110 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 12 . 
any suggestion from your correspondents, and we will do all we can, in 
conjunction with the manufacturer, to meet their wishes.— James Phillips 
and Co., 116 , Bishopsgate Street Without. 
Bedding Plants ( Florum amator). —You cannot keep them in your 
summer-house except more light be admitted. 
Bee Flower (S. R. W .).—It has been said that the flowers of the 
Dahlia intoxicate, and even kill the bees which partake of their honey. 
We cannot say that we are convinced of the fact; and we are quite sure 
that the two other flowers you mention— the Sunflower and the Holly¬ 
hock — are in no way injurious to bees. 
Black Shanghaes (A Subscriber, Bridgenorth). —These are usually 
of a dead black colour, but we have seen some with the metallic lustre on 
their plumage, which certainly adds to their beauty. 
Skeletons of Leaves, &c. ( T. H. L .).—The more particular men¬ 
tion alluded to at page 38 is given at page 40. We fear that Mr. Beaton 
does not know any more than we do, how the anatomizing is effected. 
Can any of our readers inform us? 
Fowl Featureless {Nero). —We cannot suggest a remedy for your 
“ Spanish fowl that has lost all its feathers,” unless we knew how the 
loss occurred. Your tyrant namesake might have plucked them off, as 
the Neros in Lincolnshire still treat their geese ; your fowl may be 
moulting ; or it may have a diseased skin. If the latter be the case, give 
it a Plummer’s Pill daily for a week, and keep it upon soft vegetable food 
until you see the feathers returning. 
Dorking Fowls {A. E. L .).—For all the particulars you require, you 
must consult the forthcoming third number of “The Poultry Book.” 
There are several varieties, all of which will be there described; but 
which variety you require you do not state. 
Fuchsia Culture ( J. Fletcher).— Our observation merely referred to 
| the Essay to which it was attached. 
Ornamental Fountains (A. B.).—We cannot recommend trades- 
j men. Those who make such garden structures should advertise them in 
our columns. 
Concrete Walks and Roads (J. T.). —We can answer for it that 
those made by Mr. Beaton, at Shrubland Park, near Ipswich, were the 
best walks we ever saw. They were firm, level, and uninjured by the 
heaviest rains. So solid were they, that tons of stone were dragged over 
them during Sir C. Barry’s alterations of the mansion ; and yet the sur- 
i face was uncut by either the horses’ shoes, or by the waggon-wheels. 
Then, again, they afford no soil for weeds. 
Egg-eating Hens. — Scrutator says: — “There is an excellent 
remedy which I never recollect to have seen mentioned. I have found it 
infallible. Have some eggs cast, in solid plaster of Paris, by the 
Italians, and soak them in stearine, which makes them exceedingly hard, 
and scarcely distinguishable by the master of the fowls from real eggs. 
If a few of these are put into a nest, it will be found that the hen will 
set upon them furiously, but become very tired of the amusement in 
about a quarter-of-an-hour, and if, on laying her egg, she should give a 
peck, which is not usually the case, it is five to one (if five false eggs are 
in the nest) that she does not hit the right one. Persons may make their 
own false eggs, by filling egg-shells, but it is difficult to do so without 
cracking them, but if successfully made they are better than plaster alone, 
having a real shell.” We have sent your note to Mr. Fish. 
Hen Losing Feathers. —“ A Lady has a very valuable Spanish hen, 
which appears in perfect health, and has not ceased laying since last 
September, losing the feathers on the head, the skin appearing dry and 
scurfy underneath. The bird is kept in a confined wire-yard, in a dry, 
airy situation, and well fed with grain, but no meat is allowed at any 
time. Vegetables from the garden are given to them constantly, and 
they have plenty of good and clean water, and the roosting-house and 
yard cleaned every day.” [This is evidently a case of “ white comb,” as 
this peculiar skin disease is termed in Shanghaes. I should recommend 
the employment of turmeric and cocoa-nut oil, as has been frequently 
recommended in cases of this disease (see vol. viii., page 218 and 283); 
recently I have had several cases under my notice, especially in fowls 
kept in confined situations; the turmeric and oil has always been 
successful in stopping its progress, but the feathers do not quickly re¬ 
appear.—W. B. Tegetmeiek, Tottenham.'] When inveterate, we find 
a Plummer’s Pill given for five or six successive days usually effectual.— 
Ed. C. G. 
Cinerarias (P. A. A/.).— No. 1. Narrow purple tips, softening to 
; lilac; form good; petals imbricating pretty well ; notch too deep; 
medium size ; a second-rate flower. No, 2. Broadly purple-tipped petals; 
deeply notched; large and showy for borders. No. 3. Pure white; form 
good; no notch; probably will prove the best white we have. No. 4. 
