THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
ErnijuAnv 10. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Liverpool Poultry Show. —“ In a report yon ?ive of tlie Liverpool 
Show, in vour last Number, signed M.. in speaking of the Silrei--penpi/led 
Iliimlnirghs, the report says,—Mr. Dixon, of Bradford, received only 
second honours (that unfortunate Birmingham judgment being again i 
corrected). Now, the party who supplied that report is wrong, when 1 
he states that the Birmingham judgment was corrected ; for the Fowls I 
showed at Liverpool were not the same I sent to Birmingham. It is j 
cpiite true, Mr. Archer was first at Liverpool, and myself second, and vire 
vemd at Birmingham. I shall be glid if you would insert the above in 
the next Number of The Cott.vok G.srdenf.r. As the paragraph 
stands in last Number, it casts a reflection upon the Birmingham .ludges, 
which, in this case, is not their due.— .Ias. Dixon.” 
Book on Poultry (.1 Yorkshire Siihsnri/ier). —Buy ‘‘The Poultry 
Book.” W'e hear that a second edition is about to appear under the 
supervision of Mr. Tcgetmeier. 
Breeding from a fre.sii Cock t Suhsrriher). —Von cannot be sure 
that the eggs laid by your hens will not partake of the characteristic.s of 
the old cock, until they have ceased associating with him for three weeks. | 
Gold Fish in a Glass Vase. — “An Admirer of these beautiful fish 
would feel obliged by any correspondent giving his or her experience on 
their treatment in a glass globe. Some of the young fish were procured I 
from a pond in which a great number were kept, and were put into a large ' 
vase, and supplied every morning with fresh pipe-water, and sometimes , 
I fresh rain-water. They lived for four months, and seemed very healthy, 
brisk, and lively, till what appeared to be a distemper broke out among ] 
them in the form of a white, woolly, fungous suljstance spreading over 
their bodies ; at the same time, the fine membrane of the tail separating 
into threads, and finally rotting away, at which period the fish died. 
The one on which the disease first appeared was removed from among 
the rest, but still it spread, and most of them are now attacked and are 
dying very fast. In answer to a correspondent, at page 2J.'i of the .luly 
Number, a little cooked meat w.as recommended every second day. This 
was given them, and they devoured it greedily ; but it was discontinued 
at the suggestion of some friends w'ho considered it injurious. During 
tlie winter months the water w as chilled, and they were kept in a warm 
room at night.—F. P., Duhlin.” 
We shall be obliged by communications on the keeping of Gold Fish. 
Barley Sugar for Bees (.I young liee-keejiur). —Barley Sugar re¬ 
quires no preparation when given to Bees. We should certainly prefer 
honey for them if we could get it at the same price that we had to pay 
for Barley Sugar. Mr. Taylor’s ‘‘ Bee-keeper’s Guide,” price ts., is the 
best work. We do not know the price of the other work you mention, 
but it is a shilling or eighteenpcnce less. 
Neglected Pear, Plum, and Cherry Trees (//. //.).—As they 
are so weak, and the young shoots arc decaying, it is very evident that 
there is something wrong at the roots, as the trees arc only nine ye.ars i 
old. Probably the borders have been heavily cropped and dug so as to 
destroy the surface roots. We should manure the surface only just ' 
pointing in the manure w ith a fork. Liquid-manure, as you propose, 
might be a temporary assistance, given once a w eek. 
RIelons for Preserving whole [A new Sahseriher). — Quee.n 
Amies, or, as it is sometimes called, the Early Queen, is the small Melon 
which would suit you. It is yellow, and weighs less than a quarter-of-a- , 
pound w'hen full grown. ' 
Gas Tar as a Paint {Mixture). —Fat is used with Stockholm Tar to 
give it a glossy face. We do not know whether it w ill answer with Gas 
Tar. Will some of our readers inform us on this point i’ 
Error —Page 2tl, col. 2, line 11 from bottom. Mr. Ferguson writes 
as follows :—‘‘For ‘Fish’ read ‘Hirers,' not ‘ Ferguson,’as stated in 
your Answers to Correspondents. Clod-hopper’s boots, in my opinion, 
would be quite as ajiropos for the Queen to open a ball in wilh an 
Emperor, as to use boxes at 30s. each, to grow Peach-trees in houses 
constructed with hoards and covered with tar.—D. F.” 
