I 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 
219 
January t. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Pig-feeding. —“ In answer to an enquiry from A Subscriber from 
the First Number, as to whether I should consider boiled mangold wurt¬ 
zel, or other roots, mixed with bran, for store pigs, as coming under the 
head of Slops or Messses, mentioned in my article on pigs, I beg 
to say that for store pigs, I certainly should not consider boiled man¬ 
gold wurtzel as a slop or mess. Store pigs do not demand such 
careful feeding as Fattening pigs. They may very well be fed on 
roots and other vegetables, with a very small allowance of dry food ; 
and boiled mangold wurtzel, mixed with bran, would make, I dare¬ 
say, very good food for them, although I never tried it. A practical 
writer on these subjects says :—■' In short the juice (of mangold wurtzel) 
is most excellent for the mixing of most food for pigs. my 
copper holds seven strike bushels ; I put in three bushels of mangold 
wurtzel, cut into pieces two inches thick, and then fill the copper with 
water. I draw off as much of the liquor as I want to wet the meal for 
fattening pigs, and the rest, roots and all, I feed the yard hogs with. If 
you give boiled or steamed potatoes to pigs, there wants some liquor to 
mix with the potatoes, as the water in which potatoes have been boiled is 
hurtful to any animals who drink it. With fattening pigs I should not 
consider boiled mangold wurtzel as desirable food ; a little wurtzel occa¬ 
sionally, or some other vegetables, are necessary to keep their bowels in 
good conditions, but beyond this I should not recommend vegetables as 
food for fattening pigs.’ W. H. W. 
Cedar Leaves (J. P. 71/.). —The accumulation of its leaves under a 
cedar-tree does it no good, nor would it be good practice to dig them in, 
but the top layer of them may do some good over peas, to keep off mice, 
though not so effectual as the small tops of gorse or furze. No tree is 
sooner improved by a top-dressing of good fresh soil than a cedar. We 
would scrape away all the loose stuff from under your cedar, and put on 
a few inches of good rich earth instead. 
Laurel and Holly Hedges (Ibid). —Laurels from two to three 
feet high, plant three feet apart for a hedge, to fill up quickly ; and the 
hollies two feet high, plant eighteen inches apart. 
Cuttings ( Anxious to Learn). —All the plants in your list will grow 
from cuttings except Holly and Arbutus, but the cuttings must be put in 
in August or September. The Cotoneaster “with red berries,” if it is a 
trailing evergreen, is C. microphylla, and you may put in cuttings of it 
now, or any time to the end of March. The Heaths and other green¬ 
house plants will grow from cuttings just as you propose. The Red Spider 
is very fond of Siphocatnpylm betulcefolius. A cover for a volume of The 
Cottage Gardener costs a shilling from any bookseller, and the 
binding will be extra, and that you must bargain about with your own 
bookbinder. 
Climbers for Warm and Cold Houses (E.J.H.) —In the warm 
house Passiflora edulis and quudrungularis will do remarkably well; 
placing the first in the coldest part, and the latter in the warmest. The 
first is not showy, but its fruit is very agreeable to most people. The 
fruit of the latter is large, and also good; but you will not obtain it 
unless by artificial impregnation. If you look back you will find the 
whole process described by Mr. Beaton. For other two creepers we 
recommend Stephanotis floribunda and Ipomea Horsfallice. Four 
climbers for the greenhouse in large pots, or planted out, might be 
Mandevilla suaveotens and Ipomea Learii at the warmest end; and 
Passiflora coerulea racemosa and P. Coluilli. These would soon cover 
the roof. For smaller growing things you might prefer the Kennedya 
tribe, and others. Lists and descriptions have previously been given. 
The temperature is quite suitable for the present; cold house, 40° to 45°, 
and 15° more for the warm one. The sun as it gets higher will give a 
higher temperature. The flower and leaf sent belongs, we suspect, to 
Gesnera elongata ; it will require the warm house. We suspect the 
cause of its not opening its flowers, is either some check it has received 
in getting it home, or the very dull weather. If healthy it will yet 
bloom. It flowers best at this season of the year ; when done flowering 
prune it freely, and let it grow afresh. 
