874 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 
Eebhuary ] 0. 
Turnips weighing 19 lbs., aiitl 24 inches in circumference. 
I’otatoes weighing 4^ Ihs., and several sacks of them 
which averaged 8 lbs. each. 
Onions weighing 4i lbs., and 22 inches in circumference. 
Corn 80 feet higli, from a field of five acres, averaging 50 
bushels to the acre. 
Samples of wheat averaging .50 busliels per acre, and 
barley averaging from 75 to 100 bushels per acre. 
Incredible as the above account may seem, it is none tlie 
less true, for most of the products mentioned were seen and 
examined by your correspondent, as much to liis surprise as 
this description of them is to that of your readers. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*«» We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
e.tpense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
the Cottage Gardener, 2^ Arnen Corner, Paternoster Row, London.** 
Error in the Price op No. 226. —Several correspondents have 
written to complain that they were charged four-pence for No. 226 , and 
they may well complain, though not of us, but of our printer, and their 
booksellers. It is quite true that, after finishing the stamped copies, 
which are charged fourpence, the printer for a few copies omitted to 
change the 4 for a 3, and the booksellers, in some instances, have con¬ 
sequently charged fourpence for those copies. This they ought not to 
have done, for if they had looked at their invoices they would have seen 
that those copies were charged to them as retailed at threepence. Every 
subscriber is entitled to have his over-charged penny returned. 
Saponaria Caladrica Culture {Subscriber).—M you sow the seeds 
of Saponaria Calabrica any time in February, in a hotbed, it will vege¬ 
tate in twelve or fifteen days, and be fit to move to a cooler place in three 
weeks from the sowing of the seeds. If you have a good stock of plants 
of it in single pots, and you are pinched for room, you may plant out 
the youne Saponarias close under a south wall, by the middle of April, 
and four inches apart. They may remain so till early in June, or any 
time in May when the beds are free from the autumn-sown annuals. 
Thus treated, the Saponaria begins to bloom a little after Midsummer, 
and will go on slowly and flowering freely until stopped by the frost. It 
will not bear to have any other plant with it. Saponaria ocymoides is a 
very pretty rock or border plant, but one of the moat difficult to manage 
for an amateur. Vou had better have nothing to do with ocymoides for 
a year or two, unless by way of experiment. Jiy that time we are almost 
sure 3 'ou will be able to manage any plant, however difficult to grow, and 
that will be time enough to think about S. elegans and lutea, two which 
we never recommend for general use. 
Greenhouse Cltmders {S. E. S.).—Your “tubs,** about a foot 
square, are only the smallest sized bo.xes that one would use for a Scarlet 
Geranium, and hardly that. They will never do to plant any good 
climber in. Have you never been in the conservatory of the Horticul¬ 
tural Society ? They went to the expense on purpose to convince ama¬ 
teurs like you, that small boxes, troughs, or tubs, are entirely usele .‘<8 to 
grow climbers in. MandeoiHea, for instance, would fill a tub a foot deep, 
as much in width, and at least a yard long, in one season ; flower in it 
the second year; and, perhaps, the third, with abundance of liquid 
manure, but after that you would have nothing but red spiders from it— 
from sheer starvation; and a Mandeviltea, with less than one hundred 
flowers open is hardly worth looking at. The new Troposolums, which 
Jlr. Beaton mentioned lately, are the only plants suited for flowering in 
your tubs in winter; and Acacia prostrata of the nurseries, with the 
smallest kinds of the old Kennedya breed, spoken of by Mr, Fish more 
than once, for summer. 
White Bedding Plant (A Subscriber). —“A bed is to be planted 
with three rows of Tom Thumb Geranium next the outside, and the 
middle with What is the best white flowering plant to 
divide the scarlet from the blue, and be in the proper degree of height 
between Tom and this Salvia ? *’ Here is a concise letter, and much to 
the point, and from a lady correspondent. To be able to subdue the power¬ 
ful effect of three rows of Tom Thumb to the right degree, you must use a 
large white flower, and allow the white to occupy about two feet of space. 
If you can do that, the bed will be all that one could wish. The Shrubs 
land White Petunia is the plant we would use, and we would keep it on 
a little slope, by a little training and pruning, all the season. Any good 
white Petunia will do, however, except the old nyctagynifiora, which is 
too strong for this row. 
Shanghae Eggs (A Lady). —Mr. Sturgeon never sold an egg from 
his fine stock, and probably never will. Buying eggs to breed from is 
but a lottery. “ Long legged, and not sufficiently feathered,’* are two 
points which do not belong to the true qualities of a Shanghae fowl. 
Pray wait till the beginning of March, and take the first number of 
“ The Poultry Book.** 
Flower Garden Plan (An Amateur). —Our space is engaged for 
February and March, and your plan will come in April, with your own 
valuable and practical illustrations of it, &c, 
PORPHYROCOMA LANCEOLATA (AmateuT, Treat it in all 
respects as you would Justicia varnea, or Aphelandra cristata in a young 
state. The best hardy Ferns to plant along a running stream are Pteris 
aquilina, Osmunda regalis, Aspleiiium Tricomanes, and the different 
Aspidiums, as Filix mas, F, fosmina, &c. 
