INfARCII 17. 
TfTE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
471 
i Injuring Plants by Fumigating (TF. X. lP^).->-\Ve are exceed- 
I ingly sorry that your second smoking should have so injured your green¬ 
house plants; but we are not of your opinion that the disaster was owing 
to the plants having been watered between the two respective nights of 
fumigating, because we have often done so without experiencing such a 
result. We should be more inclined to suppose that the dose of smoke 
was too strong, or too hot, or that some extraneous matter was in the 
tobacco. If the last case is not the real one, we should think shade and 
syringing would bring the plants round. We like to smoke plants when 
their leaves are dry, because when wet many small flics are covered by 
the moisture, and thus escape. 
Grafted Orange Tree looking sickly (A Suhanribei'), —This is 
in a six-inch pot, and a foot high. If the soil is at all unhealthy, turn 
the hall out of the pot, pick away most of the earth without injuring any 
of the frcsli roots, but cutting olf any decayed ones. Put the plant in a 
similar or smaller pot, drain well, and then put it in sandy flbry loam 
and peat, with a little charcoal, and then place it for a month or two in 
your cucumber frame. If you have not got one, defer the process for a 
month, and then, after adopting the treatment we have recommended, 
keep the plant in a warm corner of the greenhouse. 
Pigeons (.*1. G. P.). —To introduce carriers, tumhlers, and nuns into 
a dovecote occupied with common pigeons would be a measure of doubt¬ 
ful prudence. General hostility would be manifested against the new 
comers; and even were this overcome, and they were allowed to breed in 
peace, there would be great hazard at the intermixture of their ]>rngcny 
with the former tenants. Besides which, fancy pigeons would require a 
more generous diet than would pay for the dovecote birds, which incur 
so many risks in seeking their food abroad. Well-bred carriers are wortli 
from ofc'J 10s. to ^2 ; tumblers from 10s. to ^^5 ; and nuns from 12s. to 
.■€\. To buy young l)irds is the safest plan, especially if they come from 
the neighbourhood; but old birds, if confined till they have young, 
seldom evidence any wish to leave their new abode. Witli carriers, as 
might he supposed, there would be the greatest difficulty. Any dealer 
can supply you. 
Egg-eati.ng Hen {Amateur^ Great FamoMf/i).—The remedies you 
have had recourse to in the attempt to cure your hen of her cgg-cating 
propensities arc those most likely to have liecn successful, saving only 
the immersion in cold v- .ter ; the probable effect of which would be 
rather to create disease ti..m do away with a had habit; nor can we advise 
the Scotch snuff. In fact, this habit is rarely overcome; and whatever 
the original cause, few, very few, instances of successful treatment are 
on record.—W. 
Coloured Everlasting Flowers {J. P. K. C.). —The everlasting 
flowers seen in.the .seed-shops in London are a species of Gnnphalium, 
most likely G. marglrtalnceum. They arc dyed, but bv what process or 
mode we cannot ascertain. It is a trade secret. They are dyed in 
France. 
Ranunculus Planting (TEViO-—Y ou need not be alarmed; there is 
time enough to plant your Ranunculuses yet; and as warm weather has 
set in very pleasantly upon us, they will bloom (juite as well as if they 
had l)een ])Ianted a fortnight ago. Auricula and Fuchsia seeds sown now 
will, if well managed, bloom next year. Wc cannot tell why your Ht/a- 
cinths have not bloomed well thU year. If you could see Rlr. Appleby’s 
nowin bloom at Uxbridge, you would say they were splendid—some of 
them have five perfect spikes from one i)ulb. Your’s must have been 
either badly managed, or the bulb.s have been exhausted ones. 
Hyacinths with many Offsets (F. //.).—Hyacinths in glasses are 
I not more liable to produce offsets than tliosc in pots, or in the open 
1 ground; the offsets arc formed between the lower scales the season 
I previously. 
j Turfing Vine-borders {Jhid). —These may be turfed over, but they 
I arc better without such covering, because they sometimes require mulch- 
i ing wifli leaves or littery manure through the winter, which cannot lie 
applied if the borders are turfed; besides, the turf impoverishes the 
border greatly, and, consequently, injures the Vines. If the Vines are 
not forced early, the borders may be turfed with imjmnity. 
