January 16. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
307 
acted very well, and every other time smoke came through 
a thousand fissures in the mortar, and even in the bricks. 
One friend advises me to have the chimney raised three feet 
higher than it is; this I should like to avoid, as it will he 
an eyesore from the drawing-room windows ; but if we can 
get rid of the smoke no other way, it must he done. 
Another advises me to have the sides of the flues painted 
in one or two coats of oil paint, which he thinks would fill 
the cracks without obstructing the heat, or being liable to 
blister off. Whatever you advise, I will have done. 
“ The Cock figured in your last number, with the horny 
appendages to his comb, probably was brought from Spain, 
or some of the Spanish dependencies. They are common 
enough, and little to be admired. It, is entirely artificial, 
and the practice is attended with cruelty. 1 tell you, who 
are, I know, incapable of giving useless pain, that it is done 
by cutting off the spur of a young cock just when it begins 
to become horny, and binding it firmly to the comb of 
another, removing the skin from the part where the root of 
the spur rests. This I learned from a Spanish gentleman, 
who gave one to me.— Caekig Cathol.” 
[You cannot do better than have your smoking flue coated 
with Portland cement, taking core that a very large propor¬ 
tion of sand is mixed with the cement, or it will be liable to 
crack and fall off We have received, from Mr. Tegetmeier, 
a similar statement to that you give relative to the grafting 
of a horn upon the head of a fowl, but we think the party 
who communicated the drawing is not likely to be deceived; 
nor are the horns, as depicted, at all like the spurs of a 
cockerel. Of the leaves of Geraniums you enclosed, No 1, 
is the Carrot-leaved, and No 2, the Qucrcifolium major, or 
Large Oak-leaved. It is the Royal Oak Geranium of some 
gardeners.] 
CAMELLIA BUDS FALLING. 
“ The enclosed Camellia bud (as large as a large marble) 
is one of four that has fallen off in this way, and I should 
feel obliged if you could give me any reason for it. They 
all attain this size and then drop altogether.— Victoria." 
[This frequently happens from the plants standing in a 
close house, where a sufficiency of air was not given, and, 
also, from one or more periods of neglecting to water the 
plant until it is too dry, when the centre or axis of the 
flower-bud is the first thing to suffer, and though the out¬ 
side swells for a time, it ultimately falls.] 
WARDIAN CASE OF FERNS. 
“ My question is a wide one; I wish to know, first, which 
of the British species of Ferns are best adapted for a closed 
case ; secondly, what is the best soil for general purposes 
to put in the case ; and thirdly, whether any looser matter 
(as stones, or rubbish), should be put at the bottom to act 
as drainage. Possibly you may know of some work which 
would give me information on all these points; which, if 
you could recommend, I should at once procure. My 
Wardian case is only a small one ; eight inches in diameter, 
by eighteen inches in height.—Flux.” 
[Unless you are a good hand at growing Ferns in the 
open air, take our word for it, you will kill many of them 
before you learn their culture in a Wardian case. There is 
no ornamental piece of drawing-room furniture which we 
prefer before a Wardian case, when under the management 
of good gardeners; but there is not one in a thousand who 
can manage a case to our liking. We have seen a dozen of 
them in London, made up by the best gardeners in the 
world, and then were handed over to some one or other 
who soon made a regular Balaclava of them. Your case is 
only a good sized bell-glass, and will only grow one good 
plant of the Black Maiden Hair Fern ( Adiantnm Capillns 
Veneris), one of the prettiest of British Ferns, and the 
easiest of them all to grow in such a small space. If you 
can see our last volume or two, you will find all you want 
in Mr. Appleby’s account of the more hardy Ferns.] 
FORCING RHUBARB AND SEA-KALE. 
[In answer to E. I’anson, we can say, that a communi¬ 
cation will shortly appear in our columns applicable to his 
case; but we may say, in the meantime, that Rhubarb and 
Sea-kale may both be forced in a frame, only the latter must 
be excluded from light, which the former need not. It is, 
therefore, better to have a frame for each, as light and air, to 
a limited extent, improves the Rhubarb, while it is fatal to 
the quality of the Sea-kale. There is not so much danger of 
overheating now as there was before Christmas ; but it had 
bettor never exceed 75° ; less will do. 