Heating uy Gas. —Mr. Vineent Litchfield, Twickenham, would sug¬ 
gest that your correspondent, ‘‘T. W.,” should rerlain/y not adopt any i 
plan but that of a gas-heating apparatus for his greenhouse. Mr. I,. | 
, would recommend that the house be hiiitt, and he will he very happy, at 
a future time (and tluat very shortly), to indicate the mode by which it 
can be treated with the greatest cleanliness, and the much less than 
usual expenditure of time and money to keep it always in a condition to 1 
be set in action in one moment. This will also apply to “ L. R. T.’s ” ' 
query in yours of 8th January. 
Propagating Case (Verax). — Wc forwarded your note to Mr. 
Beaton, and this is his reply:—‘‘ ‘Verax’ is a true English gentleman, 
and I would rather do anything than lose his good opinion. Bc.sides. he 
I lives in a part of England where they make the finest cider in the world, 
! and where the lowest servant on the farm might be said to be a ‘ perfect 
gentleman,’ for he drinks like a lord. Therefore, seeing that we are on 
disputed ground, I wish for a ‘rectification’ of the ‘boundary line’ 
between us in a ‘ peace convention.’ The boundary tine between us 
begins in the north-west corner of the territories watered by The 
Cottage Gardener, and runs in a south-east direction to the Gulf of 
Pudibundus. On one side of this line 1 claim every word as my property, 
I of all that ever appeared in The Cottage Gardener about Mr. 
j Walton’s propagating case; and I hereby totally deny that the ‘in- 
! ventor ’ ever wrote a syllabic on the subject in these pages ; therefore, I 
, must not allow him to be made a ‘ sick man ’ of in this olf-hand manner. 
I There cannot, by any possibility of logic, be a ‘glaring error,’ or an 
I error not glaring, where the ‘ i.aventor ’ never wrote a line on the subject. 
' If any reader of The Cottage Gardener will point out the page, or 
j number, in which the inventor, or the writer, said, or even hinted, at the 
! eight hours, the cidza oil. the price of oil, or anv other of the items, 
I covered by the ‘glaring error’ mentioned by ‘Verax.’ 1 shall srnil 
I him a ‘complete’ case, fit for working order, ‘ gratis.’ I even challenge 
I ‘Verax’ himself for anything of the sort. Why, ikcn. does he throw 
I cold water on the invention? It is unfortunate that ‘Vekax’ should 
I have made that unfounded charge against Mr. Walton at the moment 
: when I had the plans ready for the engraver—within ten days, let it be 
I observed, of the very time, and the only time, 1 'promised to do so.— 
D. Beaton.” 
Grasses for old Lawns.— il/wstw. Siitlon, seedsmen, Reading, 
have written to us follows ;—‘‘By referring to page 329 of Tit e Cottage 
Gardener you will see that the printer has placed the words Trifolinm ^ 
repens in connection with ‘ Yellow Clover,’ instead of in connection 
with the ‘ White Clover,’ which, doubtless, you intended it for, and to 
which it certainly belongs. The article by Mr. Beaton is, in every 1 
respect, so excellent, it would be a pity for any error to remain uncor- I 
rected, especially as those of your readers, who do not know the botanical 1 
names of the Clovers, might order Trifulium repens of tlicir seedsman, ' 
and be disappointed.” 
Vine-border (A Learner).—See an article on inquiries about Vines. | 
in our last number, in which your case is pretty well met. We will only 
add,—See that the border, though inside and raised, is drained ; raise the 
back of the border a footer even more in height, sloping down to its present 
proposed height in front. This will enable the sun to e.xerci.-^e more 
power on the soil, the want of which is often a detriment to the plants i 
planted Inside, w hen other plants shade the soil too much. Plant against 
the back-wall, and train down the roof, and use either four or five plants, 
as you think proper. We do not expect that you will ever get much 
fruit from against the back-wall, and, there.''ore. if you could get plants 
high enough to reach the glass at once, it would be an advaiAage. Ail 
the buds, except one or two at the end, might be picked out, utdess the 
plant was very strong. 
