140 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. [May 29. ! 
Bees (J. B. W.). — If you have rose bushes, espalier trees, or even 
gooseberiy bushes, in your “ small garden,” you need not entertain any 
fears about losing your bees at swarming time ; but if you wish to prevent 
it altogether, cut a hole four inches in diameter in the top of the hive 
they are in, and place upon it a box or small hive ; do this at noon, upon 
a clear day. 
Zepiiyranthes (F. II.). —There is no such name as Zephyranthes 
grundiflora used now. That name was given in the Botanical Register 
on wrong data ; and the author of it, I)r. Lindley, cancelled it soon after. 
Carinata is the right name ; and if the bulbs are of a flowering size, the 
four will bloom very well in one pot. It requires perfect rest in winter, 
and to be grown in light sandy loam. It is a beautiful Mexican bulb, 
with rose-coloured flowers. Keep it growing to the end of September, 
then let it dry for the winter. Single plants of Saponaria calabrica are 
meant to stand nine inches apart; but if they, or Lobelia ramosa, are 
very small, let three of them out of a small pot stand for one plant, at 
the same distance. 
Oxalis floribunda (A Constant Reader). —It is quite different from 
Oxalis Bowiana. It has a root like a carrot, and an evergreen top, and 
is perfectly hardy except in wet soil. It will make a most beautiful bed 
nevertheless, if your soil suits it; but the best way to use it is as an 
edging to a bed of choice mixtures from the greenhouse. The colour is 
a deep rose, and the height not six inches quite. 
Capsicum Fumigation {Ibid).— This being quite a new practice, you 
will be as likely to find out the quantity for a given hose as any one else. 
All of us have to learn. 
Yellow and Red Brugmansias {Ibid). —These are sold at most of 
the London and large country nurseries j but we never mention names. 
Datura is the right family or generic name of all the Brugmansias, the 
old white one among the rest. Brugmansia is a later name, and, there¬ 
fore, only a synonyme ; but all the nurserymen understand this, and you 
can have them by either name. 
Bee House {An Unfortunate Bee-keeper). —There appears to be no 
objection whatever to your covers for bee boxes ; they are very substan¬ 
tial, and probably very effective in keeping out wet, which is the chief 
object. You must have an opening at the top for ventilation, or the heat 
between the box and cover will be ruinous, especially if they are painted 
green. Stone-colour is best. The entrance hole, “ 4 inches long and 
4 inch deep,” is quite large enough for all ordinary purposes. Its size 
will not prevent swarming; that can be done only by giving room judi¬ 
ciously, and ventilating at the top of the boxes. No hive, be it ever so 
large, should have more than one entrance. In hot weather keep the 
doors at the back of your covers wide open. But, after all, Nutt’s prin¬ 
ciple is bad altogether: convert your Nutt’s boxes into Taylor’s bar- 
hives when opportunity offers. In page "5 of the English Bee-keeper, 
just published, the writer says, and very truly, “ It is universally allowed 
that Mr. Nutt’s hives have proved a signal failure wherever located in 
the open air.” 
Names of Plants {A Constant Reader, Derbyshire). Your plant is 
Arabis Alpina, or Alpine Wall-cress. It is very different from the Sweet 
Alyssum {A. maritimum) recommended by Mr. Beaton. The seed of 
the Alyssum, being an annual, may be bought at any large florist’s shop. 
{Robert Harrison). —Your tree is Pyrus aria, or White Beam Tree. 
Poppy Anemone {Rosa).— This is the single garden Anemone {A. 
coronaria); sow the seed in October. It is quite impossible to answer 
in this place all your queries about poultry keeping, and it is the less 
needful because, either by Martin Doyle or Anster Bonn, every one of 
your questions have been anticipated. Pray refer to our indexes. 
Swarm of Bees.— A correspondent at Peckham, in Surrey, says he 
had a swarm on the 15th instant. 
Fountain {X. X.).—A stream in your garden may be headed up so as 
to form a cascade, but to have a fountain you must have the water at a 
considerable elevation, such as on the top of your house. 
Hotbed {S. B.).—‘ There is no “neater” mode of making a hotbed 
than by having it within brick walls, or what is usually termed a pit. See 
Mr. Appleby’s description of one at page 335 of our last volume. 
