OcTOBEU 28. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 
78 
pentaphjlla, and C, elnngata ; if light would roach the wall sufficiently, 
train Acacia armata in one division, and A.grandis in the other; or 
make half Cactus speciosissimiis, and the other speciostiSi but they must 
be dry in winter. 
Krica bicolor (M. a. B.). —This produces colourless flowers, and 
yet the plant is healthy, and well treated. We cannot say what is the 
cause; perhaps the plant is rather vigorous. Restrain water, just to 
keep it safe, and see what that will do. We have seen a similar effect 
produced by water from a pond, in which there was a considerable pro- 
I portion of decomposing vegetable and animal matter. Use rain water, 
if possible. 
Golding’s Improved Hive (C. W.). —I generally use a bung of cork 
(when I can procure any so large) for the top holes to ali my hives, 
I whether of wood or straw ; but there is no need to despise a bit of slate or 
j wood, or anything that may come first to hand suitable for the purpose of 
covering the holes effectually. I never ventilate my hives in winter, but 
I think it better to keep the bees as snug as possible. My large Golding’s 
hives (of one btishel, corn measure, for permanent stocks) are quite large 
enough to keep up a supply of as much pure air as the bees can require. 
—A Country Curate. 
Age or young Bee Brood (Jllar^). —If your correspondent can procure 
a copy of the second edition of “The Honey Bee,” by Dr. Bevan, she 
will, at page 398, find a plate exhibiting a piece of honey-comb, and 
giving very accurate representations of young worker bees of every age, 
from the first hatching of the eggs at three days old, to the ceiling up of 
the cell. The eggs are long, whitish, thread-like, or worm-like objects, 
and when once seen cannot be mistaken. It is not good to use old 
brood-comb, the bees find it difficult to work up into royal cells. The 
newer the comb the better. I always get pieces of fresh comb, con¬ 
taining both eggs and brood. — A Country Curate. 
Soil for Roses {Subscriber). —The nearest idea we can give you of 
the right soil for Roses of the Noisette, Bourbon, and Htfbrid perpe- 
tnelle classes, is this: The same soil that will grow the best onions is 
the best for these Roses ; that soil ought to be manured for Roses, as for 
onions, with the best rotten manure. Any garden “man,” or any 
“odd” man near you, could tell from this if your soil is suitable. 
Twenty inches or two feet would be better than less depth if the bottom 
is dry or drained. If it is not, and is sour and wet, a foot deep is quite 
enough. For the Tea-scented Roses, we would use as much fresh light 
loam as we could get, chopping up the turf with it, and to every four 
barrow-loads of it add one barrow-load of half-dry rotten dung. We 
would mix all this before filling the bed, which is a better way than 
digging in the dung. No one can tell the actual strength of liquid- 
manure. Use it weak and often is the only safe rule. It is weak when 
it will not kill grass or dock leaves, or any rough w'eeds, and after mixing 
a lot, one can always prove it that way. 
Flow’er-Garden 1’lan {Michel). —Some day or other we may engrave 
your plan, on account of the novelty of the design. The colours are put 
in beautifully and artistically, but the plan is all but impracticable. 
There are seven colours given in each of the end groups, four of which 
are collected together in one sharp point, a thing that can never be done 
in practice. The Marigold and Anagnllis will never associate for one side, 
nor be in proper character with the fine shades of Verbena on the 
opposite sides if they did. The gradations of heights in plants must 
be as much considered as the colours in a regular figure. A plan or 
garden that admits of all the plants being of the same height is less dig¬ 
nified than one in which different heights can he arranged with good 
effect; the latter is by far the most difficult to design. 
Geranium Cuttings {British Seaman), —From your log, we say 
positively that you will not be wrecked, but the cargo will not come all 
safe to port. You weighed anchor too late in the season for this. Keep 
cutting away all leaves that droop, and pick olf every black speck as soon 
as perceived; be sparing of the watering-pot, and raise the temperature 
just ten degrees. Geranium cuttings made very late in the autumn 
j (October) would be safer on a shelf, high up in the greenhouse, than in a 
hot-pit of .')0° an hour after breakfast. We put in nearly as many pots 
I of cuttings as you (100), late in October, and put them on a very dry 
shelf, under glass, up high above pots and kettles, with a free current of 
air, and we expect about seven or eight out of every ten of the cuttings 
to live ; and if they are rooted by the middle or end of February, it is all 
that we expect and wish for. Hotbeds arc awful places for unstruck 
cuttings in November. Wood lice do little or no harm to Geranium 
cuttings in winter. A selection of bedding Geraniums will be given 
before you can want them. 
