July 25.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Aylesbury Ducks : Peach-leaf Blistering : Painting 
Walls. —The person from whom my Aylesbury ducks were 
procured, is Richard Watkins, Haddenham Lowe, neai 
Thame. The cause you assign for unproductiveness in 
| duck’s eggs could not well apply to my case, as my stock 
was one drake and three ducks; no excess of polygamy it 
must be allowed. I have long thought of writing to you 
! respecting that worst of all liabilities of peach-trees the 
! blister. ''The simple immediate cause I believe to be a 
j sudden alternation of heat and cold; the one forcing an 
| abundance of sap into the leaves, and the other expanding 
j it before it has time to return by its natural channels. The 
! effect is, that it bursts its filmy integument, as frozen water 
bursts a glass bottle. The remedy you prescribe, although 
successful with your trees (some other agency being, per¬ 
haps, simultaneously at work) is not always effectual. 
Doubtless, humidity of soil, or any other stimulant to early 
and excessive root action, may help to produce the e\il, by 
encouraging premature and crude vegetation—by, in short, 
hastening the formation of leaves at a season of sudden 
vicissitudes of temperature. My soil is naturally a dry 
hungry sand; so dry, indeed, that I have been obliged to 
improve its staple by clay. This was laid on in 1848, and dug 
in after being thoroughly pulverized by the winter frosts. 
It still errs on the side of drought; the sub soil is a pure 
sand, with no water within 10 feet of the surface. Added to 
this, the surface where the peaches are is 18 inches higher 
than that outside the wall. From what has occurred with 
me, I am led to think that the disease may be caused quite 
as much by a feeble as an excessive root action ; I mean as 
a subordinate cause. My strongest trees have escaped alto¬ 
gether ; three, which have been severely attacked, are the 
worst-rooted of the whole. 1 do not think any preventive is 
to be relied on but protecting the trees. AYhat corroborates 
the view adopted by myself, I believe, in common with many 
others is, that all the cases X have had have occurred on a 
south wall. I am trying an experiment with the view of 
ripening the Black Hamburgh grape on the open v ail. It 
is painting the wall with Carson’s anticorrosive paint; co¬ 
lour, invisible green. The difference of heat between the 
painted and unpainted part, when the sun shines,^ is greater 
than one would think possible. And although it is said that 
darkening a wall’s surface causes it to lose an equivalent by 
its more rapid cooling, I am disposed (antecedently, how¬ 
ever, to any experimental test), to suspect this to be mere 
theory, based perhaps on a sound hypothesis, but of no 
practical effect. Indeed, a bold ground may be adopted by 
stating that, if the wall be really cooler at night (and I be- 
lieve it will gain far more in the day, in any case, than it 
will lose by night), it may be a positive advantage. Mr. 
Beaton justly adverted lately upon a similar subject—to the 
cold mornings of the tropical latitudes. This seems nature’s 
provision intended to refresh and invigorate vegetation. 
But the difference by night would not, I think, be worth 
speaking of. Then, again, look to the waterproof proper- 
: ties of the paint; the wall is always dry, and, after any 
amount of rain, is ready to receive the sun s rays. I am 
persuaded that much solar heat is wasted by the porous 
bricks imbibing it. The inacintoshed surface repels and 
i reflects it.— Rev. Robt. Blackburn.. 
Preserving Eggs. —Dip fresh eggs in boiling water, and 
keep them in it while you count twenty. They will keep 
well for a long time. . 
1 Coops for Fowls.— The best I find is an old crate, which 
may be bought for Is Gd. A\ hen I wish to feed the young 
chickens on ground oats, Ac., I place the food in a crate, and 
the young ones get at it, while the old ones cannot. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Chant n us Puniceus ( Legeolium ).—The minute white spots on the 
leaves are caused by the Red-spidcr. Sponge them all over with tepid 
water, and keep the plant in a moister air. The sticky exudation on Ge¬ 
ranium learns is caused by over-luxuriance. You kept them too well, 
both as to food and warmth. You had better grow from cuttings. The 
refuse of your kitchen-garden boiled and mixed with a little bran, and 
your butter-milk, ought to keep your chickens in good condition. Even 
the boiled tops of stinging nettles are nutritive. 
I Goats {Busy-body).—We shall be very much obliged by the results of 
your experience. Your Aquarium is under consideration. 
Bees : Preventing Swarming (ill. J. T.).— A month since you pur¬ 
chased a strong hive of bees, and, as they indicated swarming, you put 
Oil a cap, and supplied a side hive to them,—yet they have swarmed. | 
Now, “ a month since ” was a very improper time for removing bees, 
except a swarm newly hived, and it was quite enough to derange them 
altogether; but, remember, that a “ side hive ” has never in a single . 
instance been recommended by Mr. Payne. The room you gave was not ! 
the kind effectual for preventing swarming. It should have been given 
by placing a small hive between the one already partially filled and the 
stock-hive. 
