14 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Aprtl 3. 
than when cut in the higgledy-piggledy form cooks usually 
accomplish with a knife. 
The main difficulty will be to overcome the prejudice of 
cooks. They will find that they “ fumble ” with the “ Cutter,” 
and will then be prompt to condemn it; but if they can be 
persuaded to persevere, they will find that the “ Cutter ” will 
not be a hinderance. 
We have received a communication which sustains our 
opinion, and here it is. It is time, that is from the inventor, 
but we believe it to be truthful. 
“ My cook, when I first shewed it to her, at once condemned 
it. I cut the Beans for her the first and second day, she 
could then see the utility, and was pleased and proud of it, 
and heard the praise of our visitors at the dinner-table as to 
the neat appearance of the beans on the table, and ever 
since could not possibly do without it, finding it was a saving 
of time, and a credit to herself as a cook; therefore, the 
difficulty, I hope, will be got over in time as they get into 
use. Since I have brought it out, which is not a month, 1 
have received orders for Birmingham, Sheffield, and London 
wholesale houses for upwards of 400, which tells me that it 
is thought favourably of.” 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
GROWING THE BLUE CROCUS. 
“ In your pages I cannot meet with any information as 
to growing the Blue Crocus. This, certainly, must require 
different treatment to the Yellow; for my garden grows this 
luxuriantly; but the Blue, though I take so much pains, 
grows up thin and miserable. Can you give me a little 
instruction respecting this? I should feel greatly obliged.— 
Cynthia.” 
[Most of us think that all Crocuses do equally well in the 
same soil; but we are very wrong in so doing. There are 
between forty and fifty very distinct species of Crocus known 
to botanists, and some of them run into endless varieties; 
but there is not one gardener in five hundred who knows 
ten species, and the generality of them know hardly more 
than four or five of the species, and about a score of varie¬ 
ties. The dark Blue Crocus which you mean requires a 
much drier soil than the Yellow ones. It grows naturally 
on elevated ridges, and it never succeeds in a low, damp 
situation, nor where the bottom soil is very damp. All 
Crocuses like “ a good holding ” soil, or that which is best 
for Barley; but very few of them indeed like a damp soil, 
except the large Yellow ones, and they will grow anywhere. 
If you could got some good yellow loam from a dry common, 
and put a foot deep of it under a row of these Blue Crocuses, 
and a little sand round the bulbs, and put them only three 
inches deep, they will repay you.] 
idea of going up to London and working in the vegetable 
gardens there is good. You will see how excellently well 
the gardeners manage their various crops. You must, how¬ 
ever, remember, that to commence market gardening as a 
master, requires a considerable capital, judicious manage¬ 
ment, steady conduct, and a good market near your home. 
Also, great judgment is requisite in choosing the land. 
To begin with little or no capital, no experience, a great 
distance from a good and certain market, together with 
indifferent land, would be the greatest of folly, and could 
only end in misery and debt. On ihe other hand, at your 
age to go into a gentleman’s garden, you would have to wait 
at least four years before you would be (though ever so 
diligent and persevering) fit to be a foreman; and in that 
capacity you must serve at least two years, and then twelve 
months in a good nursery, before you would be able to 
undertake a head-gardener’s position. This may appear a 
long time, but remember, you by your own account have 
been only three years in a market-garden, therefore, you 
scarcely know the simplest part of the business. Taking 
everything into consideration, we can only advise you con¬ 
ditionally. If you can command, in the course of two 
years, two or three hundred pounds, and would be satisfied 
with a moderate living, hardly earned, then go up to London 
and spend a couple of years in the largest market-garden 
you can get into ; and carefully note and study every part of 
the business. After that, settle near some large market- 
town—seaports are the best; and set yourself down for some 
ten or fifteen years of very hard personal labour; you may 
then, with God’s blessing, have a moderate living by em¬ 
ploying others to work for you, and you attend the markets 
to dispose of your produce. If you have no capital, try at 
once and get into a gentleman’s garden ; and, by patient 
perseverance, you will soon be improving and increasing 
your knowledge; and, finally, will be sure to obtain a good 
position amongst your class. Gardeners, however, are 
plentiful; the market is overstocked ; and, therefore, when¬ 
ever a place is vacant,there is great competition for it; only 
one, of course can obtain it, and the rest must wait for the 
next vacancy. In such a state of this business, the next 
best thing a steady young man can do, is to emigrate to a 
country where gardeners are not so plentiful. In Canada 
they are much needed, and, consequently, a good, young 
gardener, with a few pounds in his pocket, over and above 
his passage money, would soon get employment. Australia 
is as yet too young a colony for serving gardeners, though a 
few near to Sydney are in excellent situations ; and as that 
country becomes more advanced, and more persons with 
capital increase in number, still more gardeners will be 
wanted. Improve yourself, therefore, to the utmost, and as 
soon as you have obtained a fair amount of knowledge and 
experience, then try for a place, and if you cannot get one, 
emigrate at once either to Canada or Australia. 
The spelling of your letter is bad, no less than fifteen 
words in your short note are wrong. Try to improve in 
that by all means.] 
I 
HOW TO BECOME A GARDENER. 
“You will greatly oblige me by answering the following 
questions:—I am very wishful to be a gardener, but I do 
not know what branch of gardening to fix upon for the best. 
I have been in a kitchen-garden, in Yorkshire, three years; 
I am twenty-one years old, and I think it high time for me 
to have a change, if I intend making a gardener of myself. 
Therefore, I beg leave to ask what you would advise me to 
do. Should I go into the market-gardens near London, 
and then, after a few years’ experience, begin for myself in 
that branch at some of the large towns in Yorkshire or 
Lancashire ? Or would you advise me to go as under¬ 
gardener at some gentleman’s bouse, and learn to be a 
serving gardener ? Or would you recommend mo to go to 
some of the London nurseries first ?—A Cabbaue Grower.” 
[At your age, twenty-one, you would find it difficult to 
enter upon any other business than the one you have been 
in lor the three last years. You ask for advice, whether you 
should continue a market gardener, or try to get into a 
gentleman’s garden, with a view to qualify yourself to be a 
head gardener. To continue to be a market gardener, your 
BUDDING CHERRIES—PLANTING RANUN¬ 
CULUSES. 
“ You will confer a great favour on me, by informing me 
of the proper season and manner of budding Cherries; also, 
the proper time to plant Ranunculuses, and the soil most 
suitable to plant them in. 
“ This severe winter has killed nearly all my standard 
Rose-trees in my garden.—G. J. B., Dinnington, Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne." 
[The best season for budding Cherries is June and July; 
the very particular week or day depends upon the state of 
the stocks, and the trees from whence the buds are taken. 
You may soon find out this by trying them both. The sap 
should be Rowing so freely in both that the bark will easily 
separate from the wood of both. The method of performing 
this delicate operation is not easy to describe. With a stock 
and a bud in a good state, and a proper budding-knife in our 
hands, we could show you better how to do it in one minute, 
than we could describe to you in writing in an hour. 
However, as we cannot have the pleasure of showing you 
