June 1G, 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
211 
collection of such data as those which Professor Way had 
brought together in the tables then hung up in the room, 
would be of great service in suggesting experiments which 
might eventually lead to a more economical use of tire 
Grasses employed in agriculture.—Mr.Slaney then favoured 
the Council with a very clear and striking statement of what 
he considered the points at issue in the controversies con¬ 
nected with the great question of feeding animals. In fact, 
he considered it to be always highly advantageous to the 
practical farmer when “ doctors disagreed; ” for, in such 
cases, there ensued that discussion of real fact, and that 
gradual elimination of non-essential considerations, which 
eventually led to a sounder knowledge of the subject. He 
referred to the different characters of the artificial and na¬ 
tural Grasses, in respect to amount of nitrogen contained in 
each, and to the statements of Professor Way and the ex- 
l periments of Mr. Lawes, in reference to feeding properties 
in each case. He could not, however, help drawing a marked 
distinction between the quality of bulk and fatness of an 
animal, and that nervous development of much which con¬ 
ferred strength; and for each of these opposite effects, the 
different classes of food he thought might be administered 
with great advantage. He understood from Professor Way 
that the natural Grasses on which he experimented had not 
been grown separately in plots, but taken indiscriminately 
from the pastures on which they had grown; this, Mr. 
Slaney thought, did not give an equal area of natural Grass 
an equal chance of comparison with artificial Grass, to which, 
by the tables, it appeared so much inferior, because in the 
former case the natural pasture would furnish a consider¬ 
able proportion of weeds.—Mr. Brandreth Gibbs pointed 
out, at the request of the members, the comparative perma¬ 
nence of the artificial Grasses on which Professor Way had 
made his analysis.—Mr. Rowlandson considered the annual 
value of pastures to preponderate over that of the other 
branches of husbandry. He complimented Professor Way 
on the sterling results he had obtained in this investigation 
of the grasses ; only those who knew the labour of arriving 
by experiment at such results could fully estimate it. He, 
however, perceived two omissions in the list, which it would 
be well at some future time to supply, namely, that of 
Timothy Grass and the Yarrow: the value of the former 
was well known, and although it was not desirable to intro¬ 
duce too much of the latter in light pastures, it was, gene¬ 
rally speaking, a useful adjunct. He had for fourteen 
years made the cultivation of Grasses an object of his study. 
He referred to the selection animals made of particular 
Grasses; cows, he remarked, would eat the soft meadow 
Grass, while horses would starve before they would touch it. 
It flowered, however, all the year round, and should enter 
in a small proportion into every pasture, yielding, as it did, 
as good a crop on poor land as any other grass. Science 
and practice, he added, would eventually be found to meet; 
their occasional divergence arose from overlooking small 
but essential conditions. He fully concurred with the ob¬ 
servations of Dr. Daubeny and Mr. Slaney; he agreed with 
Mr. Lawes, to a certain extent only, that the feeding or 
money-making power of vegetable food was to be attributed 
to the non-nitrogenous rather than to the nitrogenous com¬ 
pounds. When in North Wales, a few years ago, he was 
told that it was a well-known fact that cows fed in pastures 
of clover and tares, the cheese was always indifferent; but 
that a dairy-woman in one part of the district made the best 
cheese from cows fed on nothing but tares and clover, some 
secret management being alleged as the cause of her suc¬ 
cess. Mr. Rowlandson had afterwards an opportunity of 
meeting with this dairy-woman, and he learned from her 
that the secret of her success consisted in housing the cows, 
and having the tares and clover cut and carried home to 
j them; in this case the cheese was always good, while 
it was always bad when the cows were fed in the field. 
This circumstances, he thought, partly explained the views 
both of Prof. Way and Mr. Lawes. The exercise of the 
cows fed on leguminous plants consumed the butter, and 
eliminated a larger amount of cheesy matter through the 
secretion of the milk, leaving the cheese poor in butter; 
while in the case of cows at rest in the house, the butter was 
not consumed but eliminated with the milk, and passed into 
the cheese, which was accordingly of richer quality. In the 
feeding of pigs, too, Mr. Rowlandson did not consider either 
leguminous or starchy food alone so profitable, when both 
were mixed and given together. The quick breathing power 
of young lambs required nitrogenous matter to form part of 
their sustenance. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London," 
Chrysanthemums (A Cottager ).—We shall be glad of the account 
you mention whenever it suits your convenience to send it. The fol¬ 
lowing are twelve of the best large Chrysanthemums : —Amazon (Salter), 
deep rose-carmine; very full. Annie (Salter), light yellow; fine form. 
