THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 29. 
282 
of rotten leaf-mould, or one-fourth of well-decomposed hotbed manure ; 
add a small portion of river sand, and mix them well together; let this 
compost be in a moderately dry condition. Then turn the bulbs out of 
| their pots, and shake off most of the old soil; trim off all dead roots, and 
| drain the pots well. For full-sized bulbs, 5^-inch pots will be the right 
I size. Place a little of the roughest part of the compost over drainage, 
and then put the roots in the pots, holding the bulb in one hand, and 
I gradually work in amongst the roots the new soil. Keep the bulb so high 
j that when the pot is filled the top of the bulb may be quite level with 
' the rim of the pot, and rather more than half-buried in the soil. When 
all are finished, give a good watering, and place them on a shelf about 
a foot from the glass, in a greenhouse, or in a cold frame, which must 
be covered up close every night, and he well protected from frost. Give 
air during the day in warm weather, and liberal supplies of water when 
the leaves are fully expanded. Every third time of watering mix a portion 
of liquid manure with the water. The grand point to aim at, is to en¬ 
courage to the highest perfection the production of fine, abundant foliage 
fully exposed to the light. Keep them growing till February, and then 
gradually reduce the water and heat till the leaves decay, and the bulbs 
are reduced to a state of complete rest. Keep them in that state by laying 
the pots on one side, behind a north wall, protecting them from frost till 
June, then bring them out and give a little water. Place them on a layer 
of coal-ashes, on a warm border, then you will have done all you can to 
cause them to flower. As soon as the ilower-buds appear, remove them 
into the greenhouse to bloom, and as soon as the bloom is over, repot 
! them and the others that have not flowered, and repeat the treatment of 
the preceding season. We may venture to inform our readers that by 
j such means the Guernsey Lily has been flowered in this country. 
Bottling Fruit. — A Housekeeper wishes to know how to bottle 
1 currants and plums, so as to preserve their colour and plumpness like those 
in the London shops. We shall be obliged by information on the point 
| from any of our readers. We preserve green gooseberries perfectly by 
[ picking them when full grown, leaving on the stalks and calyxes, or noses, 
j putting them into a dry glass bottle, corking it tight, sealing over the 
cork thoroughly, and burying the bottles corks downwards, so that their 
bottoms are about six inches beneath the surface. 
Turf on Ciialky Soils.— A Header obliges us by saying—“ In look¬ 
ing over The Cottage GARnENER, No. 12, September, J849, to Corres¬ 
pondents, ‘Turf on Chalky Soils (A Blade),’ I was surprised to see your 
answer—‘There is no mode of keeping this green in the droughts of 
summer except by watering plentifully .” I beg leave to inform you that 
you are under a mistake on this point. I have a lawn, made 26 years ago 
with down turf, laid on chalk itself (the place having been a chalk pit), 
and which has always been so beautifully green, even in the hottest 
summers, that almost every person who visited me supposed I w’atered it. 
The greatest failure, or objection to chalk, is in the winter, when its 
natural moisture produces moss; the fine herbage, however, returns with 
the warmth of the sun in the spring. The downs that parch are chiefly 
those of a light, thin, porous soil, with a kind of rubble, or small flints, 
and a sort of chalk stone, or bastard chalk, subsoil.” 
Scour in Poultry. — F. Marsh will find an answer to her query in 
the following communication from another correspondent.—“ Last year 
a hen of mine, whilst sitting, was attacked with violent diarrhoea, so as 
to completely discolour the eggs, and to be herself as wretched as only a 
fowl can be when on the sick list. DIy remedy was cayenne pepper, 
given plentifully, in barley meal. Two days proved its efficacy, and I 
had not only the pleasure of seeing the old bird recover, blit also of 
beholding nine fine young Aylesburies.”— Wl Popham, Lethbridge. 
