September 5.] 
TITF, COTTAGE GARDENER. 
pounds. The door of the smoking-room shuts quito close, 
hut there is a hole through tho wall on a level with the floor 
to admit air enough for keeping the saw-dust burning, and 
the only escape for the smoke is through the tiles, for it is 
the confinement of the smoke about the pork which so soon 
haconizes it. 
A most important point is the quality of the sawdust; 
oak, elm, and birch are best. Our informant prefers that of 
I he oak; and there are two other facts not to lie forgotten ;— 
f irst— The saw dust cannot be ton old nor too dry; and Second 
ly— Hafir, lurch , deal,, nor other saw-dust containing turpentine 
must be used or it will spoil the bacon. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should he addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London .” 
Elder Wine ( X . Y. —This can be made in the same manner as 
directed for rhubarb wine, at page 320, hut the proportions of the ingre¬ 
dients must differ. Recipes will be seen at pages 324 and 338. 
Blackberry Wine (Ibid). —Wine can be made of this fruit. We 
have obtained the following recipe, but perhaps some of our corres¬ 
pondents will furnish us with others :—When the blackberries are fully 
ripe put them into a cask set on end, open at the top, and with a tap 
fixed in it; pour on the berries as much boiling water as will cover them, 
and then, as soon as the hand can be put among them, crush every 
berry; let them remain until the refuse of tho berries begin to rise to the 
top, which will he in three or four days ; then draw off the clear liquor 
into another vessel, and to every ten quarts add one pound of loaf-sugar; 
stir it until quite dissolved, and let it remain for ten days to work in the 
first vessel; draw it off by the tap, through a jelly bag, into a larger 
vessel; steep one ounce of isinglass for twelve hours in a pint of the 
liquor, then boil it upon a slow fire until all dissolved, then add a gallon 
of the liquor, and boil again for a minute or two; mix the whole together, 
let it remain a few days to clear, then draw it off and keep it in a cool 
place. 
Trenching (Ibid). —The good kitchen soil, resting on a clayey sub¬ 
soil, will he benefited by trenching, especially if the bottom spit is mixed 
with limy rubbish and coal ashes, to render it more porous. We are no 
friends to letting ground lie fallow, which is only another term for doing 
nothing ; trench as we have said, manure as a kitehen-garden should be 
manured, and keep tlie hoe going, and then there will be no need of 
fallowing. 
Diameter of Pots (Norice).— When a 5-incli, or any other sized pot 
is thus spoken of, the number of inches are meant which the pot measures 
inside across, just below the rim. 
Strawberries for Forcing (Ibid).— Your plants in 4-inch pots move 
into 7-inch when well rooted. Do not begin forcing by moving them 
into the house until the middle of February. You will find Mr. Erring- 
ton’s very full and excellent directions for treating the plants, and for 
forcing, in our third volume. 
Alstrif.merias (Queen Mab). —We recommend you to plant these as 
soon as you can get them. Several kinds, such as Aeutifolia, Hirtella, 
Grata, Psittacina, Pelegrina, the., will do well out of doors, planted six 
inches deep, in a mixture of sandy peat and loam, on a warm border ; 
others, such as Aurantiaca, Occuluta, Pallida, he., are better potted two 
or three inches deep in well drained pots, and kept during the winter in 
a frame or cold pit; and a third set, more tender still, require even more 
beat, though most of them will succeed under that treatment. Very 
likely those you have received are the hardiest kind, hut even then wc 
would recommend you to pot them for the first season. They will do 
anywhere secure from frost until they begin to grow. 
Various (A Constant Reader). —Your Yucca, with its roots above the 
pot, may lie repotted now in sandy loam and peat. See the week before 
last. White Lilies growing in large bunches had better lie separated, 
and they will flower better. Your Grapes and Vines are mildewed, and 
washing with weak salt and water has done no good : puff the afflicted 
parts witli flowers of sidphur, and a little fine quick-lime mixed with the 
sulphur; it will not require to lie put on thick, though it may need re¬ 
pealing to effect a cure. Araucaria Cunninghatni and E.vcelsn are not 
hardy enough for our winters in common circumstances. Strawberries 
planted two years ago ought, to have borne well; those put out last year 
ought to bear better next year than runners of this season, unless you 
give them extra kind attention, such as layering them in pots, or pricking 
them nut into beds before planting ; if so most kinds will hear the first 
season, and plentifully the second, They are partial to a strong soil if 
there is not too much clay. As to kinds, that will depend upon your 
taste—the B/acle Prince is early ; Kean’s is first-rate for beariug plenti¬ 
fully, early, and from young plants; British Queen is large and fine 
flavoured; Eliza is smaller hut high flavoured; and Elton, though 
359 
rather tart, is valuable as a late large sort. If you fancy the Huutbois 
get the Prolific . 
Training Plants in Pots (F. W. T.).—This will meet with notice 
ere long, but the difficulty of the matter is, that few feel as you do the 
necessity for revision in this matter. It is often a serious thing to hint at 
a man’s want of taste, and still more difficult to prove he is wrong, a 
principle of taste being rather a fluctuating thing. 
