April 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
10 
period as possible, the instant removal of the calf to be 
“fed by baud” soon breaks up the desire of the mother 
for her calf, and thus agitation on that bead ceases 
betimes. They are fed by band in a loose box, and 
receive as much of their mother’s milk as they can take 
warm from the Cow for a fortnight, and then a little 
gruel of oatmeal is substituted, with, of course, a good 
deal of the mother’s milk in it. As before observed, the 
! “rearing calves” maybe removed from the others in 
about three weeks, and receive a different treatment, 
and the object being to get them to take hay, &c., until 
j pasturage is available. Linseed is sometimes resorted 
i to, and an excellent thing it is, nothing but its com pa- 
! rative dearness can hinder it coming into very general 
i use. When the calf is a month old, a little linseed may 
! be added,—say, a good handful in the mess of gruel; 
and for butcher’s calves, many are fond of using “ gin 
balls;” these are composed of the best wheat flour, and 
as much gin added as will make it a paste; these are 
given in small balls large as marbles, three or four 
a-day; this makes them lay quiet and sleep. Such, 
however, should not be resorted to until about a fort¬ 
night before they go to the butcher. Calves are very 
liable to what is called in Cheshire “ gur,” that is to say, 
a looseness, which wastes the system in a little time, 
and if not timely stopped will kill them : the best thing, 
1 think, is a little powdered rhubarb, as much as will 
lay on a sixpence, repeated if necessary. This looseness 
is generally caused by a corrupt atmosphere, and the 
preventions in the shape of cleanliness and ventilation 
will generally avert it. R. Ekrington. 
CUTTINGS OF BEDDING-OUT PLANTS, 
AND EXCHANGES. 
Although we are now within a month of the usual 
time for planting-out bedding plants for the summer, 
there is sufficient time yet left us to finish off a late or 
last supply of cuttings for that purpose, while those who 
are already full-handed, and have more than they need tor 
themselves, ought to push on as if they were in the 
hindmost ranks, so that the final change, under the 
directions of the propagating department, may be the 
boldest, the most brilliant, and the most decisive of the 
whole season. The boldest, because you can now 
resolve on cutting down, to the last joint, all the 
half-guinea purchases of the last six mouths, so as to be 
able to furnish your ranks with the most brilliant 
flowers of the British and exotic Flora—all novelties 
being always the most brilliant! 
The hardest and the easiest point, according to the 
point of my story, is the final decision. It is an up-hill 
work for some to acquire so much courage, when it comes 
to the last, as to give away a morsel of a new cutting to 
even the Queen herself, the first season; while the 
hardest thing in the world is to give anything, at any 
1 time, otherwise than on the principle of value for value, 
] or in other words, strain for strain, without reference to 
I valuation. While one of the greatest pleasures one 
I takes in flowers, and seeds, in cuttings, and in roots, 
j and slips, and all manner of plants, is, from the state 
j of the funds of such things, the anticipation of being 
able to give away ten times more than you can ever 
: expect to receive, to all around you and within your 
influence. All these points meet once a year, and eveiy 
year of our lives, just about this time in April, and after 
all the selfishness that the great exhibitions of plants 
have engendered, it is very pleasant to be able to report, 
that go where you will, and meet with as many strange 
faces, and more than one can readily remember for a 
1 while, you find ten out of a dozen who would rather 
! borrow and give than have to refuse anything in the 
garden way, even to the last secret of doing a thing 
in a better way than before. Knowing that it is as 
useful to know ourselves, in our failings and tendencies, 
as to kuow how to plant our gardens to the best 
advantage; and also knowing the feelings of the trade, in 
the matter of borrowing and giving, perhaps better than 
most writers in our line, I make no apology, after such 
a propagating season, in thus referring to the subject, 
both for the good of all parties, and for the information 
of a good number of honest people, seeing that “ beg, 
borrow, and steal,” is a phrase of other days. I think 1 j 
know some nurseryman or seedsman in every county I 
in the three kingdoms, and in most of our large towns, 
also a number of foreigners, and I am quite sure that 
not one out of the number ever thinks that the begging, 
borrowing, and giviug, injures his trade; but on the 
contrary, that this very system is the surest nursery for 
raising a stock of new and valuable customers every 
year, and that without it, one-half of the trade might 
shut up shop altogether, and go out with Lord Raglan. 
If one-tenth of our young amateurs, who now pay 
their garden bills much more regularly than many who 
have been at it for years and years, were to know, before j 
they took to gardening, that nothing could be had with- j 
out drawing out the purse, they never would think of 1 
such extravagance, nor of the pleasures of gardening as 
only fit for dukes, and lords, and such folks; and every 
nurseryman in the kingdom can tell you that ten cus- , 
tomers who pay a pound a piece to the very day, is 
better custom than that of one who pays, goodness 
knows when, his last bill of fifty pounds, and forgets to 
pay the one before that altogether. The great nursery¬ 
men ought to keep me in my old days, for I have 
brought forward for them more real good customers 
than half the gardeners put together; for I have begged, 
and borrowed, and given away on the largest scale for 
many years, and even now I make a customer now and 
then by begging from one neighbour to give to another, 
and by saying all sorts of fine things about flowers, till 
they cannot stand it any longer, go to the shops and 
nurseries they must, even now in the face of the income 
tax. 
What made me think of all this, just at the right 
time, seems to me to have come on purpose for some 
good end or another. One lady told me, last week, that 
another lady told her, that she often had seeds and cut¬ 
tings given her by kind friends, and would give in her 
turn, but that she did not wish the thing to be spoken 
about, lest some gossips might set it down for stingi¬ 
ness. The real meaning of this was, that neither of 
them knew the practice was fashionable, and I made up 
my mind on the spot to tell them, and all the world, 
that this very thing is just as fashionable as a “ draw¬ 
ing-room day.” That tiie Queen gives away cuttings, 
grafts, seedlings, seeds, and any thing, which her 
Majesty’s gardeners can spare, any day in the year, and 
receives cuttings, &c., in return, or for no return at all, 
and takes as much interest in the success of such things, 
in cuttings and in seedlings, in “ potting off,” and all 
the rest of it, as any lady in the land. All the duchesses 
do the same. Some of them within my own personal 
knowledge, indeed all the great ladies, put a better face 
on the practice than most people are aware of; and it is 
so fashionable that no lady of great name will ever think 
of leaving a place noted for gardens, when visiting 
about, without asking for some kind ot cuttings, or 
seeds, as a memorial of the visit; or it she does, it is 
looked upon as disrespectful, or, at least, as throwing 
cold water on the gardener’s best efforts; and to have 
something to give away, or to be thought worthy of ask¬ 
ing for by a great lady, is one of the greatest spurs, or, at 
least, the spur that will prick the deepest into the sides 
of a noted country gardener. 
Then, after pushing on the usual quantities for 
