THK COTTAGK GATIDKNKK. 
INTarch 10. 
TiO 
to an article which seems to have escaped his notice, at page 272 of the 
present volume.—W. li. Tegetmeier, Tottenham.'] 
Heating A Small Greenhouse (A Lover of my Garden). —No mode 
can be better for you, we think, than that of which ne give a drawing 
and description to-day. 
Crowing Hen {Chirhen-hearted). —Your hen which has not laid since 
you bought her, and which attempts to imitate the cockerels crowing, 
must be very old and barren. If so there is no remedy. 
Propagating by Heaves {E. /i., a new Suhscriher). —With due 
care you can carry on the process in your sitting-room, under a tumbler ; 
i)ury half the section of the leaf in the sand. You may cut the leaf 
across as you suggest. Each piece can be made to grow. Vou will find 
very full particulars in The Cotta^'e Gardeners* Dictionary, under the 
title “ Cuttings.** 
Back Numbers (FI. Kirka/dy). —You can have all the numbers of 
The Cottage Gardener you mention, but you will have to pay five- 
pence each for them, if you require them to be sent by post. 
Horticultural and Pomoi.ogical (Alpha). —You are quite right 
when you “ understand, that by becoming a member of the ‘ Horticul- 
I tural and Pomological Association,* you can be supplied with all the 
seeds, llorists* dowers, fruit trees, ike., that you require, the same as if 
you were to send an order to a nursery and seedsman; and that you 
can have the whole at a di?‘Count of 10 per cent lower than what you 
have been in the habit of paying.” The Society offers great advantages 
to emigrants, in procuring for them, from various sources, the seeds, 
cuttings, and buds they require. 
SiiANGiiAE Chickens (S. P.). —Yes; there abundance of these 
“ kept alive, though hatched since last Christmas.” We see twenty 
of them daily. They are more than usually liable at this season to lose 
the use of their legs; but, if kept in a dry, cool place—heat excites 
them too much — with plenty of sand and lime rubbish to scratch 
among, and with such diet as egg boiled hard, Indian meal, scalded 
rice, scalded grits, and wheat crushed, they will do very well. Of course, 
as you warriors say, there will be more ‘‘casualties** than in more 
favourable seasons, llemember to give the chickens some green food to 
pick daily. 
Beks — Ruined Comb (T. Roberts). —The only chance of saving the 
bees, in vhose hive the combs have been broken down, is to leave them 
alone. They will take the honey from the cells, and then, when the 
spring arrives, you can clear away the ruins from the door-board. Take 
care that the entrance is not blocked up. 
Standard Plums (C. J. N.). —You do not say for what purpose you 
require them, we therefore give four of each as best for you. Dessert. — 
Green Gage, Purple Gage, Kirke’s, and Royal Hative. Preserving, — 
Denyer’s Victoria, Orleans, Goliath, and White Magnum Bonum. 
Re.ndell’s Tank (A. P.).—If “perfectly tight,** the evaporation 
should be next to nothing ; but if covered with slate, there will be consi¬ 
derable absorption and evaporation. Can any of our readers say what 
daily waste of water ought to occur in such a tank lined with lead, and 
iGft. long by 4ift. wide? 
Caponizing (T. il/.). —You will find very full particulars in the new 
and very recent edition of Richardson’s The Doynestic Fowl, The price 
of a cover for a volume of The Cottage Gardener is Is. 3d. 
Botanical Terms (Quercits). —We recommend you to buy that ex¬ 
cellent little book Henfrey*s Rudiments of Botany. The following 
extract from it explains the three words concerning which the books you 
quote disagree:—“The insertion of organs signifies the place from whence 
they apparently arise, and when adherence takes place this differs very 
much. When the organs, such as the stamens, arise distinctly from the 
receptacle, they are Hypogyywus— below the germen. When the corolla 
and calyx adhere to the germen, the stamens appear to arise from the 
I toj) of the germen, and which insertion is called Kpigynoiis~upon the 
I germen. If they adhere to the corolla or calyx while the latter are free 
1 from the germen, they are Perigynous—around the germen.** In the 
I Buttercup, the stamens are hypogynous •, in the Strawberry, they are 
! perigynous ; and in Fennel, epigynotis. 
\ Sheep Barking Trees (A Subscriber from the first). —To prevent 
! this, we think the safest and most enduring remedy would be to put a 
piece of small-meshed iron netting, three feet wide, loosely round each 
stem. 
Weight op Dorking Fowls. — Dr. Hitchman, of lilickleovcr, near 
Derby, says—“Owing to local circumstances, your interesting periodical 
iloes not reach me until nearly a week after its publication ; and it is only 
now that I have read your statement to ‘ Charlotte Elizabeth,* that the 
cock bird of the Dorking breed ought not to weigh less than 10 lbs. This 
statement is calculated to mislead, and also to produce dissatisfaction 
and disappointment in a manner that you may not have contemplated. 
