78 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[May 2 . 
we suppose you mean) should perish in a heat obtained from fresh pig’s 1 
dunp. You should have potted and replaced them in the cold-pit. They 
would then have done well. Every other point of your management is , 
quite correct. Try again, by all means ; but avoid any heat to force them 
into growth after they are struck. Keep them close in a cold-frame after 
potting, and shade them from the bright rays of the sun till they grow 
again. You have failed this time by a too great heat in dung un¬ 
sweetened. It ought to have had frequent turnings over till the rank, in- 
1 jurious steam had evaporated, and become mild and sweet. We are sur- 
1 prised that even cucumber and melon plants have existed, much less 
| grown, in dung so crude and unprepared. 
, Climbers (An Invalid Subscriber). —It is too late now to plant out 
strong hardy climbers to cover your bower, unless you could procure them 
in large pots, as no doubt you could in some of the nursery gardens round 
j Glasgow. Clematis montana (Mountain Virgin’s Bower) is one of the 
1 best, and flowers beautifully in May ; and then what can be better or 
sweeter than our own Traveller’s Joy—or you might try those evergreen 
1 climbing roses which we so often recommend, and they are good stocks to 
bud others on to flower in the autumn. 
Vase in Centre of Border (S.S. J.).— Mr. Beaton’s condemnation 
of scarlet geraniums being placed in the centre of a bed, does not apply 
to a large vase so placed, and three feet high. Scarlet geraniums, and of 
these Tom Thumb , will be best for such a centre; but keep some subdued 
colours round it in the bed. Tropaeolum canariense would scarcely 
succeed to hang down the sides of the vase, unless it is very sheltered, for 
the wind would disturb it too much. In your larger vase, six feet high, 
and thirty yards beyond the smaller, on a grass mound backed by shrubs, 
1 plant Calceolaria amplexicaulis , or some other bright yellow calceolaria. 
! Pot-bulbs (E. P. Y.).— Crocuses, hyacinths, and other hardy bulbs 
that have been flowered in pots this spring, may now be well watered, and 
the bulbs turned out into the borders or any spare corner, and see they do 
not want for water until their leaves fade at the end of summer. 
French Marigolds (W. Jl. W. Smith).— The treatment of the double 
marigolds will be given in a week or two by Mr. Beaton, when noticing 
the yellow bedding flowers. 
I Circular Flower-beds ( J . F . A .).— This is divided into six equal 
parts. Plant 1 and 4 with two kinds of yellow flowering plants of the 
same height; 2 with a low scarlet plant; and 5 with a taller scarlet, to 
match it crossways ; 3 plant with a white flower, same height as the plant 
in No. 2 ; and 6 may be a high white, or some undecided colour, as 
some verbenas arc. For the actual plants, search Mr. Beaton’s lists now 
publishing by us. 
Balconies (Vulpis Venator).— You will see your inquiry has been 
attended to in to-day’s publication. The query respecting a little garden, 
will also meet with attention ere long. 
Heat for Cinerarias (F . IF. T.'j. — To obtain a little mild bottom- 
I heat for these flowers after Christmas, stable-dung would do very well, 
if well sweetened, and mixed with leaves; and more especially if a layer 
| of dry ashes is placed on the surface. If leaves cannot be obtained, 
: primings, &c., to keep the dung open, will answer nearly as well. If 
well made and mixed, such a bed will keep heat a long time there is 
, much in the making. At that time the bottom-lieat should not be above 
60° at the highest; top temperature from 45° to 48°. Of course, this 
j merely applies to those you wish to grow on quickly. Those to be 
merely kept must be much lower—from 38° to 45° 
Begonia Martiana (Ibid).— I)o not be uneasy though the tuber that 
' has been two months in the stove has not vegetated, so long as it keeps 
fresh and sound. It must have a season of repose. 
Euphorbia Jacquiniflora (Ibid). —We can see no reason why the 
cuttings that you had dried for two or three days did not strike, after 
being placed in a gentle hot-bed, unless it was owing to the cuttings 
being rather spongy, and your using nothing but sand. We should have 
preferred a little fine soil along with the sand; and that would have 
allowed a little more air to enter to the base of the cutting. 
Bees (T. M. IF.).— You have bees in a common cottage hive, and 
wish to prevent its swarming. You propose either to turn the hive, with 
the crown downwards, bctw’een the legs of a stool, and place another 
fiat-topped hive over it, so that you may take away either the old hive, or 
the upper one, after next summer; or to take the crown of the old hive 
out, and place another hive over it ; or to place an empty hive by the 
side of it, opening a communication between the two, and oblig¬ 
ing the bees to enter through the new hive. Of the three plans you 
1 mention, that of inverting the hive is the worst, and that of cutting a 
hole in the top the best; but why not allow the bees to swarm, and put 
the swarm into the kind of hive you fancy ? The swarm will supply you 
with from 15 lbs to 20 lbs of honey, above what the bees will require 
for winter store; and the second swarm , from so large a hive and strong 
a stock as yours is described to be, will, with a little help (and perhaps 
without it, if the season proves a good one), make a good stock for next 
year : you will not turn them to so good an account by any other treat- 
J ment. 
Blue Flower for Centre Bed (E. E .).—“A good blue flower for 
the small centre bed of three steep beds rising one above another” is, 
Campanula garganica, or Anugallis Philippsii , or Cineraria anelloides. 
i The first is the best, and is the least trouble. 
