April 14. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
81 
you refer to, but very slightly developed in the hens. The usual form of 
the cock’s top-knot is that of a full crest, falling over on the sides and 
the back of the neck, and composed of feathers similar to those on the 
hackle ; while the broad crest feathers are usually limited to the hens. 
The more generally and uniformly the spangle is displayed so much the 
better; but a rich chesnut-bay is generally seen on the back of the male 
birds, matching in colour the feathers of the top-knot, and such fowls 
have been honoured by many premiums. The spangle, we need hardly 
remind you, is usually much more distinct and general in the plumage 
of the hen ; and very few Polish cocks of this variety are wholly free from 
white markings. If you would send your direction to our office, we 
should be glad to communicate with you on the subject of Polish fowls, 
beyond the necessarily restricted limits of our answers to correspondents. 
Superior Young Gardener ( E. F., Brighton), —Behind enough to 
let us know the wages you would be inclined to give for the “ Young 
Paxton.” We have no doubt we can find one to suit you, and who will 
come up to your expectations. 
W. C., Lynn .—We shall answer you fully next week. 
tion to cleanliness, we feel confident it will soon be a little Eden. The 
first opportunity have the stove thoroughly examined, cleaned, and 
tried. You will have seen, from many articles, what greater things you 
may do with vines, and plants likewise, if in dull, foggy weather you l 
can command a little artificial heat. We will think over the whole of I 
your case. You do not say what your Geraniums are, scarlet or florist’s 
Pelargoniums. In either case, if you mean to keep them in the house, 
and wish early flowers, let part stand in small pots, shift another part 
into larger pots, and they will come in in succession. The treatment 
of these has lately been given ; and rest assured that whatever you wish 
to do well, the treatment recommended in these pages is as applicable to 
you as to the gardener of an Emperor. 
Poland Fowls (An Exhibitor of Polands). —We have reason to 
believe that both bearded and beardless Polands will contend together at 
Birmingham, and elsewhere, during the present year, on a footing of 
perfect equality, as regards the presence or absence of that appendage. 
The separate classes for the two have, indeed, been done away, as also 
those for the double and single-combed Dorkings, but we have no cause 
to think that any condemnation of either was thus implied.—W. 
Cucumbers in a Greenhouse in Summer without Fire-heat 
(A Greenhorn). — You may manage this in two ways. If you keep your 
house as a greenhouse, you will manage some of the short kinds very 
well; but no better than under a bell or hand-glass, on a ridge, out-of- 
doors, and at the risk of infecting what greenhouse plants you keep in, 
with flv, spider, and thrip. If you move all your hardy plants out by the 
beginning or middle of June, or even earlier, and by shutting up your 
house early, and not giving too much air, you can easily command a 
night temperature of from 55° to 65°, and a day temperature, at noon, of 
from 15° to 20° higher, as we have often done in similar circumstances, 
then you may grow first Tate Cucumbers, of the long kinds, from the 
middle of June to the end of September. If this is your object, then we 
would advise you to sow in your small hotbed shortly after you read this. 
Pot the plants off singly when up, and pot again, and get hardened by more 
and more air until June ; then transfer, as you propose, to large pots in the 
greenhouse ; use light, rough, rich soil; leave fully one-third of the pot, 
near the rim, unoccupied, as that will enable you to give very frequent 
top-dressings of rich open compost, such as peat, loam, cow-dung, and 
charcoal. Train your plants to a stick until they reach the rafters, and 
then fasten them to them ; and with the necessary attention to pruning, 
stopping, and a good syringing at least every afternoon, and shutting up 
early, and giving a little air early in the morning, you will find a 
delight in Cucumber growing, which no attention to them in a bed could 
ever supply ; as the great interest is to see the fruit hanging down from 
the roof as straight as gun-barrels. Keep in mind that, as a general 
rule, the longer the kind the more the heat required. 