Lobelias, Scarlet and Pink (71/. 71/.).— We presume that you have 
got Cardinalis, or some allied kinds, and Tupa btanda. Do not be dis¬ 
tressed about their appearance now ; let them die down ; all they require 
is to be kept from frost and extreme damp. Towards spring the young 
shoots, or suckers, will appear through the soil, and then you may either 
divide the plants, or pot each sucker separately; whether for beds, or pot 
plants, they are worth that care. When well established, the soil should 
be light, but it can scarcely be too rich. Either the greenhouse or pit 
will do, but if you have plenty of room the first will be the safest. In 
dry warm places they will stand in the open air, especially the scarlets. 
Crossing Geraniums (Verbena). —You are quite right. It would, 
indeed, be a triumph to get a pure white and a purple like Unique, with 
the habit of Lady Mary Fox, or of Diadematum ; but these colours, if 
we could get them, would reward us, whatever the habit of the plants 
might be. Your question is, however, the most difficult problem of the 
day, but as it is not pressing just now, we will wait to hear what Mr. 
Beaton will say in his forthcoming enumeration of our bedders. 
Sundries (J. H.). —We shall be most happy to assist you against the 
inhospitable climate on the “ north shore near Liverpool,” but you can¬ 
not be otherwise than a good gardener after going on so far with “ the 
best publication in the whole world of the sort.” The Rhododendrons, 
Azaleas, and Kalmia latifolia, you had from Surrey, are as hardy as the 
Gorse or Broom, and you need not pot them at all, unless you wish to see 
their flowers a little sooner, and most beautiful flowers they are. We 
call them “ American plants,” which require peat earth, as you will see 
by the balls about their roots. The standard and dwarf Roses from the 
nursery will not flower well next season if you pot them, but if you pot 
them now and plunge them in the open ground, they will be ready fur 
another year, and you can take them into the greenhouse after they get a 
little frost, or say any time in January, and that would be time enough 
to take in the American plants another year. We do not know the 
Trumpet Lily by that name, but as you have it in flower, send us a single 
flower and a piece of a leaf, and we shall tell you all about it, or anything 
else you may want to know, at any time. We suspect you mean Richardia 
cethiopica, but it ought not to be in flower now. 
Tree Pocony (T. C. F.). —You had better not disturb your Treepceony 
for two or three years, as it is very difficult to propagate ; and if you 
should kill such a fine plant you would never forgive yourself. It will 
grow well in any good garden soil, and is perfectly hardy', but a late frost 
is as apt to hurt the flower-buds as to destroy pear and apple blossoms ; 
therefore the right time to shelter it is in April, not in winter, for it is then 
as hardy as the pear or apple. Your best way to increase it, is to divide 
the ball of roots into two or more divisions in March, but you must do it 
very carefully. When the plant is large, one of the outside stems may 
be split from the rest, so as to carry a few roots with it, and that soon 
makes a new plant. 
Asclepias tuberosa (Eliza). —Keep the roots in a pot of soil, not 
too dry, and away from the frost, as you would a small dahlia root, until 
next April; then plant it out under a south wall, or on rockwork, in a 
warm sunny place. It is a very pretty old plant, rising to 18 or 20 inches 
high, according to the strength of the roots, and the nature of the soil 
and situation ; light rich loam and peat on a dry bottom suits it better 
than any thing ; something should be thrown over the roots in winter to 
keep off the wet, as it is rather delicate, and is very apt to die in winter. 
Alstromerias (Ibid). —Plant your Chilian Alstromerias at once ; any 
common light soil will do for them ; put the roots four inches under the 
surface, and put some litter over to keep them from frost. They will 
flower next May or June ; and they will be from a foot to three feet high, 
according to the strength of the roots. 
Yellow Banksian Rose (iV .).—The Banltsian Roses are not at all 
fit subjects for amateurs to grow in pots. The best gardeners can hardly 
get them to flower that way. Your only chance is to cut in your plant 
very close next March, shake away all the soil from the roots, and repot 
it in fresh soil in a larger pot, and give it two more shifts before the end of 
August, the last pot to be ten or twelve inches in diameter, not to prune 
it any next winter, and in May, 1853, it may bloom. 
Gladiolus Gandavensis, &c. (Ibid). —This ought to flower in a 
large pot, but much better if you plant it out in a good border next spring. 
You need not repot it before the end of January. Comelina Caelestis 
should be treated like Salvia patens, the roots taken up before winter 
and put out in April. Datura ceratocaulon is a tender annual, it should 
be sown in a hotbed at the end of March, and planted out in a warm 
place by the end of May; it has a very handsome large flower on a 
weedy-like plant. 
