June 12.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
169 
directed, for they are sad robbers of less robust neigh¬ 
bours ; and as their purpose is only to serve the tem¬ 
porary duty of furnishing the beds when more showy 
ones could not exist, care must be taken that they do not 
exercise their officious services too long. 
In conclusion, let me beg of those having used other 
plants for the same purpose to report tlieh’ success. It is a 
subject fraught with interest to the flower-gardener, as it 
must be admitted that each succeeding season proves the 
futility of attempting to get an early bloom of the plants 
usually planted out as summer bedders, and the present 
season does not promise any better times than its predeces¬ 
sors. At the same time I admit that I have a strong 
dislike to resort to annuals, for the temporary purpose 
treated of; their more delicate habit being so easily turned 
over by the wind, and other casualties more than counter¬ 
balancing, in my opinion, the more gay appearance they 
present, for a very few days only, over their more robust 
neighbours, the much-neglected herbaceous plants.. 
S. N. V. 
TEMPERATURE UNDER GLASS. 
I have grown vines for several years under glass without 
fire heat, and though I have not kept a regular journal of 
the heat compared with that out-of-doors, I have occasionally 
done so. 
Lowest 
Lowest of 
1851. 
out-of-doors. 
my vinery; 
Jan. 24th . 
,, 28th . 
,, 30th . 
. 38 
Feb. 4th..... 
,, 16 th . 
. 35 
,, 22nd. 
Mar. 3rd. 
„ 5th. 
„ 7th. 
Rth . 
. 33. 
„ 9th. 
,, 10th. 
,, 27th 1850 ... 
. 23 
When the sun shines, the thermometer in the shade under 
glass will rise 20°, 30°, 40°, and even at times 50°, above the 
thermometer in the shade out-of-doors. Thus, the highest 
temperature in the winter was on February 16th, 42° out-of- 
doors, whilst in the vinery it rose to 80°. I find vines in 
pots under glass come into leaf sooner than the vines which 
have their roots in the ground. On the 10th of March, 1845, 
1846, and 1847, my vines under glass, without any fire heat, 
were in leaf; whilst in 1848 and 1849 this took place on the 
19th of March. In 1850, March 10th, vines in pots in leaf; 
on the wall on the 18th. 
I find even in cloudy weather the vinery is warmer than 
the air out-of-doors. Rev. C. A. A. Lloyd, 
Whittington, Oswestry. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS 
i *** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London.” 
Scarlet Geraniums (Lady Bird ).—The leaves came in very good 
condition. Those of Baron Hugel have the largest and darkest horse¬ 
shoe mark of any we have seen ; a seedling raised at Cossy Hall being the 
next best, in that respect, of all we have grown. Is the Baron so well 
marked in the autumn? if so, and “being very like Tom Thumb in 
colour, truss, and growth, but not nearly so long in the flower-stalk,” we 
! should like to meet with him at the “ Exhibition,” or nearer home, for 
he must certainly be a first-rate bed-fellow w'here the soil suits him. The 
leaf of the improved seedling you sent can give no index to the flowers ; 
being so small, however, is a very great recommendation, and, should 
the flowers not come up to your expectation, we would still keep the 
plant for a breeder. The leaves of all our scarlet geraniums are out¬ 
rageously too large. Seedlings in this class often improve in the size of 
the truss for the following two years; Punch was in his fourth year 
before he showed more than 70 flowers in a truss. 
Names ok Insects (E. P., Exeter ).—The brown weevil found on the 
; broad beans in great numbers is the Sitona pleuritica, closely allied to 
the weevil (Sitona linearis) which nibbles the leaves of the common pea, 
and we have no doubt this does the same to the beans. The green insect 
is the Phyllobius argentatus, which is found on various plants, on the 
leaves of which it subsists ; it is a beautiful object for the microscope. 
Pruning Roses (Jane ).—We should be very sorry to lose you either 
as a correspondent or subscriber. We do not justify our seeming neg¬ 
lect, but you know the best of us “ nod” at times ; and the least push 
at the elbow will set us to the desk immediately. All roses whatever 
should be pruned before they come into leaf, unless they are very strong | 
indeed. Every weakly rose, no matter what class it belongs to, ought 
certainly to be pruned at the end of October: the reason is well ex- I 
plained by one of our contributors two years back. Last year’s shoots of ] 
all the hybrid perpetuals, and some other free-growing sorts, will do to 
make layers of in July ; but the Moss, Cabbage, and many of the old 
roses, will not answer so well except from the current year’s growth, but 
much depends on the strength of the plants. “ Cuttings with a heel ” 
ou and the gardener have been “ splitting straws ” about. You are 
oth wrong, and each of you is right. It does not matter one straw 
whether the heel is smoothed, trimmed, or not dressed at all, and if it is 
it is all the same. The roots issue from between the bark and the wood; 
and if the bark is torn or jagged, in pulling the shoot out of the socket, 
the edges of the bark should be cut smooth all round. But why not prove 
your positions by trying six heeled cuttings one way and half a dozen the 
other? By all means pick off the early flower-buds from the newly 
rooted rose cuttings. 