Carnation and Picotee Soil (G. W. C.). —You say your soil in 
which you have hitherto grown Carnations, Picotees, and Pinks, is light, 
and rather inclined to be sandy, and that you have purchased them at 
times, but have nearly all died. Your soil is too light, and there should 
be no sand in it. Procure some virgin loam, make your l)cd of it, with 
the addition of about onc-eighth very well-deeoin]) 08 ed hotbed manure, 
j Plant the Pinks now, and the Carnations and Picotees in spring, about 
tl»e end of March, and attend to the instruction in the Monthly Calendar. 
[ Are you quite sure you have no wire-worm.s in your soil ? They are very 
; destructive to these plants. We never recommend dealers. 
I Arnold’s Victory Geranium {An Amateur). —This was a mistake; 
I it should have lieen Ar7iold*s Virgin Queen. 
i Hoses {Zadkiel). —You, or a namesake, used to predict the w'cather, 
j an<l we predict, that if this should he a very hard winter you will lose 
I nine out of ten of jmur newly-budded roses that had grown an inch by 
the middle of October. You must not ask for our sympathy, for you 
have rushed aaainst a cross firing on the subject of budding roses this 
I very season ; but the loss will not be lost on you. When you bud next 
I year you will attend to our directions, and not cut back, or even stop, 
! any of the shoots at the time of budding. 
[ Cucumbers (Ibid). —Go on and prosper with your new house, the 
i symptoms could hardly be better: house at 80°, soil at 90 °, with fine, 
1 damp atmosphere ; plants looking he.althy, and fruit twelve inches long, 
j and growing. What could Mr. Latter himself want more than that? 
I If you find the edges of a single leaf damping from this moist atmosphere, 
j give more air, and throw something on the glass at night, and that will 
I lessen the drips. • 
I Tom Thumb (/I. S., Ifi/A Oct.). —Out of all your letter we can only 
I read “ Tom Thumb,” and “ No, 1, 2, and 3.” Pray write to us plainly. 
Salvia patens {X. Z.)--^If you do not want the pots this winter, 
you had better leave the roots in them, and if you put them in an out¬ 
house they will dry slowly, without any more trouble. They will also 
stand exactly the same treatment as potatoes in winter. You might pit 
them, or house them, or keep them a little moist, or nearly dry. The 
surest way to get rid of the worms is to turn out the balls gently on the 
imlm of the left hand, and hand-pick them from the balls. Do not, 
on any account, resort to the common nostrums for poisoning them in 
the pots. 
Wintering Geraniums {Shplock). —If you will refer to page 53 of 
our last number you will find a mode exactly suitable to your case. 
Cineraria Sowing (B— le —B).—Sow the seed as soon after it is ripe 
as you can. 
Hollyhocks (T. J. C,). —We cannot put in such a proposition. 
Cow Diseased {G. T. H.). —The case is too critical for us to advise 
you. You had better consult some regularly educated veterinary surgeon. 
What your man says is nonsense. 
Funguses (//. L.). —We believe those you sent are poisonous. They 
are too dangerous to try experiments with. 
Vulcanised Indian-rubber.— J. M. wishes to be informed how he 
can make a cement that will fix Vulcanised Indian-rubber to wood, glass, 
or leather. 
Forget-me-not. —If Ellen, or any other of our subscribers, will 
forward their address, with two postage stamps, to F. Brett, Esq., 
PottcF.s Bur, near Barnet, he will send them a root of this free by post. 
Our Volumes (T. G., Dominica),—Onrfirst volume commenced with 
the first Thursday of the October of 1818, and concluded on the l.ist 
Thursday in the March of 1849. Our second volume commenced on the 
first Thursday of April 1849, and ended with the last Thursday in the 
September of that year. So have the volumes continued to divide the 
year ever since. You can have Indexes for each two volumes that so 
comprise twelvemonths. 
Poland Fowls at Dominica {Ibid). —Our correspondent says he 
thinks he is the first person to introduce these fowls into the West Indies. 
