138 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
trolled by the damper in the first lid. The stove is placed inside of the 
brickwork in one corner of the frame, and the square tank is in the centre 
of the bed. I should have added in my first communication that it 
would be the best to place the stove in the south-east corner of the frame, 
and to bring the top of the stove through the glass at the corner, so that 
it may be fed without removing the lights ; and this also will keep out 
any charcoal dust from the plants. By placing a small sliding venti¬ 
lator in the side of the frame, near the surface of the bed in the corner 
near the stove, and another at the top or higher end, a constant draught 
of warm air would flow over the bed. My reason for using lead pipes 
was, that they are easily bent into a turn; and my reason for using pipes 
instead of an open trough is, that I wanted my bed for forcing roses, or 
greenhouse plants, and was afraid of too much moisture ; indeed, it has 
proved too much as it is for my Zauchsneria cuttings. My copper pipe 
is perpendicularly placed in the fire, the upper pipe returning through 
the side of the cylinder about eight inches above the lower or feeding 
pipe.” 
Hasdy Ferns {Ibid ).—Write to Mr. Appleby, at Messrs. Henderson’s, 
Pine Apple Place, Edgeware-road, London. 
Protection to Hive ( P. W. ).—As you have a straw cap over it, you 
need not put on any pan or other covering. 
Gentiana Verna. —The Rev. D. T. Knight, Earls Barton Vicarage, 
Northampton, wishes to know where he can procure a plant of this, of 
Andromeda polifolia, and Primula farinosu; can the correspondent who 
obliged us with specimens of the two first-named assist Mr. Knight? 
Weevil Destroying Scarlet Thorns (H. Beckett). —The speci¬ 
mens you sent were the Furrowed Weevil, Otiorhyncus sulcutus. 
Designs for Arbours (H. J. Sanders ).—We are sorry that we can¬ 
not aid you. Common arbours any one can make and cover with honey¬ 
suckles, traveller’s joy, and climbing roses; and anything superior we 
never yet saw that was not odiously ugly. 
Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary (T. Fallon ).—Your best mode of 
taking it, residing as you do in a remote part of Ireland, will be to have 
it in monthly parts through your nearest bookseller. It will not contain 
anything about bees ; for these buy the three first volumes of The Cot¬ 
tage Gardener. 
Balsams {S. C. C .).—These which have “ withered just on a level 
with the earth in the pot,” have damped off; that is, the stems have 
become ulcerated and decayed where putrefaction is always most rapid, 
just where the part is exposed to violent changes from wetness to dryness. 
Your balsams have too much water, too little warmth, too little air, and 
too little light. Cover the surface of the soil with a little silver sand; 
the errors of themselves suggest the requisite remedies. 
Sea-Kale (IV. B. G .).—Never let it throw up flower-stems, but cut 
these down as soon as they appear. The very fact of your plants throw¬ 
ing up these stems, shows that they were strong enough to have been 
forced this year. 
Corn Salad {E. A .).—This is also called Lamb’s lettuce {Valerianclla 
olitoria). It is one of the oldest of salad herbs. It likes an open situa¬ 
tion, and light rich soil. Sown in August and early in September, the 
plants will be usable in winter, if mild; otherwise, early in the spring. Sow 
in drills six inches apart, and cover half an inch deep. Gather the leaves 
whilst quite young. 
Heating Small Stove (D. A . P .). —A preceding answer is a reply to 
the chief of your queries. The pit of W. X. W. will do for growing 
cucumbers. We should use a cast iron pipe over the fire j it would be 
as effectual, and last longer. 
Error.— Page 94, vol., iv. liue 21 from bottom, read, “ (if not disturbed) 
with returning light to cater, &c.” The words are all correct, but they 
are punctuated so as to make them read unintelligibly. 
Bees {C. 6'.)—Your bees “ are bringing out a great many grubs and 
fully-formed white bees.” This is frequently done when the stocks are 
at the point of starvation, and the weather is bad. Before this reaches 
you, unless feeding has been attended to, the bees may have all perished. 
The warmer weather we hope has prevented such a catastrophe. 
Premature Swarm {Ibid ).—Our correspondent says, “Last year I 
hived a large swarm into a full-sized hive, which appeared so full that a 
day or two after I put on a glass, which the bees immediately took pos¬ 
session of, but did not work in ; and on the eighth day from their being 
hived I saw them throw off a swarm; and a large one it was. What 
could have made them swarm when they had room, and none of the young 
brood could have been hatched ? ” In all probability two swarms united 
without your knowledge, and after eight days separated. 
Parrot Featherless (S.).—Your parrot has plucked out all its 
feathers ; can any of our readers tell of a remedy ? We know a cockatoo 
which is similarly featherless, and the owner is advised to give it no animal 
food, and to bathe it in an infusion of tobacco in water, taking care that 
the liquor does not go into the bird’s eyes. 
Insects (S. G.). The “worms” you sent are one of the species 
of Snake Millepedes, of which you will find a drawing and description at 
page 139 of our second volume. It is very doubtful whether they are in¬ 
jurious to plants. 
Cuttings (F. C.).—Those you enclose are correctly prepared. By 
cuttings with a heel” to them, are meant cuttings with a piece of the 
old wood from which they spring attached. You will have found in Mr. 
Beaton’s papers lately an answer to your inquiry about removing the 
leaves of bulbs done flowering. We may say briefly, however, it should 
never be done until the leaves turn yellow. 
