14 
THE COTTAGE GATtDENER. 
April 7. 
span-roof, just of those dimensions, a Burbidge’s boiler (good sized), | 
with a flow and return pipe of five inches diameter along two sides and 
one end, would be quite sufficient. Surely you would be suited in Bir¬ 
mingham, both with apparatus and any further practical information. 
Stove (E. IB. K. H.).— You will find it very expensive to divide your 
house longitudinally. Why not across ? We should have no objection 
to east and west—the Pines at the boiler end, as requiring most heat; 
and for that purpose you might have a flow of greater calibre up to the 
division, or two flows to empty into one at that point, if not necessary 
farther. Your Pine-bed in the centre may be for three rows, and these 
should be ten feet wide. By all means have a hollow path to receive fer¬ 
menting material. About your tanks, we should fear leakages : will they 
endure? We fear you would find some difficulty about removal. Why 
not agree with your landlord beforehand? 
Lengthened Time of Sitting.— Evesham inquires—“Whether 
j Shanghaes are longer than the common hens before they hatch ? One of 
: mine, which ought to have hatched on the i5th, produced some of her 
first chicks on the 17 th, and her last one on the 18th, in the afternoon. 
! Another, whose time of hatching was the 17 th, produced the first on the 
19 th, and the last on the21st. Another, due on the 8th of March, hatched 
on the 11th. The last one I am going to name hatched one on the 2fith, 
and I found seven fine, full-grown chicks dead in the shells; their time 
] for hatching was the 23rd. The eggs of the whole were fresh laid, or 
nearly so, and, I should observe, were from pullets. (Are the chicks 
weaker on this account ?) It appears to me, the shell is very much 
stronger, as also the skin under, than the common egg. The last-named 
hen was a peculiarly good setter, and w'as never off her eggs, except a few' 
minutes each day, having wire-work before her, as such they could not 
have been chilled.” We think that the shell, and its inner lining, of 
Slianghae eggs are rather thicker than those of Dorkings and other kinds, 
but then the chickens are stronger in proportion. Chickens from pullet’s 
eggs are almost alw'ays weaker than those from hen’s eggs. Usually the 
Slianghae hen hatches at the end of the twenty-first day, but this season 
we can add our testimony to yours, that pullet’s eggs have been longer 
in hatching this spring, Thus, one hen sat February 14, hatched March 
9 ; and another sat February 18, hatched March 14. 
Hotbed ( A b-months Subscriber). — If you refer to the Index we 
publish to-day you will see that in the back numbers there is all the in¬ 
formation you need. Your master being a tanner, you can have famous 
pits heated by tan. The ashes of tan are a good dressing for pastures, 
put on thinly in the spring. Old fine tan-siftings is a very good appli¬ 
cation to heavy soils, rendering them open and more workable. 
Orchard-planting in New Zealand (IF. C. Lynn). — Put yourself 
in communication with II. Hogg, Esq., Secretary, Horticultural Asso¬ 
ciation, 28, Soutliampton-street, Covent Garden. We have sent your 
papers to him, He will be able to aid you in many ways. 
Siiakghae Cockerel (T. J. IF.).—If the legs of this bird are 
rendered useless by rheumatism, keeping for ten minutes the legs in 
water as hot as bearable, with a little mustard mixed in it, and having the 
bird in a dry, warm place, on generous diet, will probably restore him. 
If it arises from paralysis, probably nothing will restore him. 
Grimstone’s Egyptian Pea (A Young Gardener). —We do not 
know the address. Mr. Grimstone will perhaps advertise. 
Large Bell-Glasses.— G. S. G., and many other correspondents, 
will have seen in our last number that no English glass manufacturer has 
yet made any. The first one who gets into the market with them will 
reap a good harvest. 
Flower-bed Colours. — E. S. F. says—“I am glad you seem to 
consider that the plan of trying the colours of flower-beds with wafers of 
similar colours likely to be useful; but it might prove more so if tried 
on green paper as near the shade of grass as possible, and which I am 
sorry I did not send them on.” This is a very good suggestion. 
Topiary Work. — A Clergyman, whose direction we have, obliges us 
as follows—“Sometime since, a lady inquired in your columns for any 
person who had topiary work to sell. An old man in my parish has a 
very fine Yew peacock, aged sixty years, which he would sell for a few 
shillings. In case this meets the eye of the inquirer, she may have my 
direction from you.” 
PoLYANTnus- growing (Ibid). —“As my treatment, as regards growth, 
has been very successful, I give it here. In July, a friend gave me some 
seedlings with leaves almost as large as my little finger-nail; six of these 
I placed in five-inch pots, filled with pure fibry loam, the decayed parings 
of a rich meadow ; they remained under the stage of the greenhouse, in 
the wet and drip, perpetually moist, till November, when they were 
placed on a shelf close to the glass. The plant from which the enclosed 
pip is picked has three trusses ; and one of these, the only one as yet 
expanded, twenty-three pips, and the pit is entirely hidden by the pro¬ 
fusion of leaves. It makes a much prettier table-plant than I could 
| have supposed.— Sigma.” [The pip was lost by some one opening the 
I letter.] 
