April 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
19 
the Hemp plant. We shall be glad if any one can 
give us information as to its insect-destroying powers. 
—Ed. O . <?.] 
Gutta Pekcha for Grafting Purposes. —From 
the answer to my note (p. 280, vol. 1) regarding 
gutta perch a as applicable to grafting, I fear you did 
not understand me. I have procured a portion of 
the sheet gutta, and I propose to hind it round the 
graft as a surgeon puts on a bandage, touching the 
upper edge with the paste (made of gutta percha) to 
prevent rain from running down the scion into the 
wound. This sheet costs here (Liverpool) Is per yard, 
twenty-two inches broad; and, should it succeed, it 
will be of great advantage, especially to our fair 
friends. 
[Used in the way you propose, we think it may an- 
swer, and shall be glad of a detail of how you proceed, 
and of the result.— Ed. C. G.~\ 
Grape Growing. —The Rev. C. A. A. Lloyd, of 
Whittington, near Oswestry (310 feet above the sea), 
says, “ I have two of Clement Hoare’s vine pillars 
filled as he directs, and the vines in them grow 
short-jointed wood, and are quite healthy in every 
respect The vines are too young to bear fruit as 
yet. I grow vines under glass without any fire-heat, 
and the grapes ripen every year. The vines are now 
(March 22) in leaf, and have some bunches which 
will in time produce grapes, while my vines upon a 
south wall are only beginning to swell. Last night 
(March 21), the lowest temperature out of doors was 
26°. The lowest temperature in my vinery, without 
any fire-heat, 37°. 
Mannington’s Pearmain. —A new dessert apple, 
of first-rate excellence. We applied to Mr. Cameron, 
nurseryman, of Uckfield, Sussex, who has plants to 
dispose of, for its history, and received the following 
notice, by Mr. Mannington:—“ The origin of the 
apple, which was named Mannington’s Pearmain, by 
Dr. Lindley, Mr. Thompson, &c., at the Horticultural 
Society of London, is this:—It was foimd in a hedge 
row, a small scrubby tree, on a spot where a cider 
mill and press were formerly worked, and is supposed 
to have been produced by a pip or kernel, from the 
pulp thrown away after pressing. All who have had 
a chance of tasting this apple, say it is the best they 
ever met with. When grown in a good season, it is 
a most beautiful apple. It also keeps remarkably 
well. I generally have a dish on the table at our 
fair, on the 14th of May. It is a general good bearer, 
but not of strong growth with me, though it is better 
with Mr. Cameron .”—Midland Florist. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Ixias, Lachenalias, and Tigridias (G. J. B .).—These require 
no liquid manure. The Jacobaea lily and Gladioli may also go with¬ 
out it, until you are more accustomed to the proper application ; no 
plant either in a young state or in ill health should receive such 
stimulants. That from a cow-house ought to be diluted with four 
times its bulk of soft-water for your fuchsias; shake the soil from 
them, and cut off the roots as far back as they appear dead, cut the 
tops to within an inch or so of the collar, and repot them in small 
pots, using half sand and half peat; then put them in a warm place, 
and if there is any life in them they will soon shew it. A row of 
sweet peas, sown within two feet of the ivy you have planted, would 
answer as well as anything to hide the jagged quarry till the ivy gets 
up; if sown now they will make a screen till winter, and ripen a crop 
to pay for the trouble. Potatoes make the best cleaning-crop for 
new ground, but it is too late now to plant them for profit; carrots, 
parsnips, or turnips, are the next best, but any crop in drills, which 
will allow of the soil being hoed, will do. 
Planting and Watering Shrubs (D. J. S .).—You ask whether 
it is too late to plant on a stiff, hard, shallow clay; and you also wish 
to know whether you would do well to water over the leaves of some 
large shrubs lately removed? We reply,—It is too late by far to 
plant any shrubs at this time, especially on such ungenerous soils as 
stiff clay like yours. It is true that people will go on planting till 
early in May, but we cannot recommend such proceedings, and will 
do all in our power to eradicate so glaring an error. We shall keep 
your case in mind, and furnish a list that will suit you long before 
next planting time—say the end of September. It is an excellent 
mode to wet the leaves and branches of newly-planted trees till they 
are out of danger ; the afternoon is the best time for such work, and 
you may begin now, and damp them over three times a week ; and if 
May is fine and hot, you cannot repeat the process too often ; give 
them also a good watering at the roots once a week with pond water, 
till the July rains arrive, and recollect dull weather is the best time 
for such work. 
