150 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 26. 
I 
to a thin hoop, which is pinned within side the top edge of 
the hive, occupying very little room. The exterior of the 
hive is cylindrical, and straight throughout. To cover the 
bars, a loose straw circular mat is used, lying Oat upon them, 
and fixed in its place by four or live pointed iron pins. 
Through the centre of the mat is the usual hole for the 
working of supers of any kind that may he preferred; and 
those who choose may make use of a wooden adapter. The 
whole is extremely simple, but it is recommended to attach 
guide combs to the bars, or else to wax them along the 
centre. It is obvious, that unless care is taken to make the 
bees work their combs in straight lines at the outset the 
bars are rendered useless, and the mischief cannot after 
wards be corrected. I believe Messrs. Neighbour and Sons, 
of London, are making these hives for sale. I ought to 
have said the bars are one inch-and-an-eighth wide, and the 
space between each two a quarter-of- an-incli. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
I 
I 
Garden Plan. — S. C. asks our opinion of the following arrangements 
for circular lawn beds:—“ 1, Centre, a clump of Christmas Ruses [Old 
China] ; 2, round them a ring of Winter Aconites; 3, then, in patches, 
a ring of Crocuses; 4, then, in patches, a ring of Snowdrops; 5, then a 
ring of yellow Alyssum ; 6, Edging, a ring of white Alyssum. [All very 
good indeed.] In May, bedding plants to be placed between the patches 
of 3 and 4, to be succeeded, on theapproacliof frost, by Chrysanthemums 
in pots. [An excellent plan.] This bed would have something in flower 
all the year round, if I mistake not, and never look shabby. If six sorts 
are too many, leave out No. 4, and plant a strong-growing bedder in 
No. 3. [Rather put 3 and 4 in one ring.] Or this : — 1, Centre, Hya¬ 
cinths and Gladiolus planted together; 2, Winter Aconite and Autumnal 
Crocus; 3, Tulips (iate), to be replaced by Asters; 4, Crocuses and 
Snowdrops; 5, Edging of Alyssum. [This is even better than the first 
arrangement.] In an oval border, divided into six quarters , I am trying 
now: — 1, Seedling Pansies; 2, Ranunculus, with Eschscholtzia sown 
among them; 3, Anemones, with Nemophila sown ; 4, White Pinks, to 
have Verbenas added between; 5, Intermediate Slocks; 6, Late Tulips 
and Gladiolus, planted together; and a small centre of Lilium land- 
folium. Might this latter have been preceded by Crown Imperials? 
[Yes, very well.] The two beds which want replenishing again first, I 
shall fill with Asters and (Enothera macrocurpa.” 
Nkyvly-sown Grass (A. B .).—Newly-sown grass for a lawn should 
be frequently rolled, and kept close with the scythe, without strong 
water of any kind, and all broad-leaved weeds to be pulled up in damp 
weather. 
Soil for Gentians (B. B.).— Deep, rich soil, inclining to clay, and 
damp at the bottom, is the best soil we ever found for the Spring Gentian 
( Gentiuna aeaulis). On such soil the plants lived for thirty years without 
a gap in the rows, nor failed to bloom most profusely every year, and they 
were never disturbed all the time, except reducing them to proper bounds 
in the spring. On dry, thin, or poor soils, and on chalk bottoms, they 
are of no use, and it is only waste of money trying them that way. 
Dielytra spectabilis ( Rustic Robin). —Your friend is certainly 
mistaken—we ourselves knew every Fumewort in the kingdom thirty 
years ago; but it is as hardy as any of the Pceonies. The name of the 
old plant you mean is Saxifragd sarmentosa; but why not send us a 
leaf, which, with your own description, would determine the name at 
once 7 
Flower Garden (Violet). —You have planted this very pretty figure 
very well indeed. We would not alter a plant in it, and, between our¬ 
selves, 3 and 7 will take very little harm, in such hands, planted for the 
first tw o years as “ Violet ” proposes ; but the best plant for that way is 
the white ar.d blue Campanula pumila, divided in April, and mixed 
plant for plant. 
