July 4.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
217 
from undervaluing the florist’s art; hut why should any 
source of pleasure in the world he wasted ? and there is 
more pleasure to be derived from bad flowers than from 
none. There would he no fear of the popular tasto in 
flowers deteriorating, even were our small gardens inun¬ 
dated with bad flowers. The beauty of a good flower makes 
itself felt at once to the most unpractised eye, and the taste 
for flowers, per sc, would spread with the increased ease oi 
gratifying it. 
For myself, I am bent on having some ranunculuses in my 
garden next year, if only a patch ; for the sight of them has 
recalled a host of memories as bewitching, and almost as 
pure, as their own painted petals. Will you kindly tell me 
whether I may hope that they will flower if planted in my 
common garden soil, which is as unlike a buttercup loam 
as may be, being light and sandy ? Should T give them 
the sunniest or shadiest spot? and will rotten hotbed 
linings, or vegetable mould, and spring waterings help them? 
I have no other luxuries, and little time to devote to them, 
but should be quite content if the blooms came at all, 
though as different from Mr. Tyso’s treasures as the tulips of 
a cottager’s patch from their stately kindred at Mr. (rroom s. 
Speaking of Mr. Tyso’s throwing his rejected ranunculuses 
on the rubbish-heap, reminds me that you have not men¬ 
tioned the subject of self-manuring in The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener. I remember a story of a vine-dresser, too poor to 
buy manure, who was, in consequence, on the point of giving 
up their culture, but could not resist one more trial, and for 
want of anything else, dug in about their roots, as far as it 
would go, all the primings of the vines, old and new, lie 
could collect; and the produce of those, so. treated, enabled 
him to hold out a helping hand to the remainder. 
When a girl, boasting only a corner in the home-garden 
as my own, I pulled up the withered bines of my major 
convolvoluses one autumn, and tossed them into a summer 
house to await my leisure to garner their seeds ; my leisure, 
or my pleasure, never came till sowing time, when, having 
gathered and shelled till T was weary, yet not liking to waste 
any of my store, I dug a hole and stuffed the bines and the 
dead pods remaining on them into it, trusting that some 
would come up—as they did; no thanks to my treatment, lor 
I did not know in those days that ah was necessary to the 
vegetating of a seed, and buried the whole pretty deeply. 
Such magnificent convolvoluses—plants and flowers—as 
came from that patch I have never seen before nor since; but 
I recommend every one who can keep the haulm of any 
annual in any quantity apart from other manure to try the 
result of a less rough experiment on the same plan, 1 now 
always chop up the tops of my asparagus when withered, and 
return them to the bed, and so also the prunings of my 
roses, but the amount of manure furnished is too small to 
produce any apparent effect. Has the plan ever been tried 
hi any of the great rose or gooseberry gardens ?— A Lover 
of Flowers from Childhood. 
[Mr. Appleby will give some timely notes upon ranunculus 
culture. “Self-manuring," or manuring plants with then- 
own refuse, or the refuse of their species, is good practice ; 
but plants usually require more ammomacal matters to be 
applied to their roots than can be furnished them by their 
own refuse alone.— Ed. C. G.] 
A Parrot Becoming Featherless is caused by over¬ 
feeding with unnatural food. Parrots in a wild state feed on 
fruit, and vegetables; and the more simply fed in a state of 
confinement the better: they must not have either meat to 
eat or bones to pick. It is a skin disease, similar to mange 
in quadrupeds, that causes them to bite off their feathers. 
The remedy is, 2 oz - liver of sulphur dissolved m halt a 
pint of water, applied warm with a brush every day, until a 
cure is effected, and the bird placed in a warm apartment 
until perfectly dry.— An Old Bird Fancier. 
Egos in Lime Water. —“A Friend,” in No. 00 of your 
Cottage Gardener, wishes to know the proportion of lime 
to water for keeping eggs. 1 lb of lime to a gallon of water 
is the quantity; and it is important that the lime should be 
quite fresh— i.e., quick-lime.— I. F. E. , 
Blanching Celery. —The mode 111 which I cultivate celery 
being pretty successful (indeed, I am looked-up to here¬ 
abouts as a model celery grower—no great praise, however), 
I am induced to mention it, as I have not seen it alluded to 
in your pages. I plant and prepare the ground for it, and 
give it liquid manure, pretty much as you direct, and earth- 
up very gradually at first; but when the plants have attained 
some strength, instead of earthing-up I lay long bands of 
clean straw along both sides of the row, merely leaving the 
leaves in sight, and throw a little soil on the outside, to pre¬ 
vent the wind blowing away the straw. As the celery grows, 
I add more straw, &c.: this prevents the possibility of any 
earth getting into the centres ; and it eats crisp and cleaner 
than any I ever saw.—F lora 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
* t * We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable- trouble and 
expense; and wo also request our coadjutors under no circumstances 
to reply to such private communications. 