Vines Trained ovee a Slate Roof (A. B., Camberwell).— If there 
is plenty of strength in your vines this will answer. The vines, being on 
a trellis, during the day will not be too hot, because the slates will absorb 
heat and not reflect it; at night, nr when the atmosphere is colder than 
the slate, the heat will he radiated from the latter to the former, and the 
vines will derive the benefit of it as it passes. Through this radiation the 
slates will become very cold at night towards the end of autumn, because 
heat will he dispersed more quickly than from an upright wall. We have 
no doubt but tile plan would answer well in your locality if your roof has 
a good aspect. As to covering the roof above the vines with glass we 
doubt its propriety, as without great attention to moisture in the atmo¬ 
sphere, and the giving of air, the enclosed atmosphere would lie too hot 
and dry; putting glass on towards the end of autumn would be advan¬ 
tageous, hut, altogether, it would cost you less trouble to place the glass 
over part of your vine wall. 
Marvel of Peru (Susannah), —It matters not whether you take the 
roots out of the pots or not, provided you keep them dry and free from 
, frost during winter. 
i Stove Climbers, Pits for (E. F .).-—No doubt our friend, Mr. 
Appleby, will perfectly satisfy you on the subject; in the meantime we 
imagine, that instead of merely sinking a hole he wishes these little pits 
to he formed of solid materials, and for two reasons,—First, to keep the 
roots of the different climbers separate, and thus have them under com¬ 
mand ; and, Secondly, to give them merely as much room as will secure 
a certain degree of luxuriance, and yet an abundance of bloom, by telling 
the roots “thus far you may go, but no farther.” In your stove, with the 
pipes only ten inches from the fruit wall, you could not have such little 
P’ts, or large pots, or brick boxes you may term them, there with any 
degree of propriety ; but any part of the house, such as against a pillar 
or support, will answer equally well. If, however, the position of tjie pit 
is far from the glass, it will be necessary to have your plants a good size 
before planting, as recommended for conservatory climbers some time 
ago. 
Ipomea Learii (Ibid). —This, planted in tlie greenhouse, has reached 
the rafters, and is flourishing, but has not flowered; we would leave it 
alone instead of thinking of moving it to the stove, and, with common 
attention, we shall be much deceived if next season its splendour in the 
greenhouse does not lead you to thank us for the advice. We have had 
one ranging wildly over tlie roof of such a house for a number of years 
that continues blooming abundantly the whole of the summer and 
autumn. 
Blue Flower for Bedding {Minnie). —Three-pennyworth of seeds 
ol Lobelia ramosa will plant a bed six yards long and teii feet wide ; and 
it is the finest blue bedder in England or elsewhere, and about a foot or 
15 inches high, and will flower all summer and autumn, just as you 
require. 
Soil for Roses (Ibid). —Now is a good time to make up a new bed 
for roses, and the end of October is the best time to plant it; roses will 
do very well in any fresh soil that is neither light, that is, witli too much 
sand in it, nor heavy, that is, having too much clay; and if you add a 
barrowful of old rotten dung to every five or six harrows of that kind of 
soil, the roses will thrive on it all the better. Have the bed 18 inches or 
two feet deep, drained, and do not raise it much in the centre as some 
people do, for if you do, when the lied is very dry, your watering and that 
from the rain will pass off it as from the roof of the house. To make the 
best of it plant none but perpetuals, hut in them we include every rose, 
no matter what section it belongs to, that will flower in the autumn. 
Rose-Bed (C. .1. M.). —You say :—“ I am about to make a rose-bed 
of about seven or eight yards in circumference (it may be oval). I pro¬ 
pose having three or four pillar-roses, of different colours, in the centre, 
surrounding these with tall standards, and these again with half stan¬ 
dards, and filling up the interstices between the standards with dwarfs, 
leaving sufficient room round the edges for pegging down such roses as 
Persian Brier, &c., and bedding out Scarlet Geraniums, Verbenas, 
Petunias, he . Will this be a good arrangement ? If so, what roses 
would you recommend ? ” The idea is not a bad one, but the outside 
row of Persian Brier, or, what is equally good, llosa Harrisii, need not 
be pegged down ; we object altogether to pegging down roses, for reasons 
already insisted on ; these brierH may be kept low by pruning out the 
tallest of the centre shoots annually after the bloom is over in May. We 
would place three poles in the centre, and in a triangle to meet at the 
top, for supporting the climbers and standards of Madame Laffuy, (leant 
des Batailles, Buronne Prevost, Duchess of Sutherland, or, indeed, 
others of the best autumnal roses, both for standards and dwarfs ; the 
colours, names, anil degrees of strength, may be found in our former 
volumes. An outside row of scarlet geraniums or verbenas, with spring 
bulbs, would answer and compensate the want of flowers in the briers 
after May. 
Hoses (A Lady Subscriber, Ireland)^— Your account now is very 
different from your former one about your roses. There is not a 
“ rosar y ” in England free from the black spots and blotches exhibited 
on the leaves you sent, the cause of which is little known, and a cure for 