Gooseberry Caterpillar. — H. HI., of Belfast, says—“The follow¬ 
ing old recipe for the total extirpation of the Gooseberry Caterpillar 
might be acceptable to many of your readers; I have known it in operation 
for upwards of 20 years, and have never seen it fail:—“ Take advantage 
j of a few dry days in the month of November, December, or January, and 
I slightly fork up the earth under each gooseberry and currant bush, so far 
as the branches extend; saturate the earth so stirred up with liquid 
i manure of full strength, giving it very freely close round the stem ; repeat 
the same three or four times, at intervals of a couple of weeks; if regu¬ 
larly followed up every season, the result will be the total disappearance 
of them altogether, and fine crops of fruit to reward the trouble. It will 
not be necessary to give any other manure, as the watering will be found 
amply sufficient. It is possible there may be some few insects the first 
season, but after the second none will be seen. It might be satisfactory 
■ if parties that try this simple remedy would communicate the result 
through your valuable columns.” 
Calystegia Pijbescens. —Miss F. K. wishes to know where this 
plant and Rhyncospermum j asminuides can be purchased. 
Liquid Manure (T. A. U .).—You may apply this to your roses, as 
described at page 225. Add two gallons of water to each gallon of your 
house sewerage. 
Rooks, Cockatoo (IF. J. E.). — Our correspondent wishes to know 
if there is any mode of enticing rooks to build in the trees on his 
grounds ? Also, whether anything can be given to a cockatoo to loosen 
the stumps of feathers remaining in its tail and wings ? 
Suggestion (J.N., Shalford ).—The table would be useful. If you 
will prepare it we will publish it. 
Flavour of Green Tea ( Capt . B.). —There is no doubt of its having 
a more injurious influence on the nerves than black tea. You may obtain 
all the flavour of green tea by putting into the tea-pot, with the black 
tea , one-third of a dried bud of the black currant; if you put in more 
the flavour is too strong. 
Heating a Small Pit,— In reply to the enquiries of 1). A. P., at 
page 234, W. X. W. writes as follows—” I only pay Is. Gd. per cwt. for 
my charcoal; I cannot say how much a bushel will weigh, but my frame 
does not burn £‘2 worth of fuel per annum. Since I first made it public 
through your pages I have made some improvement; I have got a 
, cylinder of cast-iron (an old steam-pipe, 10 inches diameter), and inserted 
the heating pipes, as before, at the bottom ; and, in addition to the pipes 
for top and bottom heat for one frame, I have inserted another pipe, 
which I have carried round a common two-light frame, containing gera- I 
mums, &c., and as yet have not lost one plant by frost or damp. I am 
confident, from the great heat of the exterior of the cylinder, that it would 
be sufficient to heat a small boiler cast on the cylinder bottom. I get my ! 
charcoal from a chemical manufactory, and probably it is cheaper in this 
neighbourhood, as there is little demand for it. I must say that I 
greatly admire the heating apparatus of Pannell, January 8th, and think 
it very well contrived.” 
Pines (An Amateur ).—Your pines, setting well after March, seem to 
point to a discrepancy between the heat and amount of light. Pray what 
can justify 85° of bottom-heat in the first week of January? it is amply 
sufficient for the hottest day in July. Most good pine growers are 
moderate bottom-heat men ; our friend Hamilton is affronted if he hears 
any one talk about 90 °. We should say from now until the middle of [ 
April, 76 °, advancing gradually to 80°, and thence to midsummer to 85°, | 
at which pertinaciously stop, and let the fast men go on by themselves. 
Why no syringing? and why such fear of a drop of water lodging? j 
There has been too much of this fuss, originally applied as proper caution I 
to the dung-pit men in winter. Mr. Hamilton keeps his Jamaica pines 
generally damp in the hearts, simply taking care to dry them once every 
day. We have little doubt the too rapid development of your early 
spring fruit is chiefly caused by unnatural bottom-heat, unaccompanied 
with a due amount of light, and that your good setting in March proves 
it. Do not keep them too thick, and lay into them with the syringe 
occasionally in the morning, taking care to ventilate freely for half-a- 
dozen hours afterwards. 
