10 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 
Oleander (II. B.). —You will have found full directions for its 
culture iu numbers 25 and 26 . The “sort of bug ” sticking under 
the leaves of your plant is the oleander scale (Coccus Nerii). Syringe 
them with water heated to 140°. If you require more information let 
us hear from you again. _ . 
Gdano ( B. C. B., Ham). —We think our editorial to-day will give 
you the information you require. 
Lancashire Pig-feeding (John Hawkes). —You are not the 
only person who thinks the statement at page 245, of Vol I., a mis¬ 
take. The statement, however, comes from a correspondent who 
signs his name, and who we know to be Mr. Saul, of Nutby Cottage, 
near Garstang, Lancashire. We wrote to him on the subject, but he 
lias sent us no further information than that similar statements have 
been published in the Irish Farmers’ Gazette and the Irish Farmers’ 
Journal ; adding, that there “ the profits are considerably more, and 
in the present year, I find, they are still greater.’’ We are seeking 
for information from another correspondent and will inform our 
readers of the result. In the mean time we shall be glad if any of 
our Lancashire readers will inform us of any instances of such profit¬ 
able pig-feeding as are mentioned by Mr. Saul, with some particulars 
as to the treatment of the pigs. In the south of England wc cannot 
obtain such profits. 
Rivers’ Trellises (Ibid ).—If we were about to have lights made 
for a pit, we should not have them made so slight or so rough as for 
trellises ; but for those which require no shifting, or other wear and 
tear, we should have them made ot the substance he recommends, and 
with the angles halved and not dove-tailed. Wc saw the trellises and 
lights fixed at Sawbridgeworth, and though not finished off, yet they 
answer the only purpose for which they are intended, viz., enabling 
cottagers and others to ripen peaches, &c. early and without walls. 
Cider-grounds (A Subscriber, Bridgewater ).—This refuse of 
the cider cask is an excellent application to apple and pear trees. 
Dig a trench about three feet from their stems, and pour in a gallon 
to each. Some persons have thought it a preventive of canker. You 
may mix it with your house-sewage, as you propose, for it will fix 
the ammonia in it, and make it a still better manure for any of your 
kitchen-garden crops. 
Name of Plant (R.). —The plant you enclosed is a male plant 
of the Perennial Mercury (Mercurialis perennis), and is common not 
only in South Wales, but all over England. 
Super-phosphate of Lime (Lex,jun.). —You will find directions 
for making this at p. 62 . Do not mix any lime with it. A tea-cup¬ 
ful sprinkled over the roots of your roses, at a foot distance from 
each stem, and just pointed into the soil, will be sufficient. 
Chloroform for Stupifying Bees (M. P.). —You will find at 
p. 280 all that we can suggest upon this subject at present. 
Milch Goat (Ibid ).—It will yield milk before twelve months old ; 
and ivill continue prolific for six or sever! years. Two goats will 
yield as much milk as a small cow. Those who have lived in India, 
and on ship-board during a voyage from that country, know the 
value of its milk, as well as of the flesh of its kids. 
Criticism on White’s Selborne (Rev. H. W .).—Although 
we are quite sure that no severity of criticism was intended by our 
correspondent at p. 124, yet we most willingly find room for the 
following communication, from a relative of the author of one of the 
most fascinating and most faithful books on Natural History:— 
“Your correspondent, Rev. C. W. B. (in No. XII.), was somewhat 
severe, I could not help thinking, upon my relative, Mr. White, of 
Selborne. He heard some thrushes singing on a certain day in No¬ 
vember last, punctually according to the time marked out in your 
Weekly Calendar—just as your concert bill had announced—but 
strangely out of all time, as lie made it appear, according to Mr. 
