472 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
large shows in this country, where really good specimens of 
the breed were exhibited, prizes have been awarded them 
by our own judges, namely, at the “ Royal Agricultural,” 
the London Baker Street,” the “ Great Yarmouth,” and 
the “ Surrey Zoological Gardens” Shows. W. C. G. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Begonia cinnabarina Seedlings [Troublesome).— If of the nature 
of the cinnabarina the plants will die down in winter. Previously to that 
time do not let the temperature be much below 50°, if you can help it; 
but a pure atmosphere, a few degrees below that, will be better than a 
higher one contaminated with gas, unless you have abundance of air. 
When the leaves and stalks fade, a temperature not below 45°, and dry¬ 
ness, will do. If they are so small now as to continue growing all winter, 
then you had better keep them in the gas-heated room, but near a 
window, so that they may have fresh air. 
Concreting Surface of Vine-borders at Trentiiam (A Con¬ 
stant Reader). —When there last autumn, I observed that Mr. Fleming 
had canvass over the borders of his early houses to keep them dry. I 
forgot to ask him how the concreting answered, and did not notice it. 
Perhaps he will oblige us by stating. I covered a border of vines, for 
three years, with a thin coating of tar, and a little road drift thrown on 
it. Tbe vines have borne most abundantly. I removed it this season, 
because I thought the wood was getting rather weak. Though no water 
had entered, the moisture was quite sufficient; but the turfy matter n?ar 
the surface was not decomposed, owing to the absence of air. The roots 
were very near the surface. If anything, the vines were too fruitful. 
We have no doubt of the system of concreting answering, even though it 
should be required to be broken away in several years.—R. F. 
Cost of a Greenhouse, Heating, &c. [J.'t. M.)— You do not tell 
us anything as to height of fruit, sashes, &c.; and after having, last 
season, given the average price of wood, bricks, glass, iron-piping, Sic., 
' we do not wish to specify what such things should cost at a great 
distance from us. Near Liverpool, you can have everything in the way of 
wood-work cut by machinery, which reduces price to the lowest. 
Suppose you allow so much for bricks and wood, and then take your rule 
and count the square-feet of glass surface, and allow tcnpence, or a 
shilling, for each foot, you will come near the mark for a fair price of 
work. For a house twelve feet by ten, you would require from twenty- 
four to thirty feet of four-inch pipe and a small boiler. You would see 
how Mr. Fish heated such a small house by a small flue beneath the floor. 
Improving a Neglected Garden [R. H. G. ill.).—Your alterations 
are in excellent taste, and will render the garden economical in its 
management. The pear-trees, on a low trellis, are rather near the wall, 
but will do, if you keep them small by root-pruning every other year. 
Their removal next month, or root-pruning, would accelerate their 
fruitfulness. As your walk is only five feet wide, the trees should be 
planted eighteen inches or two feet from the side that you intend for 
arching over it; and to have the matter perfect, it were as well, if by 
means of a wall, or concrete, you prevented the roots getting beneath the 
path, though, considering its width, this is a matter of no great moment. 
For arching, a north and south walk would be preferable, as receiving 
most sun to the two sides. In looking over the lists of trees referred to, 
we advise you to place considerable reliance on the opinion of a local 
nurseryman. He is likely to have the best stock of what will thrive best 
in the neighbourhood. You cannot do better than follow Mr. Errington 
to the very letter. Six teet square is an average distance for Gooseberry 
trees in a quarter. When he wrote of their being too thick, he had 
reference chiefly to the branches of the bushes not being thinned-out. 
We cannot, just now, lay our hands on the Lancashire grower’s advertise¬ 
ments, but very likely your nurseryman has got all the best. 
Ivy (L. A. C.).— The large, broad-leaved Ivy, called “ Irish Ivy,’ 1 is 
by far the best plant you can use to cover your walls as you propose. 
