Max 25. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
145 
AGE AT WHICH FLOWER-SEEDS WILL GROW. 
“Are such flower-seeds as Aster, Tagetes, Ac., good the 
second year? 
“ Allow me, also, to suggest to your advertising florists, who 
stipulate for pre-payment, the advisability of remembering 
the obligations they thus incur. 1 have been unfortunate 
enough, of late, to experience the truth of the axiom, that he 
who pays before hand is only one degree better than lie 
who never pays at all.— Amateur." 
[Nobody knows the precise time which these and a thou¬ 
sand other seeds will keep; our own German and China 
Asters used to come up as thick as grass after lying three or 
four years in the seed-room; and our Tagetes tenuifolia kept 
three years certain ; so have those called French and African 
Marigolds— Tagetes in their way—but how long they would 
keep we cannot say; but we know of a truth that all the 
flower-seeds which are grown in England will and ought to 
be good the second year; and we can give you a still better 
advice than the adage about the injustice you complain of. 
Make it a condition that 80 per ceut. of their seeds must 
vegetate before you pay for them ; or else, that you will be at 
liberty to give publicity to their full names and addresses in 
the same works in which you read of their sales, so that the 
rest of the world are not taken in. But the truth is, half 
the world is mad for cheap things of all sorts ; and it would 
be a very great hardship if dealers in seed could not be 
found to gull them every season of their lives in that par¬ 
ticular article. Indeed, the world has become so aceommo 
dating, that regular establishments are set up on purpose to 
manufacture cheap seeds. The farmers cannot sell us their 
wheat and other corn so cheap after a bad season, as we 
are all knowing ; and how could the dealers in flower-seeds, 
if they sold them pure; and if they did, none but the few 
wise men among us would ever give them an order.] 
MAKING A PEACH-BORDER. 
“ I should be glad of a little information as to how I 
should proceed in making a Peach-border, and the most 
suitable soil for it; with the names of a few of the best 
Peaches and Nectarines.— Troublesome.” 
[Mark out stations or positions for your Peaches at eighteen 
feet apart, if the wall be an ordinary one. Let the soil be ex- ! 
cavated about half a yard or two feet throughout four feet on j 
every side the centre of your station next the wall. Provide 
good,loamy material from some field, with turf, grass, and all, ‘ 
and chop it well; the loam rather adhesive. To this, add one- 
third of any decaying vegetable matter, blend them well, 
and fill the holes to six inches above the ground level. If 
you have no fresh loam, get the next best soil you can to 
represent it. Good Peaches are Royal George, Bellegavde, 
Walburton Admirable; good Nectarines, Elruge, Murray, 
Newington : these are named in the order of their ripening.] 
POULTRY. 
DORKING AND SPANISH EGGS. 
I have five Spanish hens and a Spanish cock, and keep 
three Cochin-China hens for rearing the Spanish eggs ; but 
L find that the Cochin.fowls are rather bad mothers; and 
what I want to know is, whether I can tell the difference 
between Dorking eggs and Spanish, as I think of getting rid 
of my Cochins and keeping Dorkings to bring up the young 
Spanish, if you can tell me how I can tell the difference, as 
they are both white. Please also tell me a plain and simple 
remedy for the Roup.— H. J. B.” 
[The points of distinction between Dorking and Spanish 
eggs would be found in form, colour, and weight. In form 
the Spanish are more elongated, in colour a clearer white, 
while in weight they would be usually found to exceed those 
of the Dorking by one-half or three-quarters-of an-ounee. 
“ A plain and simple remedy for the roup,” is a desidera¬ 
tum not yet supplied; a reference, however, to the pages of 
The Cottage Gardener will give numerous recipes from 
correspondents of experience.— W.] 
FOWLS FOR THE FARM-YARD. 
“ Which are the better in a farm-yard (now Cochins have 
got so elevated and aristocratic), the Cochins in a farm¬ 
yard, about fifty, to get their own living (like most other 
farm fowls do by scratching), and fifty Dorkings ? and what 
difference in weight of eggs supposed in nine months ?—A 
Constant Subscriber." 
[In the alternative of fifty Shanghai's, or fifty Dorkings, 
as the occupants of a farm-yard, “ to yet their own living 
like most other farm finds do by scratching ,” the latter would 
have the best chance of existence, for profit" could not 
be looked for from iiny under such a system. 
The comparative weight of eggs laid by fifty hens of 
either breed thus managed could not be anticipated with 
any accuracy. In the same number, again, of either of these 
varieties, there would be an important difference in their 
relative number of eggs, in the circumstance whether the 
three winter months were included, or otherwise. In a 
well-kept poultry-yard, we have no doubt the Shanghaes 
would produce most eggs, and that their excess would be 
still greater if the winter months formed a portion of the 
testing period.—W.] 
ULCERATED THROAT. 
“ What must I give a Shanghae cock for an ulcerated 
throat ? 1 have given doses of soot and butter, and had a 
lotion to wash the throat, but the evil seems out of reach, 
all down his throat; he cannot eat, though he seems to 
wish it, and is getting rapidly weaker. I have poured a 
little weak port wine and water, and also raw egg, down, 
and it gurgles a long time in his throat. It is a complaint 
among fowls here, numbers having been affected the same 
way.—D. F.” 
[In a severe case of ulcerated sore throat, which would 
not yield to milder remedies, I should certainly try the 
effect of five grains of nitrate of silver dissolved in one 
ounce-and-a-half of rain water, this to be applied by tying 
a little piece of soft rag securely to the end of a small piece 
of stick, dipping it into the solution, and passing it down 
the throat to touch the diseased part. 
N. B.—The solution stains the fingers or linen if touched. 
—W. B. T.] 
BEES. 
PREVENTING SWARMS. 
“ I have one hive which appears very strong and full; 
would you advise me to put on a glass at the top, or let them 
into a box at the side ? 
“ The objection I have to opening the top, is, that I 
think it will decrease the heat of the hive, and therehy 
delay the breeding of young bees. 
“ The plan I am trying this year, which is a contrivance 
of my own, is—I have a common straw hive with a hole in 
the top, and a passage cut in the foot-board, to connect to 
another hive on the left-hand side. Then I thought of 
stopping up the old entrance, in case they would not take to 
it at first, till they got used to it. I shall feel obliged by 
your giving me your opinion about it. Please inform me if 
I had better keep them to the old entrance, in consequence 
of their practice of storing the honey as far as possible 
from the entrance ? and when would you advise me to give 
them more room ? as I wish to prevent their swarming.— 
C. T." 
[By all means put a glass on the top; you need not regard 
decreasing the heat; at this time of year it is desirable to do 
so. The plan you mention is called doubling, as is given in 
most of the bee-books, but never answers well. You had 
better put a glass or small hive on the top, but it must be 
done immediately, for swarms are coming fast. Some were 
as early as Saturday the 13th instant.] 
THE GARDENS OF SYDNEY. 
There are comparatively few people in the city, even 
amongst its older residents, who are at all aware of the 
attractions which its suburbs present, and the facilities 
which are in almost every direction oft’ered for the increase 
of these attractions. Every agreeable ride from the city 
and its environs, every agreeable sail through the waters of 
its beautiful harbour, afford glimpses, nay,_full views, of the 