White’s rule, that whenever there is any incubation going on there is 
music. Now surely this rule may hold good without its converse, 
namely, whenever there is any music going on there is incubation, 
being true. That the author never meant this converse to be included 
in his rule, and that, therefore, thrushes singing in November are no 
contradiction to it, is evident enough from some of the dates of bird- 
singing given in his Naturalist’s Calendar ; for instance, ‘ Robin 
sings, Jan. 1—12 ; Missel Thrush, Jan. 2—14 ; Song Thrush, Jan. 
6—22.’ January is no hatching month, nor even a pairing one. And 
when he says (in the History of Selborne) that thrushes resume their 
song in the autumn, as clearly he does not connect that singing with 
incubation or with pairing. After such an autumn and such a 
winter, it is hard to say where last year’s music left off, or where this 
year’s feast of song began. But what your correspondent heard is 
rather to be considered, I should think, as late autumnal singing, 
than as ‘ the early spring song.’ ” 
Pasture (D. I. S.).—' The soil of this, you say, is a stiff clay, 
shallow, and lying on a retentive brash; becoming as hard as pos¬ 
sible when dried by either wind or sun. We fear that you will reap 
no good from this until it is drained thoroughly. After that, put 
upon it as much of road-scrapings, coal-ashes, gypsum, bone-dust, salt, 
and dung, annually, as you can spare. Put some of the mixture on 
now, and then sow on every acre 2 lbs. red clover, 3 lbs. white clover, 
2 lbs. perennial rye-grass, 2 lbs. Italian rye-grass, 1 lb. meadow fox¬ 
tail, 3 lbs. cock’s-foot, 2 lbs. meadow fescue, 1 lb. hard fescue, 1 lb. 
rough-stalked meadow-grass, 1 lb. smooth-stalked ditto, 1 lb. sweet- 
scented vernal grass, and 2 lbs. Timothy grass. After sowing, bush- 
harrow it. Your other questions shall be answered next week. 
Pea Sufporters (W. R. W. Smith ).—Thanks for the results of 
your experience : they shall be inserted. 
Cactus (Lex, Jun.). —You ask if it is now a good time to com¬ 
mence with these plants, and if there is a yellow one ? You may 
begin to give your cacti some water in small quantities, and put 
them in a little heat, to bring on the flowers gently. Do not force 
them too rapidly, or they would flower too soon for your purpose. A 
little manure-water now and then would assist them greatly. There 
is not a yellow one of the larger-growing kinds, but there is a pale 
buff one, called Epiphytlum crenatum. Several of the melo-cacti 
have small yellow flowers, and one or two have moderate-si 2 cd flow¬ 
ers of that colour, but they last only a day or two, and do not flower 
freely. Your question about Amaryllises is not easy to answer. With 
your means, namely, a greenhouse and a cucumber-bed, those bulbs 
will not thrive in a first-rate manner. By no means put them in 
your cucumber-bed: place them, as you say, in the warmest part of 
your greenhouse, and they will do pretty well. Some of the earlier 
kinds will flower in June. Your other questions shall be answered 
shortly. A catalogue will be sent you by post. 
Inventor of the Cottager’s Hive (^ Subscriber). —J. Payne, 
Esq., Bury St. Edmunds. 
Mathematical Drawing (A Subscriber, Farnham Gardens ).— 
Hayter’s “ Introduction to Perspective” will give you, in a popular 
form, all the instruction you require. 
Box-Trees (Stick-in-the-Mud). —Your newly-purchased box-trees, 
though drawn up, if not bare round the lower part of their steins, 
had better not have their tops shortened. We will insert what you 
say about gutta perclia. 
Gourds (C. J). —It is quite true that the flesh of these is excellent, 
when boiled, in winter ; not that they eat like a mealy potato. We 
prefer them mashed after being cooked. Sweet peas will do as 
climbers over your window trellis, but you may add the nasturtium if 
you only require common plants. If you would have something more 
beautiful, and less common, yet nearly as hardy, have the Clematis 
azurea grandiflora. 
Liguid Manure (A Constant Reader). —See our editorial to-day. 
Your cauliflowers, planted out in a sheltered situation, ought not to 
require niglit-covcrings now. 
