THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 15. 
248 
week by Mr. Beaton, and here is the way to do it. Keep the leading 
shoot constantly nailed up to the wall; do not allow any suckers, and 
cut off none of the side shoots the first year, but do not let them extend 
beyond six inches from the main stem, To do this in the best manner, 
there should not be a knife, or any other cutting instrument, within your 
reach the whole season ; the linger and thumb, with a hammer now and 
then to drive in a nail, are all you need. Feticite perpetuelle is one of 
the best Roses for your purpose. 
Quarrelsome Poultry (D. II.). —There is no way of preventing 
the two valuable cocks from lighting, except either by confining one, or 
by letting them fight it out, administering during the combat a few 
buffets with a glove, or other harmless substance, to the losing party. 
This will only answer where the poultry-walk affords sufficient range for 
the vanquished bird to retire and leave the victor to be “ cock of the 
walk.” In a confined space the battle might be renewed till one was 
disabled or dead.—D. 
White Cochin-Chinas (Ibid). —The first White Cochin-Chinas ex¬ 
hibited, were at Birmingham, in 1850, by Mr. Edmund Herbert, of 
Powick, Worcestershire, who had them from the Dean of Worcester, 
who had them from a gentleman who imported them. On this pair, a 
price of was put, as prohibitory. They were immediately bought, 
and the buyer was soon offered dbf for them, which he refused. Mr. 
Herbert’s birds were sold at the last Birmingham Show, for the 
pair. For eggs and chickens of the coming season, application may be 
made to Mr. R. H. Bowman, Rosevale, Penzance. Their weight is much 
the same as the others; Buff and cinnamon are the most approved among 
the coloured birds. The question as to weights was anticipated last 
week. It is not easy to state the greatest attainable, by future specimens. 
There has not been what can be called a poultry show in London, of late 
years, though it seems now that one will be established, either by the 
Smithfield Club, or other parties.—D. 
Early Potato (J. B -, I. of Man). —You ask for “the best ser¬ 
viceable early potato,” and if earliness is your chief object, there is none 
equal to the Walnut-leaved Kidney. If you wish for an early-ripening 
excellent sort for your main crop, we know of none so good as Ilylntt’s 
Flour Ball, and next to that Martin’s Seedling and Soden’s Early 
Oxford. 
Diseased Apples (A Young Gardener). —You, like many others, do 
not appreciate that vegetable diseases and their causes are among the 
most difficult subjects brought to the gardener’s attention. You sent us 
an apple stained with brown spots, and you tell us it is the produce of 
“ an old tree on loose and gravelly soil.” From these facts you ask us 
to state the cause and the remedy ! Is the old tree vigorous ? how is it 
pruned ? is the soil well-drained ? what is the subsoil ? are only a 
few queries which require answering before an opinion can be formed as 
to the cause of the disease. However, you cannot be far wrong, as the 
tree is old, if you manure the ground with well-decayed stable manure 
over the roots of the tree, just pointing in the manure over the space 
between two and five feet from the stem all round. If the subsoil is 
wet, dig a trench on one side, and then cut away underneath the tree, and 
sever any tap-roots you may find. 
Kilkenny Anemone. — A correspondent (B. B.) will be obliged by 
S. S., who mentioned this flower in our 167 th number, stating where seed 
of it can be obtained. 
Italian Rye Grass (A Subscriber). —We have no experience in 
sowing this among wheat in the spring, for the purpose of obtaining feed 
late in summer. With your unlimited supply of liquid-manure, we think 
you may grow Lucerne in your orchard without injury to the trees. Peat 
charcoal may be obtained of the manure merchants in Liverpool and 
London. You scarcely need it, as you have such an abundance of liquid- 
manure, dissolved bones, &c. 
Misletok Culture (C. I. P.). —This is not propagated by plants, but 
by seed. Get some of the ripe berries; cut the bark on the underside 
of an apple-tree branch in the shape of a V, raise the tongue of bark 
i without breaking it, put a seed of the Misletoe under the tongue, but do 
not press it down hard. It may be done equally well by merely cutting 
| a nick in the bark, and putting in a seed. 
