THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 25. 
144 
GERANIUM PRATENSE. 
The Crowfoot-leaved Cranesbill. This may he said to he 
the commonest of the English perennial Cranesbills, and 
even this forms a very ornamental plant in Hits borders, is 
a very suitable second-row plant, and flowers from .June to 
July. The flowers are large and of bright blue colour. 
This species has two or three varieties which are still 
more desirable as border plants- than the species. In the 
first place, there is a single white variety, which is pleasing 
and pretty ; the double white still more so ; and the double 
blue or purple. These are extremely desirable plants, the 
habit of all of them being neat and compact; and in our 
richly kept borders, or near to trees, they will oftentimes be 
seen to rise in height from oue-and a-half to nearly three 
feet, blooming profusely. The leaves are nearly round in 
their outline, they are many lobed, and the lobes cut and 
saw-toothed. This is one of the strongest-growing kinds. 
T. W. 
CHILLED EGGS PRODUCTIVE. 
On the 8th of April last T received from England, viA 
Bristol, a box containing thirteen Spanish fowls eggs, and 
knowing them to be from a first-rate strain, I was exceed¬ 
ingly particular respecting them, so much so, that I would 
not confide so large a number to one hen, but divided them 
between two, adding six more, which I procured from 
another quarter, placing ten under one hen and nine under 
the other; to prevent any mistake as to identity, I marked 
the eggs from England G, with a pencil, and those procured 
here, D, with ink; both hens were placed in a compartment 
of a fowl house, at a distance from my other fowls, and 
both sat very steadily until the 15th day, when I was in¬ 
formed that several times during that day they had left their 
nests and fought; to guard against a recurrence of the 
kind, I covered one hen up in her nest, and, as I supposed, 
securely, but which, however, proved not to have been the 
case, for, upon paying them a visit in the evening, I was sur¬ 
prised at finding both hens upon one nest, and the eggs in the 
deserted nest perfectly cold to the touch, and, what was more 
mortifying, the deserted eggs were exclusively those from 
England. Upon carefully examining each egg in both 
nests, I found that the six procured here, and marked D, 
were addled, as well as six of the eggs received from England; 
the number left was now seven, four of which were “stone 
cold;” however, I resolved to give them a chance with the 
three that were under the hen which had not deserted her 
nest, and accordingly placed them under her, the result was, 
that at the expiration of the 21st day one chick had made 
its exit from the shell; during the 22nd day, and following 
night, two more were hatched ; and on the 23rd day three 
more, one of which I was obliged to assist in liberating, 
the lining membrane of the shell becoming glued to it; 
in the seventh egg was a dead bird, and which I presume 
perished during the time the nest was deserted, which could 
not have been less than for nine hours, viz., from ten a.m. to 
: seven p.m. I have three chickens from the four deserted eggs, 
and they are as strong and lively as the others. I should 
add, that the eggs travelled a distance of 300 miles, 220 of 
which was by sea, and were detained a full week in Bristol.— 
A Constant Reader, Dublin. 
ANIMALIZED CHARCOAL. 
In reply to your correspondent’s enquiries respecting 
Animalized Charcoal, permit me to state, that I believe it 
to be the refuse after calcining hoofs and horns in a retort 
for chemical purposes. I have used it for an old lawn, and 
its effects are wonderful in giving to the turf a fine dark 
green colour. 
I also use it mixed with Guano for meadow land, with 
great success. It fixes the ammonia, and prevents its flying 
off in a dry season. It is also an excellent material for 
mixing with the contents of cesspools and stable liquid. 
The cost is now 30s. a ton.— North Cheshire. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
CUCUMBER AND MELON BIT. 
“ I wish to erect a small house for Cucumbers and Melons, 
six feet wide, by twelve feet long. I wish to know the way 
you would advise me to build it, heat it, &e.; to say the size, 
shape of boiler, pipes, Ac. Cheapness and convenience 
would be the chief things I should want.—G. K. K.” 
[You will find much to suit you in a late article by 
Mr. Eisli. It is difficult to get any iron man to make a j 
small-enough boiler for such a place as yours, twelve feet | 
by six. A good kettle with a lid to it, that would hold three 
or four gallons, with flanges fixed on for a flow and return 
pipe would heat such a place admirably. By having a small 
conical boiler, costing about T2, you could place your 
boiler a couple of feet or so beneath your pipes or tank, and 
the circulation would be quicker and better. A wooden tank, 
covered with slate, would most likely he cheapest, and if so, 
after proceeding a foot or so from the boiler ; lead pipes will 
do as well as any other, taking one into the flow division 
of the tank, and the other into the return. We have given 
reasons why we cannot do more than approximate prices. 
A good bricklayer would tell you more about setting your 
boiler than we could tell you in several pages. Any person 
could build a pit or house from diagrams published. 
Working drawings are expensive, and if we give them to 
you, every person that wanted such a thing would demand 
them as a right. A draught of a pit has just come, a twelve 
feet by seven feet six inches, purposed to be heated by a 
boiler and an old cooler, an answer to which will shortly 
appear, and which may suit your case.] 
AQUILEGIA GLANDULOSA. 
“ Amongst all my favourites there is no flower stands so 
high in my estimation as the Aquileyia glandulosa. I 
have purchased five plants, and placed them in all portions 
of my garden, and for six years have failed to obtain a 
blossom; this season, I find two sending out flower- 
stems. If through your journal any information as to the 
successful treatment of this plant can be obtained, I should 
feel greatly obliged.—J. II. Payne - ” 
[Hero is one of those problems which “the circle of the 
sciences,” together with the philosophy of practical skill, if 
there is such, has failed to make plain and easy to us; 
certain plants affect certain soils, or rather, are affected by 
soil, and no one can imitate that very soil in a different 
locality. One garden produces Carnations, and all their tribe, 
without care or trouble ; in another, the greatest skill and 
patience cannot keep any of them alive for two winters 
running. Your favourite, Aquileyia glandulosa, grows like a 
weed all over the county of Murray, beyond the Grampians, 
and to see it in perfection you ought to spend a summer in 
Forres, and go over to Brodie now and then. We are not 
aware that any one in England does it worth looking at. 
Sandy loam, very deep, and some very rotten cow-dung 
mixed with it the year before, and turned over in the winter 
two or three times, in a place not very low, or much exposed | 
to the sun, in England; the seedlings to be planted at the 
end of February, and not allowed to bloom or seed the first 
summer, would be among the most likely things to succeed 
with it; but the truth is better than gold, and there is not a 
man in all England, or ayont the Tweed, who can positively 
say the right way to manage this Scotch variety of Glandu¬ 
losa in the south ; for a variety it only is after all; and where 
it does well in England,-it is only from letting it alone 
entirely, and not from any particular management at all. 
Why do they not try and grow the Cotton-plant of Scotland ? 
surely it is as gay, rich, and singular, as any from Mexico or 
Peru ? and why not the Cloudberry, a rival to the Keen’s 
Seedling Strawberry, or might be ? And why not the Ban¬ 
shee berries, if only to charm aw r ay the fairies; and a dozen 
more from the Scottish Flora? Why, to be sure, but that 
they are all clanish plants, and will not live in a country 
where clans are beyond the might of majesty to make, to 
alter, or to amend; else, what ither can be the reasons? 
—D. B.] 