Quassia for Destroying the Green Fly. —The lady answered 
above, to show she is not offended past forgiveness, writes as follows ;— 
“ As I have not seen quassia mentioned as a remedy for the attacks of 
the green aphis on the rose, in any of your papers, I think it may not be 
uninteresting to you at this season to hear that I used it last year with 
the most complete success. I have no merit in the discovery, as I only 
followed the directions in Mrs. Loudon’s ‘ Ladies’ Companion to the 
Flower Garden.’ Boiling 4 oz. of quassia chips to one gallon of water, 
and gently dipping the shoots (or bunches of buds) covered with the 
aphis in a basin of this water (cold) ; or, where the branches would not 
allow of this, I washed them with a soft sponge or brush dipped in the 
basin. It did not injure the coming flowers the least; and what was 
singular was, that I never saw a single living aphis on any branch so 
treated during the whole of the after season, while the fresh buds and 
fresh shoots which continued to be put forth during the summer were 
often covered with them. I ought to mention, that I shook the branch 
or bud in the water till it was somewhat cleared of the aphis.” 
Artesian Well (W. N. G.). —You can only have this formed by 
boring; and there are men in Norfolk, we dare say, as there are else¬ 
where, who would undertake the job. An advertisement would bring you 
many tenders probably. 
Kitchen Garden (J. S ., Clonmel). —If your two men and a woman 
employed in your proposed w alled kitchen-garden of one rood and sixteen 
perches do not keep you fully supplied with vegetables all the year, be 
assured that the head man does not know his business. This is always 
supposing that asparagus and potatoes are not grown in it, and that the 
soil is of ordinary quality, and manure to be had as required. You ought 
at this time to have your table supplied with asparagus, cabbage, cauli¬ 
flower, peas, beans, lettuce, &c. As for giving you a statement of the 
divisions into which the garden should be divided, rotation of crops, &c., 
it would take half of our pages to-day to give the details. If you have 
our first volume, refer to what is said at pages 184-5-6 on the subject. 
If you have not the volume, send eight postage stamps to our office, and 
tell them to send No. 17 to your direction. It is a double number, and 
the prepaid postage will be fourpence. 
Worms in Pots ( C. E. H.). —To dislodge these, give the earth in the 
pots a good soaking with lime water. 
Poetry of Flowers (Alpha). —You are quite wrong in supposing 
the idea modern. So far from it, we have, even in the English language, 
a demonstration to the contrary, in a volume nearly 300 years old. It is 
very rare, and is entitled, “ Posye : or, Nosegay of Love, conteyning 
the Posies of sondrye Flowers, Hearbes, and Plantes, that are put com¬ 
monly in nosegayes, directed to the True Lovers, 1580.” 
Cheap Book on Gardening (M. N. E.).— Not one is either so cheap 
or so full of the information you require as The Cottage Gardeners’ Dic¬ 
tionary. It is about half completed, and is published in secenpenny 
monthly parts. 
Hens Dropping Shell-less Eggs (P. G.). —Keeping your hens 
entirely on barley may cause this ; give them once a day a meal of moist 
food, such as scalded pollard, and see that they can have access to lime 
rubbish. The egg taken away within three days of hatching was removed 
probably by a rat. 
Dorking Fowls. —The Rev. G. Marsh, Ampthill Rectory, Bedford¬ 
shire, writes to us as follows :—“ If any of your correspondents are in 
want of some thorough-bred, white Dorking Fowls, I could supply them 
with eight hens and a cock for 35s. Should any one prefer a half-bred 
Game and Dorking cock, I would substitute it for the Dorking at the 
same price. I consider the cross between the Game and the Dorking an 
improvement. I part with them solely because my stock is increased 
beyond the accommodation I can give them. On the receipt of a post- 
office order for the money I will have them carefully packed and for¬ 
warded.” 
Greenhouse (W. Q., a Novice). —Let the angle of the roof be 40°; 
glass, 16 ozs, to the foot, 15 inches wide, and one foot long, because the 
bars should be 15 inches apart. The vine, with its roots in the house 
and its head outside, will do all the better, for the roots should always 
be in action before the buds. With your greenhouse and pit you ought 
to have some kind of flower in bloom in each month. If water is near 
the surface, or is liable to be so in wet weather, do not sink any part of 
your pit below the surface. 
Cutting of Double-Pink Hawthorn (One who has a nook in her 
father’s garden). —You cannot attempt to strike this with any proba¬ 
bility of success. Put some of the buds into the common hawthorn, 
shading the buds, after budding, by tying a laurel leaf over them. 
London: Printed by Parry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Pariah of 
Christ Church, Gity of Condon.—June 12th, 1851 
