25^ 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Dkcf.mbf.r 30. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*♦* \Ve rec|uest that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
the Cottage GardeneVi^i Amen Corner^ Paternoster Roti\ Lo?idon,'* 
Ivv (X. V. Z.).—There is no doubt wh.atcver upon the point. Ivy 
keeps the wall dry which it covers. 
Pol:\iaise Heating (G. B. C.). —Polmaise, as a mode of heating, has 
seldom been so successful as hot-w'ater. Vou will sec an article by one 
of our correspondents in to-day’s paper ; if your house be treated in that | 
way some nicety will be required in giving the necessary quantity of j 
moisture to the air inside; but as you seem to have accomplished that, 
and supposing you can command the necessary amount of heat, there 
seems no reason to doubt but that the plan will succeed very well. Vou ! 
must be careful that the openings you have made for the escape of hot I 
air be not in contact with the foliage ; notwithstanding its being some- | 
what mellowed by moisture, it is often too violent to be safely trusted j 
amongst tender plants. 
Ventilation (G. B. C.).—Ventilation, like many things else, has 
I undergone a great revolution the last few years. One thing, however, 
i the escape of impure and highly-heated air, at the highest part of 
the building, is still regarded as a necessary thing; but the admission 
of cold air at the opposite lowest extremity, or w’hen in contact with the 
pij)es, flues, or other heating apparatus, has hardly yet advanced so far 
as it ought to do towards perfection that way; but some of our depart¬ 
mental writers will be enlarging on that soon. 
Name of American Apple (hiquisitor). —The small red and yellow 
apples packed in barrels from America are the Laay A]>pte. Otlicr 
answers next weclc. 
Flower-garden Plan {Kegnlar Subseriber). —Your plan is only 
adapted for mixed planting—at least, the four large beds within the 
diamond should be so planted. The basket in the middle might be of 
one strong colour, as scarlet, or yellow’, and bordered with white or pink, 
as, for instance, Tom Tluimbs, Wlute Ivy-leaved Geraniums, or Yellow 
Calceolarias, and Pink Ivy-leaved, or Mangles* Variegated Geranium. 
Without knowing the situation of the house, and the exact line of the 
Rhododendron beds, it would only be guess-work to say what kind of 
beds ought to occupy the rest of the ground; but as the shape of it is 
circular, that also would be the best shape for the beds. Kven if we 
could point out the best situation for the extra beds, there is no index by 
which you could understand the positions ; or, in other words, w'e have 
no data to make out your meaning, and no index to explain our own, 
if we did. 
Camellia Buds turned Brown {Sarah). —The reason w'hy the 
Camellia buds cliange colour, and fall olf, is either too much dryness in 
the air they breathe, or a very bad state of the roots, brought on by one 
or other of a dozen causes. If the roots are at fault, the plants must 
be repotted early next April, reducing the balls as much as possible; 
then smaller pots, a light compost of good loam and sand, with a little 
peat; and, as soon as growth is fairly set in, the plants ought to be 
pruned by a gardener of experience: no written directions will ever do 
for this kind of pruning. 
Oxalis Deppii not Blooming {Ibid). —You surely cannot have the 
right sort. We could not suggest a possible mode of preventing it 
flowering. If you make holes in a gravel W'alk with the end of your 
parasol, and place a root of this Oxalis in each, every one of them will 
flower; if you place it on the surface of a bed, it will make roots, leaves, 
and flowers; if you bury it six inches in rich soil it will come up and 
riow’er; or if you plant it in a bed of sand, or coal-ashes, it is just the 
same for the first flowers; but to flower well the 3 'ear after it w’ants a 
bed of good garden mould, and to be kept dry during the w’inter. If 
you have any dry roots now, keep them so till the end of April; then 
plant them by the side of Crocuses. Water them now and then, if the 
summer is dry, and take them up in October, and after that they 
will do well. 
IjAced Polands. — Scrutator says—“As a constant reader of The 
Cottage Gardener, I have had the old spirit for poultry, which intox¬ 
icated me some twenty years ago, revived, although at the present time I 
do not possess a single specimen of the gallinaceous tribe. To such an 
extent has this feeling obtained, that I absolutely went from London on 
Tuesday to witness the exhibition of poultry at Birmingham, intent on 
renewing my acquaintance with either Gold or Silver-Zaccrf Polands (as 
the Rev. Mr, Dixon says they are not, or ought not to be, spangled). 
