134 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 22. 
what supplies the wants of the body for the present moment, 
is, after all, the characteristic rather of the brute than of 
tlxe man; and a family accustomed to this view of life will 
grow more and more idle and thriftless, until poverty and 
filth and oven beggary lose all their terrors. It is almost 
proverbial among farmers that bee-hunters are always 
behindhand. 
Wild grapes must be left until after the hard frosts have 
mellowed their pulp; and the gathering of them is not a 
work of much cost of time or labour, since the whole vine 
is taken down at once, and rifled in a few moments; its 
bounteous clusters being reserved for the ignoble death of a 
protracted withering, as they hang on strings from the 
smoky rafters of the log-house. 
Hazel nuts are not very abundant, and they must therefore, 
so think our wiseacres, be pulled before they are fit for any¬ 
thing, lest somebody else should have the benefit of them. 
So we seldom see a full ripe hazel nut. I have had desperate 
thoughts of transplanting a hazel bush or two ; but I am as¬ 
sured it would only be buying Punchinello. Its powers are 
gone when it leaves its proper place. 
Hickory nuts afford a most encouraging resource. They 
are so plentiful in some seasons that one might almost live 
on them ; and then the gathering of them is such famous 
pastime ? An occasional risk of life and limb, to be sure, 
but no work ! 
Hunting the deer, in forests which seem to have been 
planted to shelter him, and in which he is seldom far to seek, 
is a sort of middle term, a something between play and work, 
which is not severely censured even by our utilitarians. 
Venison is not “ meat,” to be sure, in our parlance; for we 
reserve that term for pork, par excellence; but venison has 
some solid value, and may be salted and smoked, which 
seems to place it among the articles of household thrift. 
But our better farmers, though they may see deer tracks in 
every direction round the scene of their daily rail-splitting, 
seldom hunt, unless in some degree debilitated by sickness, 
or from some other cause incapacitated for their usual daily 
course of downright, regular industry. “ It is cheaper to 
buy venison of the Indians,” say they; and now that the 
Indians are all gone, there are white Indians enough, 
white skins with Indian tastes and habits under them, to 
make hunting a business of questionable respectability. 
Ere long it will be left in the hands of such, with an 
occasional exception in favour of city gentlemen who wander 
into the wilds with the hope of rebracing enervated frames 
by some form of exercise which is not work. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
BEETLE ON ROSES.—INDUCING ROOKS TO 
BUILD. 
“ I observe a fly, or small beetle, more like the common 
flea than any other insect I know, on small and delicate 
Rose plants newly sprouted, and on last year’s insertion, 
also on Rose-cuttings in borders and pots. They feed 
on the leaf and injuro the plant excessively, threateniug 
destruction to it. If they, or the leaves on which they are, 
be touched, they commonly hoi) like fleas, but only three 
or four inches, but sometimes drop and feign death. Can 
you say what they are, and where bred, and what would 
effectually drive them off? They are blacker than fleas, 
and have not such high arched backs ? 
“I see you are asked how rooks may be induced to settle 
in particular trees, &o. I have known this plan successfully 
tried :—a branch was cut in a rookery with a nest and young 
birds in it, and carried in the daytime and fixed in the 
desired place. The old birds followed, and fed the young 
ones in their new tree.—H. IL.” 
[Have any of our readers seen the beetles or weevils in 
question ? We should like to have specimens of them.] 
MOWING MACHINES. 
“ Will you oblige me by giving your opinion on Lawn 
Mowing Machines? What size do you prefer? Can one 
man actually use a IG-incli one ? Are they apt to go wrong ? 
and could an ordinary unskilled labourer use them ? 
“I keep one gardener always, but have more work than 
he can do. I assist him with ordinary labourers, and having 
about an acre of lawn, it would be a relief if I could cut it 
by these labourers, instead of employing his more valua*ble 
time. I suppose a horse would mark the lawn with his 
feet, Whose machines do you consider best ?—A. P." 
[It is very wrong to say that a mowing machine has ever 
been made that can be worked by one man. There is not a 
man on earth who will work a mowing machine to earn his 
salt, over and above the work of a third-rate scytlieman. It 
is hard work to pull the easiest mowing machine, and it re¬ 
quires one man to guide it. Budding’s Engine is the best 
for small lawns, and a handy labourer ought to guide it 
better than the best gardener in London; but it requires 
some practice, and first to be shown how to “ bite ” by some 
neighbour; also how to lower and rise the cutters, and how 
to oil the engine—there is no more art in pulling it than 
there is in dragging a harrow. Besides the superiority of 
the “ cut ” by the engine, the work may be done in hot, dry 
days, or in the afternoon, when no scythe could work. 
Where there is a stock of plants and a nice flower garden to 
occupy a moderate gardener’s time, it is very extravagant to 
waste his time in mowing with a machine or scythe. Where 
“ help is allowed ” it should be for the mowing and other 
heavy labour; for mowing with the best machine is hard 
work, except when the lawn and the grass are as even and 
fine as a Turkey carpet.] 
POTS FOR BEDDED PLANTS. —MOLES. 
“ Will you please tell me what sized pots are required for 
bedding plants, as Tom Thumb Geranium, Verbenas, Petunias, 
&c., if bedded out in the pots ? 
“ Can you tell me any way of getting rid of the moles ? 
They have come into my garden, and are tearing the seed¬ 
beds to bits.— Terbla.” 
[The proper size for pots to plunge garden plants in 
depends on the size of the plants. 32s., or 6-inch pots, 
will be large enough for the Verbenas, and also for small 
Tom Thumbs, such as were made from cuttings last autumn ; 
but for larger Geraniums, and for more safety, we would use 
No. 24 pots, or the next size above the 32s. But we w'ould 
never use pots for Verbena beds at all, no good can be gained 
that way ; as, if you look up the old plants at the end of the 
season, they would not be half so good as “ runners ” of the 
young shoots, laid in small pots at the end of August. 
There is no way of getting rid of moles so easily as to 
trap them in their runs. There are traps on purpose for 
them, which most country labourers can use. They call 
them “ wurit traps ” in Herefordshire. If you see a man 
there setting one of these traps on the other side of the 
hedge, and ask him what he is about, he will answer, “ Please 
sir, I am setting a wurit trap to catch a mole.”] 
BLUE MOULD ON PLANTS.—GROWING PELAR 
GONIUMS FOR EXHIBITION. — TAKING UP 
CROCUSES. 
“ Will you please to inform me, by means of The Cottage 
Gardener, whether I can restore to a healthy state plants 
kept in a cool greenhouse whicli have the blue mould off 
the vine upon them, and how it can be done ? Also, how I 
can raise Pelargoniums similar to those exhibited at horti¬ 
cultural shows, which are generally a mass of shoots and 
flowers. 
“ Will it improve Crocuses by taking them up when they 
have died down for the season ? or will they be better left in 
the beds?—J. V." 
[To get rid of this Blue Mould, and to restore the plants 
affected, it will be necessary to cut off every shoot or part 
which is infected, even if that should cause them to be 
headed down to the surface of the halls. No kind of doctor¬ 
ing will ever get rid of this blue mould so easily or so 
effectually as that. 
To grow Pelargoniums like those at the exhibitions is like 
conducting a war; one man will do it much belter than 
