148 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 21. 
[Suah is Signor Minasi’s description of liis Incubator, 
and we have abundant evidence that it is an efficient hatcher 
of chicken. No one ever entertained a doubt upon this 
point; for from the egg-ovens of Egypt, down to Cantello’s 
Icubator, there have been abundance of evidence that artifi¬ 
cial hatching is not a very difficult achievement. The 
difficulty commences after the chicken has been hatched. 
We are aware that Signor Minasi has some ingenious 
“artificial mothers” for brooding the chicken, but even 
with their aid, how many chicken out of every hundred, 
can, on the average, be reared until fit for the spit ? Nor do 
our queries stop there; for of the most successful user of 
the Incubator, we would ask—Which is the cheapest mode 
of hatching and rearing chicken—by these machines, or by 
hens? We have heard that Sir John Thorold, Bart., of 
Syston Park, Grantham ; Sir George Nugent, Bart., of 
Harling; Charles Appleyard, Esq., of Harrow; the Rev. D. 
Capper, of Iluntly Rectory, Gloucestershire, and several 
other gentlemen, have had the Incubator in operation during 
the present year, and we should like to hear from them all, 
whether, after such experience, they recommend their 
friends to become purchasers of an Incubator?—If they do, 
then Signor Minasi will have the best evidence in his favour 
that he can adduce.] 
DOUBLE DAISIES. 
Seeing that there is a prevailing desire to possess the 
more beautiful kinds of double Belgian Daisies, I would 
mention a plant but little known, and less cultivated ; it is 
the “ Viltadinia Uibaia," a plant akin to the common Daisy 
in its flowers, but different in habit, as it grows like the 
Cceli rosea, or the Forget-me-not, to the height of six or 
nine inches, and is covered with its red and white blossoms 
nearly all the year round. It is called “ Australian Daisy,” 
and “ Brachycomc triloba,” hy some botanists. Now, if this 
could be made to produce double Jlowers, like the new Belgian 
ones, by being hybridized, the plant would be a valuable 
addition indeed to our gardens.—S. P., Rnshmerc. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
ROSES NEAR A MANUFACTURING TOWN. 
“ My house and garden were once in the country; alas! 
I can say that no longer; they have now become part of the 
suburb of a manufacturing town, which every year enlarges 
its boundaries. 
“The house faces east, or east by north ; subsoil of the 
garden is cold clay; the town lies to the north-east, and, 
consequently, north and north-east winds bring a murky 
atmosphere upon me. I have the advantage, however, of 
standing some sixty or seventy feet above the level of the 
town, but to balance this, I am surrounded very much by 
forest trees, which, though many of the worst, Ashes, &c., 
have been cut down, still exercise an unfavourable influence 
upon my flowers; besides which, sundry tall chimnies behind 
my house (my own, by the way, so, perhaps, I should not 
complain) give me a disagreeable sense of their presence 
when the wind lies in the west, or south-west. On them, 
however, I have been able lately to place some check, by 
causing some, to consume their own smoke, and where this 
was not practicable, raising them many feet, so that now 
what smoke there is passes over my head and vanishes. 
“ With these explanations, you will not be surprised that I 
cannot succeed with my Roses. Perhaps, the wise thing 
would be to give them up in toto, and grow Hollyhocks, or 
anything else; but, of course, as I cannot have them without 
difficulty, I am especially fond of Roses, and I am resolved 
to make one more trial. What I want, therefore, to know, 
is, how far you think the plan, which I propose, likely, under 
the circumstances, to be successful ? 