• Roses in Shades (A Worcestershire Subscriber). —Like you, we are 
I often puzzled by the rose catalogues. It will be a most difficult thing to 
j shade a bed of autumnal roses “ from crimson ” in the middle “ to white ” 
j at the outside, that is, taking each shade between the two. All that you 
can do this season can only be four good shades, namely, dark crimson, 
rose, blush, and white. The best roses for these are Geunt des Batailles , 
three or five plants for the middle, then a row of Baronnc Pretost and 
one of the Duchess of Sutherland, the third, or blush, Sovenir de Mai - 
maison , the most charming of all the blush roses, and the white China 
outside as you propose. Next rose season you should visit the nurseries 
at Worcester, Cheltenham, and Gloucester, and choose out the exact 
tints you want, and the nurserymen will say how strong they are. 
Strong Roses (Ibid). —There are very strong growers and the reverse 
in all the sections of the bush roses. The nearest to what you want for 
pink are Mrs. Elliot and William Jesse; but on your strong soil Mrs. 
Elliot will make shoots a yard long when once it is established; and you 
will have to transplant it, and others who may run up too high, every 
other year, and at the end of October. 
Climbers (Ibid).— You want three or four strong , hardy, but not 
common, climbers (not roses). We know of none better than those you 
have, unless you add the new Yellow jasmine, from China (J. nudi- 
florum), which will keep in flower all winter on your east wall. Sollya 
will not endure frost. Ceanothus asureus is one of the best evergreens 
to plant between the climbers ; the frost will nip it, but not much, and 
the blue flowers are exquisite. 
Broken Comb in Hive (Gunthorpe).— Having had the misfortune to 
knock down the centre comb, which now rests on the hive board and 
against the side of the hive, you ask, what you should do ? and we reply 
Let your bees quite alone ; they will manage much better for themselves 
than you can for them. They will very soon work a piece of comb upon 
the top of the broken one, and attach it to the roof of the hive ; and when 
done so, firmly, will cat away the part now resting on the floor board, so 
as to make a passage beneath it. The comb, being a centre one, is now ^ 
full of brood, and must not be removed. 
Bees (M. F. G.).— You need not feed your swarm as soon as you get it 
home. Leave them to themselves, and if the summer is a good honey 
season, they will not require feeding at all. If they do, follow what is 
said in our last number about feeding with barley sugar. Your covering , 
is unexceptionable. You may obtain Payne’s “ The Bee Keeper s 
Guide’-’ through any bookseller. Its price is five shillings. | 
Cape Bulbs (Mary Anne).— If you will refer to page 100 of our first 
volume, and to page 250 of our third, you will find full information as to 
moving these from their native places. 
Bees (E. J57.).—All hives should now be got ready, for swarming time 
is arrived. Elm well-seasoned, and dovetailed across the grain to 
prevent warping is good for the floor boards. Mr. Payne has published a 
little Bee Manual for Cottagers. To destroy worms in lawns, see vol. in., 
page 179* . 
Verbena Venosa (F. P. D. H.).— Any nurseryman can supply you 
with this plant, or with Scarlet variegated Geranium , as, if he does not 
possess it himself, he can easily procure it from a respectable London 
house. Let both be planted about the middle of May. 
Petunias (Ibid).— These should always be pegged down until they 
cover the bed—not after that; but Mr. Beaton will put you right about 
these at the proper time. 
Rustic Basket (Ibid).—Tom Thumb and Improved Frogmore are the 
best scarlet geraniums for your large rustic basket. 
Bitter Sea-kale (Ibid).— The steam from the fermenting leaves pro- i 
bablv got access inside the pots, and so caused the bitterness. 
Climber for North "Wall (II. M. T.). —Ivy is the best covering for 
a north wall; and the fastest growing plants for it are those evergreen 
climbing roses which we so often recommend. We would plant them and 
the ivy now. 
Spanish Jasmine (E. S. R.).-Wc would by all means cut down this 
old plant, and leave a few of the present suckers at full length this season. 
The young shoots from the cut part will come up very strong, and >ou 
must “ top ” them here and there as they advance, in order to get side 
branches, and prevent a repetition of an old woody stem “ full eight feet 
high.” . 
Names of Plants (A Grateful Subscriber).— Your plant is Pulmo - 
naria Virginica (Virginian Lungwort), one of the most beautiful of hardy 
herbaceous plants. Always have a label fixed in the soil by it, to shew 
where it is, as it dies down below the earth’s surface. Your orange-shaped 
gourd is probably Cucurbit a uurantia, or Orange-fruited gourd. (I.S.D).— 
One of your plants is a young stem of Lily of the Valley ; the flowers are 
those of Arabis albida; and the sprig of Seditm palustre. \ our other 
questions we cannot occupy our space by answering. (M. C. E.). \our 
plant is Cineraria amelloides: if you had sent a leaf with it much trouble 
would have been saved, as its flower is so much like that of Kaulfussia 
amelloides. Your other question next week. 
Rhubarb Flower Stalks (A Yorkshireman). —Cut these down as 
fast as they appear, and never let the plants bear blossoms at all. An 
answer to your other query next week. 
Sawdust (II. Hick).— This, you say, is thoroughly decayed, and if so, 
it will make excellent manure for your flower borders, if applied in the 
autumn, or next spring. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High Street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalcndar, and Published by \V illi am 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish ot 
Christ Church, City of London.—May 2, 1850. 