Cheap Greenhouse (JS.).—If you can superintend its erection your¬ 
self, have the brick work done by contract,—buy the wooden frame-work 
at per 100 feet, at the saw mills; contract with a jobbing carpenter to put 
them up ; buy your own glass, and contract with a jobbing glazier to put 
it in ; there is no doubt you may have one built well for ^'20 ; but you 
must use your own common sense. We cannot give working plans. 
There is no doubt you may move away your greenhouse if you do not 
attach it to the freehold, but the best way is to have a written permission 
from your landlord before you begin. 
Apricot gumming {A Derbyshire Subscriber). —As the gum exudes 
from the grafted part, we conclude that the stock is smaller than the 
graft, and that the sap cannot get back as fast as it is formed. In the 
first place, cut away any deeply striking roots ; and in the second place, 
bind hay-bands round the bleeding part, stem, and main branches, 
before the winter sets in. It has been proved that exposure to freezing 
and sudden thawing is a chief cause of the Apricot’s gumming. 
Haymaking {Sigma). —See “Allotment Farming” in this number. 
Cochin CniNA Fowls. —“ H. H. S. N., Post-office, Colchester,” has 
some chickens to dispose of at ten shillings each. 
Bees {P. D. D .).—Do not put water into the feeding-trough beneath 
your hive. It would tend to increase damp and mouldiness. Keep some 
water in a vessel near the hives, with pieces of wood floating in it for the 
bees to alight upon. Your flower-prop is not new. 
Water impregnated with Iron {B. P.). —Try what effect mixing 
a little gas ammoniacal liquor has with it, and exposing it to the air for a 
few days, and frequently stirring it, It is impossible for us to give a 
decided answer without knowing in what state the iron is kept in 
solution. 
Cayenne Pepper (A Lover of Flowers from Childhood). — If a little 
does not effectually kill the Aphides, we can only say, use more. These 
are points people must ascertain for themselves. Cayenne Pepper is 
mixed with colouring matter, and is not so powerful as the Capsicum 
pods merely broken fine. 
Potatoes not vegetating (J. S. G.). — Potatoes planted at the end 
of March frequently do not appear above ground until towards the end of 
May; therefore, yours may yet do so. The half tuber you have sent is , 
healthy enough, but soft, and has the appearance of a tuber that has 
vegetated, and had the shoots more than once rubbed off. Whether this 
is so we cannot say. It looks like a Martin’s seedling, and if so it is 
sluggish ; at all events, leave them alone for a week or two longer. Your 
Cabbage-wort Seedlings are probably drawn under ground by the worms, j 
Give it a good soaking with Lime-water. 
Horticultural Shows in June and July {Rev. T. B.). — June 7, I 
Chiswick ; 10, London Floricultural; 11, Royal Botanic, Regent’s Park; 
12, Highbury and Cheltenham; 13, Durham; 17 , Guildford; 18, Stam¬ 
ford Hill; 19, Bath; 20, Newbury; 21, Royal Botanic, Regent’s Park, 
for Roses ; 24, Northampton ; Handworth, and Lozells ; 25, Royal South I 
London ; 26 , Liverpool and Maidstone. July 2, Royal Botanic, Regent’s 
Park, and Norwich ; 3, Highbury and Ipswich; 8, South Devon at Ply¬ 
mouth, and Cornwall at Truro; 10, National Floricultural, 21, Regent 
Street; 18, Beccles; 19 , Chiswick; 23, Stamford Hill; 24, Royal South 
London and Bath; 29, Northampton (Carnation and Picotee), and Hand- 
worth and Lozells; 30, Norwich. The seed has been forwarded to Mr. 
Beaton, and by which he is extremely obliged. 
CALENDAR FOR JUNE. 
GREENHOUSE. 
Air, admit freely, to all the hardier plants, such as cinerarias, calceo¬ 
larias, &c., as the cooler they are kept the longer will they bloom, and 
the freer will they be from insects. The Hardier Plants should now 
be placed out of doors, in a sheltered place, to make room for fresh im¬ 
portations from the pits ; and here arises the great difficulty in the case 
of those who have only one house, as the plants removed, intended to be 
kept for another year, would have been all the better to have been kept in 
until the fresh wood was made. Many winter-flowering things, such as 
Daphnes, Cytisus, Heaths, &c.,may now be set in a sheltered place out 
of doors, and safely kept; but they will neither bloom so fine nor yet so 
early as they would have done had they been kept longer in the house. 
