THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— July 1, 1830. 247 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
PLANTS FALSELY NAMED. 
“ A few days ago I purchased a plant from a very eminent 
firm called Cerasus Caucasicus. I bought it on the strong 
recommendation of the foreman, who seemed very anxious | 
that I should have a shrub of such fine foliage,and as hardy 
as the common Laurel, of which, I believe, it is only a 
variety, and not a recent introduction from the Caucasus at 
all. Now, I think five shillings is paying rather dearly for 
such a spurious article; it is bad enough to be duped into 
purchasing, at most, only frame plants for hardy ones ; but 
it would be a far worse case of fraud if this Cerasus Cauca- 
sicus should prove merely a garden variety of the common 
Laurel. Perhaps, if you were to publish this communication, 
some light might be thrown upon the subject. I have no 
doubt it would greatly interest many of your readers if a 
list of tender plants were published that have been adver¬ 
tised as quite as hardy as the common Holly. I have pur¬ 
chased at least a dozen things so puffed up, that are quite 
as tender as the Myrtle. To show my sincerity, I have en¬ 
closed my card with name and address.— Done Brown.” 
[Never buy a new plant, or a plant which is said to be 
new, unless you either see it or get the dealer to guarantee 
that it is such as he represents it to be. If you bought the 
plant in question as a Caucasian Cherry without seeing it, 
and found it to be only a variety of the common Laurel, you 
have been cheated. If you bought it after seeing it, no one 
is to blame but yourself. The foreman of the nursery was 
merely mistaken, and your money ought to be returned to 
you. About the hardiness of new plants you are too severe; 
the old weather prophet himself could do no more than 
guess that such and such a new plant is likely to be hardy 
from the place where it was found, and it may be a long 
time before any one is fully sure of the hardiness of a new 
plant. Gardeners, in general, cover the new comer for the 
first few winters if there is a shade of doubt about its har¬ 
diness ; and many plants which are quite hardy are lost 
before they have time to recruit themselves after a severe 
propagation in close hothouses. The names of the “dozen 
things that are quite as tender as a Myrtle ” would be of 
more real advantage than a whole list of “ tender plants.” 
We might publish a page full of such names in each num¬ 
ber, and then come short of the mark.] 
RAISING DOUBLE FLOWERS. 
“ Can you inform me how to get doubleBrompton Stocks ? 
Is it by planting double and single side by side, or saving 
seed from semi-double ones ’—Novice.” 
[Double flowers a botanist terms monsters. A complete 
double flower cannot produce seeds, for all the parts of 
fructification are transformed into floral leaves or petals, j 
Though denominated monsters, double flowers are univer¬ 
sally admired, and more valued by florists than single ones. 
Such persons, like “ Novice," are very desirous of knowing 
how certainly to produce them. It is rational to suppose 
that any flower that has more than the usual number of 
petals is more likely to depart still further from its original, 
or, if you will, wild state. Hence seed should be saved from 
such flowers, where the object is to increase the number of 
petals. Some seedsmen adopt the plan you mention, of 
planting alternately a double and a single flower, imagining, 
by some hocus pocus, that the single flowers will be smitten 
with the double ones, and produce such-like. This is a 
mistaken idea. The perfectly double flower cannot yield 
any pollen, for all the anthers and stamens are changed into 
petals. It is high cultivation that produces double flowers, 
and, therefore, “ Novice " must keep his stock well supplied 
with manure-water, grow them strong, and at least a foot 
apart. Such plants as have more than lour petals he should 
be doubly careful of. They have commenced the process of 
doubling, and are the most likely to yield double flowers the 
next generation.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Apple-eating Beetle {Alpha).- The same kind of beetle, with 
brown wing-cases and green-metallic, shining thorax, has attacked young 
Apples under our own notice this summer. It gnaws cavities in the skin 
and flesh of the young Apple, causing it to grow deformed. This beetle 
is the Scarabceus (Phyllopertha ) liortlcola. It usually feeds on the petals 
of flowers. 
Rhubarb Wine (A■ B. H.).— You will find full directions in our 99th 
number, which you can buy for threepence. It is too long to republish. 