Propagating Epacrises and Azaleas (G. IT'.).—The Epacris and 
Azaleas are propagated by cuttings ; taking off the points of shoots, or 
small side-shoots, about one inch or one-and-a-half inch in length, just 
when the wood of the base of the cutting is getting firmish, and insert¬ 
ing them in silver-sand, in pots three-parts filled with drainage, and 
placing a bell-glass over them, and giving them a medium temperature 
of tio'’. The Manettii Rose will strike freely, if the cuttings are planted 
under a hand-light in sandy soil, out-of-doors, or in any shady place, 
in summer and autumn, it strikes freely .almost anywhere. The Da/ihne 
indica strikes from cuttings; but it is best grafted on the hardy 
Daphnes; the mode of doing so was lately alluded to. We cannot 
hear anything of the Apples and Pears. 
Heating a Fraaie (C. T. J.). —Wc can see no reason why the plan 
should not answer well. For giving you a bottom-heat for cuttings, how ¬ 
ever, your pipe should p.ass near the centre of your beds, instead of near tbe 
outside, as represented. The Income Tax affair is another matter. Of 
course, after the spring, most projiagating could be done in beds supplied 
with fermenting matter alone ; but it will not be so cleanly as having heat 
from pipes. If the pipes arc used, some rough, open matter should be 
])laced all over and around them, and fine matter, such .as sand or ashes, 
I'kc., on the surface. We are glad you are successful wilh gas, and will 
publish your description. Wc know nothing about the diseases of 
Rabbits. 
Size (T. J.).—We have before answered this enquiry. It is a soft 
glue used by plasterers in their white-wash. It may be obtained of theiii 
or of any oil and colour dealer. 
Profit from (iARDBN (.1. B.. leyhridge).—As profit is your object 
and the garden extensive, you had better let it. 
Gl.ass Case (An Inquirer,. —To each of your queries we need only 
answer—Yes—except to those which require the following answ er :—'I'hc 
leaves of the plants must be about a loot from the glass. The dung 
chamber must be four feet deep. 
Mowing Machine (P. B.).- — Buy Budding’s for a small lav. n ; and buy 
our No. 347 for fuller notes on the subject. 
London: Printed by Hugh Barclay, Winchester High-street, m 
the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published for the Proprietors 
at The Cottage Gardener Office, No. 20, Paternoster Itow, in 
the Parish of Christ Church, City of London.—February 19 , 1856. 
^■Bbfrti^cnunlfS. 
On the 2gth of February will be published. Price Sixpence, 
TOitTRAJT GALLI'.UY 01' GARDEN KItS. 
No. 5. DR. LINDLEY. 
This is a reprint, on superior paper, of the Biographies in The ; 
Cottage Gardener, with extra fine impressions of the portraits on 
tinted paper. 
The first four parts being—1. Sir Joseph Paxton. 2. Mr. G. Fleming. 
3. Mr. Donald Beaton. 4. Mr. Veitch, sen., are reprinting. 
London : Cottage Gardener Office, 20, Paternoster Row. 
On the ‘2<Ith of February ivill be jnihlished. Price 'I'hreepence, 
GARDENING FOR THE MANY. 
Being monthly directions, step by step, for the cultivation of each crop 
in the garden of the Amateur and Cottager. 
By Contributors to Til E Cottage Gardener. 
London: Cottage Gardener Office, 20, Paternoster Row. 
CHEAP AND POPULAR SCIENTIFIC WORK. 
On the Isf of March, Price Threepence, A'umber I., of 
Manual of British Butterflies and 
Moths. By H.T. STAINTON, Editor of ‘‘The Entomologist’s 
Annual.” 
This work will contain descriptions of all the British Species, with 
1 popular readable instructions where to find them and how to know 
them, and will be illustrated with numerous wood-cuts. To be com- 
I pleted in about Thirty Monthly Nuiubcrs. The first tour Parts will 
comprise the whole of the Butterflies! 
London: JOHN VAN VOOR.ST, 1. Paternoster Row. 
endle’s Price Current and Garden 
DIRECTORY for 1856, can now be obtained from the under- | 
I signed, or through any Bookseller in Town or Country. Price Cd., 
' free bv post. 
1 WILLIAM E. RENDLE & Co., Seed Merchants, Plymouth. 
Established 1766. 