PtEONY Frost-bitten (.1. IF.). —When in full bud last April your 
patony was nipped by the frost, and the stems have since gradually de¬ 
cayed, and are now dead. Leave it alone, and if the roots have not been 
injured it will shoot up again, perhaps this autumn, but certainly next 
sprin g. 
Guano for Exhausted Kitchen-garden (W. W. H.).— For dig¬ 
ging into this it would be prejudicial to employ more than the usual 
quantity of one pound to every ten square yards. It is too highly stimu¬ 
lating, or, in other words, too rich in ammoniacal salts, if genuine, to 
permit its being added to the soil in large quantities without injuring the 
next crop. To an exhausted soil we should recommend the addition of 
super-phosphate of lime (four ounces to every 10 yards), and some slowly- 
decomposing vegetable matter, such as decayed sawdust, or decayed 
tanner’s bark (20 or 30 tons per acre), as well as the guano. This is sup¬ 
posing that you have no stable-manure. 
Super-phosphate of Lime (S. L. of C.). In preparing this, the 
bones should he broken into fragments not larger than a sixpence ; 
sprinkle the bones with the water and then pour on the acid. If you 
wish to apply it in a liquid state, more water must be added after the 
hones are dissolved. If the oil of vitriol is of the strongest kind you 
ought not to fail in preparing the super-phosphate, if you follow the 
directions given at page 62, vol. i. The mixture is best spread over the 
soil, and dug in before planting or sowing. On no account should it ire 
poured over the crop. Lime-water is not used as a manure, but for the 
destruction of slugs, &c.; and is best applied through the rose of a 
watering-pot. It is hardly fair to ask our correspondent for “ the philo¬ 
sophy of the recipe.” for thickening the hair, given in our 89 th number. 
Did you ever ask a medical man to give “ the philosophy” of his remedies, 
and obtain from him a satisfactory reply? Such things are empirical j 
they are found to he useful, but it seems vain to ask. Why ? 
Edible-rooted Rape. — A Subscriber wishes to know where he can 
obtain some seed of this ? 
Temperature of Poultry House (A Half-pay Naval Officer).— 
“To ensure a supply of eggs through the winter,” you have introduced 
steam-pipes into your hen-house, and wish to know the temperature to 
be maintained? You, of course, will only require artificial heat during 
the winter and early spring, and we should recommend it to he from 65° 
to 70 ° during the day, and about 50° at night; for animals as well as 
plants are benefited by less stimulus during the hours of rest. Will you 
oblige us with a sketch and description of your lien-house and your mode 
of warming it ? 
Mushroom-beds (C. Palmer).— Nos. 56 and 66 , which contain the 
long particulars you require, will cost you sixpence, and can be had 
through any bookseller. The mode of growing mushrooms in a cellar 
are the same as those given in No. 66. You have done right as far as you 
have gone. 
Cauliflower Plants (Ibid).—' These, just planted, have their roots 
attacked by grubs. Water those which are not yet attacked with lime 
water, in which is dissolved common salt; not more than one ounce in 
each gallon. 
Many Questions (Ibid). —Pigeons’ dung is one of the richest of 
manures, and will do for any kitchen-garden crop. Leave your Pwony 
roots undisturbed. They did not bloom this year, probably owing to 
their being disturbed. The drainings from your stable, mixed with four 
times their quantity of water, will do for your asparagus, cabbage-worts, 
celery, lettuce, and all other plants cultivated for their leaves. Cut away 
the suckers of your plum-tree as fast as they appear; there is no other 
remedy. Rhubarb likes neither a heavy nor a light soil ; mix them to¬ 
gether, and make a moderately tenacious loam, which it prefers. It is 
quite impossible to say what a red soil is, without previous examination. 
The Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary (X. 1'. Z., No. 2). Thanks 
for your suggestions. It will be completed in about forty-five weekly 
numbers, to he published on as many successive Thursdays. 
Box-edging (Kid).—The best months for planting box are September 
and February ; yet some planted during wet weather last April is growing 
strongly. Small rooted slips are employed, and are planted against the 
perpendicular side of a small trench along tire edge of the border or bed 
they are desired to hound. The best month for clipping box is June, and 
it should be done in showery weather. 
