August 4. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
351 
from it, in secret, liow to face the French, the Russians, or 
any of them. 
Well, Mr. Baxter very kindly gave me a cutting, although 
lie could very ill afford it, his own only plant being then not 
more than three inches high. I must now tell, that it is a 
stove plant, and looks much more like a tree Lycopod than 
the climber which goes by that erroneous name, and I had 
no stove to grow it in, nor any convenience at all for such a 
cutting at such a late period of an usually cutting season, so 
I begged very hard of Mr. Jackson to do the thing for me, 
and help to save London from the French, if they really 
should come over in the spring. Our first grand field-day 
was early last week, and the precision and regularity of our 
firing was perfectly wonderful; the earnestness of our mimic 
battles made my very sides ache again ; I would not give a 
groat to see the sham fights on the Common, after seeing 
the thing so naturally, and so easily, and so much better, 
done at home by this pretty plant, which, although they call 
it “The Burning Bush,” never burns anything whatever; 
all the battles end in smoke, but the firing all over the plant 
is as fair and steady as possible, only more in the sharp¬ 
shooter’s way than they do it at the Camp. 
Now, as we live in such critical and troublesome times, I 
shall give up my share in this war-like plant for the good of 
the country, and at half-price; it cannot surely come too 
dear from Mr. Jackson; and I engage that any of our readers, 
by following out the instructions herewith sent, may give a 
good battle on the dining table any evening during this and 
the next month. The plant has made a great stir lately 
down at Winchester; for two ladies, who called to see me from 
that city, told me so; but our worthy Editor was not in 
the contest, and there is no cause to make a fuss about it 
anywhere. It is quite enough to see the wonderful mechan¬ 
ism by which the firing is sustained so long, by means 
apparently so slight. 
The plant has gone under several wrong names, as Pilea 
muscosti, or sugar cane weed, so troublesome to the West 
India planter; quite a different thing, but still a Nettlewort; 
and Thelygonum Cynocrambe , to which it is not at all like. 
I am assured by Mr. Baxter, who is a good authority, that 
the real name is Urtica serpyphyUum, or serpylifolia. It will 
need the help of a stove, and is easily increased by cuttings, 
and is a fit associate to a collection of Lycopods, and requires 
the same treatment, in every respect. What causes the war¬ 
like shooting is the bursting of the pollen anthers, which are 
thickly set all over the plant, on the application of water 
after a dry day. The way that Mr. Jackson and I got up 
review was by plunging the plant in a tank of water, and 
after shaking off the wet the shooting began in right earnest, 
just like a company of skirmishers or sharp-shooters sent 
out before a regular battle. The smoke from the pop, pop, 
firing is seen as distinctly as on a field-day, without the 
noise and bustle of fighting, and altogether the proceeding 
is as curious and interesting as any thing that has ever 
been recorded from the vegetable kingdom.—D. Beaton. 
SCRAPS FROM JERSEY. 
Parsnips sown in December are now (July 21) being dug 
up for use. 
Peas .—I saw the plants full three inches high on the 
28th of June, sown on ground from which the New Potatoes 
had been dug up five or six weeks before. 
Potatoes planted in November and December are dug up, 
when ripe, in the August following, and the ground planted 
with Cabbage of June sowing, which are cut with good 
hearts or heads in November and December, and the ground 
again planted with Potatoes. A good half-an-acre of ground 
attached to a cottage has had this cabbage and potato 
routine, without any variation, for the last eight years; a 
mixture of manures being used for the cabbages, and sea¬ 
weed to the potatoes.—J. N. 
PRODUCE OF A SHANGHAE HEN. 
As you have lately published, in your valuable periodical, 
the number of eggs obtained from some Cochin or Shanghae 
hens, I have taken the liberty of sending you a statement 
of the number of eggs laid by a Cochin-China hen in my 
possession. She was given to me by my respected friend 
and minister, June !)th, 1853 ; was hatched in the spring of 
1852. I beg to state that several of my neighbours are 
witnesses to the truth of the following statement. 