List or Early Tulips (Ibid). — Van Thol, single and double; Rex 
rubrorum, very double red. Golden Standard and Royal Standard, 
Marriage de mu fil, and a few more that are named in a previous volume, 
will all flower together, and at the same time. Double Scarlet Anemones 
come in at the same time if they are planted early in September ; it is 
not safe to leave them in the ground all the summer, as, if it is a wet one, 
they are too soon in growth, and the flowers are spoiled in the spring. I 
The Single Anemones take no harm from being left in the ground, and | 
then they also would come in April. Polyanthuses and Auriculas are I 
not half so much grown as they deserve to be for spring beds ; we have 
seen them, and had them, by the thousands, and now is not too late to 
sow them for next spring. Arabia grundiflora makes a full bed all i 
through April; Alyssum saxatile is a little later; and pray gather a few 
scores of our native Ranunculus, called Pilewort (Ficaria verna) — they | 
make the prettiest edging in the world, planted two inches apart, and j 
four inches from the grass or box. The double white Wood Anemone \ 
makes a bed or an edging for an April and early May bed. 
Scilla Peruviana (P. S. J .).— This is one of those eld-fashioned 
things about which “some new plan of flowering it” is not at all likely 
to be given in our day. When the soil suits, it flowers every year, and 
where it does not no gardener can make it do so, or think enough of it 
to try the experiment. As you have failed with it for fifteen years, in 
the very kind of soil that we would recommend for it, our advice is, that 
you root out every morsel of it, and have nothing more to do with it. 
It is waste of time contending for plants that are not suitable for one’s 
garden, when so many plants obey our will without difficulty. 
Industrious Shanghae Hen. — Guernsey writes to us thus;—“On 
the 2nd of March I set a Cochin pullet, of the latter end of July hatch. 
She produced no chickens out of fifteen eggs; and another hen, out of 
the same laying of eggs, set the day after, hatched only four. I, how¬ 
ever, tried her for two days with the four chicks, but found her a very bad 
mother, and so gave her fresh eggs, after proving her for a day or two on 
bad eggs. She sat again, and, as chicks hatched so badly this season, j 
shortly after chipping they were brought into the house, and were 
hatched wrapped in flannel in a box, with a two-quart tin bottle filled 
with hot water, I did not attempt to give her these chicks, but turned j 
her into a coop by herself for two days, to inure her to the change, and 
then permitted her to go among the other fowls. In ten days from the 
time she was taken from the nest, and she was then very light, she began 
to lay, i.e. on the 1st of May, and has laid five eggs in the six days. 
Thus, after setting seven weeks, she began to lay ten days after being 
taken from her nest.” Your hen that frequently continues twisting her I 
neck, as if endeavouring to swallow her food, you had better not physic I 
until you have other symptoms ; it is only one of those nervous affections 
to which Shanghaes are liable. 
Fowl with Rattling in tiie Throat. — W. W. S. has “a Poland 
cock, which appears quite well, with the exception of a rattle in his 
throat as he breathes, as if he had a cold.” [Most probably a slight case 
of cold, causing increased secretion in the windpipe. The effect will 
probably cease in the warm weather if the bird is kept dry and warmly 
housed ; if not, try one grain of simple powder of ipecaccuana at night.— 
W. B. T.] 
Gapes in Chickens.— M . R. says: —“ I had hoped that before this 
some of your correspondents would have given some information as to 
the cause of the worms in the windpipe of chickens. I am induced 
again to trouble you on the subject, as all my young broods are still 
dying from the same complaint, and the only chance 1 have of rearing a 
single chick is by having them twice a-day smoked with tobacco.” [The 
origin of the worms which infest the various parts of the bodies of 
animals is exceedingly obscure; one thing alone is certain, that they are 
perfectly distinct from any that exist in other situations, and that they 
cannot be imbibed with the water. Has the writer tried to dislodge 
them by thrusting a feather (stripped of the vane, except at the tip) down 
the windpipe, and then twisting it round and round 7 As an experiment, 
the tip might he first dipped in calomel. Four or five drops of turpentine 
every day, in barley-meal, are sometimes recommended; and a very 
successful breeder informs me that he gives the chickens wheat steeped 
in turpentine. I am very anxious to try the effect of opening the wind¬ 
pipe below', and injecting some remedies in that way, as the worms 
might be reached without interfering with the lungs. Can any of our 
readers oblige me with patients, to be returned i/cured 7-—W. B. Teget¬ 
meier, Tottenham, Middlesex .] We shall be much obliged by any of 
our readers sending fowls affected either with these worms or with Roup 
to Mr. Tegetmeier, as wc wish these diseases, of which so little is accu¬ 
rately known, to be considered by him. The results would be published 
in our pages. 
