20 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
April 
Samaritan (J. II . Price ).—The pyramidal evergreen shrub you 
call by this name is probably the Irish Yew. The price, according to 
the size, varies from one or two shillings to as many pounds. 
Venus’s Fly-trap (Ibid). —A nurseryman in your neighbourhood 
could procure you this, but have nothing to do with it (for it is very 
difficult to manage), at least not until you see how you can succeed 
with plants more easily grown. 
Bulbs you the Colonies (II. D.). —You mention tuberoses, 
ranunculuses, and anemones, but none of these, nor, indeed, any 
spring or summer-growing bulb, can be sent to Australia sooner than 
after Midsummer, or, say, after they are fully ripe, taken up, and 
dried. Before that time we shall offer some remarks on preparing 
such things for long voyages. 
Yellow Crocuses (A Subscriber, Leicestershire). —These not i 
flowering well is caused by your moving them into your kitchen-gar¬ 
den after they have flowered, and bringing them back into your flower 
borders as soon as they are an inch above ground in the spring; the 
only wonder is that they bloom at all, after having their roots dis¬ 
turbed twice at the most important periods of their growth. Bulbs 
should never be moved until their leaves are dead in autumn, nor 
after they have begun to produce roots in the spring; you had much 
better either leave the bulbs in the ground all the winter, or take 
them up in October, dry them thoroughly, and store them in a dry 
place until February, and then replant them. 
Copings for Walls (Rev. C. A. A. Lloyd). —The following is 
what Mr. Clement Hoare states on this subject:—“ If the wall be less 
than four feet in height, and the aspect south, the coping ought not 
to project at all, as the light and solar heat excluded by it will he a 
serious drawback on the healthy vegetation of vines. But if the wall 
be four feet high, then the coping may project as many inches ; and if 
this width be increased an inch every foot that the wall increases in 
height, up to 12 feet, the principal advantages arising from the pro¬ 
tection winch coping affords will be secured, in conjunction with the 
smallest portion of its disadvantages. No coping should project 
more than 12 inches, whatever may be the height of the wall, and less 
than four inches is calculated to do more harm than good, as the drip 
will fall on the fruit. If the aspect be east or west, the coping must 
be narrower than for a south wall.” 
Pear Trees without Fruit-buds (C. T., Bruton). —These are 
on a south wall, are large, hut not old. If they are strong and healthy, 
by all means root-prune them; do not prune the shoots away more 
than is absolutely necessary in order to let in light; nail a good many 
of the shortest-jointed shoots in full length, and even tie down some 
all along the branches. If these proceedings do not cure them, you 
may fairly pronounce them incurable, and supersede them with 
peaches, &c. A south wall at Brixton is too good for pears. 
Aphis on Peaches (IF. Jewhurst). —You say that the aphis has 
actually destroyed some of your trees, and injured all the others, 
though you have used all the usual applications, but that a coating of 
clay puddle has done some good. We feel quite astonished that you 
have been unable to compete with the green-fly on your peach trees 
after such efforts ; surely you have not used your tobacco-water strong 
enough ; we never knew it fail if rightly applied, and we have applied 
some scores of doses during the last twenty years ; one pound of shag 
tobacco will make at least a gallon and a half of liquor, which will 
destroy any green-fly in existence. 
Alpine Strawberry Seed (Z., a Constant Subscriber). —You 
sow ed your seed early in February in a pot, sifting one-fourth of an 
inch in depth of earth over it, and it has not yet produced seedlings. 
It is very likely, by your sifting your earth so fine, that, in watering 
it afterwards, you have all but hermetically sealed the surface of the 
soil; this is a common error. Take a sharp pointed stick and stir 
the surface of the soil as deep as the seeds, leaving it rather loose; 
then lay some moss on the surface, and load it with a stone or crock, 
taking care that it does not become quite dry. A quarter of an inch 
is too deep for the Alpine seed; an eighth would be quite sufficient. 
