THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
107 
June 13.] 
whither it frequently returns. Tt does not generally live 
more than eight years, and is not fruitful more than the four 
first, after which the laying insensibly diminishes. In ora 
doveliouses it commonly lays two or tliree times a year, and 
the greater part lay four times in the southern parts of 
France, commencing in May, and continuing every month 
until August inclusive, if left to themselves, and but little 
care taken of them ; but they often lay six or seven months 
without interruption, if they have an abundance of food. 
In dovehouses that are well kept, many young pigeons are 
even found in September and October; and these broods are 
called “ stolen.” These fugitive pigeons are smaller than the 
dove-cot species, do not lay so often, and are never naturally 
so fat. They provide for themselves, feeding on every kind 
of seed which the fields offer them, both cultivated and un¬ 
cultivated, without being any expense to their owners. There 
are other kinds which never leave, or at least wander hut 
little into the country, consuming a great deal, and requiring 
more attention. However, the dove-cot pigeon, the carrier, 
and the tumbler, easily acquire the manners of the fugitives, 
and seek their food in the fields. 
By particular attention fugitive pigeons have been brought 
up in some dove-cots, and made as productive as the others, 
even as many as eight or nine broods a year being obtained ; 
but this is useless, because this kind being smaller, the pro¬ 
duce is always of less value, whilst the expense is nearly the 
same. 
(To be continued.) 
EXTRACTS EROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
Laburnum with Purple and Yellow Flowers. —I send 
you a very beautiful vegetable curiosity, which I have just 
gathered from a tree in my grounds, and which I think 
ought to rank amongst the much-talked-of wonders produced 
by the Chinese gardeners. I know not if such specimens 
have been often met with ; but most gardeners are aware of 
the phenomenon occasionally exhibited by the Purple, or 
Hybrid Laburnum, of a tendency to throw out branches of 
the Common Laburnum and the Purple Cytisus, being the 
original parents from whence the hybrid is derived; and 
once or twice I have seen on the same tree, flowering 
branches both of the hybrid itself and those of its two 
parents; thus presenting a very motley assemblage. This is 
a curious fact in vegetable physiology which I have never 
heard clearly explained; nor am I acquainted with any other 
hybrid that ever plays such a freak. The specimen I now 
send you, however, carries its eccentricity much further; for 
you will observe that one half the flowers in the same raceme 
are those of the Yellow, whilst the other half are those of the 
Purple or Hybrid Laburnum. These different flowers are 
not mixed at random, but one side of the raceme is composed 
of purple and the other of yellow flowers. On the same 
portion of the tree are many entire racemes of hybrid 
flowers, but none entirely of laburnum. One half the tree, I 
may add, consists of a large branch of Purple Cytisus, thrown 
out a year or two ago during the progress of growth. Alto¬ 
gether, I look upon my tree of motley flowers as a great 
curiosity; and if you, or any of your readers, are desirous of 
another specimen, I shall be most happy to send them one. 
—S. H. H., Grecnshte. 
Chinese Primrose. —The following method of growing a 
very useful winter flowering favourite, Primula sinensis, may 
perhaps be useful to some of your amateur readers. Sow 
the seeds in the first week of June. As soon as the seed¬ 
lings show two rough leaves, prick them out into pans an 
inch apart; and as soon as they begin to fill up their inch of 
room in the pans, transplant them out into beds prepared 
with some light moderately-rich soil, in a rather shady corner 
of the garden, giving plenty of water when necessary. They 
will grow' away here, and make beautiful plants to be taken 
up and potted in the autumn. The above, I think, is a 
better plan than growing them in pots all the summer, as they 
aro apt to get neglected or pot-bound. I had plants eighteen 
inches in diameter covered with flow'ers, last winter, treated 
hi this manner.—J. L. Middlehiss, Gardener to A. Potts, 
Esq., Bentham Hill, Tonbridge Wells. 
The Cottage Gardener. —Let me again thank not only 
you, but all the writers and answer seekers of The Cottage 
Gardener. It has been—and I hope will continue to be— 
the greatest source of enjoyment to me that ever I knew. 