Spanish Fowls. — A Subscriber asks—“What is the cure for a 
disease which has attacked a fine young Spanish cock, causing his comb 
to assume a blackish hue, and become flabby. A hen has the same ap¬ 
pearance, and seems very ill. They are thoroughbred.” [It is quite im¬ 
possible to advise upon such slender information as is here given; the 
comb always becomes discoloured in illness of any kind, and I can only 
say avoid the quack poultry remedies of rue, and butter, and salts, which 
I cannot conceive to be beneficial in any poultry disease that I have ever 
seen.—W. B. Tegetmeier ] 
Diseased Shanghaes (S. T. Wells). —Mr. Tegetmeier would be glad 
of the opportunity of examining the diseased fowls, if convenient to Mr. 
Wells. Perhaps Mr. W. will forward the address where they can be 
seen, to Mr. Tegetmeier, Tottenham, Middlesex. 
French Seeds (R. M. E.). —There is no doubt but the seeds are 
from Algiers, and that a hotbed is the best place to rear them in, and you 
will soon see what they are. There is nothing new or particularly good 
expected from that quarter. The word Ketmias is probably the Algerine 
name. 
Propagating Dielytu'a spectabilis (Mrs. E .).—After flowering, 
your splendid plant, which has stood the winter, will go on growing till 
the October frost, then let it rest all through the winter, and when you 
see the buds swollen by the end of February, take the whole mass up 
and divide it as you w'ould an old Dahlia root early in May, and replant 
the pieces with dry, sandy soil under and around them. It will also grow 
from cuttings all the summer, in a little close heat. 
Nest Eggs. —The following is a good suggestion for our Staffordshire 
friends. J. N. says— “ Could you recommend some of your friends in 
the pottery districts to make nest eggs from similar materials of what 
white cups, &c., are made? I fancy they would find ready sale for them. 
They could always he kept clean, and would last for a life time with 
care.” 
Indigestion in Shanghae Cockerell. —H. M., Durham, says— j 
“ I have a White Shanghae Cockerell, about 10 months old, purchased of [ 
Mr. Bowman, of Penzance, and he has thriven well until about a month 
ago, when he looked rather dull, and the food he eats comes through him 
undigested. The woman that has charge of the poultry has given him 
castor oil, and also a little salts in barley-meal and bran, which 
appears to relieve him; but, whenever he gets boiled rice or barley, he 
appears to be affected in the same way, and has great difficulty in passing 
it.” [This is, as far as I can judge, a case of slight inflammation, or 
irritation of the stomach—fully treated, at page 103 of the present, and 
450 of the last volume. Thoroughly-cooked food, as scalded meal, &c., 
should alone be given ; salts and Plummer’s pill are both injurious; but 
one grain of calomel may be tried probably with advantage.—\V. B. 
Tegetmeier.] 
Opacity of the Eye in Fowls.—A correspondent, whose letter, 
with the reply, has been mislaid, asks advice respecting the removal of a i 
film from the eye of a fowl, caused by injury received in fighting. In 
the human subject, endeavour is always made to cause the absorption of 
these films, and, in many cases, with success. The treatment usually 
adopted, and which I should recommend in this case, is to blow from 
a small tube, such as a quill open at both ends, a small portion ol 
calomel, say one grain daily into the eye. I am not sure, however, but 
that the action of the third eyelid, used by the bird for cleaning the ball 
of the eye, may not cause its immediate and effectual removal, in which 
case, I should try the effect of a lotion formed of three grains of nitrate 
of silver in one ounce of rain water; a few drops to be used daily ; care 
must be taken in using this lotion, as it stains the fingers very perma¬ 
nently. No very rapid improvement must be expected, nor must any 
