April 7 . 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
same time, be highly desii’able to add to the mixture two 
hundredweight of superphosphate per acre ; for I have 
j found that upon all soils, except those abounding in chalk 
or gravel, that a crop of Turnips, of the best quality 
cannot he grown, from the application only of manures 
rich in ammonia, like pigeon dung, guano, See. ; for 
although a heavy crop of roots may he obtained, yet they 
will he liable to rot, and are deficient in nutriment, as com¬ 
pared with roots which have been grown from manure 
containing a fair portion of hones or superphosphate. 
In connection with the subject of Pigeon and Fowl Dung, 
the mode of saving and storing for use is important, both 
with regard to the health of the poultry and the value ol 
their manure. I have for many years used dry ashes 
strewed over the floor of the poultry houses every two 
or three days ; by this plan the manure is deoderised, and 
in a state fit to he removed and stored away for use, as often 
as cleanliness requires ; at the same time, there is no 
offensive odour arising to injure the health of the poultry ; 
and the lice and flees, so much opposed to their well-doing, 
j are thereby entirely destroyed. 
Joseph Blundell, Bursledon. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Garden Cropping {R. H. G. it/.).—We do not admire your mode of 
cropping, which, however, may be unavoidable at present; but, for the 
future, try to have your beds or rows of the different crops all pointing 
one way, and if your plot be too large to allow a whole bed of any sepa¬ 
rate article, it may be made to serve two or more kinds of plants of as 
uniform growths as possible. Thus, one bed may be divided into a 
number of pieces, and each sown with a separate kind of Brocoli, Cab¬ 
bage, Cauliflower, &c., the appearance of the whole being so much better 
when something like a uniformity of cropping takes place. 
Fruits ( R.H . G M.). —Your lists of fruit are very good for a small 
plan, and cannot v. ell be improved, unless by any additional variety which 
experience has proved to be suitable to the neighbourhood you live in, 
which may be better than any other we can recommend. As your gar¬ 
dener may be acquainted with such, it would he well to consult him on 
the matter, supposing more kinds are wanted. 
Planting Fruit-trees {R. H. G. M.). —Tiees planted against walls 
must, necessarily, have their roots in front of them, as there is no room 
backwards, unless the wall is built on arches, consequently, spread them 
out as you would the top, be., in a fan-shaped manner; but trees on a 
trellis may be planted with their roots radiating in all directions, and j 
they will push themselves on to the quarter where most nourishment is to be 
had. Where the understratum of a walk is of favourable materials for 
the growth of trees, a few of the roots may he pointed that way, as it will 
relieve the border to the benefit of other things. 
Walks {R. H. G. M.).— You are quite right in breaking all large 
stones used in your walks, but this is less important than when there are 
wheel carriages expected to work. In a usual way, four inches of stone, 
and two of gravel, will make a walk as firm and sound as ought to bear 
for a time the thoroughfare of a city. But as everything depends on the 
quality of the gravel, &c., you have by you, we advise you to reserve the 
best for the top only, and it is surprising how very little of that serves the 
purpose. See some of our back numbers on the subject. 
Leg Spasms in Siianghaes ,—G. F. D. thus describes this affection : 
“ It commences with a peculiarity of gait; the bird which died, and the 
one I killed, strutting, lifting his feet high up, spasmodically, and stretch¬ 
ing far forward in his stride,"somewhat resembling a horse with ‘ string 
halt.’ This continued for about a fortnight, while he preserved his 
appetite, and apparently his health (there was a difficulty of swallowing, 
however, indicated in the present case, which did not appear in the first). 
The bird after that period began to refuse his food. I kept him warm, 
and administered one or two doses of castor oil, with no beneficial result. 
He would take nothing, and wasting away, I at last put an end to him.” 