Climbing Boses (J, B . W.). — Your climbing Roses have done 
remarkably well for the first season. Prune them next I\Iarch, as follows: 
Felicite perpetuelle, ten feet high, prune back to four feet, and the 
weakest shoots to three feet. Maria Louise and Rampant, five feet 
high, prune down to the very bottom. The same kinds, eight feet, for 
arching over the walk, prune to two feet. 
Greenhouse and Vinery (W. D. A.). —You will see this has been 
alluded to to-day by Mr. Fish, and will meat with more attention. 
Balsam Sowing (Reading), —Sow the seed not earlier than the end 
of March, or the beginning of April, in a slight hotbed, and harden the 
seedlings off to greenhouse or cold pit treatment earlv, if you wish to have 
fine flowers. Most likely we shall allude more in detail to this subject 
before you commence operations. The sooner you commence before j 
April the more trouble will you have to obtain good flowers and bushy ' 
plants. 
Impregnation op Eggs (Quercus). —The egg is certainly impreg¬ 
nated whilst a mere yolk of very small size in the ovary; and as to the 
time before being laid, it is quite demonstrated that this may be as long 
as three weeks. The following letter, from a poultry-keeper of eminence, 
is, in fact, an answer to your query, though unintentionally:—“With 
reference to the opinion oi * B. P. D.,* in the Cottage Gardener of 
the 27 th of January, my experience would lead me to the belief that 
three weeks is not long enough to insure purity of breed from a hen, 
who had been with one cock and then removed to another. My reason 
for suspecting that chickens from the eggs produced from the second 
cock might (I do not say possess some of the strain of the first, 
consists in the fact, that I once separated a hen from her cock, and an 
egg laid on the 23fd day of her separation produced a chicken. A friend 
of mine also tried the same experiment, and he found the egg of the 
20th day was hatched.—K.’’ 
Black-breasted Red Game Fowl (Raymond). —The queries of 
“ Raymond,** as to the points of merit in the black-breasted red same fowl, 
are best answered by a reference to Mr. Thomas Roscoe’s description, 
communicated to the Rev. E. S. Dixon, and published by him in his 
work on Ornamental and Domestic Poultry. Mr. Iloscoe, it will be re¬ 
membered, had the charge of the late Lord Derby’s birds, which, being 
long considered as the best blood of their race, were emphatically termed 
the Derby Reds. “The cock is a fine round shaped bird, with white 
striped bill; daw eyes and fiery; round and strong neck; fine, round, 
close feathered hackle, with feather points to shoulders ; short, stiff, broad 
hack, close feathered and hard ; tail, long and sickled, well tufted at 
root; wings, round and well prolonged, so as to protect the thighs; 
breast, broad and black ; belly, small and tight in the pinions ; thighs, 
short and thick, well set to the body; legs, long and white; smooth 
insteps; claws, strong; nails, long and white; the comb of a stag is 
rather large and red before being cut; weight, about 5 lbs. The hen 
’s of a fine round shape, in colour resembling a partridge, with daw 
eyes, white legs, toes, and nails, and large and fanned tail.’* We 
have not observed prizes given during the past year to any pens of birds 
that did not match in colour as well as other points, and their difference 
in this respect would be justly considered as disqualifying them alto¬ 
gether.—\V. 
Vines in Pots ( B . H .). —We know of no work upon the subject 
exclusively. 
Feathers (Cochin). —We have some engraved, and shall begin pub- 
lislnng the series, probably, next week. They will not be coloured, of 
course, but they will instruct you in all the distinctions you require 
explained. 
Gold Fish (A New Subscriber). —Can any of our subscribers inform 
us whether there is a publication instructing how gold fish should be 
treated when kept in a glass vase ? 
Poultry (.4n A?/3afe«r).—The best fowls you can keep without fear 
of encroaching upon your neighbour are the Shanghae. The Buff and 
the White are the sub-varieties most in request. 
Poultry Judges (.4 Well-wisher of Poultry Exhibitions). —We do 
not think the objection should be carried as far as you suggest. Every 
judge has a preference for some strain ; but we do not think that he dare 
give a prize to an inferior bird merely because it was of that strain. 
Glossary op Poultry Terms (W. W. W.). —We will see what can 
be done in the way you suggest. 
Space between Raspberries (Nemo). —In so narrow a space as 
three feet between your rows of Raspberries, nothing will grow so well 
as Spinach in a drill up the centre. None of the crops you mention will 
do well there. If your ground is light and well-drained, plant your Ash¬ 
leaved Kidney Potatoes immediately, during open dry weather. 
Foulstone’s Budding Instrument (John Robinson). —We have 
applied ourselves, and can obtain no reply. An advertisement from the 
makers will, perhaps, appear one of these days. 
Names of Plants ( A . M . L.), —Stove plants—No. 1 , Bromelia, but 
cannot name the species; 4 , Zygopetalum Mackayi. Mesembryanthe- 
mums—No. 1, M. inclaudens; 2 , M. blandum; 3, M. aureum ; 4, M. 
coccineum; 5, M. acutangulum; 6 , Linum fiavum ; 7 , Chrysocoma 
comaurea? 8 , Iberis semperflorens; 9, Cheiranthus mutabilis, war. longU 
folius ? The rest unknown to us. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
SoMSRViLLB Orr, at the Office, No. 2 , Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Church, City of London.**February 10th, 1663. 