Ivy is too often a most ill-used plant; because it grows wild anywhere 
and anyhow, people take no pains to set it off at first as it ought, and 
then go about wondering why it does not cling to the wall. If we were 
intending to plant young Ivy to-morrow, we would dress the border with 
rotten dung as heavily as we would for a crop of Cauliflowers, and for 
the first two or three summers we would water it once in ten days with 
rich liquid-manure, even if it rained all the time. No plant pays for 
kind treatment so soon as Ivy. 
Cistus [Ibid). —Pray take special care of these beautiful trailing rock- 
; plants. They should have been pruned, more or less, every summer, im- 
i mediately after flowering; but you might prune away about one-halt' of 
your plants now, as they arc so woody. The way to do it is this—turn up 
the whole side of a plant, and you will see the undershoots the most 
woody. If they grow very crowded, cut off one-half of the longest and 
more woody very near the bottom ; after doing so all round, let the bush 
take the right shape ; now select one-half of the shoots left, and cut them 
in half their length ; and, after this, regulate the plants every year after 
flowering. When you want to confine them, cut out the bottom-shoots ; 
for flowering, cut only one-half of the shoots, or cut to different lengths ; 
they come from cuttings easily enough in the spring, before they make 
flower-buds. 
Indian Rhododendrons [H.).— ] The new Sikkim Rhododendrons 
are probably what you mean; if so, May is the right time to plant them 
out; the situation a sheltered one. There are other kinds from India 
which are so hardy that they may be turned out at any season of the year. 
Grates Splitting [J. M'C.). —Are you quite sure the Grape which 
“cracks a fortnight before ripening,” is the White Muscadine? If it 
is, the roots are past recovery, and the border is unfit for any known 
Grape, for that is the very last Grape that will crack “in a high green- 
: house.” Probably your vine is the St. Alban’s Seedling, or Chasselas 
M usque ; and, if so, it will always crack, do what you will. If your 
border is good, and well drained, the shortest method will be to plant a 
true Hambro* or Muscadine; and, as it comes to bear fruit, cut out that 
winch cracks, ^he brown spots on the fruit is never a sign of disease, 
j ^ . ls believed to be caused at the time of thinning; the Grapes, when the 
j skin is so tender that the least rough touch will cause brown spots on 
j white berries. 
September 15. 
Feathers of Red Game Hen (P. P.).— White feathers would be 
highly objectionable on the wing of any red Game Hen. 
Spanish Fowls [One in the Ring). —We feel assured that the sen¬ 
tence you have referred to was not written with any intention to de¬ 
preciate Mr. Fox’s birds, .but. solely to imply the absence of Capt. 
Hornby’s. The continued course of triumphs that has attended the 
latter for eighteen months, has almost rendered it a matter of course 
that his name should appear on the prize list with all the honours, and 
thus the comparatively unusual occurrence of other names, as winners, 
would induce the mention of his absence. No one, we perfectly agree 
with you, can safely venture to rest on his oars, either in poultry or 
graver matters; and to maintain superiority is certainly not less difficult 
than originally to acquire it. In fact, the vast number of eggs and birds 
sent out by Capt. Hornby himself, must call for every possible exertion 
on his part that he may not now be beaten by bis own stock. We will 
again assure you, that no tarnish was thus designed to be cast on Mr. 
Fox’s birds, and none, we are convinced, would more regret such an 
interpretation of the passage in question than the gallant Captain 
himself.—W. 
Cropping for Pig-keeping (A Constant Reader). —The best crops 
to grow for a breeding-sow are Swedish turnips, mangel wurzel, cabbages, 
and beans. Your land being a light, poor soil, it must be supplied with 
an abundance of manure, and dug a good depth, to grow these crops to 
perfection. Each of them should be sown in rows two feet apart. The 
best Cabbages to grow would be the Early Battersea, or York, which 
would produce food for the sow till the Swedes arc fit to use in the 
autumn. In the beginning of August, the leaves may be stripped off 
the mangel, not too close, which will produce an abundance of food; and 
may be continued till they are fit to take up in October. The Swedes 
should be used first, as the mangel will keep well till the spring. The 
beans could be grown in double rows, between every third row of the 
above crops, which, from having plenty of space, would yield well 
without occupying any extra ground ; or they could be grown on a portion 
of the ground alternately, as a change for the other crops. 