Number 
Number 
of Eggs. 
1853. 
June 29 
• • • • 
1 
June 
11 
.... 
2 
55 
30 
• • • • 
1 
59 
12 
.... 
o 
July 
1 
.... 
1 
99 
13 
• • • • 
1 
99 
2 
• • • • 
2 
jj 
14 
• • • • 
0 
99 
3 
.... 
1 
Seven in 
95 
15 
• • • • 
2 
59 
4 
• • • • 
2 
four days. 
59 
10 
• • • • 
2 
55 
5 
.... 
0 
* > 
59 
17 
• • • • 
1 
59 
6 
.... 
1 
59 
18 
.... 
1 
95 
7 
0 
55 
19 
• • • • 
o 
55 
8 
.... 
1 
59 
20 
• • • • 
i 
95 
9 
• • • • 
0 
)) 
21 
.... 
i 
99 
10 
. . . • 
2) 
22 
.... 
0 
5J 
11 
.... 
2 
Seven in 
55 
23 
.... 
0 
99 
12 
1 
four days. 
99 
24 
.... 
0 
55 
13 
• • • • 
2j 
Made a new nest. 
59 
14 
• • • • 
1 
wt. 3 oz. 
59 
25 
• • • • 
1 weight 3 oz. 
59 
15 
• • • • 
0 
59 
20 
.... 
2 
99 
10 
• • • • 
1 
wt. 3§ oz. 
99 
27 
.... 
0 
55 
17 
• • • • 
1 
wt. 3J oz. 
5 J 
28 
.... 
1 
59 
18 
• • • • 
2 
You will perceive that in thirty days I obtained forty-three 
eggs; in two instances she laid seven eggs in four days. 
The two eggs of June 16th weighed 4 § ozs. The hen looks 
as well now as she did a month ago. 
Should you think the above statement of any interest to 
your numerous readers, I shall be most happy to send you 
a further account in a fortnight or three weeks.—F. D. 
Mears, Birch , near Colchester. 
DISEASED PEA CROP. 
I visited a garden, this week, where the pea crops are 
infected by a disease of which I am very anxious to know 
more. They are grown in a hot sandy loam, the subsoil car- 
stone rock, as it is here called, strongly impregnated with 
iron, and no cause of disease presents itself to my mind or 
the gardener’s, though we neither of us doubt your instant 
discovery. They go, when a foot high, at the verybase of the 
stem, and continue wasting, yet growing; and finally, at their 
full height, with a few half-formed pods, wholly die; they 
are much mildewed, but the failure does not seem consequent 
on that, and the stem is rotten within, even above where it 
shows outside, while at the root, when pulled up, there are 
little white specks which seem like insects, but too small to 
determine on without a glass. The old gardener is anxious 
to know if it be possible it can have any connexion with the 
disease of the potatoes, which preceded the pea crop in the 
same ground. As some amends for this troublesome detail, 
I would inform you of an accidental discovery—that an Apple- 
tree, partly staked with Laburnum , in that part totally escaped 
the ravages of the blight; and that, following up this hint 
from nature, the whole tree was syringed with water in which 
laburnum bark had been steeped, and the decoction had the 
effect of stopping, for the time, future mischief. The bark 
fermented and looked like yeast in the water which stood. 
I should observe, in the melon frame this little history may 
be useful, even after your clever helper Mr. Errington’s 
lessons of prevention are learned; for some of his cures can 
be applied only in winter; and if that time is lost, this plan 
I have detailed may be tried with a tree either in leaf or 
blossom. Henrietta A. 
[The rotting of the stems of Peas, and the mildew on their 
leaves, arise from the excessive wet weather. Cabbages, 
Lettuces, Onions, &c., are all, in one way or other, also 
affected with some kind of premature decomposition. The 