Spots on Grapes (J . HI.). —Your Grapes seem to be only a little 
rusted. It is unsightly, but will not injure the crop. Do not keep your 
house hotter and drier; it will not remove the rust. 
Mulberries falling (C. P. C.).— Perhaps your tree is in too cold a 
situation : they love warmth. Perhaps in a loose and dry soil: the want 
of permanency of moisture at such periods will cause even Apples and 
Black Currants to drop. You do not give the necessary data, or the 
case might be at once met. 
White Hellebore (Quinbus).— It is sold by every druggist. It is the 
powdered root of Veratrum album. Oxalic acid, to promote germination, 
must be in solution, and the old seeds soaked in it. 
Softening old Putty (An Original Subscriber). —Unless it has been 
mixed with white lead, old putty may be softened by applying to it rags 
dipped in a saturated solution of caustic potash, and leaving them on 
for twelve hours, or by rubbing a hot iron along the putty. 
French Butter. —“In the paragraph at page 227 about the prices, 
the words ‘ twenty-four sous ( 2 s.),’ ought to have been thirty-four sous 
(Is. 5d.); then, again, the words in the next line, ‘ thirty sous (2s. 3d.),’ 
ought to have been forty-eight sous (‘2s.).—P. F. K.” 
Paint for Wire Fence (A Subscriber ).—We should use the Gas-tar 
Varnish, directions for making which are in our No. 400, p. 159. 
Names of Ferns (A Lover of Ferns).— 1 and 3 are the same; but 
we cannot recognise them from the specimens sent. 2. A seedling Cas- 
sebeera hastata. 4. Allosorus crispus. 5. Asplenium bulbiferum ? 
6 . Cystopteris dentata ? 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Agricultural Society (Royal). At Chelmsford, July 14th to 19th. , 
Sec. J. Hudson, Esq., 12 , Hanover Square, London. Entries closed 
June 1st. 
Anerley. July 29th, 30th, 31st, and August 1st. Sec., C. Lawson, 
Esq., Anerley. Entries close July 9th. 
Essex. At Colchester, 8th, 9 th, and 10th of January, 1857. Secs. 
G. E. Attwood, and W. A. Warwick. 
Gloucestershire. Nov. 26 th and 2 /th. Sec., E. Trinder, Esq., 
Cirencester. Entries close Nov. 1 st. 
Leominster. Thursday, October 16 . 
Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural Society. At Wigan, 
Thursday, August 7th. Secs, for poultry, J. H. Peck, and J. S. 
Marshall, Esqrs. Entries close July 24th. 
Nottinghamshire. At Southwell, December 1 /th and 18th, 1856. 
Sec., Richard Hawksley, jun. Entries close November 19 th. 
Nottingham Central Poultry Association. January 14th 
and 15th, 1857* Sec., John Spencer, Nottingham. 
Prescot. July 8 th. Sec., Mr. J. F. Ollard, Prescot. Entries close 
June 21st. 
Whitby. July 16 th and 17 th. Sec. S. Burn, Esq., 1, East Terrace, 
Whitby. Entries close June 30th. 
Yorkshire Agricultural Society. At Rotherham, Wednesday 
and Thursday, August 6 th and 7 th. Sec., J. Hannam, Esq., Kirk 
Deigliton, Wetherby. 
N.B.— Secretaries will oblige 21 s by sending early copies of their lists. 
APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES. 
A becent Show in the West, where the awards were so 
unsatisfactory as to induce us to decline their publication, 
leads us to observe, that there is scarcely any subject which 
has been so indifferently attended to as the appointment of 
the judges for our public exhibitions of poultry, nor one 
more completely deserving of every possible attention, 
although it cannot be denied tlie future well-being of every 
Show is mainly dependent upon the rectitude aud real 
efficiency of the gentlemen who may be thus engaged to 
fulfil the many, and also arduous duties of this really 
thankless office. The difficulties of selection, as to poultry 
judges, are almost daily becoming still more apparent, from 
the fact, of how few, we might have said very few persons 
there are in the kingdom capable of awarding fairly all the 
prizes in the varied classes we are accustomed to meet with 
in our different prize-lists. That the task is indeed difficult 
to the most experienced poultry judge, must he evident to 
all parties, and requires much ready quickness of perception 