Kalmia Latifolia (Ibid). —Your soil is not at all suitable for it, 
otherwise it is a most beautiful plant, and a free flowerer. You must give 
it only very good peat, and water it well in summer. 
Tropieolum tricolorum (Ibid). —It is one of the freest-flowering 
plants we have, and the prettiest; but it requires a constant exposure to 
pure air, and abundance of water after the buds appear. Your root 
could not have been strong enough to flower last year, but after such a 
growth as you describe it will certainly flower this next spring, if you attend 
to the air and water as above ; close confinement is the ruin of it in most 
hands. It would thrive well in a constant draft, no matter how cold, if 
above the freezing point; and so with all the family. 
Kohl-Rabi (J. S. G .).— It is usually boiled in slices, and eaten with 
melted butter. It never increases in size beyond that it attains the first 
year. A north border overshadowed with elms will grow nothing profit¬ 
ably. You will have seen lately what has beenjsaid about a north border 
not overshadowed. 
Close Glass (J. S. L .).— You ask—“Would it not be well for the 
glass of a greenhouse to lap close in all cases, where no artificial heat is 
required?” In our opinion, founded on experience, it would not, even 
though you use “ Hartley’s Patent for the roof, and twenty-one ounce 
glass for the front sashes.” In such a structure, when the cold is very 
severe, even those thicknesses will not sufficiently keep out the cold, with¬ 
out additional shelter, and in milder seasons the additional healthiness of 
plants in an open-lapped structure, far exceeds any trifling saving of 
trouble required for sheltering in the colder seasons. 
Draining Gardens (J. S.), —In your clay soil you must not have 
the side drains more than five yards apart, whereas in your plan they are 
eight yards. There is no need to have a side drain so close to the main 
drain, as you have it at the corner marked E. Do not have the side 
drains fall into the main directly opposite to each other. Although you 
are intending to drain still in [your northern situation,(and heavy soil, we 
strenuously recommend you to plant above the level. It will save your 
fruit-trees from disease, and promote the ripening of your fruit. 
Melon (T. D. I 1 .). —We know nothing about the St. Heller Melon. 
Try it, but do not depend upon it for your main crop. Grow some other 
which you know to be good, or you may lose),the season. If you mean 
“ the chamber ” under the mould of your cucumber-bed, you may heat 
that to 100°, as that temperature only heats the soil to 85°, but you must 
not have the air in which the plants grow heated to 100°. 
Over-luAuriant Apricot and Cherry (F. Orgill).—Hy all means 
open a trench at about three feet from the stem round each, cut through 
every root you come to in digging down two feet perpendicularly ; then 
clear away underneath, and cut through all the tap-roots. It is quite 
impossible to tell you “ how to make the most of a frame,” unless we 
know what it is that you wish to grow. 
Hampton Court and Cumberland Lodge Vines (R. D. L .).— 
The latter, we believe, is about twice as large as that at Hampton Court. 
The vinery at Hampton Court is only /0 feet long, whilst the vinery at 
Cumberland Lodge is 138 feet in length, and is wider than that at Hamp¬ 
ton. Each vinery is filled by one vine. In 1843 we know that the 
Cumberland Lodge vine ripened 2000 bunches. Fuchsias should be 
trained in a pyramidal form, the centre stem should be well clothed with 
branches from the soil upwards. 
Peaches Shedding their Fruit (P. T .).—Our correspondent says, 
“ I have tw'o Peach-trees in my garden, facing the south, trained on the 
rear wall of a range of cottages, and having a strawberry bed in front of 
about eight feet wide from wall to path. These trees appeaiqvery healthy, 
and produce abundance of fruit every year, which grows to a full size, 
turns colour as if ripe, and then falls off in rapid succession, whilst hard 
and unfit for the table.” Never was a more decided example of the^ill- 
consequences of growing strawberries on a fruit border. If you remove 
the strawberries from a circuit of five or six feet round each of your wall 
trees, cover over that space in summer with mulch, and during long 
droughts give w'ater plentifully twice ajweek, your peaches will not shed 
their fruit. 
Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary (W. J.). —You canjhave a cover 
through any bookseller from Messrs. Orr and Co., 2, Amen Corner. We 
