THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Eebruary 19. 
;i7() 
I Ijest situations, as they ought and veiiuire. The Prairie 
Roses, 51 and 52, will hardly blooui at the eatraiice- 
I gate unless the place is much sheltered, with a dry 
bottom, which it probably is; else, No 23 would hardly 
bloom so late in that open situation, the true Fro- 
aerpine being rather a delicate Rose. Altogether, we 
should think the eft'ect of so many Roses planted in 
such a manner w’ould be exceedingly good, and the dif¬ 
ferent arrangements for the various classes seem, from 
the plan, to have been well considered; this mode of 
backing with pillar Roses seems well worth imitating 
in such situations.] 
HOLCUS SACCHARATUS, 
The New Chinese Sugar-cane. 
This vegetable, which was brought under notice at the 
same time as the Dioscorea Japoiiica, or the New Chinese 
Yam, seems to he much more worthy of attention than that 
plant. It is easy of culture, and gives a lai'ger amount of 
' green produce than any other cereal which 1 have had an 
! opportunity of cultivating or examining. A few plants, which 
I were raised from seeds sown late last spring, were planted 
in a small patch of ground, and produced from three to 
I seven stems each, the stems having from eight to ten leaves 
upon them, varying from three to five feet in length. From 
the fact that the seed was sown late, the plants had not, as 
a matter of course, the same chance of a large development 
of foliage as if they had had a longer period of growth. 1 
do not consider that it will ever iirove to be more than an 
annual plant, as, judging from a specimen 1 have just 
examined, it does not form an amount of root correspond¬ 
ing with the top, neither do the roots appear to he so com- 
pose<l as to possess the power of resisting the decay which 
is the attendant and attribute of our very moist autumn 
and w'inter months on very many vegetables and plants. 
Respecting the feeding and nutritious qualities of this 
cane much may he said. The only question I would raise, 
as to its utility as an agricultural crop, is, "Will it ever answer 
the farmer’s purpose to employ or use the gardener’s skill 
m raising the young plants previous to planting them out? 
It cannot he raised or grown with less care than “ Cohbett's 
Corn,” and few persons who commenced the cultivation of 
that have continued it, owing to the irreguhirity of the 
I weather in busy seasons superinducing that want of steady 
care which the young plants require. AVc, as gardeners, 
say, “ Oh ! it is only-The fanners reply, “ Take the 
‘ only’ out, if you please, and wo might manage then.” 
These two plants may, with ranch judgment, be placed on 
the same footing, and viewed in the same light, as to their 
utility; whilst their merits may he weighed m the same scales, 
without much fear that they would out-halauco one another. 
They are both valuable as “ green food.” 
1 liave just written—“ Much may ho said with reference to 
the feeding and nutritious qualities of this plant.” 1 Avill cite 
three instances in corroboration of what I have advanced, 
which may serve as the texts for three hundred more. 1 
took a bundle of the stems, and cutting them into lengths 
of from eight inches to a foot long, I threw them into the 
manger of a stall where a horse was standing. “ Tom,” as 
the proprietor chooses to call his steed, looked at them, 
hlowed upon them, and seemed, at lirst, tpiite unwilling to 
have any thing to do with them; hut, having retired for 
about an hour, I returned, and found that ho had. eaten 
them up, or, at least, I feel at liberty to suppose so, having 
tried the same experiment several times since, and it has 
required “ no reflection” on Master Tom’s part, ere he com¬ 
menced the demolishment of them—he has always eaten 
them greedily. The sap contains a large amount of saccha¬ 
rine juice, which I have frequently tasted by cutting the 
stem across and applying my tongue to it immediately. This 
very chgenlly confirms the supiiosition that it is nutritious 
not only for horses but also for horned cattle. Cows and 
heifers cat the leaves and stems greedily, and 1 entertain a 
strong conviction that the produce of the former would be 
much improved by being paa tially fed on them. 
