August 15.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Flower Pots (S. T.). —By an oversight your note was mislaid, and 
consequently our reply will be too late for the time you wanted it; but it 
may serve your purpose to know that excellent pots and saucers, at very 
moderate prices, may be obtained at Mr. Charles Philips’s Pottery, 
Weston-super-mare, Somerset. We have seen his pots, and can vouch 
for their being well and neatly made, and moderate in price. 
Cloth of Gold Rose ( Ibid). —This is constitutionally a shy bloomer; 
no means will make it bloom freely. Obtain Solfaterre , it is as good in 
colour and flowers freely. 
Twelve Pelargoniums for Exhibition (T. B.). —The following 
we recommend for the purpose. Six dark varieties —Orion, Sikh, Vic¬ 
tory, Gipsy Bride, Alonzo, and Negress. Six light varieties —Pearl, 
Mont Blanc, Rosetta, Ariel, Forget-me-not, and Rosamund. 
Books for Children’s Prizes (I. II.). —You have offered to pre- ' 
sent to children two books on gardening for the first and second best bou¬ 
quets of wild flowers at a horticultural show. We know of none so good 
for such a purpose as No. 2 of “ The Finchley Manuals of Industry .” It 
is entitled, “Gardening, or Practical and Economical Training for the 
Management of a School or Cottage Garden;” is published by Mr. 
Masters, Aldersgate-street, and is one of the most admirable little books 
we know. We should give a copy to each, and, in addition to the first 
prize, we should add “ The Flowers of the Year,” published by the Reli¬ 
gious Tract Society, one of those little volumes which we love in child¬ 
hood and do not weary of in maturer age. 
Potatoes for Australia (Ibid). — Keep the tubers in alternate 
layers with dry earth in a dry cool shed until the vessel sails in October, 
and then put them into canvas bags, and sling them in the most airy 
part of your cabin. 
Disappointed Bee-keeper (A Subscriber, Sydenham). —We cannot 
give our correspondent’s name; but if you send us the questions, we will 
have them answered. 
Gardeners’ Dictionary (* *).—This, with which Johnson’s will be 
incorporated, but almost entirely re-written, will appear the first Thurs¬ 
day in October. 
Himalayah Pumpkin (Ibid). —You may cook this, young, like the 
Vegetable Marrow, or keep it until quite ripe, and then use the flesh 
mashed like turnips ; or in making soup according to the excellent and 
economical recipe we formerly gave, vol. i., page 43. 
Urine (Zeta). —To no plant can this be given undiluted without in¬ 
juring it. One gallon to five gallons of water would be a good proportion. 
Syringing Greenhouse Vine (A Constant Subscriber). —Under no 
circumstances should this be done in July. From the time of blooming 
until the time of colouring or ripening commencing, moisture should be 
supplied to the leaves by watering the floor, and then even that be 
gradually omitted until the floor becomes dry. 
White Powder on Grapes (J.N .).—This, “ like fine lime dust,” 
has made its appearance upon the berries of your Black Hamburghs 
growing on an open wall at Brixtori, Surrey. This we fear is the egg 
mildew (Odium Tuckerii ), and your only chance of cure is immediately 
to dust over all the berries with flowers of sulphur. 
Cocoa-nut Fibre Netting (Delta). —Our correspondent wishes to 
know whether such an article is made calculated for shading purposes, 
which he thinks desirable, on account of its durability. There is a very 
nice netting which we think would suit our correspondent, called 
“ Weatherpoof Bumettized Netting,” which may be had at Mr.Farlow’s, 
5, Crooked Lane, London Bridge. 
Polygala Vulgaris (Ibid). —We have never heard or seen this, the 
common Milkwort, improved by cultivation. We have seen it as a rock 
plant in gardens, and other ways grown. There are many varieties 
on the chalky banks of Hampshire, all about the same size of flower, 
only varying in colour (deep blue, purple, white, and flesh coloured). We 
think it a very desirable plant to keep in gardens, even without any 
farther improvement upon its flowers, and it would do well on banks in 
open situations. The plant is not very particular as to its soil in a wild 
state, as it is found on gravelly loam, gravelly heath, or the chalky down 
on sunny banks. 
Nemophila Maculata (A Parson's Wife). —This is best sown in the 
open bed where it is to flower, like the blue one. Good gardeners can 
only grow it well in pots, and this must be done from autumn-sown seeds, 
to flower the following April or May. 
Spruce Firs (L. F. W.). —These require no protection. They do 
not, however, like the smoky air of towns ; but if they are in deep loamy 
soil they ought to do even there. Your tree is cramped at the roots, and, 
with the smoky air, this causes it being stunted. No protection can 
remedy such conditions. 
Melaleuca Lanceolata (Mark). —Your plant, three feet high, 
grows freely, but has not flowered, nor will it do so until it is a little older, 
and wood is well ripened in autumn. Keep it short of pot room, and put 
it in-doors before the middle of September, so that the dews and rains do 
not keep it growing late. 
Red Spider (An Amateur). —There is no mode of getting this from 
your Sollya but by sponging its leaves thoroughly, and submitting it to 
the fumes of sulphur, by putting some of the flowers of sulphur upon a 
hot-water plate filled with boiling water, and placing the whole under a 
tub or other close cover. Try what putting the plant under the same 
cover together with a large quantity of bruised laurel leaves will do, and 
let us know the result. 
