THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
j December 4. 
supply of vegetables every day will serve, in a geat measure, 
to prevent their thirsting, besides keeping their bowels in 
j good order. 
j It is a good plan to measure them every week, by placing 
a tape round their body, close to their fore legs ; and although 
many persons will pretend to give you them weight by this 
means, it cannot be depended on,—the object to be gained 
is that you may see how they improve every week. They 
ought to increase at least an inch to an inch-and-a-half each 
week. If you have the means of weighing them, so much 
the better. Youatt reckons in both fat and lean pigs, 201bs. 
live weight equal to 121b. to 141b. when killed. 
Slammed milk (if to spare, for pigs always answer best 
where cows are kept) and at first middlings; in the course 
of a week or two to be changed to barley-meal, with a feed 
of corn every day, is the best. But all slops or messes of 
every kind must be avoided. Skimmed milk and pea, oat, or 
barley-meal, rank first in point of excellence with respect to 
quality of flesh. Corn-fed pork is next in value—peas, oats, 
and barley, being the best adapted grain. Bean-led pork is 
hard and ill-flavoured. -Pofiifo-l'ed is loose, insipid, weighs 
light, and wastes much in cookery. To mix potatoes in the 
food of fattening pigs is deceptive, deteriorating the pork 
in exact proportion. Clover- fed pork is yellow, unsubstantial, 
and ill-tasted. Fattened on acorns, it is hard, light, and 
unwholesome; on oil-cake, it becomes loose, greasy, and 
little better than carrion. But the food must depend in a 
great measure on local circumstances. There are often things 
to be obtained in one part of the country which in other 
parts are not used; the best plan is, to consult the custom of 
the place where you live. But above all things do not grudge 
a fattening pig’s food; he cannot eat too much. A poor-fed 
pig is worse than none at all; if you cannot afford to feed 
him well, you had better not engage in it. The food is best 
given warm; this will make a wonderful saving both in the 
food and the time they take to fatten. But again I say, 
keep them warm, dry, and clean. A pig thus kept will be 
subject to few diseases; but it is desirable to give fattening 
pigs some sulphur occasionally, and a handful of salt mixed 
in their food every day is a great improvement. Should it 
be necessary at any time to give a drench to the pig, you 
must bear in mind that swine are very easily choked, and 
too large a quantity of fluid put in their mouth will choke 
them in an instant. 
I most cordially recommend every cottager who has the 
means, and who makes up his mind to do it properly, to 
keep a pig. Many are the advantages to be derived from it; 
and what can be nicer than a cottager to come home after 
a hard morning’s work, and sit down to dinner off a good 
piece of bacon or pork, and that of his own feeding. 
W. H. W. 
HINTS ON ROSE CULTURE. 
1. The Cloth of Gold Rose. —This is a most magnificent 
Rose, but, unfortunately, a very shy bloomer in most soils. 
I was asked by a clergyman’s wife last autumn, “ If I knew 
of any r plan likely to throw her Cloth of Gold Rose into 
bloom ? ” J recommended her to try a custom the French 
adopt with their fruit-trees, viz., to remove the soil carefully 
from the surface of the roots, and apply cow-dung. This 
was done in November. The tree made wonderful and 
vigorous shoots, and produced nearly a dozen of the most 
beautiful blossoms in the early summer. The good lady, 
however, thinking, I suppose, that her tree “ could not have 
too much of a good thing,” gave the roots a second and 
similar stimulus in June, and the result was that the poor 
tree withered and died. Now I should recommend y our 
readers to try cow-dung and leaf-mould, in moderate quan¬ 
tities, this month, in the way 1 have described ; should they 
succeed, as they probably will, (supposing, of course, that 
their plant is a well-established one) perhaps they would 
kindly let you know the particulars. 
