September 26.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
scarcely one to be seen where before there were thousands :— 
I Having chosen dry weather, in .July last, for the purpose, he 
set a man to work, with a heavy block of wood in the shape 
of a pavior's hammer, to hammer the earth down on them, 
and pouring in hot water at the same time ; by these means 
ho destroyed numbers. After this first operation three Guinea 
fowls were put into the field to eat what remained. By con¬ 
stant ramming in wet weather, and when dry assisting the 
operation by hot water, and this followed by two Guinea fowls 
(one having died ), he has completely got rid of the pests ; 
but whether they will return next year remains to be proved. 
—K. 0. T. 
Boiling Peas. —We frequently hear our cottage friends 
complain of peas being “ bad boilers,” and taking many 
hours stewing before they break, and sometimes not doing 
so at all. Now, under the following treatment, peas that 
would take twelve hours to break them in the usual way, 
may be broken in less than one:—Pick them and clean 
them, if necessary, by rubbing them in a dry cloth; have a 
vessel containing a sufficient quantity of water to cover them, 
boiling very hard, strew the peas into it from the hand, a few 
at a time, so as not in the least to check the boiling of the 
water, and when boiled nearly dry add cold water, and after 
boiling a few minutes they will break. If the water be very 
hard, a bit of washing soda may be put in.—J. H. Ik 
Soot as a Manure for Potatoes. —Will you allow me to 
mention that to-day I had dug up some second early pota¬ 
toes—six rows. The seed was the same of all.; to two rows 
I put as tillage a mixture of lime and soot, to two of soot 
alone, and to the remaining two superphosphate of lime. 
All were planted the same week. The produce from the 
seed having the soot tillage alone was about one-third 
greater than that with the superphosphate of lime, and 
nearly a fourth greater than with the mixture of lime and 
soot. There were scarcely any diseased; not one, so far as 
I have yet seen, from the sooted ground. I tried in another 
place plain soot against plain lime, and I feund the produce 
nearly equal; the tubers a little finer from the soot. The 
lime I had had under cover for many months. It was ah’ 
slacked.—A. T. B., Chesterfield. 
Runner Kidney Beans. —I now proceed to make good my 
promise about the Scarlet Runner Kidney beans ; in doing 
so, I shall just state what I have seen, and what we are truing 
to do here. It was in the garden of a person with whom I 
happened to be acquainted in the small town of Llanrhiadr 
(County of Montgomery), where I saw this useful vegetable 
trained in a manner different to what I have seen either 
liefore or since; although I have travelled about a good deal 
in the northern and midland counties, I have seen no other 
instance of this method of training them, indeed, my friend 
told me he had borrowed the idea from the Continent, where 
he had seen them thus cultivated. The two rows of Kidney 
beans which I saw were parallel, running north and south, 
and probably six feet apart; and, by means of two posts, a 
rail stretcliing from one of these posts to the other, a suitable 
number of wooden pegs (hooked) driven into the ground, 
and of good thick twine, which latter formed the connecting 
link betwixt the booked pegs and the rail above, the whole 
had the appearance of the steep roof of a house; the plants 
having made their growth, both sides showed a uniform face 
of leaves, flowers, and pods, and the whole formed the 
greatest attraction in the garden, as it had a really hand¬ 
some appearance; the crop, too, was veiy abundant and 
early. The argument in favour of this method is, that the 
sun’s rays reach the west side of the row long before noon, 
and continue on the east side of it for a similar time after¬ 
wards. When the sun is perpendicular, however, and exert¬ 
ing its greatest power, a much larger portion of the plants 
are receiving the benefits of its rays than if they were trained 
perpendicularly, since, by the latter method, the upper part 
of the plants considerably shade the lower part. In districts 
where “poles” are scarce and dear, this plan would also be 
found decidedly the cheapest, and this is another recom¬ 
mendation. Our experiments this season, I am sorry to 
say, are incomplete; for the spring frosts unfortunately took 
our first sowing of the beans, and the second crop of plants 
have never yet reached the rail, nor are likely to do now; 
however, we hope to escape such calamities in future. I 
may mention, that instead of the hooked pegs, we used 
407 
j pieces of deal the length of the rows, each three inches wide 
and one inch thick, fixed at the ends into upright posts only 
a few inches high, and had the twine laced backwards and 
forwards between the upper rail and the two lower ones, 
allowing a space between of about six inches. I perceive, 
however, that our method might be improved upon; if the 
lower rails were one inch deeper and an aperture made at 
every six inches distance along their lower side, with a saw 
sufficiently wide to admit the twine, it would prevent a pos¬ 
sibility of the latter getting displaced; and if knotted at j 
intervals (the knots to be made close to the rail), there 
would be no risk of the fabric giving way should the twine 
get broken by any means. I should mention, that we used 
three-fold twine previously dipped in boiled linseed oil; this 
strengthens and preserves it, and at the same time prevents 
contraction or expansion. — W. L. 