House Slops (O. Tasker). —To prevent these smelling, the best mode 
300 
is to dilute them with water in the proportions requisite for using them 
as a liquid manure. We cannot tell what this should be as you do not 
say whether you mix suds, &c., all together. See what we said above 
about urine. In addition you might mix an eighth of an ounce of alum 
with every gallon. 
Putty (Ibid ).—Glazier’s putty is made of whiting and boiled linseed 
oil. The whiting should be well dried, and then pounded and sifted till 
it becomes a fine powder, and is quite free from grit. The whiting, a 
little warm, should be gradually added to the oil, and well mixed by 
means of a piece of stick, or a spatula. When it is sufficiently stiff, it 
should be well worked with the hand on a table, and afterwards beaten on 
a stone with a wooden mallet, till it becomes a soft, smooth, tenacious 
mass. A ball of putty when left some days becomes somewhat hard, 
but maybe easily softened by beating. 
Skylight (Sister Anne).—A room with only a skylight will hardly keep 
Verbenas and Petunias over the winter, even if you had a fire-place iu 
it. Three things are essential for wintering all young soft plants, viz.— 
to be near the light; to be free from damp ; and to be secure from frost. 
We do not know the price of the book you want. 
Names of Plants (Juventus). — 1 . Alopecuruspratensis. 2. Scabiosa 
arvensis. 3. Centaurea scabiosa. 4. Lathyrus pratensis. 5. Mvosotis 
arvensis. 6. Convolvulus arvensis. 7* Malva sylvestris. 8. Brionia 
dioica. (W. W.) —We think your miserably crushed specimen is Picri- 
dium vulgare. 
Rhododendrons (S. G. H .).—A foot deep is the least peat you can 
give to them in making the bed described at page 148 of vol. iii., and 20 
inches would be better as your peat is not good. Your situation sloping 
to the south is applicable; and anytime, except when they are making 
their annual growth in May or June, will do equally well to make the 
bed and to plant them. Keep six feet from the stems of the Morello 
trees ; that will not hurt them. 
Yellow* Jasmines (Ibid ).—There are several common yellow jasmines; 
nudiflorum is a new one from China, which flowers in the winter. 
Tropceolum Pentapiiyllum (Ibid ).—It flowers very well on a north 
wall; but there is something the matter with yours not having grown this 
year. Have the roots got down too deep, or have they overrun their 
bounds, or have they got frosted by being too near the surface ? 
Blue Larkspurs (Ibid ).—Many thanks ; but “ old plants” will not 
do. What Mr. Beaton wants, is seed of the annual blue larkspur. 
Geraniums (Erina ).—Aunt Harriet put her geraniums to rest after 
flowering full in the sun, and not plunged, and never cut them down till 
they began to grow again. Her “ stronger compost ” means, that she put 
less sand in it than others. The highest attainment in these things is to 
flower the largest possible specimens in the smallest possible pots. Aunt 
Harriet’s largest pots were eleven inches over the mouth. We like your 
signature as much as that of our esteemed relative, that is, if we translate 
it right, “ A Daughter of Erin.” 
Intermediate Hives (C. R. R .).—To prevent a hive swarming, Mr. 
Payne directs a small hive to be placed between that partially filled (which 
had been previously put on) and the stock-hive. You ask, “ What is 
the shape of the intermediate hive ?” The same exactly as the small one 
already on your stock—flat at the top, with a two or three inch hole. The 
adapter prevents the top of the stock-hive being pressed in by the weight 
of the cups, and very much assists in their removal. See The Cottage 
Gardener, vol. i., page 305, and vol. ii., page 104. 
Troubles of Bee-keepers. — M. J . P. writes as follows :—“I am 
in a peck of trouble about my bees. I told you last week of a swarm 
weighing 6 lbs. having left the hive, after ray having given room to pre¬ 
vent swarming, four days after that swarm was hived into one of Payne’s 
Cottage Hives; a great portion of the bees left the hive, clustering on a 
tree near like a fresh swarm ; these were again hived into another Payne’s 
Hive, unsmeared ; they were found to weigh 4 lbs., leaving only 2 lbs. 
of bees in the first hive ; and two days after they again forsook the last 
hive, and took possession of a hollow tree at some distance, where it was 
impossible to get at them. But this loss was but the commencement of 
my troubles, for, finding that two of my caps on different hives were 
ready to come off, I carefully separated them yesterday morning, and 
turned them up some little distance from the hive (but certainly too near) t 
one was full of the purest honey ; in the other the largest portion was 
brood comb ; although there was another hive between it and the stock- 
hive, and this is from a swarm of this year. The bees clustered so in a 
few minutes to the edges of the caps, that it was impossible to replace it 
without crushing the greater number ; and my fearing the queen might 
be there was my reason for placing it within three yards of the parent , 
hive. In a few moments both caps were covered with bees, and the j 
greatest commotion existed in every hive (seven in number); a furious ■ 
combat ensued, and in consequence the ground is to-day strewed with | 
the killed and wounded; and, worst of all, on going in the evening to ! 
examine my caps, which I hoped by covering at any rate to preserve, j 
I found every drop of honey gone, and the comb presented the appearance j 
of sawdust, it was so mutilated. In removing my upper hive, next to 
the cap which contained brood, had I not better apply a ventilator for 
some days first, for fear the queen should be there ? ” There had, in all 
probability, been bees in the hollow tree before, and the combs they had 
left there pleased your bees better than the hive you had prepared for 
them. The caps should not have been turned up (see The Cottage 
Gardener, page 216, vol. ii.); the one with brood immediately returned 
(for bees wdll not leave their brood); and the one wdth pure honey should 