Cutting down Datura (Ibid). —You may do this when you like, if 
not too severely, and without taking it from the greenhouse ; but if you 
lop it severely, it will be the better for the slight hotbed to start it again. 
The cuttings will strike under the hand-light in the greenhouse ; but if 
you keep it there until it is growing freely, and, consequently, the shoots 
are more succulent, they would then also be the better of the slight 
hotbed. 
Tea Hoses (Nemo). —These were planted out, taken up, and potted, 
and are intended to bloom in windows. You did quite right; the error 
was in planting them out, even under a frame, during frost. It would 
have been better deferred to April, or even the beginning of May, with 
such kinds. They will do well in the slight hotbed ; but beware of much 
bottom-heat, or present verdure will be bought at the expense of future 
weakness. Do not let the bottom-heat be quite so hot as new milk. 
Give more air by degrees, until in a month the glass may be removed 
during the day. You cannot expect them to bloom in the window until 
the end of May, or beginning of June, at the nearest; and neither should 
you encourage above one or two blooms at first from such tiny things. 
Oxalis Boweii (Ibid). —This potted 1 5th January, and all right—do 
not force. You had better examine them, but from your description we 
think they are all right, and they will blow better "if allowed to come 
above ground without any forcing. See an article on the plant last 
season. 
SpANisn Hen Changing in Colour (C. L. Floyd, Hohnfirth ).— 
The singular change of colour that you describe, after moulting, is not 
unfrequently noticed in the Spanish family ; though seldom is the meta¬ 
morphosis so complete. We have, ourselves, seen black birds assume a 
mottled plumage, and we remember an account by one of the French 
naturalists, where this change of colour.was continued year after year, 
from black to white, with various intermediate combinations.—W. 
Many Questions (Crinna). —You have so loaded your letter with 
questions, that we cannot do justice to one of them. Coal ashes, right. 
Azalea forcing, too sudden, but go on. Sixpenny packets of Cineraria 
seeds have been sold, from which as many good plants were raised as 
from a 5s. packet. All fancy seeds are charged according to the respec¬ 
tability of fair dealers, or according to the rascality of cheats. The 
Association do not pretend to cure all this, but they will obtain for you 
from the large dealers the best articles at the lowest prices. It is yet 
too soon to “plant out” dried Scarlet Geraniums where they are to 
flower, but they ought to be out now in soil where you could cover them 
at night. Small Rhododendrons will do to pot for flowering early in¬ 
doors ; and so also suckers of tree Pceonies. Cyclamens must not be 
divided at all. Clianthus, plant out when the frost is gone. Camellias, 
plant out when you have time ; any time suits them. Any soil that will 
grow good early cabbages will do for both. Browned Laumstimts, 
cut off the brown by the end of the month. 
Stove Climbers (X. Y.X.), —“The very choicest” of any thing no 
one can say, except for him or herself, but these are very good stove 
climbers. Passiflora kermesina, Echites suberecta, Bignonia venusta, 
and Steplianotis floribundu. For the four Greenhouse climbers, take 
Sol/ya linearis, Hardenbergia digitata, Zichya villosa, and Mandevilta 
suaveolens, or Bignonia Tweediana. For the back wall of a vinery, no 
plants are more suitable than some good varieties of Oranges and Ca¬ 
mellias, the shade of the vines will not allow the leaves of less tender 
plants to perform their office, and without that no flower can be had. 
September is the best time to transplant Laurustinus, Myrtles, and 
Bay trees. 
Newly-Potted Plants (31 .).—A gardener put some newly-potted 
bedding plants on the top of an old-fashioned flue in a vinery, and frost 
coming on very soon afterwards, a fire was lighted, and at bed-time the 
vinery was up to 51°, and the flue under the pots was 120°, by guess. 
