364 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
year, if possible. Thirdly, what is the best dressing / for I 
out-door fruit-trees, such as Apples, Tears, Plums, &c. ? 
1 am always plagued with the blight. Three-parts of the 
bloom never opens at all. There is always a small grub 
in tho inside of the bloom, and it eats the inside of it; and 
last year I was sadly plagued with the caterpillar; what 
fruit was set, half of it was eaten away, iu spite of all I could 
do. My garden is in a very low situation, completely sur¬ 
rounded by high hills on every side, except the east, and a 
large river close to it; it is both cold and damp, and I have 
great difficutly in getting the wood ripe; and late fruit, both 
Pears and Plums, some seasons will not ripen at all. Is 
there any fear of keeping Pines too dry ? and would you 
remove the suckers from the plants when they shew fruit?— 
T. North.” 
[To fruit in August, the Pines should start and grow on 
slowly from the beginning of April. Do not let them get too 
cool nor too dry now, if in the old Vinery, or the young 
lruit is apt to suffer. 
The Muscat Vines had quite enough of bunches if tho 
bunches were very large. Very likely the unequal size of 
the berries, a very common occurrence, was owing to the 
fecundation being less perfect. They are always the better 
of a little assistance in this matter. It is almost too late to 
raise roots now ; give them a little good top-dressing, and if 
they do not succeed according to your expectations next 
season, then raise the roots in the beginning of November, 
and a good coating on the border would cause them to 
make roots all the winter. 
Soot, sulphur, tobacco-juice, and clay, are as good a 
general wash as any for general purposes. We have found 
clay and sulphur and soot very effectual. Any oily matter 
reduced is the best for the American blight. Turpentine 
daubed into the knots kills it completely, but it must be 
used carefully. Station-planting must be very suitable for 
your position. There will, probably, be much published by 
us before long to meet your case.] 
IMPROVING THE STAPLE OF CLAY SOIL. 
“ I should be glad to have the opinion of one of your 
talented contributors on the best mode of appljing lime, 
bog, and sea-sand (this latter from Morecombe Bay); as 
mixtures to assist in giving fertility to soil of a strong, red, 
loamy clay. First, as to the bog or peat, moss, whether to 
select the upper stratum of red peat, or the lower one of 
black ; how to apply it, whether by spreading it to exposure 
to frost, &c., or mixing it with sand or manure, to ferment 
for two or more months ? Whether lime is beneficial to 
mix with the compost ? The sand, whether to lay it on the 
soil at once, to mix it, or add lime to it? Then, in what 
proportions each, say of bog, sand, and lime ? all equally 
easy to be procured.—0. B.” 
[This is one of those many enquiries which reach us 
impossible to be specifically answered, owing to the absence 
of the necessary information to guide us. 
No universal standard or recipe can be given for the 
formation of a fertile soil, but a soil, the constituents of 
which approach in their proportions to those of the following, 
cannot be unproductive in any climate. It is a rich alluvial 
soil, which Mr. Sinclair, in his invaluable Hortus Gramineus 
Woburnensis, gives as being the most fertile for the grasses :— 
“Fine sand, 115; aluminous stones, 70; carbonate of 
lime, 23; decomposing animal and vegetable matter, 34 ; 
silica, 100; alumina, 28; oxide of iron, 13; sulphate of lime, 
2; soluble, vegetable, and saline matter, 7; loss, 8; total 
400.” 
We may add, that, to constitute a fertile soil eminently 
such, much of its earthy particles must be in a minute state 
of division. In the above analysis, 185 parts only were 
separable by sifting through a fine sieve, 215 parts 
were impalpable; whereas poorer soils will often have 300 
parts coarse matter to every 100 of finely pulverized con¬ 
stituents. 
Now, beyond tho fact that there is too much clay (alumina) 
in our correspondent’s soil, we know nothing relative to its 
excess or deficiency of constituents. There may be plenty 
of lime in it, there may be not enough, and there may be an 
excess of iron. If he sent us an analysis of it we could tell 
him more precisely what to do. As it is, we can only re¬ 
Ff.bruary 0. 
commend twenty tons of the black peat to be mixed with 
five tons of lime, and then mixed, incorporated thoroughly, 
with eighty tons of the sand. These quantities are for one 
acre ; they must be increased or diminished in proportion to 
the space of ground wished to have improved in its staple. 
We should spread tho mixture at once upon the land, and 
have it then thrown up into ridges.] 
BARLEY STRAW versus OAT STRAW FOR COWS. 
“Would you answer ‘J. B. II.,’ if Barley straw gives 
more milk than Oat straw? The opinion here is that Oat 
straw dries cows, which I cannot believe. If any does, I 
should say that of Barley.— O’Beyndulas, Abergele." 
[Very little is the nourislimeut contained in any kind of 
straw, unless it be cut while rather green, and is used 
whilst new. Its chief use is to give bulk to a cow’s food, 
and when she is fed upon Cabbages or Turnips, Straw or 
Hay, or both, are absolutely necessary to enable them to 
ruminate, or “ chew the cud.” Wo believe that neither 
Oat straw nor Barley straw has a tendency to dry a cow 
given in small quantities. If largely given, they have 
such tendency, because they equally are deficient in 
milk - generating constituents. We believe Oat, Wheat, 
and Barley straw, to be so nearly identical, as to show 
that not one of them can be superior to the other as 
cow food. Wheat straw, when burnt, leaves about 7 per 
cent, of ashes, Oat straw 5 per cent., and Barley straw 4£ 
per cent. What their other constituents are, may be judged 
from the following tables :— 
WHEAT STRAW. 
OAT STRAW. 
Carbon . 
48,48 
49 93 
Hydrogen . 
5,41 
5,32 
Oxygen . 
88,79 
39,28 
Azote. 
0,35 
0,38 
Ashes. 
6,97 
5,09 
100,00 
100,00 
What the ashes are composed of is told in the following 
statement by M. Sprengel:— 
WHEAT 
STRAW. 
BARLEY 
STRAW. 
OAT 
STRAW. 
RYE 
STRAW. 
Potash . 
,020 
,180 
,870 
,032 
Soda . 
,029 
,048 
,002 
,011 
Lime . 
,240 
,554 
,152 
,178 
Magnesia . 
,032 
,076 
,022 
,012 
Alumina. 
,090 
,146 
,006 
} ,025 
Oxide of iron .... 
trace 
,014 
,002 
Oxide of Manganese 
• « 
,020 
,002 
, , 
Silica ... 
2,870 
3,850 
4,588 
2,297 
Sulphuric Acid .... 
,037 
,118 
,079 
,170 
Phosphoric Acid .. 
,170 
,160 
,012 
,061 
Chlorine. 
,030 
,070 
,005 
,017 
POULTRY. 
THE ROOSTING-PLACE FOR FOWLS. 
“ Being a novice in poultry-management, and having 
lately bought about thirty fowls of different sorts, which 
(to insure pure breeds) I wish to keep separate, mil you 
kindly inform me, 
“ 1st. If roosting-places may be safely made over a dung- 
pit,•where /ior.sc-litter alone is thrown, notwithstanding the 
steam and heat arising from the manure; having a straw 
roof? 
“2ndly. Whether a hen-house entirely of brickwork, 
arched over and covered with garden-soil on the top, is ob¬ 
jectionable ? There are apertures over the door in front 
towards the south to admit air and egress to the meadow 
