TITK COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Eki^huatiy o. 
1 
P,r,4 
Chinese, or any othor Azaleas gathered at random. CJive them to some 
friend going to Australia. 
Arbor vit/e Seeds (Ibid), —When you see the seed-pods hcgin to 
crack the seeds are ripe; this is generally in April. At whatever time 
the seed is ripe, that is the best time to sow it ; and do so in loamy soil, i 
in fiat pans, and cover one-fourth-of-an-inch. Then place the pans in a j 
cold frame, and look after them as you would after a pan of cauliflower ! 
seedlings. | 
IIeatu Cuttings There is no composition for preserving the 1 
hottoni of heath-cuttings, or any other cuttings, from decaying. Mr. | 
Fish, in some of our former volumes, gave the best and newest directions i 
for rooting heath cuttings; and the best of the old authors on cuttings is | 
Cushing, who was once a propagator “in Lee’s Nursery,’* and who could i 
strike anything. | 
Characteristics op Silver-pencilled Hamburghs (iY. P.). — j 
The Silver-pencilled Hamburgh cock should have a bright rose comb, i 
erect and regular, carried well back to a point; head fine, with a short 
hill. His colour should he clear white ; wings and tail alone excepted; ' 
the former should he regularly barred, a great test of purity ; the latter 
full, with the sickle feathers of great length, and of rich metallic black. 
In a perfect specimen we would admit no appearance of white in the tail. 
But this is seldom attained. The hen displays the peculiarities of this 
variety, as to plumage, to a much greater degree than the male bird. 
Her hackle, and some portion of the lower part of the body—the less of j 
the latter the better—is white; any stain, indeed, in her neck hackle | 
would he fatal; the rest of her plumage, to the extremities of the tail, | 
sliould be regularly j*encilled, ?. c., each feather should be distinctly j 
marked with at least four parallel bars of black, about one-sixth-of-an- 
inch in width; the extremities of the tail is often furnished by a some¬ 
what broader band of the same colour. Any running of the colours one 
into another is objectionable, especially when they are so blended as to i 
produce the appearance of what is commonly called the Silver-moss 
fowl, an appellation which bespeaks its origin. Both sexes should j 
have clean, pale blue legs, and any appearance of feather on them at i 
once disqualifies; their carriage is erect, and appearance emphatically 
neat. 
Scarlet Geraniums {Subscriber^ Isle of Man).—Tom Thumbs, 
Superbs, and ^« 2 ;yerors, being potted from the borders as late as No¬ 
vember, and kept almost dry in a room, the shoots are now green w'ith 
very few leaves, and the puzzle is how to go on with them from the early 
part of February. It so happens, that wc ourselves have some Gera¬ 
niums in the same state, and others, that were not taken up from the 
borders till the 10th of January, are the same. We mean to water them ; 
at least, keep the mould in the pots moist from this time, to encourage 
young roots to come. About the middle, or towards the end of March, 
we shall cut them all down to within a joint or two of the old wood, and 
make cuttings of every morsel we cut off. We have only a very dry 
greenhouse, and then the cuttings must take their chance. Some 
hundreds which we put in last September are now beginning to root 
nicely. 
Pruning Ivy {J. G.). —The best time to trim Ivy is the moment it 
throws out breast-wood from the upright wood which clings to the wall. 
This breast-wood is what gives beauty to Ivy planted against trees and 
ruins; but when it is intended to secure brickwork from the weather, 
damp, &c., it must be kept constantly close to the wall, otherwise it is 
apt to ruin a wall by drawing water to it. If you have any of your Ivy ; 
hanging out from the wall, pray cut it in close early in April, and never < 
allow it to come so again; by looking over Ivy once a month during the | 
summer, and cutting back all breast-wood, and thinning the leaves t 
where they are too thick, it will last a great many years, and keep the 
wall perfectly dry. September is the best time to put in cuttings of Ivy} 
])ut the truth is, you can plant cuttings of it all the year round, if you 
water them in dry, hot weather. February, and to the end of April, is 
not at all a bad time for planting the cuttings. 
