482 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 20. 
the flowers of the Dandelion, and not nearly so good as the 
flowers of Doronicum Cohmxtuc, which comes after it. Phlox 
verna, and Saponaria ocymoides, two low, spreading plants, 
with pink flowers, come in about the same time; but they 
are hardly fit for bedding, and, in a lato season like this, 
they will not be out of blossom before it is time to plant out 
the Geraniums. Upon the whole, therefore, it is best to 
hold strictly to the mixed style of planting beds in the 
spring, and Mr. Appleby’s lists of early-flowering plants, in 
our two last volumes, are the best to refer to. Otherwise, to 
confine yourself to autumn-sown annuals.] 
IMPROVING THE GRASS OF AN OLD ORCHARD. 
“ I occupy an orchard of about an acre in extent. The 
grass, being very coarse, will keep nothing but sheep and 
geese, as nothing else will eat a good deal of it. It has 
been neglected for about twelve years, and nothing done to 
it in the way manure ; a small pony has been in it most of 
the time; but he deposited his dung in one or two places, and 
it was not disturbed, which is the reason of a good deal of 
the coarseness of the herbage. 
“Last yoar, I gave it a dressing of stable-manure,which I 
threw up in heaps till rotten, and then spread it. I have 
been recommended to try nitrate of soda this year, and I 
want your opinion thereon. I do not want to have stable- 
manure again, as I have to draw it three miles, and it makes 
it very expensive. 
“ Which would be best,—nitrate of soda, guano, or bone- 
dust ? Or is there any other artificial manure you would 
recommend in preference ? 
“ The soil, to all appearance, is a good loam ; subsoil, marl. 
I do not think it wants draining, as, let tfie weather have 
been what it may, it always seems dry; and although there 
are several hollows, there is never any water in them. 
Several people have remarked on the soundness of the soil, 
and its absence of all appearance of damp. The labourer I 
employed occasionally, said that it was as good or better 
than any in the parish, which is all good land generally. 
“ The only fault it seems to have, is to have been exhausted, 
and shaded by a lot of old Apple-trees, which had never 
been pruned, and grown till they had interlaced one anothor, 
in some cases ; and the hedges were twelve feet high on one 
side and end.—A. M., Derby.'' 
[We presume that the old Apple-trees have been removed; 
the hedges pruned; and that your object is to have good 
pasturage for a pony, or cow, or for both. If this be so, break 
up the soil at once ; burn all the old surface turf, for there 
is no time otherwise to reduce it. Spread the ashes, adding 
a slight dressing of guano (about one hundred weight) and 
eight bushels of bone-powder. Sow the ground with Oats, 
and then harrow in a mixture of the following Grasses, and 
in the quantities named :— 
Cynosurus cristatus (Crested Dog’s Tail), 0 lbs. 
Fesluca duriuscula (Hardish Fescue), 3 lbs. 
Festuca tenuifolia (Fine-leaved Fescue), 2 lbs. 
Lolium perenne tenue (Fine Rye Grass), 20 lbs. 
Poa ncmoralis (Wood Meadow Grass), 1 ) tbs. 
Poa ncmoralis scmpervirens (Evergreen Wood Meadow 
Grass), 2 lbs4 
Pun trivialis (Common Meadow Grass), 2 lbs. 
Trifolium repens (White Clover), 7 lbs. 
Trifolium minus (Small Yellow Clover), 2 lbs. 
This mode of treatment will be much more satisfactory to 
you than endeavouring to improve the old herbage. If you 
resolve to try to do so, merely have all the old herbage 
mowed down close, and immediately sow over it twenty 
bushels of common salt.] 
KOHL-RUBI, OR KNOL-KOHL. 
“ You would much oblige me, and I have no doubt others 
also, if you would give, in an early number of The Cottaoe 
Gardener, some account of, and the best mode of, cultivating 
the Kohl-Rubi, especially as to the soil and time of sowing; 
and your opinion of its value as a winter food for cows, &c.— 
T. B. Norton.” 
[All the information we have we published in The 
Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary, from which we extract 
the following. 