Greenhouse connected with Parlour (J. R. Price). —You 
propose to support the floor of your greenhouse by pillars, so as to 
have it on a level with your parlour on the first-floor, and to enter it 
from the parlour by means of a French window.—We understand 
your plan perfectly, and you need have no fear of succeeding in 
making a very useful greenhouse. There are several on the same 
lan round London, and one of the prettiest we know—the heath 
ouse at Woburn Abbey, the noble seat of the Duke of Bedford—is 
exactly on the same plan as you propose. It will require some 
heating apparatus, and a small boiler at the back of your parlour fire 
would answer the purpose, with three-inch pipes; a small door at 
one end, with a moveable step-ladder, would often be convenient to 
take up and down pots, plants, water, &c., instead of having always 
to pass through the parlour window. We should like to hear from 
you again when you finish your greenhouse. 
Hot-bed Against the Wall of a Chimney (Ibid). —You could 
easily make a tank bed at the east end of your house, by passing a 
circle of two-inch pipe, under a slate bottom, from the boiler at the 
back of the kitchen fire; and over the slate have sand or cinder ashes 
to plunge pots in ; it will not answer to admit the steam or even the 
vapour from the boiler into the bed. Read the contrivance men¬ 
tioned at p. 263, along with “ Fortune’s pit.” 
Muriatic Acid as a Deodorizer ( Clericus Rusticus). —This 
will do better even than sulphuric acid for mixing with your house- 
sewage. Muriate of ammonia is quite as good a fertilizer as sulphate 
of ammonia. 
Allotment Rules (An Owner of Allotments). —Thanks for these, 
which we will insert the first opportunity. 
Names of Plants (R. Reynoldson ). —Berberis aquifolium is 
now called Mahonia; Spanish broom is the Spartium junceum of 
botanists; if your Lad’s Love is what is usually Galled Southernwood, 
it is the Artemisia abrotanum. 
Shrubs under Trees (T. H. R., Birmingham). —Shrubs to 
plant out the town, and to live under your trees, should be the 
Aucuba, Variegated Holly, Laurustinus, Holly-leaved Berberry, Scar- 
let-blossomed Currant, and Guelder Rose. You will find a fuller list 
and instructions applicable to your garden in vol. i. p. 232. 
Greenhouse Heated by Washhouse Boiler ( L■ R. Lucas ).— 
There will be no difficulty in your effecting this, as the buildings 
adjoin ; all that will be required is to have a cock both upon the flow 
and upon the return pipe, inside the greenhouse, and close to the 
wall dividing it from the washhouse. These can be shut when the 
boiler is being used in the summer, and you do not wish to increase 
the heat of your greenhouse. 
Rhubarb (Ibid). —On no account move your rhubarb, which is 
doing well, and is only four years old; enrich the soil, and do not 
cut from it too much, and it will continue in perfection for some years 
longer. You are quite right in remembering the old saying, “ Was- 
well would be better, so took physic and died.” 
Kennel Manure (T. Howard). —We never knew this used alone, 
but there is no reason to suppose that the dung of dogs is not valu¬ 
able as a fertilizer, and might be used for celery, or any other vege¬ 
table requiring rich manure. 
Hot-bed (E. W. Timmins). —It is quite impossible for us to 
advise you upon the use to which you should apply this unless we 
know the description of plants you wish to cultivate. 
Dwarf Peas (A Subscriber). —The culture of these is precisely 
the same as that of the taller growing varieties ; they only differ in 
requiring either shorter or no supporters. By dwarf peas, we under¬ 
stand such as are not more than two feet high, and of these it is easy 
to keep up a succession of good crops; thus, Bishop’s Early Dwarf 
(nine inches high) might be grown for a first crop, and the true 
Prussian Bine (two feet) in successional sowings for the main crops. 
The Queen of the Dwarfs (nine inches) is also a good pea, but these 
very short peas are not profitable. The Prussian Blue is a good 
cropper. 
Forsythia Viridissima (Flora). —This we think is so hardy as 
not to require even the shelter of your greenhouse, but we will let 
you know more about it next week. Your stove plants are not within 
our jurisdiction, nor is your Newfoundland dog, but if he was we 
should serve him as Blaine, the celebrated dog-doctor, used to treat 
his luxurious canine patients, viz., shut him up with nothing but a 
hard crust, some straw, and some water—as soon as they eat the 
crust, Blaine knew the patients were well. You keep your dog too 
much fed, too much away from water, and too warm; remember, he 
is a native of a high northern region. 
Runner Bean (E.P., Mechanic). —Your flat lilac-coloured beans, 
streaked with black, are the Zebra or Striped Kidney Bean (Phaseolus 
vulgaris fasciatus). Your note about raspberries shall be inserted. 
Melon Show (R. W.). —We have not a single reason for believing 
that this will not be a perfectly fair exhibition, and that the best fruit 
will win. 
Larvas (G. J. B.).— We are sorry that the soil of the Vicar s 
garden is so numerously infested, for the two large grubs are the 
larvte of a Noctua, and appear identical with those of Agrotis sege- 
tum, which is so destructive to turnips; the small ones were all dead 
and shrivelled up, but they appear to be the larvae of a two-winged 
fly—most likely one of the terrestrial midges, Leia or Platyura. They 
are foes of the gardener. 
