402 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
March 24. 
Dipladenia crassinoda (Mould). —We have a perfect recollection 
of receiving your MS., but cannot find it anywhere. Please to let us 
have another cojiy. Why not let us have your direction ? for we often 
wish to communicate with our correspondents. We should write to you 
now if we knew how to address you. 
Birmingham Poultry Show (E. Lister). — We svmpathise with 
you most heartily, for we, at other shows, have suffered from similar 
mistakes. At the same time, we know that the committee last year used 
every effort to avoid such errors, and to get off the fowls to their owners 
without delay. We also know, from personal experience, the difficulties 
attending such efforts, and when losses, notwithstanding, have occurred, 
we have always replied to claimants for compensation,—“ No one regrets 
more than we do the loss you have sustained, but we did our best to 
avoid it, and you must remember the exhibition was for your advantage; 
we derive not a fraction of benefit.” If the Committees of Poultry Exhi¬ 
bitions were to be held responsible for all losses we do not know who 
j would be induced to accept office. 
Garden Mice (Goddess). — We have always found coal-ashes sifted 
very fine and put an inch thick, and four inches wide, over the rows of 
Peas and Beans, an effectual barrier against these marauders. We think 
the application would be equally conservative of Crocuses. 
Vi ne-siioots Bleeding (Amateur). — As they are small, try what 
twisting a piece of strong wire round the end will do, continuing the 
twisting until the sides of the sap-vessels are crushed together. As the 
bleeding is “not very great,” you need not be fearful of injury to the 
Vine’s fruitfulness. You need not be surprised that Collodion, Roman 
Cement, and Resin, all failed to stop the bleeding; for the force with 
which the sap of the Vine rises has been proved to be equal to support¬ 
ing a column of water thirty-six feet high, “ which force is nearly five 
times greater than the force of the blood in the great crural artery of a 
horse.”— Hale’s Staticlcs, i., 114. 
Capt. Snell’s Shanghaes.— “I have been informed an impression 
is abroad that I was an unsuccessful exhibitor at the late Metropolitan 
Poultry Show, and that my Buff Shanghaes were there beaten. Allow 
me to correct this error through the columns of your paper. My birds 
were not sent to the show in question, save one pen, forwarded for sale, 
after the Judges had made their awards. Instead of sending to the 
London Show (it lasted much too long), I sent my birds to Torquay, 
where they took the first prize, as they had (except second prizes on two 
occasions) previously done at every show in England at which they had 
; been exhibited.— W. H. Snell, St. Swithin’s Lane, London.’’ 
Melon and Cucumber Beds (A Constant Reader).— Saw-dust at 
the back and front of the Melon-frame will do no harm to the plants, 
neither will watering stable dung with manure-water previously to 
building a hotbed with it; but clear water would do as well for moisten¬ 
ing the dung, and the manure-water would benefit your Cabbages and 
Roses. 
Black Malays (M. F. G.).—Y our description seems to apply to the 
relative sexes of the Black variety of the Malay Fowl; the properties of 
which birds are in every respect identical with that of the species. The 
powers of flight, however, indicated by the readiness with which they 
surmount a nine-foot fence, are certainly in excess of what is usually 
seen in these birds. But without personal inspection we could not take 
upon ourselves to pronounce, in this instance, on the probability or 
otherwise of the existence of any cross with other breeds.—W. 
Sii ell-less and Imperfect Egos (C. J. S.).— No wonder that your 
Shanghaes lay such eggs ; but it is a wonder that half of the hens have 
j not died of paralysis. We never heard of such a poultry diet before : 
“ Being the proprietor of a boarding school, you have so many broken 
pieces that your fowls have scarcely any other food, such as rice, broken 
pieces of meat, &c.,—perhaps more bread than anything else.” Do not 
give the hens any physic, but discontinue all meat, and let them have 
nothing but the potatoes, rice, and bits of bread, mixed with an equal 
quantity of fine pollard. The best and cheapest work on Gardening is 
, The Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary. 
Spanish Fowl (T. F.). —You must not keep more than four hens 
and a cock in your very confined space. Your mode of dividing it will 
be useful. 
WniTE Dorking Hen (Moira).— It is impossible to advise you upon 
such scanty information. Your other communication will be noticed 
fully next week. 
Spanish Hen (W. Curtis) —A slight stain of blood upon the egg 
need cause no alarm. To prevent an increase, however, give her, at 
an interval of two days, two pills, each containing one grain of calomel 
and one-twelfth of a grain of tartar emetic. Keep her upon soft food 
also for a week. 
Camellias from Cuttings ( T. P.).— The double Camellias will 
not bloom well upon their own roots. They are grafted on stocks of the 
single Camellia. These stocks are raised from cuttings of. the nearly 
ripe new shoots, near the end of June. They readily strike in well- 
drained pots filled with sandy loam plunged in a cold frame. 
Travelled Eggs (A Regular Subscriber). — Eggs maybe scut hun¬ 
dreds of miles and produce chickens afterwards. We know of thirteen 
eggs which, after journeying 300 miles (from Winchester to [Kendal), 
produced last month nine chickens. They were in a strong box, two 
inches of bran at the bottom, then an inch layer of oats, on this the eggs 
were laid on their sides, covered an inch deep with oats, and then two 
inches deep of bran. 