[The spasmodic action of the legs indicates a tendency to that inflam¬ 
matory state of the brain and nervous system to which Cochins appear 
particularly liable, while the symptoms, which appeared subsequently in 
the first case, appear to show a chronic disease of some or other of the 
digestive organs; but it is impossible to state the exact nature of the 
disorder, as" the enumeration of symptoms is far too meagre : corres¬ 
pondents should state every symptom. It is impossible to offer satis¬ 
factory advice without knowing the whole of them. In this case, if I 
might hazard an opinion, I would recommend one-grain doses of calomel 
every two or three days, which would cause increased secretions from the 
internal organs and so relieve the head, and plain unstimulating food, as 
barley-meal, boiled rice, &c.—W. B. Tegetmeier, Tottenham .] 
Phal.knopsis losing its Leaves {Phalcenopsis).— Your plant of 
Phalcenopsis has lost its old leaves, and the roots are decaying. Your 
treatment appears to be right, excepting, perhaps, you keep it too moist 
through winter. Do you dip the block and plant in too warm water? 
Give it a rest by withholding water till fresh roots are formed. You have 
done quite right to place it on a fresh block of wood. The flower-spike 
you should cut off immediately, as any weakly plants will be injured by 
flowering too much. 
Cinerarias for Exhibition {Tyro).— You have Effie Deans, Pauline, 
Cerito, Mr. Sidney Herbert, One-in-tlie-Ring, and Climax. The follow¬ 
ing six would he a good addition to your present stock: - Fairy Queen 
(Henderson), Lady Araminta (Henderson), Lady Hume Campbell (Hen¬ 
derson), Magnum Bonum (Ayres), Marianne (Henderson), Tyrian Prince 
(Colei, deep blue. 
Pullet Egg-bound {An Old Subscriber).— When a pullet is egg- 
hound with her first egg, I should attribute it to deficient size of that 
13 
portion of the egg-passage which the egg has to pass through after having 
received the shell. I do not think any treatment likely to prove success¬ 
ful. A somewhat similar case recently occurred in one of my own fowls. 
A Dorking pullet laid her eggs, which were small, evidently with diffi¬ 
culty, and they were generally smeared with blood ; after laying, the end 
of the passage protruded, and, latterly, considerable discharge of blood 
occurred ; nevertheless, she laid regularly. Being a very promising bird, 
I did not wish to kill her, therefore I cooped her for a few days, feeding 
her on rice and turnip, which contain so little egg-forming materials, 
that she ceased laying directly, and having apparently recovered, I have 
turned her out, and am watching the result.—W. B. Tegetmeier. 
Fowls losing Feathers. —0. says—“ I have some Spanish fowls, 
and some Shanghaes that are losing the feathers from their breasts, 
leaving the skin quite clean and smooth, like the back of a person’s hand ; 
otherwise they appear in perfect health. They lay an egg each, nearly 
every day. They are fed in the morning with barley; at noon with 
boiled potatoes and Indian meal mixed; in the evening with oats. They 
have the run of a grass field. They are lodged warm, dry, and airy. 
They are chickens of last year.” [From the wholesome food and advan¬ 
tageous circumstances in which these fowls are placed, and their appear¬ 
ance of perfect health, I should be inclined to suspect some local cause, 
but it is very difficult to guess at the right one. May it be a sharp, 
angular perch ? or do the hens pick off the feathers, &c. ? If 0. suspects 
some disease, as it is slight, I should advise a change of diet: boiled rice 
might be substituted for the Indian meal and oats—the former being 
! oily, the latter rather more nutritive and stimulating than barley. Should 
| these simple means prove ineffectual, a three-grain Plummer's pill might 
I be tried ; but I am always averse to medicine when it is possible to avoid 
| it.—W. B. Tegetmeier.] 
Hen Egg-bound.— E. M. says—“I have lost a very fine Cochin-China 
hen. She was hatched last spring, and began laying about October or 
November, and wanted to sit at Christmas, but we thought it too early. 
She began to lay again about ten days ago ; and after laying a very large 
! egg, she w'as found dead on the nest, the bowels having come out.” [In 
this case, death was evidently owing to a disparity of size between the 
egg and the egg-passage, the latter having been forced out in the act of 
laying. The case is somewhat similar to that of one of my own pullets 
recently spoken of. Nothing can be done by way of prevention ; andthe 
only cure would be breaking the egg, by introducing an instrument into 
the egg-passage—not an easy operation at any time, and quite imprac¬ 
ticable to those not well acquainted with the anatomy of the bird. It is 
an accident not likely to recur.—W. B. Tegetmeier, Tottenham .] 