Salt (Ibid).—' This is a very excellent manure for the kitchen-garden. 
Some plants, such as Asparagus, Sea-kale, and Beet-root, never are so 
productive without salt as if the soil is manured with it. 
! Spade Culture (A Young Furmer),— You shall be attended to in our 
allotment paper. 
[ Cropping (A Country Schoolmaster). —With every desire to render 
you service, it is impossible to do so in full for want ot data. You should 
have stated what you intend to do with your produce ? What cattle, if 
any? Manure, &c.? As it is, we can do no more than point to rota¬ 
tions; and here, why did you not number your squares for sure reference? 
Get your ground into larger divisions, say three; the three longitudinal 
lines in your sketch may represent divisions. Classify in a broad way 
your crops ; distinguish them by such names as improvers, scourgcrs, 
intermediates, deepeners, &c. You will then begin to know what you 
are about. Without some such generalisation, things will in a year or 
two be all in a muddle. As illustrations:— Potatoes are always improvers, 
Cabbages scourgcrs, and Wheat the same, Parsnips and Carrots deep¬ 
eners. What can have suggested such odd combinations as Peas and 
Carrots, Wheat and Potatoes alternately ? Pray combine with a regard 
to the habits of the crops. A good system of mixed cropping should 
combine crops which, if not absolutely advantageous to each other, 
should, at least, be of a neutral character. Perhaps you will see some¬ 
thing in our next two allotment papers that will fit your case. By all 
means plant some Cow Cabbage in the first week of February, if the 
plants were sown on poor soil in the middle of August. If they are 
much earlier and gross, they may “ bolt.” 
Vine Grapting (W. F. E.). —Nothing is simpler than grafting vines. 
It is best to do this when the stock has begun to grow, the scion having 
been retarded, so as to be just on the eve of swelling. The grafts are 
generally “ whipped ” on as apples and pears, and a thick coating of 
moss may surround each. 1 < 
tSToaiNa Daihaas ( B > WiJ.'-You have indeed “had very bad success 
with your Dahlias,” and if you have done exactly as you say, it is difficult J 
to account for your failure. If you have the means, why did you not put i 
in cuttings as soon as you could get them. Put them in small pots when 
rooted, and allow them to remain in the pot till the following spring. 
This is the best way of keeping a stock of Dahlias. You did wrong in 
not taking the tubers up immediately, and drying them quickly, for by j 
the consequences it appears they must have been very full of sap, which 
has caused them to rot so soon. Are you quite sure they are all dead. , 
You say they were put in a tub covered with straw. Where did the tub 
stand, exposed to the weather ? Then they were put in a box in the 
kitchen, and there they died. We are afraid it was the wet and frost that 
finished them. Agreeably to your requst, we have selected eighteen good 
and cheap kinds, and twelve fancy varieties (all one shilling each) which 
our contributor, Mr. Appleby, will select for you, good plants in pots now, 
if you write to him, and we hope you will be more successful next season. 
Eighteen Show Dahlias. —Antagonist, Standard of Perfection, Capt. t 
Warner, Nonpariel, Beeswing, Cleopatra, Empress of the Whites, Berryer, 
Scarlet Gem, Miss Vyse, Shylock, Yellow Standard, Admiral Stopford, 
Mrs. Seldon, Sir F. Bathurst, Duke of Cambridge, Mr. Seldon. Twelve 
Fancy Dahlias. —Ben Mara, Gasparina, Empereur de Maroc, Ludwig, 
Florence Dombey, General Cavaignac, Ifermina, Roi de Points, Mr. G. 
Clayton, Picotee, Triomphe de Magdeburgh, Mrs. Shaw Lefevre. 
