92 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 
of damp sand under a bell-glass, without any heat, will strike root. 
The best mode of propagating the best kinds is by inarching them 
upon a stock of one of the commoner kinds. Your large specimen 
will not endure the cold of our winter in the open ground, but your 
Almond will, if of the common kind. We shall give an extract from 
your note in our next. 
Frame Plants turning Yellow (W. S.). —The Convolvulus, 
Zinnia, &c., thus affected, after being raised in a hotbed, are suffering 
from the cold winds we have had. They will soon recover. 
Transplanting Seedlings (Ibid ).—You aslc for the best mode 
of moving “seedlings raised in pots, in soil half mould and half sand, 
but which do not transplant singly ; the mould is so loose that they 
fall to pieces and are destroyed.”—Lift them carefully with a flat 
stick, and pot them singly, or three together, in a small pot. Put 
them into the frame, and keep it close for a week. 
Passion Flower (Ibid). —This was cut down in the winter, and 
continues green, “but without buds or leaves.”—Put in into a close 
frame, and it will soon shew both. 
Bees (G. W. Pretty). —Your letter has not been printed, but it 
shall be in our next double Number, with a short comment by Mr. 
Payne. 
Cabbages after Potatoes (G. M. G .).—To obtain cabbage 
plants to insert in the bed whence you will take your “ Shaw pota¬ 
toes,” we suppose in August, you must sow now; prick out the 
seedlings when they have two leaves each an inch broad. 
Vegetable-Marrow (Ibid). —We strongly recommend every one 
who has a garden to grow this or some other pompion of moderate 
size when ripe. It is an admirable store vegetable, of the greatest 
service to boil and serve at table, either whole or mashed. Mr Cut- 
hill’s mode of growing it, as a successional crop, after early potatoes, 
is very good : he says, “ The seeds of the marrow may be sown about 
the 1st of May in a warm corner. When transplanting comes, the 
early potatoes will not be near ripe, but lift a root of potatoes every 
five or six feet in the rows, leaving six or eight rows of potatoes, and 
then another row of marrows ; when ripe store them away for use.” 
Those who have not yet sown pompion seed may yet have the plants 
sufficiently forward by sowing in pots of very rich earth, or earth 
mixed with thoroughly decayed dung, keeping the pots in a warm 
greenhouse or room of the dwelling, and supplying the plants regu¬ 
larly and liberally with water. 
Autumn-Planted Potatoes (X. Y.).—The stems of your pota¬ 
toes, planted in November and January, were “ cut off by the frost.” 
Never mind ; do not do anything, but loosen the surface with a hoe 
between the rows. The stems will all come again, and when you 
take up your crop you will be able to laugh at “ the old stagers,” 
who you say are now laughing at you. 
Cucumber Mildew (Rev. A. Stead). —The whitish spots which 
attack your neighbour’s cucumber leaves, and gradually spread over 
them, is the mildew. Your description of it, as seen through your 
microscope, is quite correct. “It has the appearance of very fine 
white cotton, interspersed with straight silvery lines, headed by a 
transparent globular cap, or head.” It is a minute fungus, closely 
allied to that we described at p. 53. It is most probably Nicothecium 
roseum (which is really a species of Dactylium), but it may be either 
Oidiurn erysiphoides or O. leuconium, both of which Mr. Berkley 
believes to be species of the genus Erysiphe. But whatever the 
species may be it is a fungus, and the remedy is to dust the leaves 
with flowers of sulphur. 
Chicory Seed (A. C. Nottingham). —You can obtain this of any 
seedsman who advertises in our columns. 
Nettles (Rev. F. G. A'.).—The only remedy we know is to cut 
them down close to the turf; then to pare this off, and to cover over 
the roots of the nettles to the depth of half an inch with common 
salt; then put back the turf so that the salt may dissolve gradually. 
Your turf over the salt will be killed, but this can be easily replaced 
when the salt is all gone. 
Asparagus (A. C.). —Covering your asparagus bed with salt in 
January was decidedly wrong; the best time for applying it is now. 
(See p. 113, Vol. I.). If you put the salt on very thick in the w'inter, 
when frost and snow were prevalent, you probably caused so low a 
temperature to the plants as to kill them. Mixing salt and frozen 
water together causes one of the lowest degrees of cold known. 
However, asparagus is very backward this year, and your plants may 
have vegetated after you wrote. 
Climber for Lattice Work (T. J. Cross). —No plant will 
answer so well for the lattice work, to act as a screen all the year, as 
Irish ivy, especially as it will be partly shaded by the lilac before it. 
Flowers in Town Gardens (Eneas). —The double daisy will 
succeed in London gardens, but not the pansey; at least, not to grow 
it to perfection. They will require no winter shelter. 
Manure for Dahlias (Ibid). —Thoroughly decayed stable ma¬ 
nure and leaf-mould, in equal parts, we have found the best for these 
flowers. The best liquid-manure for them is made from guano, or 
pigeon’s dung. Half an ounce of sulphate of ammonia to a gallon 
of water may be used once in ten days to dahlias. It should not be 
given until the flower-buds appear. 
Stems of White Lily (Ibid). —These, which you say are broken 
off by accident, will not grow.—You can try cutting them into three- 
inch lengths, and burying these an inch below the surface, keeping 
them well supplied with water. We do not believe they will emit 
roots, but let us know the result. 
Ashes of Cigars and Tobacco (Ibid). —These contain sulphate 
of potash, muriate of potash, and phosphate of lime; therefore, in 
small quantities, probably would be useful as a fertilizer. We know 
of no experiments made with them. 