Feeding-Trough for Bees. — An Old Apiarian says,—-“Atp. 
311 you give a description, with the admeasurements, of a bee feed¬ 
ing-trough. Mr. Taylor was, I believe, the first writer on bees who 
recommended the discontinuance of feeding below, and his “ Bee- 
Keeper’s Manual” (third edition) gives various plans for supplying 
the food on the top of any kind of hive. Among them is one on a 
similar principle to that used by your correspondent, Mr. Byron, but 
more complete and more easily made. In the same work may also 
be seen recommendations as to winter condensation of vapour in 
hives, with plans for its accomplishment; one of which is precisely 
like that furnished at p. 306, by your correspondent, W. Crowe.” 
Taylor’s “The Bee-Keeper’s Manual” is an excellent little work, 
but there is no apparatus for feeding bees in it so easily made as that 
described by Mr. Byron. 
FucnsiAs Deficient in Flowers (A Constant Reader ).—Your 
fuchsias have exhausted the soil of the particular kind of food they re¬ 
quire to cause them to flower. Take them up immediately, remove all 
the old soil, reduce the number of shoots, and replant in fresh loamy 
earth, mixed with leaf-mould or very decayed dung. Give abundance 
of water during the time they are in flower. Now and then a dose 
of weak manure-water w'ould assist them materially. 
Fuchsia Seeds (Ibid). —To save fuchsia seed, as soon as the 
berries are ripe, take them off the bushes, bruise them gently, wash¬ 
ing away the pulpy matter until it is quite cleared off; then spread 
the seeds on a piece of paper in the sun to dry. Sow it in March or 
April, on a gentle hot-bed, with a bottom-heat of 70°. Give no water 
until the seedlings appear above the soil; then water gently, and give 
air to prevent them damping off. The soil to sow them in should be of 
a light sandy texture. When they have made the second leaf, trans¬ 
plant them, five in a pot, inches across. Pot them next time, 
singly, into pots 2.j inches across ; and then you may either keep them 
in pots, or plant them out in your garden. 
Gardens near Large Towns (Magnolia). — We have great 
pleasure in complying with your request, as far as is in our power 
without seeing your plot of garden ground. We confess it is a diffi¬ 
cult task to tell what flowers will grow and “look lively” in a 
garden situated in Stepney, surrounded, as you say you are, with 
houses, and, consequently, with dust and smoke. Wc can only ad¬ 
vise you as we did a correspondent similarly situated, whose letter we 
answered some time ago. For the open parts of your garden, to be 
sure of flowers, purchase some biennial flower-roots, and plant them 
immediately. We mean such things as wall-flowers, Canterbury 
bells, sweet-williams, clove carnations, French honeysuckles, holly¬ 
hocks, &c. These you can buy good strong roots of at 3s. per dozen. 
For the shady part, plant the larger periwinkles at the back, with the 
smaller varieties in front. You may try, also, the lily of the valley, 
and some bulbs, especially the bell-flowered squill ( Scilla campanu- 
lata). Annuals are very doubtful things to attempt to grow, but the 
i following are the most likely:—Candy-tuft, red and white; Sweet 
Alyssum, Clarkia pulchella, Yellow Lupins, and Mignonette, with a 
patch or two of Sweet-peas. Buy a few ten-week Stocks, of different 
colours. Dahlias and Chrysanthemums, of different colours, will 
flower in autumn; but give them some rich fresh soil to grow in. 
Plant dried roots of dahlias now. We shall be glad to give di¬ 
rections, such as you desire, now and then, for gardens such as you 
describe. 
Fuchsia Spectabilis (Lex,jun.). —This is a noble species, with 
leaves twice as large as any other we know. In the open ground it 
will grow from four to six feet high. The flowers are of the most 
brilliant carmine scarlet, with a conspicuous, large, white stigma pro¬ 
jecting considerably. The anthers are also white, which give a 
strong contrast to the bright colours of the rest of the flower. Full 
grown blooms are at least five inches long, without the stalk. They 
come out of the axils of the leaves, three or four to each axil. It is 
one of the most magnificent things introduced lately. 