The gardener was blamed for this style of forcing; and he defended the 
practice, and affirmed, “that he did it to warm the earth in the pots, 
' and that he was certain that no harm could happen from it.” We are 
I appealed to for the theory involved in night heat and “nocturnal 
i roasting.” Well, gentlemen, you are both wrong, and each of you are 
I right. It is very proper to warm the earth for newly-potted little plants, 
at this season ; but roasting them is out of the question. To get a lot of 
little bedding plants established as soon as possible after potting, 
bottom-heat is as good for them in the night as in the day time, if 
the flue had been watched it was not a bad place for the little pots, but 
they ran a great risk. As the plants are safe, both of you ought to be 
thankful. 
Neglected Greenhouse (Amicus F/orium).— We rather think you 
could instruct us, for we should hardly have been successful in saving so 
many plants—and the stove unlighted for a very considerable time. As 
far as you have gone you have acted right—beware of over-watering. As 
the plants are small and sickly, and you want bloom to look at, shut 
up the house early in an afternoon, sprinkling or dewing the foliage with 
tepid clear water. As growth proceeds increase the air, which, in unison 
with small pots, will hasten on the flowering process. Your Cactuses, if 
not now showing flower-buds, will not blow early; but they should be 
potted in sandy loam and brick rubbish, if not done. Your Fuchsias, we 
fear, are in a similar predicament. See what was said about them the 
other week, and shape your course accordingly. The directions are as 
applicable to the owner of one plant as to the possessor of thousands. 
Calceolarias, too, will soon be out, but your Verbenas will be better out- 
of-doors after May, and if the shrubby kinds, so will the Calceolarias. 
We think you will have a fair show from your Geraniums. As we sup¬ 
pose you have no hotbed, we have no great choice of annual seeds for 
blooming in the greenhouse in summer to be sown now; but Balsams 
would give you a fine display after the beginning of July, if sown now 
in a warm corner of the house, and the pot covered with a square of 
glass until the seedlings are up. After this season they will stand the usual 
routine of the greenhouse, and be all the bushier in consequence. See 
mode of management lately detailed. All the pretty blue trailing Lobelias 
sown now will bloom in July. Many annuals would bloom now in the 
greenhouse, if sown in autumn, and saved over the winter. Directions 
were lately given about a Vine in similar circumstances; if you would 
give us a more circumstantial account of its appearance, we would give 
specific instructions. You must not despair, though you cannot make 
the old lumber-house a Paradise at once. Under your care, and atten- 
Prices of Poultry (Este).— It is quite impossible for anyone to 
foretell how long the present high prices will continue. Good birds will 
always fetch high prices, and these, of course, will be higher just in pro¬ 
portion to the demand for them exceeding the supply. That the prices 
still rule very high is shown by the results of the sales at Mr. Stevens’s 
on the 5th instant. The birds had no extraneous interest excited in 
their favour by being brought from well-known yards, yet lot 32, “ a 
White Cochin Pullet, heavily feathered, sister of Metropolitan prize 
pullets, hatched in August, bred from an imported white hen,” fetched 
Lot 52, a Buff Cockerel, one of Mr. George’s best bred birds, 
still, Many other lots fetched from sS3 to £7 each. 
Pinuses (A New Subscriber). —We cannot recommend nurserymen; 
all the leading nurserymen and seedsmen are respectable. Your plants 
would have to be obtained some from one and some from another grower, 
which we cannot undertake to do. You could obtain them all through 
the Horticultural and Pomological Society. 
Furze for Covering a Bank (X. Y. Z.).—To sow furze seeds on the 
rest of your bank is by far the cheapest way to cover it, and one of the 
most formidable fences you can make. About the end of April will be 
time enough to sow the seeds. Sow broad cast, and look after mice. 
Covering a New Wall (J. C. F). —You put the cart before the 
horse when you ask us the best in fruit or flowers to grow against your 
new built wall. You ought to ask for what you like best; we would 
plant no fruit trees, nor flowering climbers on such a new wall if we had it, 
but cover it with glass, and make an orchid house of it. If you fix on it 
1 for fruit, the following Pears will answer your purpose :—Glout Morccau, 
