A PHIL 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
47 
from three to four feet Ion", and at every three 
or four feet distance. I then took coarse spun twine 
(rope-yarn, as the sailors call it), and stretched it 
longitudinally (or lengthwise) from stake to stake, 
from the bottom up to the top of the stakes. My 
experience of this then, the first season, was, that at 
the third or fourth space betwixt the rows of twine 
my peas all grew out; and, as they are not nice to 
meddle with while growing, 1 was obliged simply to 
put my twine round again. The conclusion I came 
to was this: that if I would carry my twine up to 
the top of the stake as the peas grew, that the plan 
would suit well—and so it did, last season. Now, 
this same objection holds good in your plan—about 
midway up, the peas will fall out, and so trouble the 
grower; but if lie keeps some spare twine, and 
stretches it longitudinally as the peas grow, I should 
say. from my experience, that a very excellent sub¬ 
stitute would be found.—W. R. W. Smith, Glasgow. 
[Our correspondent may be right; and some string 
placed lengthwise, as well as up and down, may be 
required; but we shall be better able to tell a few 
weeks hence, for then a crop of peas will have told 
us what they think of our supporters.— Ed. O. G.] 
Pea Supporters. — Another correspondent, who 
signs himself “ Ambler,” and who seems to be one 
of several allotment gardeners who have poured all 
their scraps of information and their inquiries into 
one letter—a plan we hope others will adopt—also 
seems to prefer putting the string lengthwise, or 
horizontally; and his plan beats oru- own in cheap¬ 
ness. He says—“ We think of trying to grow peas 
with the bands or cords running horizontally, quite 
the reverse to your plan. I shall put a stake every 
four or five yards along each side of the row of peas, 
and take small tarred band or string, and cany it 
horizontally along the side of the peas, passing it 
once round each stake as I come to them, leaving a 
space of three, four, or six inches betwixt the lines 
or bands of cord, keeping them nearest together at 
the bottom, stretching the lines as tight as to adjust 
them well straight I think by using this, instead 
of all sticks, the peas will have more light and air, 
and we shall not be encumbered with so many sticks 
to thrust into one corner or another; and the room 
they occupied during winter will do for something 
else, as I have no ground to spare for such sticks 
neither winter nor summer.” 
Gooseberry Pruning. —In pruning gooseberry- 
bushes, I differ a little (from Mr. Turner,) in the 
shortening of what branches I may chose to leave. 
I cut all branches clean out except those which stand 
right and well ripened, and these I never shorten at 
all; because this, in general, would make a new shoot 
just at the tip-end where I had cut it off at. But, if 
I leave it on, that is, the shoot at its full length, it 
bears fruit its whole length, and the new wood springs 
from the bottom of the branch or from the main stem 
of the bush, and keeps it more handsome, and bear¬ 
ing lower down.— Geo. Ambler. 
[If our correspondent only wishes to grow mode- 
rate-sized gooseberries, for household purposes, his 
plan may be pursued very successfully; but, to obtain 
very large fruit for dessert or for exhibition, Mr. Tur¬ 
ner’s mode of pruning is best.— Ed. C. G.~\ 
Nux Vomica to Poison Mice. —I have used it 
many times for the house; and if a little sugar be 
put into the liquor in which the nux vomica has 
been boiled, and the wheat steeped in it, the mice 
will stay and feast until they die at or near the 
plate.—W. W. 
Planter’s Puzzle. —T will just remark on Senilis’s 
puzzle for planters, that I must " ” a 
give it up. But I think I can " " 
tell how to plant 24 trees in ... 
20 rows, with three in each ‘ 1 ' “ ’ “ 
row; but perhaps he, and you * ' 1 
too, may know this as well as I ’ ' ' 
do; however, here it is.—W. W. 
Another explains the puzzle thus:—“ Senilis” may 
construct a hexagonal figure; that is, a figure having 
six equal sides. He may either do it according to 
“ Euclid’s Elements,”—book 4, proposition 15,—or 
not. Let him join the alternate angles, also the op¬ 
posite ones; then, on each angle in the figure, and 
also where the lines intersect each other, lie may 
plant his trees.—A Lover of Gardening. 
[If we understand our correspondent correctly, the 
trees, according to his explanation, must stand in the 
following order.— Ed. C. G.] 
Madame Laffay v. Prince Albert. —The hybrid 
perpetual rose Prince Albert, which you recommended 
a correspondent a few numbers (No. 23) back, will 
most probably disappoint him. Even in the Isle of 
Wight, where most roses, including China and Tea- 
scented, bloom to perfection in the open air, this rose 
(Prince Albert) rarely or ever opens well. Why not 
have said Madame Laffay ? I have one in a damp 
situation and facing the north, which is covered with 
bloom every year; it well repays me any attention I 
bestow upon it.—G. W. Tucker. 
Destroying the Green-Fly. —I do not observe 
any notice of my plan for clearing insects off my 
house pets, and if it affords a useful hint to any of 
my fair friends at a distance they are welcome to it. 
I use a brush, what painters call a “half-pound” 
brush, and, if I see a few insects on a leaf of one of 
my geraniums, I hold the leaf in one hand firmly, 
and with the brush in the other touch the leaf, both 
back and front, lightly and quickly, whiffing the 
aphides, and the dust too, as far off as I can. I go 
over the stems and leaves in this manner very fre¬ 
quently, and consider that it does the plants much 
good. Having seen tobacco-smoke produce fatal 
effects, I never use it. Single insects, here and there 
on a plant, I remove with a shawl-pin, or some such 
thing. If on a tender-leaved plant, a narrow slip of 
paper, bent to a half-tube shape, can never.injure the 
most fragile texture, and a piece held in the other 
hand, for receiving the intruders upon, prevents them 
from falling on another part of the plant.—K. B., 
Birkenhead 
Raspberry Culture. —I will say a few words on the 
cultivation of the raspberry, having grown it for five 
or six years with great success. The manure that I 
give to the canes is chiefly that of the pig, in rather 