Mowing Machine ( Quercus ).—Budding’s Patent Grass-cutter has 
been in use all over the three kingdoms for more than twenty years, and 
is as much approved of as any machine in or out of Liverpool during that 
time ; but, like all machines, it will go out of order in time, or by bad 
usagement. It requires a good stout lad to pull it, and a man with a true 
eye to guide it. 
Epiphyllum (A Constant Reader).— The best “properties” for a 
seedling of this kind of Cactus, is to he very easy to grow, much easier 
to keep, and to he richer and larger in the flower than any of the old 
ones. If you get all these “properties” in a seedling, you need not 
mind whether the petals are round or smooth on the edges, or square, or 
shaped like a triangle, with rough edges, or edges in anil out like the 
waves of the sea, for you will be sure to sell as many of it as you can 
grow. If we could but get a square flower on any seedling, we should 
get more money for it than if it was the best round flower. Then the 
question is shape or money ! 
Fern-leaved Beech '(/• K. A.).— It is, indeed, very rare to see or 
hear of this, or the common Beech rooting its branches which touch the 
ground. We have never heard of such a self-layering of it before, but 
we have seen other trees equally hard to root do the same, namely, 
the Larch Scotch Fir and Birch. 
Rose-combed Dorking’s Remonstrance. —“Sir,—I felt con¬ 
siderably affronted by hearing the other day that a correspondent of 
yours, styling himself ‘ Cochin,’ had pronounced me a ‘ Mongrel.’ I 
beg to assure you, Sir, that I am as purely bred as your friend ‘ Cochin,’ 
and that my father and proud mother, and their progenitors for many 
generations past, have come down with rose combs on their heads. In 
the opinion of some of the best breeders, and most approved judges in 
England, I am so far from being a Mongrel, that I claim the right of 
being the original Dorking, whilst my single-combed cousin is the 
Mongrel. Whilst I have been pluming myself in the belief that my 
children will carry away the prizes at the next Birmingham and Metro¬ 
politan shows (i. e. if they can outlive the six days confinenient of the 
former), it is rather hard to have the public mind prejudiced against 
them by a passing nickname. I pray you, Sir, as a lover of fair play, to 
tell Mr. Cochin that there is no ground for his assertion ; and I remain 
your obliged friend, A Rose-combed Dorking.” 
Seedling Fruits (C.).—If I had an orchard house, and was desirous 
of raising seeds of fruits, I should certainly like to raise them in pots the 
first year in that structure, taking care to plunge tliem out-of-doors from 
the early part of July until the end of August, when I would take them 
in again, to insure well-ripened wood. The second season I would, in 
the beginning of March, plunge the pots over-head in rich loamy soil, 
prepared for them in some warm nook of the garden totally unshaded ; 
they would here “ run to wood,” as it is technically termed ; and in the 
middle of October I would carefully take them up and repot them. The 
roots will have escaped the pot, bottom and top, and the check in repot- j 
ting would bring on a short-jointed habit. The old pot would have to > 
be smashed like as in orchard potting. I hold that a sudden check after 
a rapid growth is the surest way to hasten fructification. In the third 
season I would plunge out again, after being somewhat forced into wood, 
say in the middle of June, getting them in the orchard house in Septem- j 
her, to ripen the wood. Doubtless, “ C.” knows that the fruiting may | 
he hastened by grafting on the extreme points of old and highly fructi- | 
ferous trees. The mere primings, however, might be thus employed.— ! 
It. F.rrington. 
Heating a Vinery ( Clericus ). —We really cannot imagine the precise 
state of your case. You say, a vinery 121 feet long by 21 wide, and 
about 7 feet high, “ forming'the span-roof over other buildings.” It is j 
impossible to know what available space or position there may be for 
heating apparatus. All we can say is, that if yours were an ordinary I 
