46 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 17. 
I thought it would, perhaps, force the Camellias too much, 
and prevent their flowering next year.—S. M. S.” 
[ You cannot do better than you propose; the sooner the 
wood of the Camellias is made, the sooner the buds will set; 
and, provided you give them light and air at the end of sum¬ 
mer and autumn, there is no danger of your flowers coming 
too soon.] 
CLOUDING GLASS TO PREVENT SCORCHING. 
“ Last year I built a span-roofed greenhouse, with large 
ventilators at the top. The house stands north and south; 
the greatest surfaces of glass, consequently, are exposed to 
the east and west. The glass is the Horticultural 21 oz., 
20 by 12. The morning sun, I consider, does not and will 
not do any harm ; but the midday and afternoon certainly 
will. Would Hartley’s rough glass have prevented the 
scorching and powerful reflecting heat of the sun, if it had 
been used on the west-side? Will now, the evil be pre¬ 
vented by a slight dabbing of the glass in the inside with 
white paint ? or should you recommend canvass ? which in the 
long run will cause more trouble and expense? Nothing 
can have done better than my new house during the 
winter months; but I am quite certain that in such a house, 
during summer, plants cannot live and thrive without a 
great subduing of the light. I may just mention, my house 
is heated with liot-water, and the pots are placed on tables 
of stone slabs. In fact, I have done everything on the 
best principle; but think I have committed an error, as I 
mentioned above, in not using two sorts of glass.—J. B. R.” 
[With plenty of air, and glass free from spots, we have 
seldom known of decided cases of scorching; but in very 
sunny afternoons, abundance of air, and a slight shade must 
he given. Hartley’s Patent would remedy the evil where 
it exists. Very thin paint would also do in the way you 
propose ; but it will be difficult to get it off. If you got some 
double size, such as is sold in Smithfield, in the jelly state, 
dissolve it in a kettle, add a very little whiting, and give a 
dash of oil and turpentine, and brush it thinly on the out¬ 
side ; it will resemble Hartley’s Patent, and be partly washed 
off in winter by the combined damp and rains. The exact ! 
proportions were given in a previous Volume. We have j 
used the size without anything, but the size of a walnut of ! 
whiting, in a half-gallon of size, gives it more consistence, | 
and lialf-a-gill of turpentine, and rather more oil, will j 
make it stick more firmly. It should be brushed on thinly 1 
when hot, and when the glass is dry. Without anything at, ; 
all but the double size put on hot, the glass was dimmed 
sufficiently to blunt the force of the heating rays, and it 
generally kept on until November. A small cask of size 
costs somewhere about 3s. It will not keep long.] 
PLANTS IN A LOOK-OUT ROOM. 
“ At the top of my house there is a small room, about j 
seven feet from wall to wall, of an octagon shape, with 
glass windows on seven sides. Situation in the centre of a I 
town. I tried flowers last year, but found they grew very 
fast and weak without blooming, caused, I suppose, by the 
absence of top-light, the roof being slated, so that the sun i 
shines in only for a short time in the morning and evening, I 
combined with the extreme cold in winter, and smoke from ! 
surrounding ehimnies. I should be glad could you state 1 
whether Ferns and Lycopodiums would flourish in such a j 
situation ; and if, by employing a gas-stove in wintei’, the ! 
greenhouse varieties could be grown; also, whether the light 
would require moderating.—G. W.” 
[We should think your want of success with flowers, if you 
have seven windows, was more owing to want of plenty of air 
than want of light. Perhaps we misapprehend your case. 
Smoke from chimneys would be a great drawback, but the 
gauze curtains, and the free use of the syringe, would be a good 
remedy. In fact, shading the sunniest side would prevent 
the blacks entering, by rendering less air necessary. We 
have no doubt that Lycopods, &c., would do better, because 
they will thrive in a more confined moist atmosphere. They 
will like a little shade during the hottest part of the day. 
If you can get gas easily, you may either let tiro heat from 
a burner pass through a close-jointed tin tube, until it passes 
out of the house, or heat a tin kettle with gas outside the 
room, and take a tin pipe from it into the room and back 
again, for water to circulate in.] 
CONCRETE ROADS. 