Poinsettia pulcherima (A Vountr Pcfcinner). —Your Poinseffiu 
pulrherima has three jioor shoots, and as many leaves. You had better 
let it flower, and cut it down after it has bloomed ; then keep it rather 
dry in the pot: repot it in May, and grow it slowly near the glass till the 
autumn ; it will then bloom better. It is not a proper plant to place 
in your heated bed. 
Hedychium Gardnerianum (Jhid). —This will answer well to plant 
out. The old shoots that have flowered should be cut down annually. 
It requires a short season of rest in winter, which may 1)0 induced by 
withholding water. In the conservatory at Chiswick, there is a fine spe¬ 
cimen planted out in the border which flowers strongly every year. This 
house is not a stove nor a greenhouse, but intermediate between the two. 
Sowing Pelargonium Seed (IF. H. O.).—Tlie reason why Pelar¬ 
gonium seed should be sown in March is, because, if sown as soon as 
gathered, the plants would be so tender that they would perish in the 
winter. Follow up Mr. Appleby’s directions, and your seedlings will 
be safe. 
Summer Duck {R. E.). —This is Querqiiedula sponsa, the American 
Summer-/^'M/, which has bred, we believe, at the Zoological Gardens, 
and is said to be of very domestic habits. 
Arranging Colours in Flower-beds {E. S. F.). —Capital idea, 
.and a practical refutation of the old saying, “That there is nothing new 
under the sun.” Here is a set of flower-beds represented on a page of 
post paper by common wafers, such as they used for letters in olden 
times; eacli wafer is of the colour or tint of the flower of a certain bedding 
plant with which the bed, represented by that wafer, is intended to !)(» 
planted. A few dozens of wafers, in fire, distinct colours, and in a dozen 
of shades, placed almost at random on the corner of the breakfast-table, 
would learn one more real sense about the value of just arrangements in 
flowers, than a honk of the largest size full of descriptions. Shift the 
wafers about till you make a picture to your own niiiul; then fix them 
in their ))laccs, and plant accordingly. Tvvo or three trials, or perhaps 
the first, will satisfy any one with his or her own work, and if so, the 
rest of the world has nothing to do in the matter. Gardening has been 
extended, not curtailed, in our jiages since we enlarged for Poultry 
Bees, and other departments. Surely one with such an excellent contri¬ 
vance for arranging flowers, would not desire that other folks who like 
bees, fowls, and all sorts of rational and innocent pleasure, as well as 
flowers, should not be gratified. 
Planting Beds (Ibid). —You should add some fresh soil to all your 
beds. On an average, all the plants you name should be inserted about 
six inches apart each way, and nine inches would do if you had annuals 
ready to put into the spare places. 
Back Numbers (Ibid). —All the numbers you mention, or rather anp 
of our back numbers, can be obtained at our office. Your bookseller is 
totally wrong in his information. 
Bed of Brdgmansias (L. M. N.), —Such beds as those described in 
TftE Cottage Gardener for .lunc 13, ISTfO, may be made at any time, 
if you can hear of old plants of Brugmansias to he sold. The officers of 
tho. Eorticulfural and Pomofogical Association, if you belong to it, will 
pro]>abIy find them for you. 
Calceolarias in Shades (S. S.). —Trefoil-shaped beds will do well 
for giving three tints of Calceolaria colour, as caclj kind can occupy a lobe, 
or division. Your large bed should be planted with a mixture of three ; 
kinds, as Agerntum for a centre hod ; then a broad ring of Scarlet Gera- ' 
edged with some low white plant. That way it would match the ^ 
otlicr large bed at little cost; but a better arrangement still would be, a | 
centre of the Salmon Gernnhim, then two circles of Compactum Gera¬ 
nium, and two more with Tom Thumb. There are not kinds cnongli yet 
in the market to fill up com])letc shading; and l.asily, if you could hit 
off a real shot-silk bed, it would be best of all for that part, hut many 
good gardeners cannot do that. After all, the safest way will be to use 
your own Commande.r-in-Chief Geranium for a centre, with a broad befit 
! of Jlcliotrope round it, with a row of Collinsia hicolor to fill up the 
outside till the Heliotrope spreads. This Collinsia should be sown round 
the bed about the 10th of April. 
