<10 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 2b. 
I done to meet tlie want by havin'' our spring flower-beds as 
; well as our summer ones. I have known persons object to 
i beds on a lawn, because, as they said, “ the beds looked blank 
and monotonous six months out of the twelve.” Might not 
tiie defect he, in some degree, obviated by introducing into 
two or three of the beds a permanent plant! and now that we 
are upon white colours, say, for example, the perennial 
double white anemone. I have seen clumps of these grown 
from four to six feet diameter looking like masses of snow. 
If patches were placed on a bed at proper intervals, they 
would in one or two seasons completely cover it; now, as 
white would be too much of a good thing for nine months 
consecutively, we might have yellow crocuses for February 
and March, the white anemone for April and May, and sear- 
l let geraniums from June till November. The advantages of 
I the bed would be these: as soon as the crocuses were off 
| bloom, the anemones would cover them, and the former 
j would have perfected their bulbs when replaced by the gera¬ 
niums. When the geraniums were over, another set of 
bulbs, differing in colour, would be ready to come in for the 
following spring, and the beds could then be dressed for the 
winter. Jliit the bed itself, covered with a carpet of green, 
I would form a contrast to the surrounding beds of soil; and 
the different hues of the lawn, anemone and geranium 
foliage judiciously blended, might serve to heighten the pie- 
j litre.—S. P., Itushmere. 
EXTRACTS EROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
Caiuuway Cultubk.—A s you write for the benefit of 
small allotment holders, as well as others, and as the 
I proverb says, “ a penny saved is a penny got,” I am 
induced to send you the following:—In the spring of 
the year 1818, I sowed about a square yard of ground 
with carraway seeds, and tbe same year I got from it a 
tolerable supply of good seed. The next summer, 1849, 
[ I got 2 lb of excellent seed, besides calculating that 
S I lost one-third of the produce by “ being busy ’’—not col- 
i lecting them in time. These were sown under an ash- 
tree, where nothing else would thrive ; and as they are 
very useful in a domestic way—indeed, cottagers here 
(Herefordshire) are very fond of a few in their bread— 
the hint may be useful to them, as by growing a few, 
they may gratify their taste and save many a penny 
that goes to the shop; being also much superior in fla¬ 
vour. I drill them thinly in rows six or seven inches 
apart.—II. B. 11. 
Lujum Laxcieoliuii.—I n October last I repottedmy bulbs 
of Lilimn lancifolium (above a dozen) into pots of the same 
size as those in which they had very finely bloomed in the 
summer. T thought I laid taken care to place the apex of 
the bulb in the centre of the pot (but three inches below the 
surface), but many of them have made their appearance 
very far from the centre (I suppose from my inadvertance 
or carelessness), so that I fear I shall run some risk of in¬ 
juring the bulb when I put in the supporting stick. I there¬ 
fore take the liberty of suggesting that, when the bulb is 
repotted, two or three slender sticks be placed round and 
outside of the bulb, half an inch distant from the bulb, and 
to be an inch or two above the surface of the earth ; these 
will lie a guide for the placing the tall supporting stick in 
the spring. 
IVe are directed to be very sparing of water to these lilies 
until they advance in stem and leaf; I pray some of your 
very experienced associates to have the goodness to inform 
me what it is to be “sparing.” 1 will suppose I have some 
pots !) and 11 inches deep, and the same across, in each of 
which is a fine bulb of LUium lancifolium , with a shoot from 
two to six inches high, how much water should be given 
each pot at one time, and how often repeated ? and if the 
water is to be poured over or round the young plant, or over 
the whole surface of the earth, or close to the inside rim of 
the pot ? if with one of Moon’s water-pots, which pour out 
quite perpendicularly, and very finely, I pour over the whole 
surface of the earth half an imperial pint of water, it merely 
moistens the surface, and a very few inches below ; if I use 
one pint of water it goes down to the bottom, and the drainage 
takes away any superfluous quantity. Now, will it not be 
better to use the pint, and not to repeat it but half so often as 
if the half pint was used ? and how often should this be 
done ?—Dianthus. 
