374 
although not closed up, containing a large portion of honey, 
which the bees are now eating. {They are not eating hut 
removing it.) How may this be prevented, for if continued 
it will sadly diminish the store they have obtained for winter 
from the food I have given them. Do you think I need fear 
their standing the winter? {No.) The bees get between 
the thermometer and the window, and almost render it use¬ 
less. Can I in any way remove the propolis, T presume it 
is, which they place upon them? (No.) I had no oppor¬ 
tunity this season to paint this hive. When may it be done 
with safety to the bees? ( Immediately .) It stands in an 
open shed. I have now given over feeding it. 
(To he continued.) 
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 be addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row , London.” 
Potatoes (J . Willis). —We have communicated with the party, and 
will advise you of the result. 
Manuring Forest Trees (A Country Subscriber). —Beyond all 
doubt “ Guano water,” or animal or vegetable manure of any kind, is 
highly beneficial to young forest trees, not only for accelerating their 
growth, but for improving the beauty of form and excellence of timber. 
A vigorous tree is always the most handsome; and it is an old fallacy, 
that the slowest grown timber is the most durable. Ground well drained, 
well trenched, and well manured, will grow the finest timber. 
Nettles ( Presbyter). —These impair the neat appearance of your 
churchyard; and though you have them continually cut down, they as 
constantly reappear where some old buildings stood. Your only resource 
to get rid of this persevering “ follower of man’s footsteps,” is to have 
its roots forked out of the soil, and then to water the place with diluted 
oil of vitriol, to remove the saltpetre, without which the nettle will not 
thrive. After this, you must fork out every piece which may have escaped, 
as it reappears. 
Guinea Fowls and Ducks (Subscriber from No. 1).— Can any of 
our readers say what is the usual marketable value of Guinea fowls; and 
whether there is any mark whereby the drake of the Aylesbury breed can 
be distinguished when about ten weeks old ? 
Wheat Sowing (IF. K. IF.).—You should tell us whereabouts you 
live, and what is the character of your soil. Michaelmas is a good time 
for sowing. Put on guano just previously to the last ploughing. Dibble 
your wheat in rows nine inches apart, and six inches from hole to hole : 
two inches is deep enough. As you have an unlimited supply of manure 
and labour, you may grow potatoes and wheat alternately for an unlimited 
number of years. We know land in Essex that within the memory of 
man has never grown anything but beans and wheat. Keep the hoe 
going. 
Books (IF. H. IF.).—Buy Spooner on Sheep , Johnson’s Modern 
Dairy and Coiv-keeping, and Richardson on Horses and Pigs. 
Names of Plants ( K. O. T.), —Your grape is, we think, the Grizzly 
Frontignan; your plant, Cuphea platycentra; the Fuchsias we could 
not recognise. (T. M. IF.).—Yours are Petunia nyctuginiflora, one of 
the parents of all our garden varieties. The berries are those of the 
Black Bryony ( Tamus communis), a poisonous plant. ( F. G. D.). — 
1, Inula Dysenterica; 2, Lychnis dioica ; 3, Myosotis palustris; 4, 
Verbuscum nigrum ; 5, Tormetilla officinalis ; 6, Galeopsis lada- 
num ; 7, Imputiens (not English); 8, Echium vulgare ; 9, lmpatiens 
glandulifera (not English); 10, Euphrasia officinalis ; 11, Scutel¬ 
laria galericulata ; 12, Lythrum Salicaria. ( W.P.H. ).—We do not 
know for certain what your bulbs are, but no doubt they are hardy. 
Plant them in pots in sandy loam and leaf-mould, and treat them as 
frame plants ; and when they put forth plenty of leaves send us one in a 
perfect state. We think they are a species of Scilla, probably Scilla 
Peruviana. 
Greenhouse and Vinery (M. D.). —By all means prepare for a new 
vinery, as you propose. Your plan in general is eligible, but you are in¬ 
clined to embrace too many objects: this will lead to confusion, and a 
compromise of principles in culture. We do not say that the whole of 
your plan cannot be carried out; but, to do so, you had best eschew 
flues, and betake yourself to hot-water piping. In any event, you should 
have your fire-place and chimney between the two houses, as you will be 
l compelled by your present proposal to heat the vinery, whether or no, in 
1 keeping the frost out of your greenhouse; and this at certain periods 
i will not be proper. Get your vines as soon as you like, and next Feb¬ 
ruary plant them in large pots or baskets (the latter we should prefer), 
and cultivate highly through next summer. Do not make your vine 
border until wanted, but provide materials soon, keeping them in sharp 
ridges to exclude rain. Vines and peaches seldom agree well together; 
we dare not recommend them to be mixed up under the care of a “ man 
of all work”—such is enough for a clever gardener to manage. Eight 
i vines may be—2 Hambro’, 1 Dutch Sweet Water, 2 Royal Muscadine; 
l 1 the true West’s St. Peter’s, 1 Muscat of Alexandria, 1 Black Prince, 
• placing the Muscat at the hottest end, next the Sweet Water, then the 
[Septembeb 12. 
St. Peter’s, then Muscadine, and last Hambro’. You had better write 
again if you need more information. 