Having reached Bingley Hall at half-past nine, a.m., you may imagine 
my disappointment at finding not a single pen of well-Zacerf birds, and, 
worse than all, to find that the judges knew nothing whatever of the points 
of excellence of my would -be-pets—the first prize for Silver Polands being 
literally a pen of spotted birds ; and, in fact, one might almost suppose 
that lacing was inadmissable. Nothing could more completely justify 
your remarks that there ought to be separate judges for different breeds, 
and that the different points of excellence should be settled. To this 
end I would suggest to you the propriety of making a commencement in 
The Cottage Gardener ; and should you approve of the suggestion, 
and would accept my humble opinion of the points of Gold and Silver 
Polands (having formerly been a fancier), I shall be only too happy to 
forward it, together with some feathers from differents parts of really 
first-class birds. This would really be a move in the right direction, and 
would induce breeders of first-rate birds to exhibit, which at present they 
have little inclination to do, from the qualities not being understood. 
By-the-by, I observed that prizes were awarded to black Polands which 
had had the black feathers cut away from the anterior portion of their 
top-knots : this should not be.” [We shall be much obliged by the 
proffered communication.— Ed. C. G.] 
Gloxinias and Aciiimenes {A Neiu Irish Suhscriber).~YoMT col¬ 
lection, comprising Spcctabile, Victoria Regina, Princesse de Lamballe, 
I\Iarie Van Houtte, Grande Duchesse Helene, and General Baudeaud, is 
very good. You will improve it by adding G. alba grandijiora, G. 
grandis, G. cnrininata splendens, G. FyJianaj and G. Passinghamii. 
The place where you keep them is too warm; that is the reason whv they 
are now showing symptoms of growth, which they should not do, to'flower 
finely in June, Place them in the coolest part of your stove ; repot, and 
start them into growth about the beginning of February; give no water 
till the shoots appear, and then but slightly, gradually increasing it as 
the plants advance in growth. A shelf in your cooler orchid-house 
would be a good situation for them. Achimenes require the same treat¬ 
ment as Gloxinias, and the same time of starting to bloom in June. The 
following will suit you. We cannot give prices, but may say the whole 
are not dear :—Achimenes Bauraannia hirsuta, A. fimbriata, A. longiflora 
major, A. longiflora alba, A. graudiflora, A. Tugwelliana, A. venusta. 
Most Profitable Rhubarb (A Northamptonshire Subscriber ).— ^ 
The most profitable kind of Rhubarb is the Victoria, and the earliest is ' 
the Prince Albert. The best time to plant is October; but as that season 
is past, you may plant any time between this and March. If possible, ' 
let your ground be dry at the time. Send the advertisement, and then 
we can tell )’’ou the charge before we insert it. 
Bees. — A Country Curate wTites to us as follows :—“To ‘ Obsen'er’s * 
query, I would reply, that his experience, in respect to the bees of an old 
stock not leaving the parent hive in any numbers, when the stock had 
been removed to make way for the swarm, is by no means singular. A 
similar occurrence fell under my notice last summer. A box-hive in my ! 
! apiary, with three large windows, now in the possession of a clerical 
friend near Gloucester, having been compelled to swarm on the 1st of ' 
June, was shifted from its original position, on the upper shelf of my 
American bee-house, to a vacant place on the same shelf, three feet 
distant. It was at first carefully closed, to prevent the issue of too many 
bees; but after repeated examinations of the interior condition of the 
hive, finding that the bees continued quiet, I opened the entrance ; 
instead of the usual rush, however, only one or two flew out occasionally 
during the next two or three days, of which, however, not one in ten 
returned. I accounted for it in this way—that, in the first place, the 
young queens (of which there were two still unhatched in the box) were 
in a very forward state, which would have the effect of tran(|uiUizing the 
bees, even though they missed their old queen-mother. The senior of 
these princesses, in fact, issued two or three days later, and is that queen 
alluded to in a former number of The Cottage Gardener, who, after 
continuing sterile for about a month, suddenly became prolific, and laid 
upwards of /.“iO eggs in two days. Secondly, I argued, there must evi¬ 
dently be a great proportio&i of (|uitc young bees just hatched, that had 
not yet ventured much, if at all, abroad. At the end of four or five days, 
however, they became very active ; a few dead nymphs were curried out, 
and the hive became as active as any in the apiary. Instances like the 
above may frequently occur; but, perhaps, in such cases, a combination 
of the above circumstances are necessary. Sometimes it happens that a 
hive is almost entirely deserted by the older bees, especially when a 
delayed prime-swarm issues. In this case, of course, there could not be 
expected a very numerous subsequent issue to rejoin the bees in the old 
stand, as w'hat bees remained, would naturally gather round the infant 
brood of royalty, as well as be stu)>ified by the rapidly-falling tempe¬ 
rature of the hive, until the population has so much increased as to rouse 
them up again. I may add, that I have never possessed an observatorj’- 
hive, such as your correspondent speaks of.” 