Vine Inarching (T. A. V .).—Neither season will do, but by all 
means inarch, as you say, as soon as possible, taking care to clay well, 
to prevent bleeding. You will then have double chances if you should 
fail, which is next to impossible. They will succeed either way. Do 
not take your ligatures away too soon ; their adhesion is treacherous all 
through the first season. They will succeed well inarched on the young 
shoots, but it is a delicate proceeding. 
Iron Stove (Kappa). —We cannot aid you to an answer. The 
gentleman who furnished ub with the drawing and description resided at 
Birmingham. An iron tray underneath would catch the ashes. 
Seeds (Ren. J. M. G .).—Many of the seeds of perennials and annuals 
mentioned in The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary are only to be ob¬ 
tained from abroad, or in private collections. You cannot do better 
than apply to the party you name. 
Greenhouse (An Old Subscriber).~ The space tinted green in your 
sketch will do exceedingly well for a small greenhouse. Your note seems 
to refer to some previous communication. If so, you would excuse our 
forgetting its contents if you knew the amount of our daily letters, and 
especially as we are answering this at a distance from home, and cannot 
refer to our memoranda. 
Misletoe (J. N. Omagh).~We know of no reason against the 
Misletoe growing in the north of Ireland. If you will send us a stamped 
and directed envelope, we will try to aid you. The Oleander may be 
grown in a cool greenhouse without bottom-heat. 
Stove for a Greenhouse (.J Lover of Flowers ).—We know of no 
stove that is desirable for a greenhouse to preserve plants in during 
winter, if you cau have no flue or chimney. The best, under such dis¬ 
advantageous circumstances, is that advertised in our paper. Could you 
not have a hot-water pipe connected with your kitchen fire ? 
Mr. Taylor’s Hive (Melissa).— Without admitting any claim which 
you advance, we will endeavour to get a drawing ready for our next 
number. 
Brown Scale (L. L. D.). —The scale insect, when in the scale state, 
is a female of one of the species of the genus Coccus, and is, at that time, 
incapable of locomotion, having, so far as the individual in question is 
concerned, done all the mischief of which it was capable. If examined 
carefully (which ought to be done before attempting its destruction), it 
will be found, at one period, filled with a thick fluid; in this case the 
eggs are not yet deposited, and the destruction of a scale insures, of 
course, the destruction of all its progeny. At another period, the scale 
will be found to be a mere dry shell, consisting of the shrivelled-up body 
of the female, leaving a cavity beneath, which is, at this time, filled with 
minute white eggs. It is now necessary to use greater caution, as, if the 
eggs are not destroyed, they, or any which escape destruction, soon hatch, 
and the young scaie insect, which is very active, crawls to the younger 
parts of the plant. At a third period, the scale is found to be nothing 
but a scale, the eggs having hatched, and the young having left the 
shelter afforded by their parent’s body, and taken themselves off to the 
tender parts of the plant. Of course, it is now of no use to take any 
more trouble about the old scale. Syringing the tree with hot water will 
destroy the young scale insects, and scrubbing it with a stiff brush will 
kill the female scale, but this must, of course, be done at the proper 
time, which can only be learned by the observation of each separate 1 
species of scale.—I. O. W. 
Maurandya Barclayana (R. E. M.).— You have a large plant of i 
this against a wall, and you have been advised to cut. it down to six inches. 
A very good advice ; and if you can carry it through the winter by cover¬ 
ing it in frosty weather with a dry mat, straw, or fern, it will cover twice 
as much of the wall next summer. But this climber is very apt to go off 
in February, if we have hard weather. 
Guinea-fowls (Y. 7..). —Guinea-fowls pair like partridges. To insure 
fertile eggs it is necessary to keep the birds in accordance with their 
natural habits.—D. 
Poultry (Margaret ).—The cock presented to you the other day as 
something good, but without a name ; small, but very strong and fierce, 
with an immense tuft, mostly yellow, on his head and neck; short legged, 
with three toes before and two behind, and a large spur; feathers all 
mottled—black, yellow, and white, of which one is inclosed, must be a 
specimen of mongrel elaborated for several generations, till it has reached 
