388 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 18 . 
i 
i liad in any quantity, so we collected all the roots, stumps of 
j trees, and such other rubbish as was useless elsewhere, often 
including such things as old knarly thorns, roots of forest 
trees, and anything in that way, not forgetting a little dried 
wood to make a beginning with. Thus having all things in 
readiness, and fixing oxr some level place for the hearth, we 
first of all prepared what we think the most important 
agent to success, and which we have sometimes seen 
neglected—“ the air drains ; ” these we make by cutting out 
two small furrows or ditches, about five or six inches 
wide and the same deep, cut so as to intersect each other 
exactly where the centre of the heap is to be, and which 
consequently will be like a cross; these drains we cover 
with stones or bricks, and in the centre raise a few more 
in a sort of heap ; the utility of these Hues or air-drains will 
be apparent to every one, as they supply the interior of the 
heap with that necessary element in supporting combustion, 
“ Oxygen,” without which the progress is slow and uncertain. 
Having prepared the air-drains in such a way as to pre¬ 
vent their getting choked up, we next prepare the fire- 
heap by laying on the dried wood, and some of the easiest 
managed pieces amongst those lying there, and having some 
of the clay ready dug and lying handy, it is better at once to 
set fire to the heap (which we presume was made tolerably 
solid), rather than wait for a large heap to be made. After 
it is fairly lighted, lay on carefully some of the lumps of clay, 
which is best done at first by hand, as the small or broken 
part which is thrown on by the spade is apt to choke the fire 
when newly made on. After a good quantity of that is on, 
lay on some more wood, i. e., roots or rubbish, and then 
more clay, observing not to overdo it at once ; it is better to 
leave it, and return a few hours afterwards and add some 
more. This process may be continued for any length of 
time, as the process of combustion is necessarily so slow 
under such circumstances that we have often kept it going 
for several weeks. 
One thing we strongly urge the inexperienced operator 
against, that is, meddling with the heap in any manner, 
until he is satisfied with the quantity he has ; he may 
keep adding as much as he likes, but he must not thrust 
in sticks, or try his shovel in the burning mass ; such 
interference deranges those processes going on so favour¬ 
ably inside, that we press on him to exercise his pa¬ 
tience until the whole be done, and then he will have a 
mass of matter, red in appearance, and, we need hardly 
say, invaluable in its effects on all crops to which it 
may be applied, besides those huge ugly stumps, which, 
if they had been only charred, would have been greater 
nuisances than before, are here converted, like the clay, 
into a nice handling material, available and ready for 
all purposes, and gratefully acknowledged by all crops 
(peat or bog plants perhaps excepted), besides which 
very important matter, the labour and trouble is not great, 
and the satisfaction of being able to make such clumsy and 
rubbishy substances subservient to so useful a purpose, and 
that without much labour, is, of itself, a recommendation to 
our plan, and to the amateur, who may be making altera¬ 
tions around his premises, and who finds all his back ground 
crowded up with such cumbersome substances as we have 
been enumerating, will find it to bis advantage to dispose of 
them as we have directed, and we have no question but that 
in the end he will wish his stock had been a larger one. 
S. N. Y. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
the Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London. 
White Clover (S. Tomlinson ).—The production of white clover in 
a field recently manured with bone dust, though no seed had been sown 
for many years, is not an unusual occurrence, if the field is trenched or 
ploughed deeply, so as to bring up a fresh soil to the surface. The seed 
will remain uninjured buried in the soil for centuries. After the Great 
Fire in London, when the old houses were cleared away, white clover 
came up abundantly. It had no connection with the bone dust in your 
case. Winter vetches will not do for spring sowing. Your other ques- 
tion next week. 
To Preserve Plums and Small Fruits. — W. J. sends the follow¬ 
ing in answer to a recent inquiry “ They must be fresh gathered, put 
into strong bottles, and just covered with cold water, then well corked 
with good corks, firmly knocked in, and tied over with strong string 
twice, in the manner of' soda water, so that the rarefied air shall not move 
them. The bottles, corks and all, are to be immersed in a water bath 
(a saucepan of cold water), with a little hay at the bottom, to prevent 
collision, the bath to be gently heated to 180 ° by a thermometer. When 
arrived at that heat, immediately remove all from the fire, and let the 
bottles of fruit cool in the water. When cold they are done, and will 
keep any length of time. The air has been forced out through the cork 
by the heat applied, and cannot re-enter, the external pressure not being 
sufficient.” 
Night Soil (M. M.). —The “constituents,” or as gardeners say, the 
virtue of the night-soil we recommended for Roses, can “ be obtained 1 
in a less disagreeable form,” perfectly free from bad odour, by fixing the 
ammonia, which gives it pungency. The best mode of doing this is by ] 
having it mixed in the following proportions:—Two parts night soil, one 
part gypsum, and one part peat charcoal. 
Pruning Roses (Ibid). — The Malmaison Rose should always be 
pruned quite close, and the La Marque, being a strong Noisette, should 
never be pruned close after it is well established; but you may apply our 
general rule of reducing two-thirds, from the last season’s growth, of the 
strongest shoots ; rather more from the next size, and the smallest side- 
shoots cut to three or four eyes. 