2. As to .the Management of Budded Stocks. —Six or 
seven weeks ago I saw in a clergyman’s garden in this 
neighbourhood some thirty or forty standard Rose-trees, 
with very nice little heads, some blooming the first time, 
and some the second time this season. These were all 
budded early last June. My friend’s way was this - As 
155 
soon as it was ascertained that the inserted bud had “ taken,” 
the briar was cut off close to it. I am perfectly aware that 
most gardeners and rose propagators would prefer the in¬ 
serted bud to remain a bud till the following spring, lest the 
frost of winter should kill the unripened wood of a delicate 
shoot; but I assure you and your readers that these 
trees ever—even at the time I have mentioned—looked 
mature and strong enough to encounter the frost and winds 
of winter and early spring. And thus, clearly, one year’s 
growth is gained. 
3. Covering spare bits of Walls with Roses. —If very 
high briar-stocks were planted by a stable, for instance, or 
coach-house door, the stems neatly protected by long strips 
of board (as people do their vines outside their premises), 
and budded, carefully shading them if in a warm situation, 
I am certain many a nice snug, warm bit of wall, now 
unoccupied, might help to bring into first-rate bloom the 
most delicate and beautiful of the Tea-scented class of 
Roses— Abricote, Pactole, and Safrano. 
I went over Messrs. Paul’s Rosary in the summer, and 
saw, for the first time, a beautiful Perpetual, which I can 
confidently recommend to your readers, the Vicomtesse de 
Cazes. There is another, also, that I have bloomed here 
as a standard—the Archduchess Therese Isabella. These 
are first-class Perpetuals, and well worthy of a wall. In 
budding, I recommend a cotton bandage that is manufac¬ 
tured expressly for the purpose, and answers better than 
bast. E. C. H. 
LABELLING PLANTS. 
In The Cottage Gardener, I observe a short article 
on the subject of making labels for plants; but like all 
the other modes which have been suggested, I fear this 
will be equally unsuccessful; and if it even should be 
successful, which I very much doubt, there is still a most 
decided objection to the material of which the label itself is 
composed. 
Of all substances which have as yet been employed for 
garden labels, there is none which is so objectionable as 
zinc, for besides the difficulty of marking them permanently, 
there is also a difficulty in finding a material with which to 
attach them to the plants. If iron wire is made use of, it, 
soon corrodes by exposure to the atmosphere; copper wire 
is soon decomposed and cut through by the galvanic action 
which takes place when it is brought in contact with the 
zinc; zinc wire is too brittle; metallic wire too soft; and 
twine is not sufficiently durable. All these I have tried for 
labelling the trees in my orchard, and have invariably failed 
in attaining my object; indeed, there is no one thing which 
has cost me so much trouble and botheration as these zinc 
labels, and my experience of them has not been very 
limited, for I have had upwards of 1200 of them written, wired, 
and attached at one time; but within twelve months they lay 
as thick on the ground as leaves in autumn. It mattered 
not what they were hung with—iron, copper, and metallic 
wire all shared the same fate. 
That which I have now adopted is a simple wooden label 
made of good yellow deal, and fashioned to whatever shape 
best pleases my fancy. When I wish to wiite upon or mark it, 
1 rub the smoothed side slightly with thin white lead and 
linseed oil, as is usual with common wooden labels, but 
instead of a black lead pencil, I use one of red chalk, 
ruddle, keil, or whatever you choose to call it. This being 
an oxide, instead of being obliterated by exposure to the air, 
becomes darker and more durable, and even when the 
surface of the label h as become blanched and acted upon by 
the weather, the writing remains as permanent as ever. I 
have before me now labels which have been ten years 
constantly exposed to all weathers; and though some of 
them are actually green, when that is lightly washed off 
the writing is clear and distinct. These labels I use exten¬ 
sively, and so can speak of them with confidence. The way 
by which I suspend them on the trees is by copper, or thick 
metallic wire, and such is the opinion I have formed of 
them, that I would not, on any consideration, use either 
a zinc, or the finest china label that ever was made. These 
may do very well for window or drawing-room gardening, but 
for general and permanent purposes they are useless, and 
worse than useless, they are troublesome. Hodman. 