Raspberries (A. A. Clericus). —Your raspberries have thrown 
up many suckers all round them, and you wish to know what you 
should do with these. Dig them all up except three closest to each 
of the present stools—these three to be preserved for bearing next 
year—and one sucker further off from each stool, to be [removed in 
October, when you are making your new plantation. 
Nemopiiila Insignis (A Subscriber, Wigtonsliire). —This lias 
blue flowers. The species which has white flowers, spotted with 
crimson, or rather pnrple, must have been cither Nemophila utomaria 
or maculuta. You may get these from the florists who advertise in 
our columns. 
Rhubarb Gathering (Gardener). — The best mode is to remove 
a little of the earth from round the bottom of the leaf-stalk, and then 
slip it off from the crown without using a knife. 
Astelma eximium (S.). — This is the name of your plant, which 
you correctly state to be a native of the Cape of Good Hope. If you 
can obtain seed from it, you may raise seedlings in a gentle hotbed, 
and grow the plants in your window. 
Queen of tiie Prairie (Ibid). — This is a hardy hybrid climbing 
rose, having flowers rosy red, striped with white. If you thin out the 
branches very much in the autumn, topping those you leave, and 
reduce the roots at potting time, so as always to keep it growing in 
a 12-inch pot, you will probably be able to cultivate it in your window. 
But we hope Mr. Beaton will say something before long about the 
culture of roses in pots, and he will then not forget the example set 
by the Yellow Banksian rose in a pot at the Chiswick Show. 
Destroying Birds (Ibid). — We shrink from all recommendations 
as to the inodes of taking away life from animals, and prefer, our¬ 
selves, to scare birds away. Thanks for your beautiful little book, 
“Birds’ Nests and Birds it deserves to be sown over the land, and 
its price, twopence, cannot prevent its general diffusion. 
Weeds on Asparagus Beds (A Subscriber, Surbiton). —Sow 
them so thickly with salt as just to appear white; it will kill the 
weeds and benefit the asparagus. 
Wooden Cistern (Gardener). — Paint it within and outside with 
gas tar, boiling, and mixed with a little fat. 
Bean-blossoms Falling (P., Exeter). —You say that “ a hole is 
bored in the case (calyx) of the bean-blossom, causing both the 
flower and bean to drop off.”—Some weevil may do this, but we 
never knew an instance of the kind. When we have observed beans 
shed their blossoms, it has always been from the want of water to the 
roots. 
Potatoes Cut off by' Frost (Ibid). — This having happened two 
or three times, your sets “now have tillered out from five to fifteen 
shoots each.”—This is a bad symptom, and is ominous of a poor crop, 
from exhaustion in the sets. If the case was ours, we should thin 
these multitudinous stems to one or two to each set; after doing so, 
hoeing the surface of the ground between the rows, but not earthing 
them up. Please to let us know the result. 
Poultry (A Constant Reader ).—These may be kept in your yard 
40 feet square, and you cannot do better than have it half turfed and 
the remainder gravelled. Some sand must also be in one corner 
where they can burrow. We prefer the Dorking as good layers ; but 
all your questions will be considered when we can find some one to 
write about poultry keeping. 
Vine Bleeding (C. J. II .).—One of the main branches being 
broken off you are unable to stop the bleeding, which is so profuse 
as to water the ground beneath. We never knew the following plan 
fail:—Cut the face of the wound smooth, and apply a thick plate of 
iron, heated intensely red hot, until that face is completely made black 
—in short, is reduced to charcoal; then immediately rub in very hard 
a salve, previously ready, made of two parts tallow and one part fresh 
quick-lime. 
Cyclamens after Flowering (Clericus, Beds.). — Mr. Beaton’s 
directions to the farmer, in our columns to-day, are exactly applicable 
to your case. 
Scale on Orange-trees (T. Griffin ).— The insect on your 
orange and lemon-trees, having a tortoise-shaped shell or covering, 
is one of the scale tribe, and is either Coccus hesperidum, or Coccus 
testudo. They will be destroyed by holding the trees for five minutes 
in water heated to 140°. 
Mice ( C.F. C.). —You will keep mice from your sweet peas by 
covering the surface beneath which they are sown with fine coal- 
ashes, an inch deep. 
Chiswick Show (S. W., Uxbridge). —We are obliged by your 
note. You approve of our former Supplements because they “add 
to the stock of information cottage gardeners wish to obtain,” but 
you object to the last Supplement because unsuited to their sphere 
and requirements ; and you tell us that it is not a satisfactory reply 
that it is optional with any subscriber to take it or to reject it. Now, 
as it is so printed as not to be paged with the volume, we think that 
reply conclusive j but you are quite right in supposing that we have 
other reasons for printing our last Supplement. First, among these, 
and contrary to your opinion, we wished to report to our friends, the 
cottage gardeners, what the best horticulturists of England can do in 
gardening suitable to their sphere; for, with comparatively few ex¬ 
ceptions, the plants exhibited were either greenhouse or hardy. 
These show's, also, are the annual epochs of English gardening, fur¬ 
nishing data, as being the present perfection of cultivation, from 
which we may mark future improvements ; and we think the hum¬ 
blest of our readers may usefully employ this data. It is only fair 
to ourselves to add that a sale of many more than we ever hoped to 
dispose of would be required to repay our outlay on this Supplement, 
yet we purpose repeating such a Supplement annually, unless our 
readers generally object; but giving our reports of the other two 
shows of the Horticultural Society gratuitously to our readers. We 
shall give lists of the principal winning plants at the Chiswick and 
Regent’s Park Shows in our next. 
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 Ivalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at tffe Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.—May 24tli, 1849. 
