THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
F EBRUARY 12. 
312 
The Ayrshire Queen is the best you have for the place, and it is only a 
second rate, and not quite an Ayrshire. 
Wallflowers (L. C.). —To have young Wallflowers in bloom in 
May, all that is necessary is to sow seeds every year any time between 
the middle of April and the middle of June; the first period brings in 
stronger and earlier plants. The Delaware Cabbage should be sown in 
March, and again in April. The treatment same as any of the strong 
growing kinds. 
Budding Roses (S.). —Authorities differ much on the subject. Theo¬ 
retically considered, the whole of the wood, under the bud or shield, 
ought to be taken out, and many budders do so, to the present day, with 
success; but for one who does so, a hundred follow the opposite course, and 
leave a thin slice under the bud. We ourselves bud a great many, but for 
the last twenty years we never extracted the wood from any bud what¬ 
ever. We therefore put the question thus:—An expert budder may, or 
may not, take out the wood with equal success, but as budding with the 
wood is less likely to cause injury to the bud, a young beginner had 
better adopt this mode, keeping always in mind that the slice of wood 
left must be very thin. The Manetti Dose is a hybrid China, and only 
used as a stock. 
Flower Beds (/. C. D.). —Nothing that you “can sow in a hot-bed, 
between this and the 1st of March,” will answer to make up flower¬ 
beds of one colour, “ to flower this season,” except a few annuals. Such 
annuals are Tugetes tenuifolia,'Sanvitulia procumbent, the different sorts 
of small Lobelias, China-asters, and such like. The best ot the hardy 
annuals, sown in March, would only last about six weeks from the end of 
May or Midsummer. The way to keep dwarf Fuchsias free from too 
many leaves is to give them poorer soil, but the greater number of new 
fuchsias are not good subjects for beds. 
Banksian Roses (A Young Amateur). —You ask why your white 
and yellow Banksian roses do not flower, and answer the question your¬ 
self, by saying, “they grow very luxuriantly ” on a good aspect. We 
have said many times that all luxuriant shoots of these Banksians ought 
to be stopped as soon as they were six inches long, from the end of May 
to the end of August, and all such that appeared later should be cut 
out altogether. You had also better cut a few of the strongest roots two 
feet from the stem next March. Offsets of Hyacinths in glasses do no 
harm : let them take their chance. 
Alstromkrias and other Seeds ( Carick Carol). —There is not 
the least difficulty or danger in getting up plants from seeds of the 
Chilian or Van Hout’s Atstromerius, Anomutheca cruentu, and T igridia 
Pavonia. The same treatment will do for the three. A cucumber-bed 
would be the best place for them till they sprouted an inch or two above 
the soil, but a bed with 50° or 60° will do, and they may be sown 
immediately, or at any time before the end of March. Any light soil, as 
one-half peat and one-half sandy loam, will do for the seeds. They 
should be sown thinly, in pots not more than six inches in diameter, so 
that the little plants need not be disturbed, but be planted out on a south 
warm border, with the balls entire, about the end of May. A greenhouse 
or close cold pit will do for them after they are well up out of the ground. 
The Anomutheca and Tigridiu will flower next September, but the 
Alstromerias not till next season, and the end of October is the natural 
time for sowing them, but the spring will do, and the varieties called 
Van Hout’s, are the readiest to vegetate, and the most easily got. 
Pentstenions, scarlet, blue and white, are good border plants, which 
come easily from seeds also, Phloxes of sorts. Campanulas also from 
seeds. Potentillas are better in plants, as are also Coreopsis lanceoluta. 
The different Spireas, lately mentioned by Mr. Weaver, would suit you 
well; indeed, all the plants in his lists are such as you enquire about. 
Roses ( Mesembryanthemum). —What have you been thinking about 
all this time, while we have worn our pen to a stump writing and 
insisting on pot roses for forcing being pruned in October? It is enough 
to make one despair even to think how some people pass through the 
gardening world without attention. Your roses are now in pots, plunged 
in the flower beds, “not pruned,” and you “ wish to have them early in 
bloom.” Your wish will not be gratified this year, at any rate, unless 
the middle or end of April is your early period. Prune them as soon as 
you read this, and put them into a cold pit that day week ; three weeks 
"after that, remove them to a warmer place, with plenty of air, and night 
heat not more than 50°, till you can perceive flower buds, then increase 
the heat, but not much, otherwise you will run the chance of hurting 
your plants very much indeed. You have the very best sorts, and you 
ought to treat them well, so as to be a credit to the whole parish. 
Geant des Batailles is a hybrid perpetual. 
Camellia Stocks {Ibid). —Have nothing to do with raising your 
own camellia stocks. If you determine to do so, wait till next August, 
then select nice healthy cuttings of next May’s growth, from the single 
variety, put them in a close cold pit, and they will be ready to pot off 
this time next year, and the strongest of them will do to graft on this 
time two years, and some perhaps not till the year following. In large 
quantities they are advertised at sixpence a piece, ready to work. 
Cochin China Fowls (G. F. D.). —We have forwarded your note to 
Mr. Punchard. {An Original Subscriber). —Perhaps H. W. Heaton,Esq., 
Honorary Secretary of the Yorkshire Poultry Society, Copley Wood, 
Halifax, can give you the information you need. 
Poultry. — D. D-, Dalston, wishes to know where he can obtain fowls 
of the pure Gold aud Silver Poland and Black Poland breeds. 
Vine Culture (W. R. W. S.). —All the directions in The Cottage 
Gardener are just as applicable in Australia as in England. The only 
difference is, that the season of rest there is our season of growth. Wine¬ 
making is the Bame process all over the world; and we know of no 
separate work upon the manufacture of the Rhine wines. 