Keeping Flour [hi. S.). —Small quantities are best kept in a covered 
earthern pan, in a dry, warm closet. No judgment can be formed of a 
dry, flattened Calceolaria bloom. 
Smoking with burning Sawdust (S.).—' The only consequence of 
smoking with sawdust soaked in nitre will be that you will injure your 
plants. 
Hoteia Japonica [Thirsk). —This is now called Spirtea barbata. It 
is a hardy herbaceous plant, from Nepaul, blooms in the early part of 
summer, has white flowers, and was introduced in 1835. 
Our First Four Volumes [Odd Fellow). —You can have them in 
any form you prefer by applying to our publishers. 
Begonia Zebrina and Thwaitii. —Any one having plants of these 
to dispose of will find it answer to advertise in our pages. 
Musty Flavour in Eggs [J. Steward). —It must arise from the food 
the hens get. Although they have had the same run in the brewery- 
yard for years, yet we are clearly of opinion that, in some way or other, 
they obtain now stale and musty grains, which, in former years, they did 
not obtain. 
Mei.ilotus leucantha. —“Having a large quantity of Melilotus 
leucantha seed, I shall be happy to send a little to any bee-keeper re¬ 
quiring the same, who will send me a directed and stamped envelope. As 
I originally received mine through the kindness of a gentleman who 
made an announcement, in Tiie Cottage Gardener, similar to the 
above, I think it my duty to favour others in my turn. Can anv of your 
correspondents favour me with a little of the yellow Melilotus ? mine is 
the white. —John Hudson, 12, Nevill-street, Southport.” 
Topknot of Silver Poland [C. E.). —We were asked what we 
considered the model of a Silver Poland’s topknot, and our own taste, as 
we replied at page 411, is in favour of one perfectly white. This, how¬ 
ever, is mere matter of taste ; for many, and amongst them Mr. Wingfield, 
prefer a white topknot spangled with black, and think it most in harmony 
with the rest of their plumage. It is quite certain that a perfectly white 
topknot is of very rare occurrence, and it is usually more or less marked 
with black. When so marked, the most nerfectly spangled is to be 
preferred. 
Wintering Greenhouse Plants. [J. T.).—Some plants, such as 
Pelargoniums and Fuchsias, may be wintered in such a cold pit as you 
mention, but not the more tender species. 
Planting Potatoes [F. C. L.). —If you intend only to plough 'the 
grass-lands once, we should defer planting until March; then plough, 
and insert the sets, by the dibble, on the tops of every other furrow-slice ; 
but under any mode it is bad husbandry. 
Head Swarms [T. K. A.). —They died of starvation. When very 
wet weather occurs in June or July, soon after swarming, the Bee¬ 
keeper should examine his hives, to see whether they increase in weight. 
If they do not, but rather diminish, the Bees should be fed bountifully. 
Unfruitful Vines [H L. D.). —The excessive luxuriance of your i 
Vines sufficiently tells why they produce no Grapes ; and the cause of I 
that over-luxuriance is “ the border, 5 feet deep, composed of loam, rich | 
manure, and tan.” This border would do to grow Asparagus and Cauli- i 
flowers, but not Grapes. Take up your Vines this autumn ; remove all the 
soil, put in three teet of brickbats for drainage, and have the remaining 
two feet filled with common turfy loam four parts, and one part limy 
rubbish. Plant your Vines in this and they will be fruitful. 
Heating Small Greenhouse [F. J. L.) —If you can have a supply 
of gas, have a small hot-water apparatus heated by gas, as we have on 
several occasions described. If you cannot have this, have a common 
furnace and brick flue. The Five Sisters Rose is the old Grcvillea Rose 
[Rosa multiflora). It is also called, sometimes, “The Seven Sisters.” 
These names are applied because there arc iso many different tints in the 
flowers composing one bunch. 
Cochin-China Fowls [A poor Man). —Send us your real address, 
and we can aid you. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, of Church Hill, Walthamstow, in the County of 
Essex, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of Christ 
Church, City of Loudou.—September 15th, 1853. 