“Knot kohl, or Koiir.-r.um (Drassica caulo-rapa), the 
Turnip-stemmed Cabbage. It is sometimes called the Cape 
Cabbage. The stem is thick, rises about eight inches out of 
the ground, is swollen into a gobular form, very like a large 
Swedish Turnip, growing above ground, and is crowned with 
leaves, slightly scolloped on the edges, undulated, and milky 
green, like those of the Turnip we have mentioned. There 
are several varieties of it, but the green and the purple¬ 
stemmed (especially the latter) are to be preferred. 
“ It is sweeter, more nutritious, and more solid than either 
the Cabbage or White Turnip; will produce a greater weight 
per acre than the Turnip, and prefers a heavier soil than that 
root: is hardier and keeps better than any other bulb ; and im¬ 
parts very little of that flavour, either to milk or butter, known 
as turnipy. So much relished is it both by cows and sheep, 
that they will leave either turnips or cabbages to partake 
of it. Hares and rabbits are so fond of it, that where they 
abound Ivnol-kohl can scarcely he grown. It is excellent 
when boiled for the table. Sow in the first week of March, 
and plant out in Junein rowsfour feet apart, if the soil is fer¬ 
tile, but only three feet if the soil is less productive, and three 
feet from plant to plant in the rows. The plants must have 
the chief part of their stems left uncovered by the soil. Two 
pounds of seed produce enough plants for an acre. It is 
an excellent crop for cleaning the soil, as the width between 
the. plants and rows enables the hoe to be efficiently used, 
and during a lengthened period. When blanks occur, these 
may be filled up from the seed-bed with fresh plants. The 
produce is from eighteen to twenty tons, and upwards, 
per acre; the bulbs may be kept sound and nutritious until 
very late in the spring, oven much later than the Swedish 
Turnip.”] 
SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
The Anniversary of American Independence was cele¬ 
brated, at Honolulu, on the 4th of July. His Majesty, 
Kamehameha III. (since dead) had issued a proclamation 
of the neutrality of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in the war now 
raging in Eastern Europe. A very lengthy and important 
report had been presented to tlio Annual Meeting of the 
Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society. The following are a 
few of its most prominent features :— 
“ The cause of agriculture in these islands, I think, 
is decidedly upon the advance, and though some of us 
have been disappointed in our crops—though our trade 
with California, the great consumer of our products, 
has diminished—and though the small-pox has smitten 
thousands of our best labourers to the ground, we have 
great reason to rejoice in the general prosperity and abund¬ 
ance of the land. In several branches there has been great 
activity and progress, and such as cannot fail to gladden 
the hearts of all those who are fond of sweet flour, good 
mutton, and tender beef. 
“ Wheat. —The rapid increase of wheat raising during 
the past year has been such as to mark a new era in the 
history of the Islands. There has been sown in the region 
of Makawao, East Maui, during the last year, some 1000 
acres of this valuable grain, and though about200 acres of it 
have been cut down by the pelua, it is estimated that the 
remaining 1000 will yield at least 25,000 bushels of beautiful 
wheat, or an average of 25 bushels per acre. This, it is 
said, will make five thousand barrels of flour, or more than 
enough to supply our home consumption. It is indeed a 
a glorious day when we can raise our own bread-stuffs, and 
one which will be appreciated by those who for the last 
quarter of a century have been compelled to eat the 
miserable, sour, musty stuff called flour, which has been 
imported round Cape Horn, and after being mixed with 
about an equal quantity of saleratus, baked, and called 
bread. 
“ In the early days of wheat sowing, when it was raised 
by the peck and bushel, the lava rocks wero used as a 
threshing machine, and the mouth for a fanning mill, but 
lo! the Yankee has come with his reaping machine, his 
horse power, and steam mill, and he will wake up the 