Budded Roses (Rev. P. V. M. F.). —Rose buds put in lately, and 
now started into growth, should have the shoots of the stocks cut back to 
afoot above the bud, and so remain till next May or June, This will assist 
the growing bud to grow stronger, and will not check the stock too much, j 
If there arc more shoots on the stock than are budded on, let them remain 
as they are, and cut them right out in winter ; but leave those having the 
buds on till the plant is in active growth next season, then cut close 
behind the bud, and tie the young shoot to a stick fastened to the stock. 
India Rubber Plant (J. N. Blackett). —Do not be afraid of weary¬ 
ing us. Four feet long, as a cutting, was rather too long, especially when 
kept in a window; you will perceive that perspiration from the plant 
would so far exceed its possible absorbing powers that a shrivelled ap¬ 
pearance was almost inevitable. Y'ou had better try and get it placed for 
a month or six weeks in a hothouse, w'herc bottom-heat could be given, 
and where, from being kept close, the whole plant, if not too far gone, 
W'ould absorb moisture strongly. 
STEPnANOTis floribunda (Peter Pindar). — This, potted in sandy 
peat, and grown in a succession pine pit, has never flowered. It had 
better have a little loam mixed with the peat at the next shifting, and 
during w'inter, and especially the spring, and, in fact, at all times, you 
must keep the wood rather thin, so that the buds may be swelled and 
plump ; keep it rather cool during the winter, say 45° to 50°; raise the 
temperature to 60 ° and 70 ° iri the spring, and shortly afterwards, if the 
buds were well ripened, the flower-buds will appear. 
Corriea speciosa (Ibid). —We are not surprised you failed to raise 
this from cuttings ; it does best grafted, or inarched, on the Corrcea alba. 
The first number of the current volume is No. 79. 
Everlasting Flowers (A Cheshire Clergyman). —We presume you 
mean Xeranthemums and Gnaphaliums , &c. We have seen these pre¬ 
served for years merely by drying them in a room, laid on sheets of paper, 
and then tied in bundles. 
Mountain Asii Berries (Ibid).— These, we think, might be kept 
until Christmas, by sticking their branches in damp soil and keeping the 
birds from them. 
Moving Hives (IF. R.). —You ask,—“What time of the year we 
recommend for removing three hives of bees to a position about ten feet 
in advance of their present one ? ” Do it immediately, and if the hives 
are brought forward a foot every other evening, till they reach the pro¬ 
posed position, their removal will be attended w ith less loss. 
Market Gardening (A. B.). — Y'ou will see that we have attended to 
your request. 
Frame (R. P.). — By some accident your drawing has been mislaid. 
Use rough glass for glazing it. 
Tobacco (J. N.). —Your tobacco just about to flower has been allowed 
to grow too long ; it should have been cut before the flower-stem began 
to rise. Cut it immediately, but during dry weather, cutting it just 
within the soil; let it lie on the ground during dry days, but house it in 
a heap at night. When quite dry store it in a dry place, and take a leaf 
as you require it for fumigating purposes. Water melons are worthless. 
Himalaya pumpkins, gourds , and vegetable marrow may be boiled w'hen 
as large as an ostrich egg, and eaten like sea-kale, or the flesh of the ripe 
ones may be mashed like turnips. 
Longest Cucumber (G. T., York). —Allen’s Victory of England is 
the longest we know ; it is frequently grow n two feet long. Hollyhocks 
are best sown in June, the seedlings to be transplanted as soon as large 
enough to where they are to remain. They may, however, be sown in 
pots in March, and plunged in a gentle hot-bed; the seedlings must be 
gradually hardened, and planted out in September. The Cottage Gar¬ 
deners ’ Dictionary will begin publishing the 3rd of next month. 
Raking Beds (T. 0 .).—Some of our most able coadjutors discard the 
rake entirely, and there is no doubt that an adroit gardener will lay the 
surface of a bed as smooth with a hoe as with a rake, but we question 
whether this is to be expected of an ordinary gardener. There is no harm 
in 3 ’our trying, and there is no doubt that the surface kept tidy by the 
hoe only, allows the air to penetrate better to the roots of plants. To 
improve the staple of your light soil you had better put on the clay un¬ 
burnt. 
Vine Training (Vitis). —Y'ou are not the only one who has complained 
of this tendency in the vine trained by Hoare’s system, to have strong 
shoots at the ends of the main branches and weak shoots nearer the 
stem. We had thought that Mr. Hoare advocated three stages or lengths 
in the shoots ; at any rate, such would be better than two, we think. The 
best mode of equalising strength, under any circumstances, is by summer 
stopping, and when your gross leaders have produced shoots about a 
couple of feet long, we should say, off with their heads. To carry on 
this, we fear you will have to deviate a little from Mr. H.’s system. 
Josling’s St. Alban’s Grate (X. Y.). —This variety is not for a 
limited selection. There can be no doubt of the August Muscat ripening 
with less heat than the Muscat of Alexandria, as the latter requires more 
heat than any grape we know. The Pitmaston White Cluster is unknown 
to us, but the Catalogue of the Horticultural Society says it is first-rate, 
and will ripen on a wall. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London.—September 12th, 1850. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENETI. 