Lilac-tipped petals; very deep notch ; large, good border flower. No. 5. 
White ; very deeply notched; and all other points bad. 
Bottom Heat (J. Buckley). —This can be supplied by a square 
wooden box, filled with hot water, heated by a small fire and boiler, for 
Melon growing, instead of dung-beds. There is no difficulty in the 
matter. See an article near the end of the second volume, and others 
lately by Mr. Fish, on tanks versus pipes. We do not understand about | 
the square box. One from four to six inches deep would be deep enough; 
the width may be as wide as the frame, as you state, with a division in 
the middle, but you must either cover it with slate, or leave open spaces , 
to be filled with chips, clinkers, or sods, to let the heat up, as wood is 
suc^ a poor conductor ; but without a secure conducting-of-heat cover¬ 
ing you can scarcely let heat into the atmosphere without also letting 
moisture, though that will be little against Melon growing until ripening 
time, when much artificial heat would not be required, unless very early 
fruit was wanted. 
General Compost ( Juvcnis ).—A compost for greenhouse plants, 
such as Geraniums, Fuchsias, Verbenas, Petunias, Calceolarias, Cinera¬ 
rias, aud Cactus, requires the constituents mentioned in The Cottage 
Gardeners' Dictionary and Cottage Gardener, and are what extended 
experience have demonstrated to be most suitable ; but the very mixtures 
mentioned are not at all essential to success, aud will do little to make 
up for the want of attention to the first principles of culture. We have 
repeatedly said, and have proof of it every day, that in loamy districts 
the soil found in heaps by the roadside, consisting of loamy matter and 
the ground stones and flints of the road, will grow all plants admirably, 
except those having hair fibres, such as Heaths. We add fibry peat to 
such soil when we can get it, to keep it open ; but pieces of charcoal, 
broken pots, small pebbles, and chopped moss, we often use for a similar 
purpose. A great point to success is—good drainage, and one of the 
best promoters of that is a small quantity of green moss over the drain¬ 
age; failing that, wheat-straw is also good, chopped into short pieces. 
Manure {Ibid).—' Two years old, for potting purposes, is better than 
fresher, and if dried into little firm pieces, all the better. Use it for all 
such things very sparingly in the soil until you coine to the last shifting, 
and even then we prefer, for fine coloured flowers, top-dressings when 
the buds appear. 
Manure-Watering {Ibid). —This may be given freely as soon as the 
flower-buds appear, or when, as in the case of a Fuchsia, you wish it to 
grow strong and quick; but err on the safe side as respects strength. 
Two ounces of guano will do for four gallons. With such a manuring 
agent, and the use of the means alluded to for keeping the soil open and 
drainage good, you may comfortably dispense with all kinds of manure 
in your soil. 
Heating a Small Stove with Oil {Ibid). —We have had no ex¬ 
perience, but would never have a stove or burner inside a plant-house if 
we could help it. Various modes of heating such structures have lately 
been alluded to. 
Cuttings under Bell-Glasses {Ibid). —If you have no heat beyond 
your greenhouse, you must wait longer, but you will not have so much 
trouble in hardening them off when struck. Never allow them to flag if 
syringing and shading can prevent it; and, on the other hand, give no 
more shading than is absolutely indispensable. 
Engine-House Gardening (A Raw Un). —You have done well in 
stating the temperature in the different parts, but we can form no idea 
of the size of the windows from the terms large or small, and yet upon 
their size, as well as to the freedom of noxious exhalations from the 
engine, success in any gardening operation must depend. You cannot 
grow a Tea-plant, nor any of the common greenhouse plants to which 
you refer, in a temperature from 70° to 80°, and from 6o° to 65°, with all 
the air on you can command. On the stove floor, with air on at the 
latter temperature, you could grow mushrooms eight or nine months in 
the year, and by having, or obtaining, a supply of roots, you could have 
Sea-kale and Asparagus from November to May. By keeping it dark, 
plenty of blanched Chicory could also be obtained during winter. The 
whole Cactus Iribe would do by keeping them as cool as possible during 
wdntcr. Deciduous greenhouse plants, such as Fuchsias, could be kept 
in sheds or rooms during winter, and brought to the windows in the engine, 
roomin March or April. Many annuals, such as Balsams, could also be well 
grown there, aud many stove plants that rest during a part of the season, 
such as Gloxinia and Achimenes, would also succeed. Were there glass 