They were shortly attacked with what he considered a severe cold, 
affecting chiefly their eyes, and partially blinding some of them, but the 
birds have bred, and we hope to hear from him how the chickens prosper. 
The disease was not a cold, but the rouj), an inflammation of the head 
and eyes, caused by the confinement, filth, bad feeding, bad water, and 
exposure to weather on hoard ship. A daily pill the size of a pea, made 
of two parts powdered gentian and one part hydriodate of potash, is the 
best medicine. Good food and cleanliness are essential additions. 
Potato Planting (B. K,). —On the Cotswold Hills, and in a soil 
and exposure favourable to potato culture, we would still plant no later 
varieties than Hopetoun Knrlie.s, Ash-leaved Kidneys, ami RylotVs 
Flour-balls. Keep your sets as free from sprouting as possible, until 
you wish to plant them. 
Back Numbers {Alpha, Binningham). —None are now out of print. 
All have been reprinted. 
WiiAT IS A Pure Breed op Fowls? {Investigator). —This is a 
question not so difficult to answer as it may appear. Our correspondent 
asks, “ Whether a cross between pure-bred Dorkings and a Game cock 
would revert to the original type of Dorking in two generations? That 
is to say, would the cross between Dorking and Game, bred again with 
pure Dorking, produce fowls which could be called true Dorkings?” 
We think they would, othenvise one of the most efficient modes of im¬ 
proving our breeds of domesticated animals would be closed. How 
common is it to infuse courage and substance into our breed of Pointers 
by a cross with the Hound ; and how equally common to derive fineness 
of bone, depth of carcase, and other desirable points, by an intermixture 
of our breeds of oxen. Yet the calf of a Short-horn cow, if it retained 
all tlie characteristic points of its variety, would be classed as a Short¬ 
horn, without any reference to the bull that was its grand-sire. 
Names of Plants {Rev. R. M. K.), —Your annual is Coreopsis 
Drummondii, in The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary, but also known as 
a CalUopsis. {Hester S.). —The Conifer is 7}ot Cedar of Lebanon, but 
the Hemlock Spruce Fir, Canadensis. Nothing certain is known 
about the Hcemony. We will say more about it, however, soon. 
(T. F. J'.).^Your annual is the Centaurea rynrnis, varie«l a little in 
colour ; the second is not a Lycopod, but Sa,vifraga elongella, or Long- 
stiilked Saxifrage. We do not recognise the orchid from the leaves, hut 
will enquire. (B. II.). — 1 . Cineraria amelloides, 2. Statice mneronata, 
3. Too small a specimen. 4. Sedum Sieboldii, 
cat,1':ndaii roii NovEMr.KR, 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
Anemones, plant for succession bloom. Auriculas and Polyan¬ 
thuses, put under shelter (See October). Bulbous Hoots, finish 
planting in dry weather ; pot for latest forcing, and for plunging in 
flower-beds, Slc. Carnation layers, finish planting and potting; secure 
tlie pot at once from rains. Climbers of all sorts, plant, prune, and 
train. Compost, prepare and turn in dry weather. Crocus, pot large 
lumps from the borders for forcing. Chrysanthemums, against walls 
or fences, secure from frost. Half-hardy bulbs in borders, secure from 
frost and rain liy a boarded covering. Dahlias, cut down after frost, 
and let roots remain as long as it is safe ; when taken up, dry them in 
open sheds, &c., before storing, where frost and damp cannot reach them. 
Dress the beds and borders, and put mark-sticks to bulbs and other 
roots, to guide you when digging. Edgings, plant. Evergreens, 
finish planting, b. Fibrous-rooted Plants, finish dividing and 
planting,!). Fork over borders, &c. Gladiolus: all the old sorts 
may yet be planted ; most of the new do better planted in spring. 
Grass, cut very close the last time; keep clear of leaves; and roll. 
Gbavel, weed and roll. Hedges, plant, clip, and clear at bottom. 
Hoe and rake shruliberies, and bury the leaves, K'C. between the plants. 
Hollyhocks, finish planting. Layering, peiform at intervals, if fine 
weather, till March. Leaves, gather for compost, At. Marvel of 
Peru, take u]) and store like dahlias. Mulch round trees and shrubs 
lately planted. Plant perennials and biennials (See October). Plant¬ 
ing, deciduous shrubs and trees, perform generally, and finish as early as 