Hyacinths ( One who has a Corner in her Father’s Garden). —You ; 
have some hyacinths in pots, which you wish to take out and put in 
glasses. You may do so, but the change requires care. Turn them out 
of the pots, and place them, one by one, over head in water ; the soil will [ 
soon become soft, and will easily part from the roots. Be careful not to 
break or injure them. Wash them clean from the soil, and then gra- i 
dually work them into the glasses. Fill these with soft clean water, and 
set them in a place where no frost or sun can reach them. Here they | 
may remain for a week or ten days ; then change the water, and, at the I 
same time, wash the roots in clean water, to cleanse off a kind of slime 
that will be upon them. Refill the glasses with water, and keep filling 
them up as the water evaporates. As the growth advances, you may give 
them more light. Unless the glasses become foul and green, you need 
not disturb the roots by turning them out again ; for every time they are 
disturbed, some roots are almost certain to be broken, or otherwise 
injured. 
Cheap Hothouse (Economical). —We approve of the air being given 
in front, by openings in the front wall. There is no mention of air at 
back, that will require also either sliding wooden ventilators, or made 
to go up and down on hinges. With the rafters, or rather the sash-bars, 
three inches by one-and-tliree-quarters, it will not do to slide any of the 
glass. We should think these sash-bars sufficiently strong, 18 inches 
apart, and glazed with 16 oz. glass that length, by one foot in breadth, 
in a moderately-sized house, and strong enough for the house referred to, 
forty yards long, if there was never such a thing as broken glass, and a 
storm of wind; but with some squares of broken glass, or the flying open 
of a door, we should be afraid for the roof in a great wind, or during a 
heavy fall of snow. If there were several divisions in the house, the case 
would be different, as they would all serve as so many ties. Without 
these divisions, we should like to have several strong rafters, to bind the 
house more securely together; and if the place was at all exposed, we 
would, in addition, have a metal rod screwed to these large rafters, and 
all the intermediate bars along the middle of the roof. We should like 
to have at least three of these stronger rafters, of the usual size, besides 
the ends. It might be all quite safe without it, but we would not wish to 
venture it in an exposed place. We fear that glass 18 inches by 12 inches, 
will not be easily procured at 2Jd. per foot, if it is at all good. 
Potatoes (K .).—Your newly-broken-up meadow land will require no 
manure of any kind for potatoes. Plant immediately the weather and 
soil are dry enough. Dig the soil, and plant on the surface, as your soil 
is heavy, and throw the earth in a ridge six inches deep over the sets. 
You will see the kinds we recommend in an answer to another corres¬ 
pondent. We will tell you next week what to plant against your poultry- 
yard walls. 
Pronunciation of Names (C. T.).— We are glad that The Cottage 
Gardeners’ Dictionary aids you, but we cannot assist you more, For the 
pronunciation of the French names of Roses, you will obtain more in¬ 
formation by five minutes of enquiry in conversation with a Frenchman, 
than we could give you in five pages of writing. 
Pig-feeding (A Young Pig-feeder ).— The letter of W. H. W., his 
answer to another enquirer in our last week’s paper, and a letter we shall 
ublish next week, will answer all your queries. You must have a bad 
reed of pigs, and you feed the young ones on food too sloppy, and with 
too little nourishment in it. Buy llichardson's shilling book on The 
Pig. It w'ill answer the multitude of questions you ask at the end of 
your note. If we received your inquiry about wheat and beans, we 
answered it at the time, but we do not remember. We will endeavour to 
make out what weed you mean. Why did you not send a specimen of it ? 
Pumpkin (R. P.). —Yours is probably th e Mammoth; but they cross 
so freely that the varieties are countless. 
Explanation of Terms (S. B, F.), —It is quite impossible for us to 
explain every botanical term we use. Buy Henfrey’s beautiful little 
volume lludiments of Botany. You may dye nets very well in a strong 
liquor formed by boiling either Birch or Oak bark in water. Do not use : 
corrosive sublimate. 
Anemone Blooming (J. Betsworth).—' This only lasts through April, | 
May, and June. | 
Mikania Guaco (J. Weeks and Co.).— You will find a description of 
this stove evergreen twiner in The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary. An ; 
antidote against the bite of poisonous snakes is said to be prepared from j 
it in South America. Can any of our readers give some information on 
this point ? 
London; Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Pariah of 
Christ Church, City of Lon den .-“-January 15th, 1858. 
