February 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
383 
baked jest right. For if it bakes a little too much, it’s apt 
to dry up, and then agin if it don’t bake quite enough, it’s 
sure to taste potatery, and that spiles it, you know.” 
“ How long should you think 
“ Wal, that depends a good deal on the heat of your oven. 
If you have a very hot oven, ’t won’t do to leave it in too long, 
and if your oven ain’t so very hot, why you’ll be necessiated 
to leave it in longer.” 
“Well, how can I tell anything about it?” 
“Why, I always let ’em bake till I think they’re done, 
that’s the safest way. I make it a pint to have ’em baked 
exactly right. It’s very important in all kinds o’ bakin— 
•cakes, pies, bread, puddens, and everything, to have ’em 
baked precisely long enough, and jest right. Some folks 
don't seem to have no system at all about their bakin. One 
time they’ll burn their bread to a crisp, and then again it’ll 
be so slack ’taint fit to eat. Nothin hurts my feelins so 
much as to see things over-done or slack-baked. Here only 
t'other day, Lorry, the gal that Miss Philpot dismissed 
yesterday, came within an ace o’ lettin my bread burn up. 
My back was turned a minit, and what should she do but go 
to stuffin wood into the stove at the awfullest rate. If I 
hadn’t found it out jest when I did, my bread would a been 
sp’ilt as sure as I’m a living woman. Jupiter Rammin! I 
was about as much decomposed as I ever allow myself to 
get! I told Miss Philpot I wouldn’t stand it no longer, 
either Lorry or me must walk.” 
“ So you’ve no rule about making this pudding?” 
“No rule,” said Mudlaw, with a look of intense surprise. 
“Yes,” said Mrs. Darling, “you seem to have no rule for 
anything about it.” 
“No rule ! ” screamed the indignant cook, starting up, while 
her red face grew ten times redder, and her little black eyes 
snapped with rage. “ No rules ! ’’ and she planted herself in 
front of Mrs. Darling, erecting her fleshy figure to its full 
height of majestic dumpiness, and extending the forefinger 
of her right hand till it reached an alarming propinquity to 
the lady’s nose. “No rules ! do you tell me I’ve no rules ! 
Me ! that’s cooked in the first families for fifteen years, and 
always gin satisfaction, to be told by such as you that I haint 
no rules ! ” 
Thus far had Mudlaw proceeded, and I know not what 
length she would have “ allowed herself to go,” had not the 
sudden entrance of Colonel Philpot interrupted her. He 
being a person of whom she stood somewhat in awe, par¬ 
ticularly just at this time, she broke off in the midst of her 
tirade, and, casting a look of ineffable disgust at Mrs. Dar¬ 
ling, retreated to her own dominions to vent her wrath upon 
poor Peggy, who had done everything wrong during her 
absence .—(Americans at Home.) 
FUMIGATING WITH TOBACCO. 
I have never found that there is such a secret in the art 
of fumigating; for with me it is, and has been since 1819, 
one of the most simple of operations. Since 1818 I have 
done away with the barbarous practice (for I and another 
apprentice were once nearly half-killed smoking Tobacco 
and Capsicum) of sitting and blowing away at the touch- 
hole of a garden-pot for nearly an hour together; and in 
place thereof I use an old sieve, much in the same way as 
one of your correspondents of December. For pits and 
frames I use another apparatus. I picked up a little old 
fryingpan, which had done its work at frying stakes and 
collops, and in its bottom I made a few holes : in this I put 
a few live coals, and on this my Tobacco-paper, previously 
wetted, to prevent its burning fast, and scorching my plants. 
In smoking a Cucumber-frame, or the like, I open the front, 
and turn the branches on one side; I then place my frying- 
pan on anything to raise it above the foliage. The smoke 
goes to the back of the frame before it touches the leaves, 
and in this way I never yet a plant burnt. 
Can you give me any information of a plant whose name 
is pronounced Bukneria pedunculata, an old dwarf-bedding 
plant, rather tender? Not knowing its degree of hardiness, 
and supposing it would winter with Verbenas, I have lost it; 
and should be glad to obtain it, either in the way of purchase 
or present.—I. R. 
[The plant you mention is now better know as Manulea 
pedunculata, though some botanists give it the same specific 
name, but include it in the genus Lyperia. It is a native of 
j the Cape of Good Hope. Can any of our readers inform us 
I where it can be procured?—E d. C. G.] 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
STARTING VINES.—VINES FOR A HOUSE 
UNHEATED. 
“ I planted a Vinery last spring with the following sorts : 
—Black Prince, Mill Hill, Black Hamburgh, Black Bar- 
barossa, White Sweet Water, and Royal Muscat. 
“ The young Vines made from fifteen to twenty feet of 
growth last summer. They are planted inside the house. 
The border they are planted in is three feet deep, and well 
drained. 
“Will you please tell me what time I should start the 
Vines into growth this season, and how much I should cut 
them back? Ought I to let them bear any fruit the coming 
season ? 
“ I have another house to plant in the spring, fifteen 
feet long and ten feet wide. I have no means of giving 
heat. The house was built merely to cover an unsightly 
wall. Will you please tell me the best sorts to plant for a 
late crop ? The border is inside the house.—A Constant 
Subscriber.” 
[We would recommend starting the Vines about the end 
of February, so as to be able to start earlier next year, if 
you wish it. If ultimate, rather than present, gratification 
is your object, we would advise cutting the Vines back to 
within a foot or so of the base of the root, and taking 
merely a solitary bunch this season, and that not a large 
ODe. 
The house which you cannot heat we would confine to 
Black Hamburgh, West’s St. Peter’s, Barbarossa, one or two, 
and White and Royal Muscadine, and, perhaps, a plant of 
the Nice and the Syrian.] 
INVESTMENT OF SAVINGS. 
“Would Mr. Appleby have the goodness to inform a 
‘Young Gardener ’ where he could safely invest a few pounds 
yoarly, so that it, might be of service to him in his old age, 
as Mr. Beaton has done ? 
“ No doubt many a young gardener would put by a 
yearly amount, if he knew where to put it where it would 
be safe. 
“ Please to give us a few hints on this subject in The 
Cottage Gardener. 
“ Does Mr. Appleby know anything of the Bank of 
Deposit, No. 3, Pall Mall East, London? If so, does he 
consider it a safe one? Many thanks for his excellent 
advice. I feel satisfied that it will arouse many a young 
gardener, and cause him to make some provision for ‘ the 
evening of his days.’ ” 
[We very willingly publish the above letter, and to find 
that Mr. Appleby’s advice is valued and acted upon by the 
writer. For the further information of the writer, and 
others acting with such laudable prudence, we can con¬ 
fidently recommend the National Saving's Banks for the 
deposits of the savings of young as well as of aged 
gardeners. 
Any sum, however small, and up to £50, may be 
deposited, but not to exceed that sum in one year. As 
soon as the sum saved, with interest added, amounts 
to .£100, the managers will, with the consent of the 
depositor, invest it in the Government securities, but the 
depositor must attend on the dividend days to receive the 
interest. 
We know nothing of the Bank of Deposit mentioned, 
but if we did, still we should prefer the Saving’s Bank. 
There is scarcely any risk to a depositor there ; and though 
the interest is low, yet it is safe, and is added to the prin¬ 
cipal every year, without further trouble to the depositor. 
There havo been losses in a vory few instances from the 