“ The front of my house (looking east) is covered by a 
trelliss, filled thinly by Rosa ruga, Noisette grandiflora, 
Caroline Maria, Madame Laffay , and a common China, 
The border in which these are growing is, I find, garden- 
soil, almost pulverised, and always dry from the projection 
of the roof of the house, which prevents any rain, but a driving 
one from the east, from touching it. Ruga has been there 
seven years, and at first flowered; but it is now weak at the 
bottom, and has but few flowers at the top. Grandiflora has 
been planted three years, and not till this year has shown 
any signs of vigor; but, much to my astonishment, has per¬ 
petrated the feat of sending up some very long shoots, 
though only bearing one or two flowers ; the China Rose does 
not get on a bit; and though planted five years, is hardly 
higher than when first put in. Caroline Maria has not 
been long planted; ditto, Madame Laffay, which flowered 
abundantly last year, and has contended herself this year 
with making wood. My intention is, then, to take out the soil 
from this bed, say a spade deep, and to fill in with a compost 
of marl, fresh loam, and cow-dung, in equal parts, cutting 
the Roses down to six or seven feet (they are now twelve or 
fourteen feet) ; by this means, I hope to keep the roots cool, 
and fairly moist, and give them a chance of putting out 
growing bearing shoots from the bottom. What are the odds 
that I shall succeed ? 
“ My standard Roses hardly prosper so well as those on 
the house beyond the first year of planting, with the excep¬ 
tion, perhaps, of the old Geunt dcs Battailes, and this year, 
Pierre de St. Cyr. After the first year, many of them make 
wood, but altogether refuse to flower, and this is not from 
want of well cutting in, either. 
“ These I mean to treat in a similar manner, i.e., tako 
them up, dig out the soil, and fill in with compost. I have 
mentioned putting a coating of rotten manure round the 
roots on the top outside, by way of dressing, and syringing 
well in the spring, as they get spotted with blacks from 
my enemies, the tall chimnies. — An Amateur and New 
Subscriber.” 
[There is, evidently, nothing but money and judgment 
wanted to make your place a paradise of Roses. We have 
Roses all round us under much greater disadvantages than 
yours, and they do remarkably well, with those who like 
them ; and those who do, take care of them ; and if it is 
really true that you love Roses, you want skill and judg¬ 
ment ; for neither is exhibited in the way you mismanaged 
that trelliss in front of the house. You allowed the soil in 
the border to become so dry and dusty, that the Ruga can¬ 
not flower well in it—the hardiest of all Roses—as this 
was becoming evident. A Grandiflora was planted in the 
border—a bad move; then, Caroline Maria and Madame 
Laffay were put in; a still worse move; but the way you 
propose to renew the border is, by far, the worst move. You 
may just as well throw the money into one of the smoky 
furnaces. Every plant in that border must come out, and 
every particle of the soil, too, down to full two feet from the 
surface. When the trench is thus open, lay a drain from 
the lowest part of it, to carry off the sudden “flushings" 
from the watering pots. Every week, during the growing 
season, where rain cannot reach, and where moisture can¬ 
not oose from the surrounding parts, to a border, or piece of 
ground, we must consider such borders as so many flower¬ 
pots, or boxes, and we must attend to them by hand water¬ 
ing, just as regularly and constantly as if they were real pots, 
or boxes. If that had been done from the first, nothing 
could have been better, by this time, than the first Roses. 
After draining, put six inches of brick-bats or stones all 
along the bottom; then your own compost of fresh loam 
and rotten cow-dung will do very well; but marl may be a 
deadly poison, or a good thing, according to the kind. 
There are more kinds of marl than many are aware of; 
that in which any traces of chalk is found will not suit 
Roses. After filling in the border, cut back the great, fanged 
roots to within eighteen inches of the stools, and let the 
fibry roots go at full length. To cut back the plants ono-half, 
as you propose doing, will do very well; but some of the 
shoots of Ruga {they should all be on their own roots') are 
surely hard aud dry ; and if so, they are of no use, and ought 
to be cut down close to the roots. After all is finished, the 
grand secret is, never to let that border get quite dry any 
more ; for if it does get quite dry, it will be very difficult to 
get the whole depth properly moistened. 
As to Standard Roses, the chances are, that you buy them 
with stems twice the length they ought to be. Some Roses 