Lilies (J. B.). —We should readily give you the desired information 
respecting your Lilies, but do not know what kind of Lilies you are 
speaking of. Send us a specimen of them, and we will set you right. 
Your plant sent, which was given you by an old gardener, is one of the 
best of plants for summer bedding-out in the flow’er-garden. It is a 1 
hardy, greenhouse, under shrub, and roots freely from cuttings. Its i 
name is Cielestma ageratoideSy or Ageratum-like Ccelestina. i 
Bacon Hopper (A Ilalf-pay Officer). —I suppose the Bacon Hopper 
is identical with the Cheese Hopper, Piophila casei (see Cottage Gar- j 
DENER, vol. 4, page 7P) ; but it is curious that our Natural History Insect I 
Books make no mention of its also attacking bacon. If your corres¬ 
pondent rears any flies, I shall be glad of a few specimens, as it may ; 
proveto be one of the other species of the same genus.— J. O. West- 
wood. I 
Orchard. —If your forty-one trees are standards, that is, nearly six 
feet high in the stem, you may by all means plant dwarfs between, but do 
not depend on severe pruning for limitation ; this is downright bad 
gardening. Make platforms not more than fifteen inches deep, to force 
the roots near the surface. We should get the trees on dw arfing-stocks, 
viz., Pears on the Quince, Apples on P.aradise, &c. Mr. Rivers, of Saw- 
bridgeworth, is highly to be relied on, for plants on the dwarfing system. 
Plant the following:— Apples. —Ashmead’s Kernel, Lamb Abbey Pear- 
main, Braddick’s Nonparicl, Hick’s Fancy, Gooseberry Apple, Beauty of 1 
Kent, Pearson’s Plate, Adams’ Pearmain, Golden Reinette, Alfriston, | 
Mank’s Codlin, Kerry Pippin, Fearn’s Pippin, William’s Pippin, King 
of Pippins, Ribston Pippin, John Apple, Keswick Codlin, Dumelow’s 
Seedling. Pears. —Beurre d’Amanlis, Easter Beurre, Dunmore, Ca- 
piamnont, Glout Morceaux, Ne plus Meuris, Beurre Diel. 
Strawberries (.1 Constant Subscriber). — Your strawberries will 
defeat the end in view; they cannot be forced early; might do for a frame 
in February. 
List of Fruit Trees {A Country Parson). —For Dessert Apples : 
Williams’ Pippin, Lamb Abbey Pearmain, Kerry Pippin. For Kitchen 
Apples: Dumelow’s Seedling, Manks’ Codlin, Beauty of Kent, Goose- ! 
berry Apple. Five Sorts of Plums—Fot Dessert: Greengage and Golden 
Drop. And for Tarts: Washington, Magnum Bonum, and Orleans, i 
Your Hollyhocks must be either too young, or hard-worn old plants, or 
the soil is weak. 
Grafting on Upper Side of Branches {Verax), — It is almost 
immaterial how you put the scions in, so long as at least on one side bark 
meets bark once; consequently, the alburnous matter is well in con¬ 
tact. We, in the case of apples, pears, simply cut off a slice, as 
in whip grafting, only horizontal instead of perpendicular, and make a 
slit, as in the whip mode, to steady the graft, taking care to lit one side, 
as before stated. The slice cut must be through the inner bark, and a i 
little way into the w’ood; of course, a similar slice is cut from the scion. 
We believe that Bon Louis Pear is a very old and discarded variety. Wc ! 