[The suggestion to put sticks round the bulb at the time 
of potting is excellent, and should always be adopted. As 
to the watering, it is quite true that we gardeners are sad 
fellows in the way of explaining our meaning, but surely our 
instructions about these lilies have been very full. “ To be 
sparing of water,” means, that as long as the soil is just 
moist none is to be given ; but, of course, the soil must be nil 
wetted at every watering ; but to state the quantity of water, 
or how often it should be given, might lead people astray, so 
much depends on the season, the state of the atmosphere, 
the kind of compost used, and the situation where the pots 
are placed. Our lilies get no water from November to 
March, and yet the soil is moist all the time, the pots being 
plunged in coal ashes, in a cold pit, under a north wall. — 
1). B.] 
Lakge Pkodvce of Potatoes. — Some correspondents 
having asked for more information relative to the large 
produce mentioned at p. 927 of our last volume, we wrote to 
our correspondent, and this is his reply:— 
“ By a rood I mean the common digging rood of eight yards 
square, containing, as a matter of course, (14 square yards. 
The return spoken of was certainly very great, and for that 
reason I appended the note to my communication. The 
potato under question I had from a friend, who could give 
no account how he came possessed of it; and seeing it grow 
in his garden I requested a few. He lias lost the sort from 
careless houseing in the winter, consequently 1 consider my¬ 
self the only possessor of it. My friend’s garden was a cold , 
lumpy clay, with nearly a north-east aspect; but under such 
disadvantageous circumstances I was aware, from the growth 
of the root, that it was worth cultivating. My garden being 
a good mould, with a sandy subsoil, and a south by east 
aspect, has brought out the crop spoken of. I cannot part 
with any of the seed tubers this planting season, but, if all 
he well, I hope to have a good quantity towards August and 
September next, when I will with pleasure furnish your cor¬ 
respondent with a few. It requires to be planted a full yard 
from row to row, from the luxuriant growth of the haulm, 
and 20 to 24 inches from plant to plant in the row -Leigh- 
ton. 
Cochin-China Fowls. —The following information, ob¬ 
tained from a respectable and intelligent dealer in London 
(Mr. J. Daily, lid, Mount-street, tJrosvenor-square), may 
interest some of your readers, as it answers the questions on 
the above subject at p. 901 of The Cottage Gaiidenek. It 
appears from hence that the size and merits of these fowls 
have been exaggerated. Mr. Daily says, and he gives me 
permission to send you his observations, “ I believe I have 
as pine Cochin-China fowls as any in England; and 1 am 
sure four-fifths of those kept are not more than half bred. 
1 will endeavour to describe a pure bred fowl of this kind— 
small head, small comb, red face, yellow leg, slightly fea¬ 
thered, sometimes (but very seldom) five-clawed, largo square 
bodies. The tuft of feathers on the leg is more distinct in 
some than in others, hut where it projects too much I do 
not like it. The thigh should be covered with bushy 
feathers. The colour of the cock should have little or no 
variety, being of a reddish brown or a buff yellow, but one 
colour only; the pullet light brown, darker shaded round 
the lower part and sides of the feathers. But there are two 
more undoubted proofs of purity, the first and most impor¬ 
tant is the almost entire absence of tail. The cock has a 
small tuft of feathers, invariably black, and more like an 
ostrich than a cock; the hen has merely an apology for one, 
the feathers being the same colour as the body. The next 
proof is that the egg is of pinky cream colour, much resem¬ 
bling the Silver Pheasant's. I do not believe that they lay 
more than one egg a day; and though in my opinion they 
are the best fancy fowl that has been introduced for many 
years, the Dorking is quite as heavy, and if an average of 
numbers were taken I think a heavier bird.”—1>. Knight. 
Poke v . Bacon : Weighing Pigs, Ac. —I have not seen an 
answer to your correspondent, T. W.—“ Which pays best, pork 
or bacon ?” I can give a practical answer from my own ex¬ 
perience and that of an extensive dealer in this neighbour¬ 
hood. Fresh pork at 4^d per It) pays better than when just 
out of salt at the same price, because pork loses in salt at 
least I of a lb from every stone of 14 lb, besides the cost of 