Boiler for Heating Tank.— J. C. who, at p. 262, asks for a boiler 
holding four quarts, may hear of one by writing to J. G., care of Mr, 
J. Pyzer, confectioner, Paddington, Liverpool. 
Flower-beds {E. S. F.).— Without a greenhouse or pit it is up-hill 
l work to plant such nice beds as yours are. The Blue Anagallis and the 
(Enothera prostrata will do very well, and match as you propose. We 
had them so last year, but we prefer the Lobelia erinus grandiflora to 
i the Anagallis. If, however, you are sure your ground suits the Anagallis, 
use it; and its habit is a better match lor the (Enothera. We have all 
i along refused to recommend dealers. Hardy annuals and biennials, 
I Phloxes, Pentstenions, Potentillas, or what are called mixed border plants, 
are the next best kinds after frame and greenhouse bedders; and Mr. 
Weaver promises to continue his descriptive lists of them. 
Rooks. —“ In answer to a correspondent who wishes to have a rookery, . 
he must keep his grounds very quiet—no guns should be let off, nor ! 
should the rooks be ever scared away. I had a clump of elm trees not 
far from my house in Gloucestershire (not my present residence) where I 
preserved game; the rooks, being discriminating birds, found out that 
everything was quiet, and that no trespassing was allowed, so they took | 
possession twenty years ago, and have built on the same trees ever since. 
In the Zoologist it is said—‘ I heard of one gentleman who had a mag¬ 
pies’ nest in a clump of trees, and slyly changed the eggs for those of 
rooks, while the old magpies were away. The rooks were hatched and 
brought up, and next year commenced a colony.’ ”— H. W. Newman, 
New House, Stroud. 
Utility of Pigeons (Idem). — “ I like the observations on the domestic 
pigeon. In Berkshire, many intelligent farmers say that the pigeon is a 
devourer of the seed of that pestilential flower the ‘ Charlock,’ which ! 
infects the corn-fields, and gives such a beautiful yellow blossom ; and 
where pigeons abound this hated weed is less seen. Some farmers keep 
these birds on purpose to keep this weed down.” 
Cup he a platycf.ntra Soil ( Cuphea ). —The soil for this—sandy 
loam, one-half; well-decayed stable dung, one-quarter; leaf-mould, one 
quarter—thoroughly mixed. 
Greenhouse Legally Removable (Ibid). —Your greenhouse, which 
“ can be keyed and un-keyed, like a bedstead,” we think is legally 
removable. Anything attached to the freehold, as the brick foundation, 
or beams let into a wall, are not legally removable. 
Rhubarb Roots (M. R .).— Those grown in our gardens have the 
same medicinal qualities, but much weaker, as that sold by druggists. 
The roots may be taken up as soon as the leaves begin to fade in early 
autumn. They are not worth the extreme care and trouble required to 
dry them. 
Rendering Eggs Unproductive. —We are informed that Mr. Pun¬ 
chard renders his Cochin China fowls’ eggs unproductive by puncturing 
them with a small needle. 
Top-board of Taylor’s Hive. —In compliance with the wish of 
several correspondents, we give a drawing of this. The floor-boards 
correspond with it in every way, with the exception of the sunken groove 
for the sliders, and in being three-eighths of an inch thick, whereas the 
top-board is half-inch. 
a, groove to receive zinc sliders ; the openings, b and c, 
are 14 -inch wide at the broadest part. 
Lists of Fuchsias and Geraniums (G. J. J.).—Fuchsias : Ne plus 
ultra, Bank’s Diadem, Elizabeth, Champion, One-in-the-ring, Hebe. 
Geraniums (cheap ones): Duke of Cornwall, Silk Mercer, Ajax, Christa- 
bel, Forget-me-not, and Ocelata. New and best: Magnet, Optima, 
Ariadne, Enchantress, Purple Standard, and Rubens. 
Camellias (F.W.T.). —You have mistaken the remark in TnE 
Cottage Gardener about resting Camellias. The rest should be 
when the flowering-buds for the following year are formed. Your 
Camellias, you say, are starting into growth now ; all you can do is to 
keep as low a temperature as possible, giving water in proportion only 
just sufficient to keep on the bloom-buds. When the young shoots 
have attained a degree of maturity, you can then use as many of them as 
you please for grafting, having previously given the stocks some heat to 
set them growing. 
Rooks.— E. S. says, “In answer to W.J.E.’s inquiries respecting 
rooks, I have known them to be enticed into building by fixing old straw 
bee-hives in the required position, which they took to, supposing them to 1 
be former nests. I should imagine they should be kept as quiet as 
possible till they have thoroughly established themselves.” 
Peat Charcoal (W. W., Lewisham). —You can obtain peat charcoal 
at the Metropolitan Sewage Company, Stanley Street, Fulham. Messrs. 
Henderson, Pine Apple-place, Edgeware-road, possess for sale the j 
Alstromeria oculata. 
Dutch Hamburgh Grape (J.W.). —Where can this vine be purchased ? 
Carnations (Violette). —You may obtain a list of Carnations of any 
of the florists who advertise in The Cottage Gardener. Your ques¬ 
tion why your Anemones come with double crowns is rather puzzling, 
when we do not know the way you cultivate them. Is your soil very 
highly manured ? We should think it is, and the remedy will be to 
plant them in poorer soil next season. 
Names of Plants (P. S .).— We think the diminutive specimen sent j 
is Parsley Piert, Alchemilla arvensis. We know of no mode of destroy- j 
ing it without injuring the grass. ( Queen Mab). —Yours is a Ceonothus, ' 
and we think C. thyrsiflorus. Send us a specimen when in bloom. We j 
cannot tell you where to get Nerine Forthergilli. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orb, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London.—February I2th, 1S5S. 