Zinc Churns. — L. J. P. writes as follows—“I think your corres¬ 
pondent J. B. L., of Feb. 26th, does not do justice to ‘ the Sussex zinc 
churn,’ as I have had one in constant use for the period of three years, 
and it is now as good as new, and has never required repairing; there¬ 
fore, as J. B. L. says his is leaky, although not used long, I should con¬ 
clude it must be from want of care in the servant who churns. I have 
now tried every variety of churn, including the American, and none will 
answer like the zinc, provided it is properly managed ; but very few 
servants will attend to the directions with regard to the cream being at 
the temperature of 60 °, and such is the prejudice in the lower orders 
against everything new, that although the butter may be obtained in [ 
summer by this churn in fifteen minutes, and in winter in thirty to forty ; 
minutes, yet they wiil prefer using the old barrel, or any other old- : 
fashioned churn, although they are seldom less than an hour in summer 
about the process, and in winter six or seven hours, or, perhaps, all day, 
when the butter will be so rancid and bad, from being so long about, that 
it must be thrown away. My dairy-maid has to-day (3rd of March) got 
the butter churned in about thirty minutes, although it was freezing hard 
last night; but she brings the cream into the kitchen over night, by which 
means the temperature is much increased, and then she puts boiling water 
into the zinc basin upon which the churn stands, and this has no effect 
whatever upon the taste of the butter; and while our neighbours are 
labouring at their old barrel churn from six in the morning till perhaps six 
in the evening, we, with our ‘ Sussex zinc,’ have not only made our 
butter, but are eating it. There is hardly a dozen pounds of good butter 
to be got at any country market during the winter months, and although 
it is generally by the ignorant attributed to the cows eating turnips, it is 
much more often caused by the very long time the churning process has 
been about, putting boiling-water into the churn, &c.” 
Insects ( Uraster ).—The minute insects you have sent are one of the 
species of the restricted genus Typhlocyba, belonging to the Cicadelli- 
deous cicadas. The majority of the specimens were in the larva and 
pupa state, the latter distinguished by their short rudiments of wing 
covers on the back. They may be destroyed by fumigation, in the same 
manner as the common green fly, or other species of Aphidse. The red 
Curculio was most likely the Apion frumentarium. The females of Chei- 
matobia brumata sit very close in the stem, and in the angles of branches 
of fruit-trees.—I. O. W. 
Canaries (G. A. (?.).—In answer to your note, W. Rayner, Esq., 
says—“ I beg to state, as far as my experience goes, I preferred birds of 
a year old to breed from, but they will continue to breed when five or six, 
or even more years old; but I find the birds always more vigorous and 
robust at the former age- I do not know of any work on the subject of 
breeding canaries that is not full of errors; I had two or three works, 
but gave them to my children, considering them worthless, and their 
titles I have forgotten. I used to turn a number of males and females 
into a room lighted by a south window, in w'hich room a quantity of furze 
or green broom bushes were fixed against a wall. In a large net-bag, a 
quantity of clean, dry moss and hair was placed, so that the birds could 
select what they pleased to make their nests with. I used to feed them 
with chopped egg and bread-crumbs every morning, and fresh water, in ! 
addition to their usual seed, and by this simple means I have raised a 
great number, leaving them, as it were, in a state of nature ; what may ! 
be done in a room, may be done with a single pair in a cage.” 
Grafting Tree-pjeonies (G. T.). —Now is a good time to graft the 
tree-poeony, and the best mode is that called the “whip or tongue graft¬ 
ing,” that is, cut off a portion of the stock, as near the width of the cut 
part of the scion as possible ; this cut should be about one-and-a-quarter 
inch long, and the cut on the stock should be the same length. Then fit i 
them together, and when that is properly done, take the scion, and, at 1 
about half-way up the cut, make an incision sloping upwards, and about 
half-way through ; then make a similar incision in the stock downwards, 
and immediately fit the tongue made by the upwards sloping cut on the 
scion into the cut on the stock, taking care that the bark of the one rests 
upon the bark of the other. Directly a graft is put on neatly, aud fitted 
accurately, it should be tied to the stock very firmly. Place the plant in 
a cool frame ; shade from sun, and shelter from cold. Keep it rather 
close for a week or two, until adhesion takes place, then give air, aud 
treat in the ordinary way. 
Grafting Wax (Ibid).— The following mixture makes a good grafting 
wax:—41b. of Burgundy pitch, 4 lb. of rosin, 4 lb. of bees wax, 2oz. of 
tallow, melted together over a slow fire, and laid on upon the tying 
material whilst warm. If suffered to become cold, it is so stiff as to be 
useless for grafting purposes. It is very inilammable, therefore be careful 
that no fire reaches it whilst melting. 
Wintering Pansies (A. B ,).—The best way to keep Pansies is in 
pots, but not as you have in a frame. They are very hardy. The only I 