In answer to the same correspondent’s enquiry about 
Cucumber sowing, we reply, by all means sow some seeds 
immediately. An article in our columns (page 202) will 
assist you in some points ; but in regard to the best kind for 
to sow, much depends on what you want the fruits for. If 
for showing purposes, viz., Snoiv’s Horticultural Prize, 
Mill's Jewess, or some of the more lately advertized ones; 
but if you grow them for use, and want abundance of good 
useful fruit, The Homan Emperor, or Sion House, will 
prove more productive ; and what is of much consequence, 
less liable to mishaps of many kinds.] 
IMPROVING AN EXHAUSTED SOIL. 
“ Week after week affords the most convincing “ proof 
possible ” of the inexhaustible good-nature and willingness 
to afford information to us novices, exhibited by the gentle¬ 
men connected with your highly instructive work, that I am 
induced to lay my most unhappy and melancholy case 
before them, under the hope that they will lend me, an 
unfortunate mortal, a helping hand in my present difficulties. 
“My garden is about fifty yards by twenty yards, and 
situated in thewestpart of this town, (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), 
at a level of about 250 feet above the level of the sea, 
gradually sloping S. W.; has old Sol the whole daylong, i.e., 
when he is visible ; the ground is sheltered by houses upon 
all sides; they are about 160 yards, on an average, from 
my garden, and do little harm. The soil is rather light, 
and as “ dutfy ” as a coal-pit heap. The subsoil is yellow 
clay of a poor quality, intermixed with large pieces of 
freestone. 
“In April of last year, I took my present garden, and, to 
my sorrow and cost, found that every particle of stulf was 
worked out of the soil; probably no manure had been put 
into it for two or three years, and, being very old, the soil 
was thoroughly exhausted, and, to improve matters, chock 
full of Chickweod (1 hate the sight of it), Docks, Coltsfoot, 
Mint (common), Horse-raddish, and such like articles; 
these latter advantages I did not ascertain until some time 
elapsed. Well, to work I went; got three good loads of 
well-rotted horse-dung, and laid it upon a portion of the 
ground, and turned the soil over about three times before 
planting; about May 1 had, without exception, I really 
believe, the finest crops of Chickweed ever seen by 
man; it perfectly smothered everything, Cabbages excepted. 
The Dutch hoe was vigourously set to work night and 
morning, and kept at work all the summer to get the 
beauties down ; the crops were all hoed up, and a precious 
time I had. The Chickweed I have now conquered to a 
great extent. The Mint and Coltsfoot have vanished; as 
immediately they showed above ground, up they came, and so 
perfectly bled them to death. But the Horse-raddish is my 
master; I have taken wheelbarrows full of roots up last 
summer and the summer before, and all out of a space five 
feet wide and fifteen feet long. I have followed the roots 
into the clay, but all no use; but vanish they must, as they 
are in my best flower-border. What can I do ? 
“ At the back end of last year, and during the early spring 
of this, I set to work, and trenched about half my ground 
down to the clay (average of soil two-and-a-half feet), and 
laid on this portion about four loads of horse-manure. The 
rest is not trenched, but is thrown up in ridges, and crammed 
full of manure, as I have laid not less than ten loads of rotten 
dung over about two-thirds of my ground ; still, I cannot 
grow things as I wish. 
“ For instance, my Dahlias were not of sufficient size, 
although first-rate in colour and form. This I attribute 
to want of strength in the soil, as on visiting the gardens of 
some of my friends (all first-rate florists) their soil appears, 
and is, very different to mine, and they tell me my soil wants 
strength. Now the rub is, how is this most desirable object 
to be obtained ? I have thought, Mr. Editor, that were I to 
cover over the ridges where I intend my Dahlias next year 
to grow with a goodish sprinkling of clay and clayey-sand, 
that the frosts would mellow it, so that in spring, when 
