamburgh Cock is an 
acknowledged variety ? ” If by “ variety ” is meant any permanence 
of this peculiar feature in the progeny, the answer must be in the ne¬ 
gative. Such birds are occasionally seen, but we cannot conceive how 
they could be thought desirable in the Pencilled Hamburghs, although 
the more perfect development of the spangle usually consequent on 
this peculiarity might be regarded as some compensation in a spangled 
pen, for the absence of the very characteristic sickle tail that distin¬ 
guishes the Hamburgh family.—W. 
Tree Carnations (Mary).— You will be quite right to take shoots 
off your tree Carnation, for cuttings, early in the spring ; and where you 
take them from leave only one or two joints from the old centre, so that 
the next growth may come without being on long legs ; half the Car¬ 
nation trees are soon spoiled for want of pruning in time. Whether the 
shoots so cut at the beginning of March will make new shoots so strong 
as to flower next summer is another question. If the tree is in very good 
health, is strong, and has good roots, these new shoots will be sure to 
flower after the middle of July. 
Turf Country (Ibid). —How lucky you are to have turf instead of 
coal, if your turf is that kind of hard, black peat, which they cut in the 
form of bricks. When that kind of earth is tried in a loose heap, and 
some of it is run through a rough sieve, and kept dry in a shed, it is the 
best thing in this world to keep other things from rotting or moulding, 
and, therefore, the best thing to plunge pot plants in, either in a pit or 
frame; a little water will not hurt it much, but the drier it is kept the 
better. The keeping qualities of your stock of Pelargoniums is as 
follows:—1. Punch; 2. Compactum; 3. Commander-in-Chief; 4. 
Cerise; 5. Tom Thumb ; 6. Unique; 7- White Ivy-leaf; 8. Mangle’s 
Variegated ; and 9- Golden Chain ; all except 9 will do in a dry, cold pit, 
without any fire heat, and 9 is a sociable kitchen-window plant, hot 
\ and dry;—make cuttings of every bit of it as soon now as your bed is 
I ready. 
Flower-garden (Rev. E. H. C.).— Your geometric garden is ex¬ 
ceedingly well planted. When we saw No. 1 to be with Delphinum* 
sinense , we handed the letter to a lady who happened to be in the room, 
and read off the colours of all your beds from the plan itself, and we only 
missed in No. 11.—No. 10 requires to be mixed , to agree with 11, 
and also not to disagree with 13, the planting would then be perfect, 
! according to the prevailing taste. If we were quite sure of the boundary 
line, and how the walks to and from 8 and 9 terminate, we would 
engrave this plan for the sake of the planting. 
Feeding Bees (A Tyro). —Go on to supply barley-sugar until your 
bees refuse to eat it, which will, in all probability, be in April. If No. 2 
has a good supply of barley-sugar always in store, say three or four sticks, 
; at least, there is very little cause to fear of their being carried through the 
winter, and making a good stock for next year, but all depends upon their 
having food and their taking it. Buy Payne 1 s Bee-Keeper’s Guide. 
Cucumbers (IF. IF.)—These, not ripening their fruit in your green¬ 
house last summer, were probably supplied with something wrong at 
the root; either the soil or the watering were deficient. It is impossible i 
to say, positively, where the error was unless we knew what you did. 
Devon and Cornwall Poultry Snow.—B. J. Ford, Esq., of 
Ide, near Exeter, took a first prize for Partridge-coloured Shanghaes, ; 
and not a second, as stated in our report. 
Golden-pencilled Hamburghs (An Anxious Enquirer). —Your | 
hens not laying this year, though so prolific last year, indicates that they j 
are probably too fat. Give them less nutritive food for a few weeks. 
Siiangiiaes not laying ( Darlington ).—Your pullets are certainly 
too well fed. Stint them to a quarter-of-a-pint of barleymeal and bran 
mixed, and a quarter-of-a-pint of wheat or barley a-liead per day. The j 
symptoms you mention, at present are those of a severe cold. Give the 
invalids a desert spoonful of castor oil, and keep them in a dry, sheltered | 
slie.l for a few days. 