1 A very respectable Septuagenarian, who has been connected 
' with the publication of a fioricultural magazine for the 
greater portion of his life, and which still hears his name, 
now resident here, stated, in a letter he published a short 
time since, “ that swine will eat the leaves and stems of this 
plant raw in preference to other vegetable productions when 
cooked,” he having placed the two descriptions of food be¬ 
fore them at one and the same lime, and thereby proved the 
experiment. As “ Mr. Piggy ” is a pretty good judge, when , 
a choice of food is offered, in the selection of that which is j 
most congenial to his apipetite, another argument is thereby : 
suggested for the recommendation of it to the attention of , 
all who are fond of the cultivation of new introductions. I 
would do so under the impression that it may ultimately ; 
pirove an acquisition of no mean pnetensions for “ green 
cropphng.” 
Whether the amount of saccharine juices which the stems 
and leaves of this plant contain may render them useful for 
fattening cattle, is a feature in its composition which I 
should be glad to hear has been proved. 
Viewing this plant in the light of an annual, its hardiness 
will, as a matter of course, he of very little importance. It 
will suffice, that we can raise it in early spring, plant the 
young pilants out, and get a good produce from them; and 
it will serve all the purposes required of it. It is an oft- 
quoted saying, used by those who are as cautious as the 
apple-trees in spring, that “ Time does many a tale nnfold;” 
but 1 think, independent of that saying, this pilant is worthy 
of trial, to test its value as an agricultural grass. It must 
not he coddled, and then condemned: it should he raised in ] 
a frame, with a little bottom-heat, planted out in rows, two | 
feet by one, and kept carefully hoed up. If it succeeds, well . 
and good ; if it does not, let every man judge for himself as 
to the expediency of trying it again, having properly weighed | 
circumstances and surrounding influences.—C. B. S., Jersey. 
THE BRITISH LABOURER. 
i 
“If,” says the editor of Johnson and Shaw’s Farmers 
Almanack for 1856, p. 54, “you will refer hack to p. 198, you 
will find the average amount of sickness amongst friendly 1 
societies, and that illness commonly takes away about 1-12lh 
or l-13lh of the income of young workmen, and from 1 -10th 1 
to l-5th of those more advanced in life. This serious loss | 
of wages may he very commonly reduced in amount by 
ordinary care ; such as in selecting a dry, wholesome, cheer- 
fully-pilaced cottage, supplied w’ith good water. But when 
you have secured these, you will still be in danger of 
suft'ering in health, both yourself and your family, if j’ou 
allow sewage or other sources of bad smells to remain about 
yom’ cottage, or if you neglect personal cleanliness. Many 
! diseases arise from these sources. There is no excuse for 
j neglect in this way; the poorest person can he cleanly ; 
; water is commonly accessible to all. Avoid, then, dirt, 
! damp and close rooms, and resting in damp clothes. That | 
i the ill effects of exposure to the weather (which are com- ! 
I monly aggravated by neglect) are not more prejudicial to | 
I health than inhabiting ill-ventilated and badly-drained rooms, i 
j you may perceive by the following table, which gives the | 
I average yeaily number of day’s illness of sick labourer.s of 
i the classes which are exposed and not e.xposed to the 
weather” {Finlaison, iJep. on Friendly Sac., Pari, Paper, 1853, 
No. 955, p. 
xviii) 
Eight Labour. 
Heavy Labour. 
Age. 
Exposed. 
Note.xpo«cd. 
Exposed. 
Not exposed 
20. 
28-5 
25'3 
25-3 
24-9 
25. 
30-1 
27'4 
27-1 
28-1 
.30. 
32-4 
29'8 
30-0 
29-8 
35. 
33-5 
30 7 
31-0 
31-3 
40. 
.367 
36(> 
32'9 
34-8 
45. 
i 3y2 
38,7 
39-2 
38-2 
50. 
45-4 
48’.3 
43-2 
42-8 
55 . 
58-2 
48-6 
SI'2 
46-0 
()0 . 
(io-5 
49-1 
6l'2 
(jl'4 
()5. 
79-6 
73 0 
70'5 
78 3 
When we are thus quoting tlie advice of the editor of the 
valuable periodical to the labourer, let us not forget the 
■master's shortcomings on this head. 
At a recent meeting of the Herts Agricultuial Society, 
held at Buutingford, the Rev. W. W. Malet, alluding to the 
condition of the agricultural [labourer, spoke as follows;— 