Supposing ‘ C. E.*, acting under your advice, writes to a breeder of 
' ‘Dorkings,* and has sent to her a handsome bird of good weight— 
I namely, 8 lbs,—will she not feel that she has been unfairly dealt with by 
the breeder, and be angry and miserable accordingly ? As an amateur, 
I and breeder of the Dorking fowl, I protest against this error. A Dorking 
cock weighing 9 lbs. is a first-rate bird ; and I am sure that the average 
' weight of male Dorkings, in the best show in England, will not exceed 
that weight, and it is with averages that you should deal in your editorial 
responses to such queries. Remember, Mr. Editor, that your ‘Notices 
to Correspondents* are read greedily, and that your reply to ‘C. E.* is 
( information to thousands. I hope your ‘ Poultry Book,* which I look 
forward to with interest, will not propagate this error. You must have 
^ been thinking of your pet ‘ Shanghaes * when you gave out 10 lbs. to your 
' fair correspondent as the minimum weight with which she should be 
contented in the Dorking fowl. You write that the hen should weigh 
7 lbs. I have no fault to find with this statement, but three pounds is an 
unusual difierence in the weight of the two scxca of this breed. I infer 
you are not alluding to the specimens in your reply to ‘ C. E.,* j 
because many hen birds at Birmingham weighed heavier than 7 lbs.; the 
heaviest weighed 8A lbs., and I possess hen birds still heavier than this; 
but I Ijave no hen of whatever weight that is throe pounds less WMght 
than a male bird of tlie same age. I think you will admit that there is 
no higher authority on the Dorking fowl than Blr. Bailey, of Grosvenor- ' 
street, and he states that 7i lbs. is the average of the best strains.** We 
readily bow to the authority of Mr. Bailey and Dr. Hitchman, and fully 
assent to their statement of the avet'age weight of Dorkings. \Vc in¬ 
tended no more than to point out to “ Charlotte Elizabeth ” the weights 
she should aim at. Dorking cocks of lU lbs., and Dorking hens of 7 Ib.s., 
are to be had ; and, therefore, with less weights we ought not to be 
content. We admit that they are rare, and Captain Hornby, writing on 
the point, says—“They will not once in a hundred good birds come up 
to thqse weights. I have only 07ie cock and one hen weighing your 
weights.’* 
Cross between the Pheasant and Fowl. — J. C. says “ I have 
observed a statement in your paper, that a cross between the pheasant 
and the fowl never was, nor ever will be. I must beg to say that I can 
assure you to the contrary, as I was eye-witness, twenty-nine years ago, 
to two birds being reared between a cock pheasant and a common hen, i 
such as you may see in any farm-yard ; and they were very fine, healthy, 
and strong. Any further particulars that may be considered worth 
inquiring on the subject, I shall be happy to give to the best of my 
knowledge.” j 
Egg-eating Pullet (L. il/.).—Very seldom is the morbid appetite 
you complain of overcome. One similar instance, however, was success- j 
fully treated by a friend of ours. An egg was boiled bard ; a portion of ! 
the frhell removed, its contents mixed with a strong dose of mustard, and ! 
then replaced. The hen commenced her repast as usual, but the highly- j 
seasoned dish did not please her, and the evil practice was subsequently 
abandoned. The cure, however, is rarely effected; and this case is pro¬ 
bably a rare exception.—W. 
Height of the Upright Oak (P. B.). — The u])nght Oak (Quercus 
pedunculata fastigiata) grows as fast as our common oak, under similar 
circumstances, and when grafted, as is generally done; but we had it true 
from seeds, gathered in the Pyrenees, and the plants rose considerably 
faster than any of the British Oaks for the first ten years. Some of these 
seedlings were quite as upright as the Turin or Lombardy Poplar, from 
this rigid form others of the same batch of seedlings departed, in various 
degrees, down to the “ Knarled Oak.” Hence it follows, that if grafts 
are taken from the best and most upright varieties, this singular oak will 
grow fast, and always keep to the upright habit. From twenty to thirty 
feet high is the general run in good deep dry soils. 
Fastigiate Elm (Ibid). —This is also a fast-growing tree, and grows 
quite upright, with curiously twisted leaves, and it altogether a very re¬ 
markable plant. What may be the habit of either this or the upright 
o.ak, when the trees are old, we cannot say. Perhaps some correspondent 
will answer that, and also mention the highest tree of each he knows. 
Thanks for the shortness of your letter. 
Vine gnawed by a Dog (M. 5.).— We are sorry to hear your pro¬ 
mising Vine was so knawed by an unpromising cur, that you had to resort 
to the healing art for bandaging ; but, first of all, the bruised parts ought 
to have been carefully removed. Tlie bandage is very good. If a shoot 
offers to come from below the wound next summer, it will be a sign that 
the dog went too far, and you must tie up this bottom shoot very care¬ 
fully to form the future Vine. 
Roses near London (Scrutator). —The best Standard Roses to grow 
near London, are— Madame Laf'ay, William Jesse, Mrs. Elliot, and 
Baron Prevost. They ought to be planted immediately, in pits twenty 
inches deep and thirty inches across; the first foot of the bottom to be 
filled with best rotten dung, one-half, and one-half fresh good loam, 
mixed ; then plant with fresh soil or loam, without any dung, in imme¬ 
diate contact with the roots ; then put a good layer of rotten dung on the 
top for mulching; prune close; stake well, and give a good watering 
once a-week from the middle af May till August; and, if you can get it, 
use weak liquid-manure each time; for without such stimulus you will 
not succeed so near London. 
Lameness in Dorkings (Uorstead), —The Dorkings are peculiarly 
liable to become lame, from their weight and the possession of an extra 
toe. Lameness is more apt to occur when their roosting perches are i 
high than when not more than three or four feet from the ground. Since | 
my perches have been lowered I have had much less lameness. \^’hcn 
they fly down from a height they come with great force on the ground, ; 
and this constantly repeated concussion leads to a chronic inflammation, 
and thickening of the tendons and joints of the feet, which constitutes i 
the disease frequently, but erroneonsly, termed gout. I doubt if any 
treatment is likely to prove successful in this complaint; the prevention i 
is better than cure. Lameness frequently arises from corns, which I have [ 
found are readily removed with a sharp-pointed penknife, after the feet i 
have been well soaked in the wet grass on a rainy day ; they are much I 
less readily extracted when the feet are dry.—\V. B. Tegetmeier, ' 
Tottenham, j 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Pariah of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London,—March 10th, 1853. 