Christope Columbe (Pele), bronze; very good. Cloth of Gold, orange- 
yellow ; large, and a fine show flower. Fleur de Marie, pure white ; 
aster-formed. Leon Lacquay (Lebois), lilac-purple ; a fine flower. Lady 
Talford, pure white ; a fine, large, show flower. Madame Poggi, splen¬ 
did blood-crimson. Nell Gwynne (Salter), rose-peach ; very full; a show 
flower. Queen of England, splendid blush-white; large and full. Osiris 
(Pele), centre nankeen, tippcfi with vermilion. Rebecca, clear rose; fine 
show flower. 
Pansies (J . S. B.). —Your inquiry would have been ansivered sooner, 
but we waited till most of kinds of Pansies now grown were in bloom. 
Great numbers have been examined, but none are like yours. We pre¬ 
sume, then, yours are either very old varieties, not now grown, or they 
are seedlings. In either case, you need not grieve, for, as far we could 
judge, they are deficient in most of the properties of good Pansies. 
Propagating Tree Peonies (Sarah). —The Tree Pceonies are in¬ 
creased by layers, and also by grafting upon the tubers of commoner 
kinds. If they put out suckers near the soil, and then form roots of 
their own, which they sometimes do, they may be cut off from the parent 
plant, preserving all the roots, and may either be planted out at once, or 
be potted and kept through the first winter in a cold frame. The best 
time to take these suckers off is in September. 
Orchids (W. S. W.). —The dark Cymbidium appears to be C. pen¬ 
dulum, and the light-yellowish one probably is, as you supposed, C.lanci- 
folium; but it is impossible, without seeing the plants, to be certain. 
Young Vines in a Greenhouse Vinery (East Anglian). —Your 
Vines are strong, planted last season, and shewing from a dozen to 
fourteen bunches of grapes. Your question is a wise and pertinent one. 
We advise you to sacrifice present enjoyment to future success. From 
the description of your Vines, we would advise you to leave three or four 
of your best bunches—one more if the Vine is very strong ; you will be 
amply repaid for the present loss in the future continuous well-doing of 
your Vines. We once took a dozen bunches from a similar strong young 
Vine, but it did no good for years afterwards. 
Plum-tree cut-in to form Young Wood (A Reader). —When a 
sufficiency of shoots are laid in, you ask, What to do with the laterals, 
&c. ? Pinch them at the point when three inches in length, and shorten if 
longer, but not so much at first. If done early, they will make spurs 
that will be likely to fruit in two years—a few the succeeding season. 
Greenhouse and Tender Annuals (I. F.). —To bloom them this 
season, with the assistance of a hotbed, sec articles on “ Neglected 
Greenhouse.” Another paper will soon appear, treating of the propa¬ 
gating of some showy kinds for autumn and winter blooming. With your 
means, you may yet try Cockscombs, Globe Amaranths, Jpomeea coccinea, 
Browallia alata, blue and white, Didiscus ( Trachymene ) ccerulea, Brachy- 
come iberidifolia, and, as previously mentioned, small annual varieties 
of Mesernbryanthemums. If you would be satisfied with small-flowering 
plants, you might also, as yet, sow the different varieties of Thunbergiu, 
Ice plant, Egg plant, See. ; but it is getting late for all tender annuals 
now, and they will only not disappoint on getting good treatment. 
Time for Sowing Salvias (Ibid) — Hardy annuals may yet be sown 
out-of-doors. Greenhouse kinds should be sown in a slight hotbed in 
spring, and then they will bloom during the summer and autumn. 
Most of them are so easily propagated by cuttings, that, unless for 
hybrids, sowing is seldom resorted to, though we generally find that the 
beautiful blue S. patens does as well from seeds, as managed above, as 
from tubers of the preceding years. Any light, rich loam will do. 
FucnsiA Compost (Kate).— Sandy fibry loam, and a little rotten 
dung, or leaf mould, or peat; the first, and weak manure waterings, will 
grow them admirably. The treatment has often been given—various | 
modes to suit different circumstances, so lately as March 17 , No. 233, p. 
460. 
Asters to be Shown (Ibid).—' They had better be grown in rich j 
garden soil, and the flowers thinned a little before showing time, to get 
them large. They are generally shown cut, but a fine plant, or number 
of plants in pots, would look well on an exhibition table. 
Seedling Carnations (Ibid).—Your most economical plan with 
these, will be to plant them out nine inches apart on a border facing the 
west, made light and rich, with road-drift and very rotten dung. It 
would scarcely be worth while to pot them until you see what quality 
they are. After watering them well, shade a few days from the sun, with j 
netting or evergreen branches. 