“ Linda has made her garden-walks on the concrete prin¬ 
ciple, and they have answered perfectly on a level, but not 
quite so well on an incline; but nothing to complain of, 
when rolled after a cracking from frost. But on the car¬ 
riage road it has not answered, as the horses’ feet cut into 
the lime, and show the white of the same. Also, in the wet 
weather it was broken and adhesive, and far from pleasant. 
This carriage drive is on an incline the whole way.” 
[The carriage road wants a thin coat of rough gravel to 
“eat the lime,” and to be rolled into the rest while the road 
is yet wet. But after all, lime is not nearly so good for this 
concrete as chalk.] 
POULTRY. 
LUMPS ON BANTAMS LEGS. 
“ I should feel obliged if Mr. Tegetraeier would, through 
the medium of your paper, tell me what will cure tuberculous 
diseases on Bantam fowls’ legs.—W. W.” 
[It would be impossible for me even to hazard a sugges¬ 
tion unless I saw a case, or had much fuller particulars 
than are here sent as to the exact locality, progress, and 
nature of the disease. Inflammatory swelling, resembling 
gout, generally in Cochins, and chronic inflammation, with 
thickening of the cutis, generally in Dorkings, commonly 
called bumblefoot. Corns are the only disease of the feet 
that have come under my notice. I should be happy to 
examine and treat a case, if forwarded to me carriage paid.— 
W. B. Tegetmeier, Wood Green, near Hornsey .] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Many Answers to Questions and several excellent 
Contributions are postponed until next week from want 
of space. 
Shelless Eggs ( A Young Lady).— Your hens being “ kept in a con¬ 
fined space,” and probably too highly fed, the usual consequence—in¬ 
flamed egg-organs—has occurred. Give the birds less rich food, as much 
green food as they will take, and let them have more exercise. The 
disease will then rarely occur. To mitigate the disease now, give them 
every second day, for a week, pills of one grain of calomel, and one- 
twelfth of a grain of tartar emetic. 
Melon and Cucumber Soil (E. A. Day). —The top-spit from an 
old pasture is as good a soil as can be used for these plants. Thanks for 
your praise. 
Filter ( A Three Years Subscriber). —Whynot make one for yourself ? 
You will find drawings, and full particulars, on the subject, in our 
13th and 19th numbers. 
Paris Poultry Show ( A Subscriber). —As soon as we can obtain 
fuller particulars they shall he published. 
Manuring Potatoes (71/. Phillips). — If your ground is very poor, 
wait until the Potatoes are well in leaf. Then give them a good soaking 
between the drills with Guano-water, one ounce of Guano to each gallon. 
Planting Broad Beans {Idem). —Plant them six inches apart in 
the drill and two inches deep. 
Churn {F. A. C.). —Apply to Messrs. Dean, Dray, and Co., opposite 
the Monument, London Bridge. They will send you drawings. 
Cutting down large Laurels ( Evergreen). —The best time for 
doing this is at the end of April. They may be cut down to within 
eighteen inches of the surface, and they will soon shoot out again. 
Chittagong Fowls {A Constant Reader). —Your sailor was much 
nearer than usual to correctness when he called them “ Citygongs.” 
They are a very large variety. We believe them to be a cross between 
the Malay and the Dorking. Try whether they will thrive with you. 
Flower-Garden {An Ignoramus). —The four union beds on the axis 
of the diamond, from 5 to 12, should hold your brightest colours, as 
scarlet and yellow, one of each at each point, or two of each opposite 
each other, the ovals between them, from 1 to 4, should be for Verbenas, 
Petunias, with or without edgings of some other plants, and the bottom 
part of the middle figure should be with a mixed assortment of her¬ 
baceous plants, annuals and spare bedders, if you are fond of such, 
but if you prefer the mass system, variegated Geraniums are the best ; 
and the top figure over this should be some dark purple, as Petunia, or 
with mixed plants, like the bottom ; no scarlet, yellow, or bright purple, 
or rose, is admissible in these basket beds. The plan is very pretty and 
quite unique, and on that account we have broken our rule of non inter¬ 
vention —we only look over plans which are already planted, or proposed 
to be planted ; and from seeing the style of planting, we sometimes see 
improvement on that style. We never offer any style before another. 
London : Printed by IIugii Barclay, 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 London.—April, 17 , 1855. 