Soil {A Countryman). —The soil you sent us will not grow any of the 
Rhododendron or Azalea tribes. It is very good, however, for almost 
any kind of trees and large shrubs, and to mix with poor land for 
corn crops. 
Magnolia grandiflora (Ibid). —This will not grow from cuttings. 
If any of the branches are so low as to admit of layering you can grow 
as many plants of it as you have branches fit for layers. Lay them next 
April, as Mr. Beaton said lately, and next October twelve months you 
will have good rooted plants fit to cut from the mother plant. Kven if they 
se^m rooted enough at the end of twelve months, and you cut them off, 
you will lose time in the long run. 
Black Siianghaes. —“E. M. begs to inform “T. A.’* he is decidedly 
mistaken in his opinion as to there being no black Shanghae fowls in 
England, as E. M. has at the present moment a very fine one. Her eggs 
are very dark. E. M. received her black hen, with others of various 
plumage, a remembrance from her husband (last month), who is captain 
of an English clipper ship in the China trade. “ T. A.” says, * Imported is 
so commonly used with reference to China fowls, that it goes for nothing.’ 
He must also be aware there are exceptions to every rule, in consideration 
of which E. M. begs he will receive her intelligence as something to be 
credited.” 
Gangrened Fancy Geraniums {Troublesome). —They have been 
under very favourable circumstances, but they die off between the young 
and the old wood, the parts either turning black, or shrivelling. We 
cannot conceive how that particular malady could appear under the 
circumstances, and we rather think that something bad at the roots has 
killed all the bottoms, although the symptoms did not appear till death 
entered the young parts. We have known geraniums to keep green at 
this season long after the roots were dead. If this is not the case with 
yours, you are better off than we venture to expect; at any rate, cut 
[ away all dead and decayed parts down to sound living wood at once, 
and try to raise fresh plants by cuttings of the tops which you take off. 
A\ork on Pigeons {W. J. M.). —We do not know of any good one. 
Bottom-heat for Cuttings (.4 Subscriber). —A temperature of 80° 
in the plunging material will he abundant for this purpose. We know 
of no separate work on the sulqeet. 
Advertisement (Jonathan). —Send it to our office (Amen Corner, 
Paternoster Row), and you will be informed the charge before it is in¬ 
serted, if you so request. 
Classifying Poultry {Ashbockhig). — We fear that however de¬ 
sirable in some respects, it would be very difficult and objectionable in 
others; and we do not know where the judge is who would undertake 
the task. 
Poultry Show Rules.— C. S. W. wc have no doubt could obtain 
those of Birmingham, by writing to the Secretary, Mr. J. Morgan; and 
tliose of the Metropolitan of its Secretary, Mr. Houghton, the Oval, 
Kennington. 
White Siianghaes. —Mr. James Cattell, of Mosely, near Birming¬ 
ham,‘obliges us by saying :—“ In reply to “ T. A.,” relative to the ))ure 
White Shanghae fowls, I have a cock and hen brought direct from there 
by Capt. Darke, last May. They were seen, immediately I got them 
home, by Mr. Bissell, of Birminglium, a well-known judge of poultry, 
and also by many amateurs in the neighbourhood. Capt. Darke at the 
same time brought over some White Silk or Negro fowls to W. S. 
Partrige, Esq., of Birmingham. A friend of Capt. D.’s, and I went 
on board for the fowls, they have never been out of my possession .since, 
and I shall be happy to show them to anybody who may wish to see 
them.” 
Cooking Fern Shoots. —Capt. Beauchamp Walker, of Redland, 
near Bristol, has obliged us with the following note: —“ In answer to a 
question in your number of January 20th, us to the use of Fern shoots as 
a vegetable, I beg to inform you that they are in constant use in the 
British North American province of New Brunswick. I have often eaten 
them there, and thought them very nearly, if not quite, as good as Aspa¬ 
ragus. The extract trom Hue’s Travels in Tartary quoted, is exactly 
dc.scriptive of the qualities and mode of use of this vegetable.” 