Shrivelling of Gooseberry-Leaves (.1 Lover of Gardening 
and Nat. Hist.) —This, we fear, arises from decay either of the roots 
or the stems. The little red insect you describe is probably an 
Acarus, some species of which are usually found where there is 
decayed wood, but not the Acarus tellaris (Red Spider), as you think. 
We cannot say for certain, as the box was crushed by the post-office 
stampers, and not an insect was to be found. Thanks for the 
anecdote of the Centipede, which we will publish, and shall always 
be glad of such extracts frem the book of nature. 
Sprouted Potatoes (Itev. P. W.). —Pick them over, rub off the 
sprouts, if required only for table, and replace them in dry earth, 
covering them deeper with earth than before. 
Liouid Manure (Ibid). —This does not improve the staple of the 
soil, but only supplies food for the immediate use of the plants. If 
the wall trees are old and not vigorous, liquid manure might assist 
them, but it is too invigorating for young trees. Your other question 
shall be answered next week. 
Tobacco Fumigation (An Amateur). —Y r ou will find full direc¬ 
tions at p. 2/0 of Vol. I. Your liquid manure is too strong for your 
roses ; two parts water and one part urine will be better. The leaves, 
however, are probably affected by an excess of tobacco smoke. 
Tulip Soil (Ibid). —Mixing quicklime with the soil of your tulip 
bed, and planting in it within a week, is doubtless the cause of their 
looking “very bad.” There is no remedy now; leave them alone 
until the autumn, then store them as usual, and give them a better 
soil next year. 
CniNA LABELS (J. Ball). —The medallion pattern you have sent 
to us is very elegant, and if attached to a shrub or tree by means of a 
shred of lead passed through the hole in the label, and then twisted 
round a branch, it would be one of the neatest and most easily in¬ 
spected of any wc know. Why not sell them in the biscuit or un¬ 
glazed state, so that purchasers might write on them themselves with 
a lead pencil ? For a list of roses see p. 24. 
Tobacco-water (G. J. B.). —This is applicable for the destruc¬ 
tion of the green-fly on roses and geraniums. Other answers in our 
next. 
Succession of Flowers (J. F .).—If you will refer to page 34, 
you will find a list that meets your wishes. Your garden being only 
slightly shaded will help you to prolong the succession of bloom. 
Fuchsia Leaves Curling (A Subscriber).— You say that there 
are “very few green-flies;” but even those few are enough to cause 
the mischief. If the heat you mention (45°) is the highest day-tem¬ 
perature, then is it certainly too cold ; for during some of our late 
frosty nights the temperature of your house must have been below 
32°, and this was enough to affect the leaves. 
Peas (S.). —You say, that about five weeks ago, you sowed your 
Imperial Blue peas on the top of a mixture of manure and soot; and 
that on examination you find them all putrid. Now, although sow¬ 
ing peas on manure is the worst of all modes, yet if your seed-peas 
had been good, and your manure without any noxious constituent, 
they ought not to have decayed as you describe. The soot, probably, 
was too strong for the young roots. Y'ou have no remedy but to sow 
again, not over the manure and soot. To recover, in some degree, 
lost time, sow your peas in strips of turf w r ith its roots upwards ; put 
them into your frame, and when well up, plant the slips of turf, with¬ 
out disturbing the peas, in rows where you desire. 
Perpetual Roses (M. C. P .).—Instructions for pruning those 
roses have been given under the head “ Autumn rose-pruning.” See 
p. 57 of vol. I. In your case the directions will be—thin out at least 
half the shoots, cutting them clean down to the last year’s wood 
(1847), and the remainder shorten in to six or seven eyes. Do not 
expect many flowers this season, as your roses have to get over the 
removal and long journey. Two or three of the sorts wc know, and 
they are good ; the remainder are unknown in this country. 
Bulbs of Tuberoses (Ibid). —These should be just covered only 
with earth. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Ore, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.—April 5th, 18iy. 