Another difficulty arises from the wish to make this single greenhouse 
suitable for plants in bloom, requiring a cool atmosphere; and plants 
done blooming, such as early Camellias and Azaleas, that require a high 
temperature, and a moist atmosphere, to enable them to make their wood 
and set their buds early. Any greenhouse may now be used admirably 
for this purpose, merely by shutting it up early in the afternoon ; syring¬ 
ing the plants at the same time, and giving but little air during the day; 
but then this would soon ruin the health and appearance of such things as 
calceolarias, &c., in bloom; though it would answer well for bringing on 
large fuchsias and geraniums for succession. Hence the importance of 
screens, ike., for securing different temperatures. Cuttings insert, and 
pot off when struck; many of the first struck will make fine plants for 
autumn and the beginning of winter. Climbers —many tender annuals, 
such as Thunbergia and Ipomea, may now be introduced, either upon 
pillars or trellises. Kennedy as and Z ichyas fasten to pillars and trellises, 
so that the flowering shoots may hang gracefully and negligently. The 
same may be said of Passiflorus, &c. Cleanliness must be particularly 
attended to. No plants can be healthy with yellow or dust-encrusted 
leaves ; and the sight of such is always a speaking reproach. The system 
of picking off every yellow leaf that presented itself as you went round 
with the watering-pot would prevent the woe-begone aspect which yellow¬ 
leaved plants always wear. It always shows a want of system when a set 
period must be appointed for picking the dead leaves from plants. 
Grafting may still be done, in the case of myrtles, oranges, Daphnes, 
camellias, &c.; but, as it is getting late, you must try and obtain scions 
from retarded plants, and then place them in a gentle hot-bed, and keep 
them close until the union is effected. Oranges and Lemons should 
have the blossom thinned and impregnated, where fruit is wanted. 
Seedlings of all kinds prick off. Shift everything that requires it, 
for all vital action is now rapidly progressing. Soils procure and hus¬ 
band in a dry state; for top-spit turf, nothing is better than stacking it 
in narrow ridges, and thatching it to keep it dry. Watering will be 
required oftener ; and, in small pots, sometimes twice a-day. Manure- 
water may be given liberally, to promote luxuriant growth when wanted. 
Let it be weak, however, and given often. Young hands often make 
great blunders in using it too strong, especially when plants are young. 
R. Fish. 
PLANT STOVE. 
Of JEsciiYNANTnus put in cuttings ; pot in large pots, and train 
round a trellis; place some in baskets to suspend from the roof of the 
stove and orchidhouse. Amary’llis aulica and its varieties pot, and 
plunge in a gentle heat. Achimenes repot and shade. Begonias 
propagate ; train specimens ; repot young plants. Bilbergias, divide 
such as have bloomed; repot young plants. Caladium bicolor repot; 
set in saucers of water to encourage large leaves. Clerodendrums 
give one more shift. Climbers tie in ; wash to keep clean. Eranthe- 
mum pulciiellum and strictum raise in quantity to bloom in winter. 
Gesneras pot, and grow on to increase the size of the bulbs. Put in 
cuttings of Gloxinias ; pot seedlings, and young plants; place them in 
heat, a hot-bed with a covering of ashes is the best. Gardenias done 
blooming place in a cool pit to rest; put in cuttings in heat. Hedy- 
ciiium place in large pots to bloom. Insects destroy diligently. Ixoras, 
put in cuttings ; pot young plants and specimens ; stopping the former 
and tie out the latter to allow young shoots to rise from the centre. 
Luculias place out of doors for a month. Musas plant out in a bed, 
or shift into large tubs ; put dung in hard lumps on the surface, to enrich 
the soil by the ammonia being washed down when watered. Use liquid 
manure occasionally. Nepenthes (Pitcher Plants) pot and plunge in 
bark-bed, or place upon a warm flue, covering it first with moss; syringe 
the plants and moss daily. Potting may be done throughout all stove 