Bacon-hopper. — A Half-pay Officer s:iys: “ I do not wonder at the 
works on Natural History not mentioning the Bacon-hopper attacking 
bacon, for it is only in that which is not well cured that it is ever found. 
It is most generally found round the bone in the gammon and in the 
shoulder, ivhen left in the meat, in consequence of which, the most expe« 
rienced curers of bacon have those bones removed as close down to the 
hock as possible, when the butcher is cutting-up the hog into flitches, 
&c.; and filling the vacant space with salt and saltpetre render it proof 
against their attacks; it has, however, occasionally been found in the 
fat part of the belly, but only, I believe, when there has been a great 
deficiency both of salt and of care in turning, &c., previous to its being 
placed on the rack to dry. I am also greatly obliged to I\Ir. W’^estwood 
for his reference to Vol. IV., as not being a cheese-eater, 1 had entirely 
forgotten it; I now recollect that fly, or one so nearly resembling it, that 
an unscientific person like myself would not be aware of the difference, 
frequently crawling or running over my book while reading. I shall note 
its first appearance with interest.” Please to send specimens of the flies 
to I. O. Westw'ood, Esq., Brunswick Cottages, Hammersmith. 
Names of Plants {Alpha). — 1, Mahonia Aquifolium; 2, Andro¬ 
meda axillaris; 3, Rhododendron Catawbiense (?); 4, Laurus nobilis 
(the Sweet Bay); 5, Vebernum variety; 6, Viburnum Tinus (Laures- 
tinus); 7, Quercus sp., we think, Gramuntia; 8, Something in the 
w’ay of Cratoegus crusgalli variety, but uncertain ; send us this in bloom 
and we will set you right; 9, Buxus sempervirens (Box); 10, Cytisus 
hirsutus; 11, Rhainnus alatcrnus ; 12, Uncertain, send us this when in 
bloom; 13, Buxus sempervirens, variety variegata; 13, Bucldlea globosa; 
15, Rhododendron hirsutum variegatum. 
J. B. W. —Vour Orchid is Oncidium roseum. 
Tubers of Tropceolum edulb {W. D.). —Can any of our readers 
say how these ought to be cooked. 
Cinerarias, &c. {A. M. L.). —All your Cinerarias are robust, showy 
flowers, and will be good border flowers. The only two likely to succeed 
as exhibition flowers, are the white one (No. 4), and the Albert blue 
one, with the lilac circle round the eye. This is very beautiful. The 
flower is small, but good in other points ; it is likely to be an acquisition. 
Names of the plants next week. 
Pigeons {W. Birkenhead), —The pigeons that would be most suitable 
for the purposes you require would be the Runts, and their near rela¬ 
tions the Trumpeters ; both handsome in plumage, the latter es])ecially 
so, and, moreover, very productive; but the Runts are not always found 
such good breeders. These should be the main stock, as, being of great 
size, they form a valuable addition to any bill of fare. If you wished for 
further variety, the Dragons—a cross between the Carrier and Pouter— 
might suit you; they are hardy, and attain considerable size. The house 
need not be fitted-up with any complex arrangement of nesting boxes; 
for if shelves be placed, in proportion to the number of pigeons kept, 
around the sides, fifteen inches wide, and one foot apart, with partitions 
every eighteen inches, to keep the breeding birds separate, further ex¬ 
pense need not be incurred. Many fanciers use earthenware saucers, 
about eight inches in diameter, and two inches deep, for nests, and the 
birds take to them readily. A concrete floor would be easily swept, 
and prove a protection against vermin. The “self-feeding-troughs” 
we have never used. Your place would be convenient 
for the birds till they are accustomed to their new home, w’hen wc 
presume you will give them their liberty. You may, indeed, keep 
them confined, but they will seldom do so well, and their cost is consi¬ 
derably increased, even in those kinds which, like those we have recom- 
mended, seldom go far from home. Any dealer could at once supply you. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orb, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London.—February 3rd, 1853. 