Payne’s Hives (A Farmer).— The hole at the top of Payne’s hive 
need not be of any exact size, so that it be more than three inches in 
diameter, and not exceeding four inches. The hole in the adapters should 
always be four inches in diameter. 
Plate Glass (M. R. J .).—'The plants would be better if they were a 
foot from the window, as the rays of heat and light would thus be more 
diffused. As you object to a thin muslin screen, and do not seem to 
approve of setting the plants outside, a moveable table, so that you could 
place them even further from the window on a bright day, would be 
desirable. See what was said of the contrivances of “ Mrs. Think-in- 
Time,” in reference to window-plants, in last volume. 
Geranium Growing (S. R.F.). —You are quite right so far. Your j 
mixing super-phosphate with the soil, aud, at once, after potting, water- j 
ing with soot and guano-water, were your great errors. You are mainly j 
right in your proposed mode of treatment, only do not cut the plants , 
down at once, but let them stand and get dryish; and give them little 
water until they have broken, then shift into light soil as you propose in 
September, and again into good compost early in February ; but do not 
water for three weeks afterwards with manure-water. Give them nothing 
but the purest water you can get, until the pots are getting filled with 
roots, then give manure-water occasionally, but very sparingly, until the 
buds show for bloom. 
Greenhouse Building (G . P. H.). —For a house 12 feet long, by 
nine feet wide, your back wall, in order to give a moderate fall to the 
glass and prevent drip, should be five feet higher than the front one. 
The front may consist of glass, upon a low wall of brick; or may consist 
of half brick and half glass. It would be convenient if the front alto¬ 
gether was from six to seven feet at least, to permit walking space. But 
this will require to be regulated by the height you can raise at the back, . 
as when against a dwelling-house these things must be considered. You | 
might, it is true, make a hipped roof, having the highest point in the 
middle, but it would be much more expensive in such circumstances, | 
owing to the necessary gutters, &c. We do not like the idea ol heating 
by any sort of stove fixed in the house, as has been repeatedly stated ; a | 
small’flue would be much preferable, as the leaves of plants sooner tell a , 
tale than even the lungs of animals. Hot-water would be the best; you j 
say you cannot afford it. Many simple methods have been recommended, 
but the difficulty is, to get the proper materials reasonable. We have 
mentioned the subject to several hot-water men and foundry-folks, and 
hope soon to be able to get something to suit such places as yours. 
Allowing £\ for the boiler, and £\ 4 s for piping, the expenses ought 
not to rise into a frightful bill, as sometimes they do. ould 
some London friend look at the boilers of Eley and Co., City-road, 
near the toll-gate, and report progress; as to fitness and price, their 
being so easily fixed is a recommendation. We think you had better 
acquaint the district surveyor, for some people are so jaundiced, that they 
would designate a nuisance what other pure-minded folks would term an | 
improvement. 
Cactus ( A Lover of Flowers from Childhood). \our specimen we 
suppose to be one of the varieties of Ackermannii. M e are sorry that 
you have been so disappointed. You were quite wrong in potting it 
when it was showing its buds ; unless great care^was used, it was almost 
certain to make the buds drop. All you can do now is to keep it full in 
the sun inside the glass, and keep it growing for a month, by sponging its 
stems, and watering its roots, and then set it against a south wall, or let it 
remain where it is, withholding water. Never mind if the young shoots do 
not grow much if well roasted in the sun, and kept dry in the winter as 
you used to do. The old shoots will again bloom, but, nevertheless, en¬ 
courage some young shoots. 
Fruit-tree Border {Northampton).— Leave only five feet of border 
properly constituted, and thoroughly drained, and so make the sub¬ 
stratum of the under portion of the walk so that the roots of the trees mav 
penetrate and enjoy it. We would sooner submit to a border four feet 
wide without cropping, than twelve feet with it. On your wall 160 feet 
long, you may plant eleven trees as follows -.—three Apricots, viz. two 
Moorpark, one Shipley’s ; two Peaches— one Royal George, one late or ! 
Walburton Admirable ; two Nectarines— one Elrunge, one late New- j 
ington; one Cherry— Elton; two Pears— one Neilis, one Glout Mor- j 
ceaux ; one Plum— Greengage. 
Grapes for Greenhouse (IF.).—Supposing eight rafters, say | 
the following grapes, viz. six Black Hamburgh ; one Royal Mus- ; 
cadine ; one Dutch Sweet Water. Train to the rafters on the spurring 
; S y S tem. Why had you not taken advice before building your house ? J 
We do not like your flue. You will be plagued by dry heat over its sur¬ 
face, and flue cleaning will he difficult. We would have had hot water 
pipes in a chamber ; the pipes in a cemented trench filled with water at 
f pleasure. Cannot you throw a chamber over your flue, covered with 
slates or slabs ? 