Cramp in Poultry. —Having had several young ducks 
seized with the cramp, and the birds being completely rigid 
and unable to swallow, it occurred to me that a warm bath 
might be of service. I accordingly placed their feet in warm 
water, and with a sponge kept constantly squeezing the water 
over them for about ten minutes, which partially revived 
them. I then wrapped them in flannel and placed them in 
a basket in the warm kitchen, when they soon showed signs 
of recovery, and the following morning they were in perfect 
health.—W. B. 
Polmaise Heating. —Alas! poorpolmaise ! how hard you 
are upon it; you “ are sorry ‘ C ’ has been to the expense of 
such a structure,” and say, that “ in being obliged to abandon 
it, he only shows the fate common to most who have tried j 
it.” Your favourable notice of my cow-house vinery en¬ 
courages me to give you a short account of my small doings 
with the much abused but admirable polmaise. I am quite 
a tyro, and four years ago had not the slightest idea how to 
heat a forcing house, or to cultivate the pine-apple. Pol¬ 
maise appeared and took my fancy. I have heated by it two 
hothouses, a pit, and greenhouse, containing at this moment 
fruiting and succession pines growing most luxuriantly. A 
Queen, I am told by a gardener well qualified to judge, would 
be worthy of the exhibition at Chiswick, and a Cayenne he 
expects will weigh 8 lb. In the same houses large crops of 
grapes on three year old vines have been gathered this season, 
one bunch of Muscats weighed 8 Jib. Large crops of grapes 
also, have ripened on vines in pots ; of figs, too, in pots, there 
has been a good and constant supply. Stove plants have 
been growing so well, that many have been quite “ specimen \ 
plants.” So much for my horticultural polmaise; then 
comes my dwelling house polmaise, for I have polmaised 
that too ! Five rooms are warmed by one stove ; the bed¬ 
rooms have been pronounced to be in the winter most de¬ 
lightful, there is no feeling that would indicate that the room 
is heated by warm air; all you perceive is that your room is 
like summer. Last, not least, comes the polmaise closet in 
which all the linen and wet clothes of a large family is dried 
quickly, without attention or risk of fire. So much for the 
doings of a tyro with polmaise, to whom not a single in¬ 
stance of failure has occurred at— Tirydail. 
[We are glad to hear this, and should like to have the 
particulars of your arrangement, for we are the friends of 
any mode of heating that is effectual and economical.— 
Ed. C. G.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
TnE 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 .” 
Keeping Plants ovek tiie Winter (C. J. P.). —This will be 
treated of more fully ere long; mean time examine last year’s numbers at 
this time. 
Scarlet Geraniums {Ibid ).—These now growing freely and intended 
to be lifted, should have some of the most luxuriant foliage removed, in 
order to let the sun and air harden the stems, and the roots should be cut 
round with a trowel three or four inches from the stem, then talie them 
up before injured by frost. 
Cactus {Ibid ).—The over-grown Cacti may be removed now, but 
having no greenhouse you would have more chance of making a plant 
of it by removing it in March and placing it in a pot, in a mixture of 
sand, loam, and lime rubbish. 