Begonia Seeds (TF. H.). —You misunderstood the import of the 
passage. It is not necessary to have the seed-pot in the dark, only the 
soil in it where the seeds are in ; but when you cover a pot or a dozen of 
them with an old “T/wes,” the ])ots must necessarily be darkened or 
shaded by the paper. It was in addition to this common plan that 
pieces of glass arc to be laid across sccd-pots of most stove seeds that 
are very small, in order to keep the air about them as uniform as 
possible, and damp enough to stimulate vegetation. 
Striking Gloxinia Leaves {Ibid). —The Dahlia leaf might grow 
from the footstalk like the Gloxinia leaf, but if it does no one knows it. 
Try, and be the first to make the discovery yourself, and let us hear all 
about it. 
Garden Plan (A Reginner). —Wc never wTite private letters to 
public correspondents ; if we did, we must keep a private secretary, and 
about twelve or fifteen clerks, with a few assistants occasionally, when 
the clerks were overworked. We are much struck wfith the beauty of 
your terrace, the flower-garden, and, indeed, with all the arrangement 
about the house and grounds; hut we might just lead you wrong, as 
soon as not, by attempting to plant your beds and grounds unless w'e 
were on the spot. We would plant none but standards of hybrid per¬ 
petual Roses along the terraces, and on the flower-garden side we would 
have them in pairs of one sort. As 2 Madame Lafi'ap, 2 Duchess of 
Sutherland, 2 Tiarnn Prevnst, 2, 4, or fl of Geant des BafniHes, 2 Dr. 
Marks, 2 Standard of Marengo, 2, of Austerlits; and at the top of the 
steps, the last 2, we would have in half standards of Mrs. KHint Standard. 
Tlic large circle in the middle plant with the 3 blue Lupines. Without a 
good stock of plants, you must be content this year with annuals of all 
kinds, and sow in April, May, and June, as we often advised, and then 
transplant. 
Stauntonta latifolia (Mrs. R.). —All our readers ought to know 
that wc must not puldicly state where plants, 8:e., are to beliad; but, 
without doing injustice to any one, we may say that we took two plants 
of Stauntonia in a collection of 300 plants, which averaged one shilling 
each, and we think this fine evergreen climber might be sold, in single 
plants, under 2s. 6d. each, if there was a good demand for it, and that 
we think we can vouch for till everybody has it. But recollect the 
flowers are good for nothing. Read Mr. Beaton’s account of it again. 
Hints and Questions (H. C.). — J. Scarlet Geraniums — Tom 
Thumbs. “ These I keep in the winter with less trouble than I observe 
some of your correspondents take. I take them out of the ground, 
thoroughly shake off the soil, hang them up by the heels in a cellar, by 
the dozen, and they are alive and well for the spring. (Two conditions 
arc absolutely requisite for the success of this plan—perfect dryness and 
exemption from frost.) Arc there any other plants that will hear this 
unceremonious treatment? (Not that v/e know of.) 2. Ilpacinths, Pot 
Tulips, and Narcissus. Carbonate of ammonia, dissolved in the water, 
about a dram to the gallon, always improves them. May this manure he 
used indiscriminately for other window plants ? (No doubt of it.) Ver¬ 
benas. Is there any mode of keeping these over the winter ? If I leave 
them out-of-doors, they do not live. If I take them into the house, they 
die. (They must be raised from cuttings annually; old plants taken up 
almost alw’ays die with every one. A few plants kept in pots all the 
summer, to get cuttings from in the spring, is the easiest way.) Mu,st 
they die, and be annually placed? (Certainly.) Poinsettia pulcherrima. 
I cut mine down in December, when the leaves were falling. Should it 
not have been spared, to give the beautiful bracts a chance of apj)earing? 
When may we despair of them ? Are the older or the younger plants the 
likeliest to throw them out? (You cut it four months too soon; the 
place was too cold for it. else it would not cast the leaves in December 
without flowering April is the best time to cut it; and old plants will 
do l)ctter with young beginners, and young plants will be best with old 
gardeners.) Myrtles. I have two that will not flower—what would im¬ 
prove them ? They laek uo attention, and are of the flowering specie.^. 
^ We cannot .say, as you did not state whether they were growing most 
luxuriant, or looking anything hut comfortable.) Is anything known of 
a Cape plant called ? I have plants of it, from seeds, and can 
get no flowers either in stove or greenhouse. (Your Cape plant is 