Cayenne Pepper in Pods ( T.H. ).—Either the foreign or the 
English will do for Poultry. Such stimulants arc never given to our ! 
fowls. 1 
Emigration. — H. C. says— “A party, anxious to emigrate to Australia 
as an agricultunst, wishes to know what seeds he should take, both 
agricultural and horticultural? Which part of the country is best adapted 
for agricultural pursuits? What breeds of Cattle, Poultry, and Sheep 
would be best to take? (Query—Should any be taken; or purchased 
when there ?) How is ground obtained there, by purchase ? or are there 
parts free to all who like to clear the land and cultivate it ? What kind 
of field and garden implements should be taken? What books might be 
read with advantage on the subject ? ” 
Invalid Fowls (M.). —We can only suggest that they need more 
nourishing food, such as wheat and Indian-meal; but it is quite impos¬ 
sible for us to give an opinion without knowing how or where they 
are kept. 
Orchid Culture (IF.IF.).—We do not know whether Mr. Appleby 
intends to make arrangements for publishing these in a separate form. 
Eggs from late Pullets (S. T.).—We should have no objection to 
rear chickens from eggs laid by pullets hatched last May^ especially as 
they weigh nearly 6lbs. each. Wc never sit a hen after the beginning of 
June, nor earlier than the middle of February. 
Plaister for wounded Plants (H. H., Jim.).—The cut surfaces 
of Rose-Stocks, and similar wounds, do not require any other covering 
than a little thick paint. Pressure is injurious to such wounds. 
Awning for Roses (J. F. T.). —Your friend's Roses in America, 
which were scorched up last summer, though grown “under the shade 
of trees,” probably suffered on account of being so situated. The 
weather for Roses can scarcely be too hot in this country, if the soil is 
rich and well supplied with moisture. The roots of the trees beneath 
which they were grown probably robbed the Roses of the nutriment 
which would have enabled them to withstand the heat. An awning 
would prolong the duration of the bloom, but manure, and water to the 
roots, would best carry them through great drought. The seeds you 
mention may be obtained in England as good as in France. 
Iodine for the Potato Disease (M. S.). —We know nothing upon 
this subject. There is some iodine in all Sea-weed. The grass beneath 
the Cedars dies from want of light. 
Spanish Cockerel (A. B. C.).— Write to Capt. Hornby, Knowslcy 
Cottage, Prescot, Lancashire. 
Sudden Death of Poultry (IF. E.). —The cock forwarded to Mr. 
Tegetmeier having been sent to Tottenham, did not reach him. The 
bird, doubtless, died of apoplexy ; a description of the symptoms, and 
treatment of which, will be found in the present number. 
3Kbfrtt£cmrnt3. 
SEEDS DIRECT FROM THE GROWERS, 
(Carriage Free) the most effectual means to prevent disappointment. 
Sutton’s Catalogue for 1854 is just published, and will be sent 
post-free, on receipt of one postage stamp. 
JOHN SUTTON & SONS, Seed Growers, Reading, Berks. 
IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS LANDS. 
SUTTON’S RENOVATING GRASS SEEDS FOR 
IMPROVING OLD PASTURES.—Many Old Upland Pastures, Parks, 
and Meadows, are nearly destitute of Clovers and the finer and more 
nutritious sorts of Grasses, in which case we are in the practice of j 
furnishing such sorts only as are wanting. If the Seeds are sown early 
in the season , the improvement in the Pasture will be very considerable, 
and at a small expense. 
The following is similar to many other letters received from former 
purchasers :— 
From D. T. Cunynghnme , Esq., Wellesbourne , Warwick, Nov. 1852. 
“ The meadows that were renovated with your Seeds are looking 
very well. I cut nearly 2 tons of hay to the acre, and three years ago 
the same land hardly produced half-a-ton per acre. The Garden 
Seeds I have had from you exceed by far any that I have bought else¬ 
where.” 
Quantity of Seed required , 8 lbs. to 12 lbs. per acre. Price Is. per lb., 
Carriage Free. 
Address, JOHN SUTTON & SONS, Seed Growers, Reading, Berks. 
N.B.—We have a very fine Stock of Mangold Wurtzel and Carrot 
Seed, and other Agricultural Seeds. 
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.—February l6th, 1854. 