Ridge and Furrow Roofs (A Novice). —The advantage of these for 
houses and pits are that you get more morning and afternoon sun, and 
the heat and light strikes less fiercely at mid-day. For pits for general 
purposes we would prefer the old-fashioned system. In borders with 
fixed roofs we would prefer the ridge and furrow, but as fine things have 
been got of the shed roof as out of those of the best construction, 
j Pine and Strawberry Produce (Ibid). —“Will Pine plants pro- 
! duce fruit five or six times in succession ? ” Yes, if you grow on the 
Hamiltonian system ; but understand it before you commence. Mr. 
Fleming, though he plants all out, throws away his plants whenever they 
fruit, and supplies immediately with a young one. “ Will old Straiv- 
berry plants last as long if well supplied with manure water?” Yes, 
especially if you thin out the smaller buds every season when the fruit 
is gone, so that what is left will have plenty of light and air; but what 
benefit would be gained ? We prefer three years at the utmost, two in 
general, and thus we effect rotations better. 
Camellia Cuttings (E. C., Bromchead). —The gardener at C- 
(we will not betray confidence by giving the place), who told you they 
should be struck in oil, deserved to be well soused in that commodity. 
In the case of your favourite plant, now sickly, which you are so anxious 
I to perpetuate, we should advise you to graft or inarch upon a young 
stock as detailed the other week. To make doubly sure, choose a few of 
I the healthiest shoots of last summer’s growth, and before the buds begin 
I to push, cut across at a joint, there removing the leaf, and leaving the 
1 bud and leaf above, and insert in sand under a bell-glass, in a nice 
bottom-heat. Mr. Fish glanced the other week at making a cutting 
from every bud. The following is the process, and which is generally 
.very successful:—Choose well-ripened shoots of last summer’s growth, 
from early in autumn on to the period in spring, before these shoots 
begin to push tlicir buds. Cut clean across with a sharp knife, one inch 
below each bud, and in a sloping direction upwards, immediately above 
it. Do this with every bud on the shoot. If the leaf at the bud is very 
large it may be reduced. Then take up each cutting afresh, and just 
below and opposite each bud, insert your razor-knife again, and so split 
the cutting as to remove nearly the half of its bark and wood. A large 
space of alburnum and liber is thus exposed for roots to be protruded 
from. They are then inserted thickly in pots, three-parts filled with 
drainage, the rest sandy peat, surmounted with pure sand, and the pots 
arc placed where they can be kept shaded, in a close atmosphere, and 
moderately warm. If they can enjoy a mild bottom-heat, from dung or 
otherwise, they will like it. Many put in in early autumn would be fit 
to pot in April. Those inserted in W'inter and spring would be fit in 
autumn and the following spring. Something of this mode is generally 
adopted for raising stocks. 
I’ea Supporters (S. II .).—These are thus described and depicted in 
our first volume. We have had them in use now without repair for three 
years, and can strongly recommend them. The only alteration we find 
desirable is that, instead of having the supporters fixed upright, as in 
these sketches, they should lean inwards, and their tops touch in this 
manner j\. We paid sixpence for each hurdle of unplaned deal, and had 
it painted over with coal-tar. “ For the purpose of obtaining a more 
durable, and, therefore, less expensive supporter for peas, we have had a 
L 
kind of hurdle made, with only a top and bottom bar, and these bars 
pierced with holes, six inches apart, as represented in the annexed 
drawing, No. 1. To prevent confusion in 
this, w r e have only shewn one of the hurdles 
as pierced with holes, and with string 
passed through them ; but, in practice, 
both are strung alike. Each hurdle is five 
feet long, and three feet wide between the 
two bars; for tall-growing peas the width 
might be more. The upright ends are 
made of deal, and are four feet long and 
two inches square. Eight inches of the 
lower ends are charred and pointed, be¬ 
cause they have to be fixed in the ground. 
The side bars are two inches wide and one 
inch thick, also of deal, sunk into the up¬ 
rights, and then nailed. The peas are sown 
in double rows, with a space of nine inches 
between the rows. The hurdles are strung 
with stout wetted string, because when dry 
it becomes tighter, and rain does not 
slacken it afterwards. A hurdle is put 
outside of each row of peas, and is made 
steadier by being tied to the one next to it, 
and the whole made firmer by being united 
to those opposite, by pieces of wood about 
one foot long, tied as shewn at No. 2.” 
American Fowl (R. IF.).—A considerable mixture of Malay blood 
appears to exist -among the large-sized fowls that under different named 
have been recently imported from America. The form and colour you 
describe might very possibly have been derived from a cross of this breed 
with what is known as the Columbian fowl; but with all the erratic 
forms of cross-bred birds, it is impossible to speak without a far more 
detailed description, and even then the complicated union is not easily 
unravelled.—W. 
Golden-spangled Hamburgh Cock (H. E. Venn). —The breast of 
the golden-spangled Hamburgh should have the spangle in full per¬ 
fection.—W. 
Rylott’s Flour Ball Potatoes (R, Bosivorth). — Enquire of 
Mr. J. Turner, Parkwood Springs, Neepsend, Sheffield. 
Employment (T. Sheely). —We should have plenty of applicants, if 
we could insure “ employment to live by,” near London, to any one emi¬ 
grating from your neighbourhood—Tipperary. When we know of a 
suitable place you shall hear from us. 
Name of Fruit (M. R.). —Your Pear is the Easter Beurre, 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester Higli-strect, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London.—April 7th, 1853, 