Walnut Leaves (F. S. .4.).—These, now eighteen months old, 
if they have been frequently turned over and thoroughly broken down 
into leaf-mould, may be used as safely for potting as that from any 
other leaves. 
Bees Swarming (Peter). —The reason that your bees persisted in 
swarming was that you did not sufficiently enlarge your hive; putting 
on a bell-glass neither reduces the temperature of the hive sufficiently, 
nor gives room enough to prevent a swarm issuing. If you put an 
additional story under, or upon the top, in April, you would find the 
bees would not then throw off a colony. 
Canpanulas Trained in Windows. —The mode of propagating 
these by cuttings is fully stated at p. 258. The proper name of the 
Campanula you inquire about is “The Pyramidal Bell-flower;” it 
sometimes produces seed, but the surest and easiest mode of propa¬ 
gating it is stated at the page just mentioned. 
Pruning Creepers [Rev. P. W .).—You will find directions in 
“ The Flower Garden” this week. 
Clubbing in Cabbages (R. J., Clapham). —The best prevention 
of this disease is not growing any of the cabbage tribe, either in the 
seed bed or for production, in succession on the same ground. 
Dipping the roots of the young plants in a thick puddle of soot and 
earth mixed, is also a good check to the insect causing the disease. 
We will enter more fully into the consideration of this subject shortly. 
House Sewage (J. L., Liverpool). —You may continue to apply 
this to your hardy-flowering shrubs, such as Syringas, Lilacs, and 
Laburnams, but we certainly do not advise its continued application 
to your pear-trees. (J. D., Bradford). —You may apply your house- 
sewage to your Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Shallots, Onions, Rhubarb, 
and Salad herbs, in trenches made between their rows, two or three 
times a week, as soon as they are growing well. Do not apply it to 
Peas and Beans, unless your ground is very poor, until they are in 
full blossom. Fruit-trees do not require it, and it is best applied in 
dull cloudy weather. 
Garden at Walworth (A Lawyer’s Clerk ).—You say you have 
done as follows, and you have acted wisely:—“ Upon attempting to 
turn up the ground, I found a surface of about a foot of dense clay ; 
under this, two feet of black earth ; below, a strong loam, and then 
again stony gravel. The clay has been stripped off, and about the 
same quantity of garden mould put on in its place. Across the 
centre, at a depth of about six feet, runs a two-feet barrel-drain, 
communicating with the main sewer. I have had a six-inch shaft 
brought up to the surface, to put in a drain from the paths. The 
south side is bounded by a twelve-feet wall, and the three other sides 
by a close paling of six feet. In the centre I have had a fish-pond 
dug (in which, I trust, some gold-fish will live); in the centre, eight 
feet wide and four feet six inches deep, with a small fountain, supplied 
from the water-butt. The paths have been dug out, and are com¬ 
posed as follows:—six inches lime rubbish ; six inches large stones 
(sifted from gravel); and six inches of good gravel on top. Beyond 
this, nothing has been done; and there is not a single plant in the 
ground yet. I now come to ask you what plants I ought to get, pre¬ 
ferring to have a few to grow well, than many sickly and dying ones.” 
There is no objection to your planting limes and mountain ashes 
down the west side, but have nothing to do with standard apple- 
trees. In the autumn, get some pears on quince stocks, some plums 
on sloe stocks, and some cherries on inahalab stocks. They w ill keep 
quite dwarfs if properly managed, and will not overshadow your 
ground. If you wish for apples, get some on doucin stocks. All of 
them may be obtained from Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth. For 
your flower-borders, wc have nothing to add to what wc have already 
stated fully at p. 232. Plant raspberries, gooseberries, and currants, 
round the edges of some of your beds, and train them as espaliers. 
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 Kalcndar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in tiie Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.—April 12th, 1849. 