[May 30. 
Hautbois Strawberry (An Original Subscriber).—The fruitful 
blossoms of these have a green diminutive berry in their centre. The un¬ 
fruitful have only stamens. Do not destroy these, for if you do the fruit 
will not set. 
Contributions^. D.).— We shall be very glad to receive the ac¬ 
count of your recipes and experiments. The communications you object 
to are just those which many of our readers desire to have mingled with 
those which you admire. We will answer your questions next week ; but 
in future write briefly, and do not put many queries into one letter. 
Cinerarias in a Window {A Subscriber ).—Your plants having 
bloomed once will not bloom this season again, though by cutting them 
down, thinning out the suckers when they appear, leaving only a few of 
the strongest of them, fresh potting afterwards, and encouraging with 
manure waterings, they would come into bloom in the autumn. As you 
have neither pit nor greenhouse, you may keep them over the winter in 
your window; but for this purpose you had better turn out your plants ! 
when they get shabby into a bed out of doors, surrounding each ball with 
a spadeful of light rich soil, and planting rather deep. In September ' 
lift several of the best rooted and strongest suckers from each stool, j 
insert them separately in small pots in light rich earth, or several I 
of them in larger pots, and before cold rains or the least frost come, 
remove them inside your window, and give air at all suitable times during 
the winter. Your success will be more sure, if you can make or get for 
yourself a moveable table to set them on, with hoops and a cover to be 
used for the various purposes as described in last volume, under the 
auspices of Mrs. Think-in-time. 
Salvias, Penstemons, and Lobelias (Hid).—These may all be 
safely planted now. 
Propagating {An Improver). —Read attentively the articles by Messrs. 
Beaton and Fish. Cuttings of hardy plants will do better now under a 
hand-light than when placed in a hotbed. Shading will be necessary, 
unless the glass is placed in a shady place. Fuchsias, and the hardy 
plants you name, would have been more quickly struck in a hotbed in 
February or March, more especially if they had been kept in a cold-frame 
for a short time after being made. The balsams had better be sown in the 
cucumber-box. The placing of such things as wall-flowers, &c., there 
now, would be liable to bring insects among your cucumbers. Though 
for your encouragement, if you choose to try, we may mention that at 
midsummer we have struck such things by plunging them on a strong 
bottom-heat in a third of the time that they could be rooted under a hand- 
light. “ Slow and sure,” would, however, be your best motto at pre¬ 
sent. Moss roses do not succeed well as cuttings. 
Heating two Pits (S.),-—These are each twenty-six feet by seven 
feet four inches, divided into four compartments, so as to have bottom- 
heat and top-heat in any or all at command, with steaming ad libitum. 
We have several times stated what boilers of a certain size can be pro¬ 
cured/or, and pipes at so much per foot, according to their size. We do 
not feel warranted to do more in the way of estimate, as the cost will 
depend upon matters of various kinds, such as the locality, carriage of the 
materials, being very different according to the position of the parties 
being near or distant from a foundry and water carriage. As to heating 
with one furnace, and one boiler, that can easily be done, as one boiler of 
fair size would do three or four times the work. You may then heat the 1 
pits altogether, or separately, either as two separate pits or as four—not 
being able to heat the farthest compartments from the boiler without 
heating these nearest to it—by means of valves for the pipes, and sluices 
for the tank. As cheapness and effectiveness are alike your ohject, we 
would advise you to do similar to what we are now doing ourselves. Upon 
the top of your boiler fix a X pipe, which will give you two flows instead 
of one take one of these to a cistern inside your pit, higher than you 
wish your highest heating pipe to be. In this cistern have two other 
holes, supplied with valves or plugs, to these holes let pipes be attached, ! 
make one of these the flow pipe for your top-heat, the other the flow pipe i 
for the bottom-heat, the return and flow joined together at the farthest j 
extremity by a semi-circular bend, being placed either horizontal to or 
beneath each other, both returns being joined to the main return at the 
bottom of the boiler. By this means you can heat each range of pits 
separately, and top or bottom, just as you like, but only in two compart¬ 
ments. If you wish to make four, you must consent to lay out several 
pounds more for stop valves, &c., in the middle of each. Having a flow 
and return pipe at the bottom, bottom-heat is easily secured by surround- \ 
ing such pipes, somewhat hollow at first, with clinkers, brickbats, and ! 
pebbles at top, or washed gravel, above which you may place your soil, 
&c. A few funnels left communicating with the pipes below, or pans 
fixed to the pipes above, will always enable you to steam as you like. 
Camellias {Mr Williamson). —Your only chance of recovering these 
Camellias with such yellow leaves, and having only a greenhouse, is to put 
them in the warmest part, syringing them frequently ; keep them close, 
and a little shaded in bright sunshine, and examine the roots when shoots 
are freely produced. You will sec from the calendar to-day that you can i 
scarcely manage all that with other flowering plants in your house, unless 
you can continue to shut off a little space by means of a screen for them : 
and if they are favourites the trial would be worth while, and if the plants 
are not too far gone you would be rewarded. 
Guernsey Lily {A Subscriber). —To make, or try to make, the bulbs 
bloom this summer which did not flower last season, but have now several 
yellow leaves, we should plant them out in a warm sheltered corner, and 
in a nice rich light compost. You say nothing of the treatment given. 