Until the appearance of the publication I had never grown 
a flower: it started me off; and I now have growing, and in 
excellent health, heaths, epacrises, azaleas, boronias, cine¬ 
rarias, geraniums, fuchsias, &c., in a greenhouse—gesnerias, 
gloxinias, aehimenes, vincas, Thunbergias, ixoras, torenias, 
justicias, begonias, eranthemums, ifcc., in stove, and a variety 
of plants in frames, &c. Until the autumn of 1849 I never 
struck a plant of any description. During the summer I 
bought and had given me the parents of all the bedding 
stuff I now possess. I struck and potted off in small CO’s 
some twelve or fifteen cuttings of each sort. I put them 
into heat early in January, took the cuttings when ready, 
and placed in large 60’s, as Mr. B. directed; and can say, 
that in many pots with thirty cuttings in them not 'f per 
cent, missed striking, and none more than 4 or 5. I have 
now potted off 1000 to 1200 pots of them, leaving about 
twenty pots of cuttings, in case 1 should want. This part 
of the gardening operations is, I think, the most exciting; 
I am very fond of it. I should have much liked to have 
seen Mr. B. during his six weeks propagation. I had a pit 
light made (under which I struck my cuttings) of Hartley's 
patent rough plate glass. I never in any instance shaded 
them. 
I am about to enlarge my stove. It will be a span-roof, 
running east and west. I am about to use this last-men¬ 
tioned glass for it.— An Amateur. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense ; and we also request our coadjutors under no circumstances 
to reply to such private communications. 
Cows for Eight Acres (* *).—You will have seen in our paper last 
week that by soiling, that is, cutting the food for a cow and feeding her 
in a yard, half an acre, with grains, &c., is ample to supply her. This 
requires high farming and a constant succession of crops. We do not 
know' the quality of your soil, nor the locality ; but we think that your 
four acres of permanent upland pasture, two acres of dug ground for 
Lucerne and roots, and two of lowland meadow for hay, ought to support 
twelve cows ; but then we should break up a large portion of the upland 
pasture to grow roots, cabbages, &e., for winter supply. 
White Forget-me-not. —We have received a large number of 
stamped envelopes with applications for this flower, and we have for¬ 
warded them all to the party at Ledbury who so kindly offered to supply 
them. The applicants must have patience, and they will doubtless 
receive the plants in due time. This must be taken as a general answer 
to those who have written to us a second time. 
Ants (A Subscriber).—We have never recommended quassia for 
destroying these insects. We believe that a little weak ammoniaca] 
liquor from the gas works, or a little diluted spirits of hartshorn, poured 
into their haunts two or three times, within a day of each other, would 
destroy many, and drive the others from your conservatory'. 
Oleanders (C. J. P.).— These are just coming into flower, therefore 
water them daily abundantly, and keep their saucers full of water. After the 
summer growth is finished, put them out under a south wall; then, and 
when you return them into the house, remember they will require very 
little water from September until March. Liquid manure made from 
cow-dung may be given advantageously, once a week, to Heliotropes, 
Begonias, Scarlet Geraniums, and Fuchsias, just coming into blossom. 
Thickening the Hair (Ibid).— Our correspondent has sent ns the 
following recipe as “infallible” for this purpose: Mix equal parts of 
olive oil and spirits of rosemary, add about a sixth part of oil of nutmegs, 
and a few drops of essence of bergamot. Rub the roots of the hair well 
with this every night. 
Vines in a Forcing-house.— For growing vines in pots, the only 
secret is high culture, with occasional “ stopping.” The former consists 
in starting from the “ eye,” growing them strongly, and exposing as 
much surface of leaf to the light as possible: and, in the succeeding 
season, pursuing similar principles to those in vogue in the ordinary' 
forcing vinery. The full detail of those proceedings will one day form the 
subject of a paper. 
Strawberries ( Eastoniensis). —The first part of an article on straw¬ 
berries appears to-day, and will assist you. The second will shortly 
appear, and will, we think, dispel your doubts. In the meantime wc fear 
that low temperature has injured the British Queens during the winter. 
This impatience of extreme cold is the only fault of the Queen. \I e do 
not conceive that it signifies much about breeding from runners from 
barren plants ; it was otherwise with the liautbois class some years since 
cultivated, but does not equally apply to ordinary strawberries. Pines, 
and indeed other gross kinds, are easily rendered barren by a too liberal 