Inducing Rooks to Build.— A Subscriber would be glad to know 
if there is any mode of inducing Rooks to build and settle in old trees. 
Putting old rooks’ nests in them has been vainly tried; the rooks came to 
them, but only to steal the sticks of which they were formed. 
Brahma Pootras (Linda). —They are nothing more, at the best, than 
Grey Shanghaes. Their eggs are not better, nor do they lay any more 
than other varieties of the Shanghaes (Cochin-China). The Buffs are 
certainly as good as any. The early pullets will begin laying in October, 
and continue to do so throughout the winter. 
Shanghaes running with Bantams. (Sebright).— Physical in¬ 
ability, from the extreme disproportion of size, is your only safeguard, 
Time for Sitting (Amicus Galli ).—We consider March, April, and 
early May, the best periods for sitting all kinds of poultry. The chickens 
then have the warmest period of the year to grow in. Your other ques- 
tions will be answered next week. 
Names of Plants (Sophia). —No. i is Pteris serrulata, or Various- ; 
leaved Brake. No. 2, Lycopodium helveticnm, or Swiss Club Moss. 
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.—March 23rd, 1854. 
SKbcrttsSnurntin. 
MR. WILKINS, residing at Bedford Cottage, 
I Walmer, Kent, within a short walk of the beach, receives a few little J 
j boys from seven to twelve years of age, to prepare for the public schools. ' 
i Terms, Seventy to One Hundred Guineas. 
Reference permitted to The Rev. Lord Wriothesley Russell, Chenies, 
Rickmansworth, and The Hon. and Rev. Douglas Gordon, the Rectory, 
Stanmore, Middlesex. 
HORTICULTURAL BUILDING and HEATING 
BY HOT WATER. 
| EDWARD and A. WEEKS, Park Cottage, King’s Road, Chelsea, 
j are now in a position to execute any of the above work in the very 
best manner, and at a reduced price. Materials and workmanship 
warranted of the best quality. Plans and estimates forwarded on 
application for the Building and Heating of all kinds of Horticultural 
Buildings; as also for the warming of Halls, Churches, Mansions, 
Public Buildings, Offices, &c. 
EDWARD and A. WEEKS, PARK COTTAGE, CHELSEA. 
SHRUBS, FRUIT, & FOREST TREES, SEEDS, 
&c.—Sycamore, Chestnut, and Walnut Trees, five feet high, 3 d each; 
Laurels, 2d each; Privet, Id each, four feet high; Red, White, and 
Black Currants, three feet high, 4d each; Ilex Oak, English Yew, 
i Cypress, variegated Holly, Gold and Silver leaf Euonymus, Arborvitse, 
Honeysuckles, Clematis, Virginian Creepers, Laburnum, Lilacs, Moss, 
and Running Roses, Berberis, Double-blossomed Furze, Cotoneaster, in j 
pots at 6 d each; Escallonia macrantha, Is each; Standard Roses, Is 1 
each ; Cedrus deodara, Is to 2 s each ; Ancuba japonica, Is each ; Flower- j 
ing Almond, 2 s 6 d each; Tulip Trees, 2 s each; Crvptomeria japonica, ! 
3s each; Box-edging, 4 d per yard, Every other shrub, flower, or tree, I 
at equally low prices. At W. CULLINGFORD’S, 1 , Edmund Terrace, 
Ball’s-pond-road, Islington, London. 
_ Flower and Vegetable Seeds of every kind, 
BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS.—50 Varieties of Elower 
Seeds, 6 d per ounce. 30 varieties of beautiful sorts, Is per ounce. 
50 varieties in half-quarter ounce packets, 4s per ounce. 30 varieties in 
packets, 3s per ounce. 
Any kind, in Id and 2 d packets sent free by post upon receipt of a 
stamped directed envelope. Vegetable Seeds of all kinds, Shrubs, 
Flowers, &c., at Mr. CULLINGFORD’S, 1 , Edmund Terrace, Ball’s- 
pond-road, Islington, London. 
GIDNEY’S PRUSSIAN HOE.-No Lady or Gentle- 
man having a garden ought to be without one of these useful garden 
tools. Price Is 6 d, handled. To be had of all Ironmongers and Seedsmen. 
Manufactured only by GIDNEY A SON, East Dereham, Norfolk. i 
BUDDING’S LAWN - MOWING MACHINES, 1 
WITH REGISTERED IMPROVEMENTS. 
MAPPLEBECK & LOWE, MACHINISTS & MANUFACTURERS, 
__ BIRMINGHAM. 
TANNED GARDEN NETTiNG, for protecting 
fruit-trees from frost, blight, and birds, or as a fence for fowls, pigeons, 
tulips, and seed-beds, can be had in any quantity, from JOHN KING 
FARLOW’S Fishing Tackle and Net Manufactory, 4 and 5, Crooked- 
lane, London-bridge, at lijd per yard one yard, 3d two yards, or 6 d four 
yards wide. Carriage free on all orders over 20s, accompanied by post- 
office order or London reference. Rabbit, sheep, and fishiDg nets, of 
every description, in stock, or made to order. 
